Liberal Democrats at North Yorkshire County Council claim that their worst fears about the Tory County Council’s highway depot rationalisation programme are now being realised.

In November last year it was revealed that the project, originally estimated at £10.5 million had risen to £16M, an increase of more than 50%. This prompted County Cllr Bill Hoult, Leader of the Lib Dems at County Hall, to allege that the estimates must have been prepared on “the back of a fag packet”.

The Liberal Democrats “called in” the decision to look again at the finances, what went wrong and how confident the Council was that costs could be contained. However, the Executive of the Council dismissed concerns and agreed to bale out the scheme by borrowing £3.8m and gambled on increasing land values of the depots to be sold providing the rest.

The current credit crunch has scuppered that confident expectation and revised estimates of land values reveal a drop rather than an increase in land values from £12.4M to £10.4M with a “health warning” that the volatility of current market conditions may make things worse. Even though some savings have been made on the Richmond depot by leasing and refurbishment rather than buying a new site with new building, the financial shortfall has deepened.

A report was presented to the Tory County Council Executive on the 19 August 2008 recommending that further sales of Depots be put on hold in the hope that land values improve. To bridge the funding gap progress on the depot rationalisation will be underwritten from Council finances.

“This is a result of the lack of effective and robust project management rather than the present management of projects which seems to stumble from crisis to crisis, a process that can get by in a booming economy but not in a downturn.”

“It also comes hard on the heels of the reports of the neglect of the repairs and maintenance of North Yorkshire’s tenanted County Farms and the £6M “black hole” on deficiencies in the physical state of our schools that I raised at the last Council meeting.”

“Once again the Council taxpayer is picking up the cost for bad project management by the Council.”

Liberal Democrats at North Yorkshire County Council claim that a recent report has exposed a serious lack of maintenance and compliance with legislation in school properties that amounts to an unforeseen black hole of £6 million in the council’s finances.

The report tells us that District Councils, which are responsible for environmental health issues, are becoming increasingly concerned about conditions in some of our schools. Indeed, the following quote from the schedule in the report says:

“NYCC has already been warned by one District Council it is minded to issue enforcement unless repairs are carried out”

Other comments:

“Toilets are inadequate –unchanged since the school opened in 1963. Parents have raised concerns about with the school nurse regarding poor toilet provision.”

“School is losing money on catering as students are citing long queues and cramped conditions as reasons for bringing sandwiches.”

“Year 5/6 is disrupted every day when deliveries arrive for kitchen and children have to rearrange furniture for assembly and lunches.”

The report identifies that the neglect has been due to concentration on curricular activities rather than the suitability of the buildings and environment.

Money to pay for these urgent repairs has had to be diverted from a reserve that was only set up in April this year to pay for potentially huge extra costs the authority might face for waste management after 2011.

County Councillor Bill Hoult, Leader of the Liberal Democrats at County Hall comments:

“Following on from of the Council’s neglect of maintenance and repair of tenanted County Farms, and the problems surrounding the highway depot rationalisation project, this is alarming, particularly as it relates to schools.”

“I just hope that there are no more surprises like this to come out of the woodwork.”

Liberal Democrats at North Yorkshire County Council are calling on the county’s coastal MPs to support a campaign to promote British seaside holidays.

The hotel chain Travelodge has launched a “Save Our Seaside” campaign. They hope to open 55 new hotels in seaside locations and say this will create 1000 jobs.

Two Lib Dem MPs representing seaside towns, John Pugh (Southport) and Norman Lamb (North Norfolk) have submitted an Early Day Motion (EDM 2122) to the House of Commons congratulating the company on its scheme.

Whitby Lib Dem Councillor Rob Broadley is urging the county’s two coastal MPs to sign the EDM.

Councillor Broadley commented:

“Revitalising our seaside towns is not something any one organisation can do. It will require a partnership of business, central and local government and individuals as consumers. Travelodge clearly realise this.”

“The Yorkshire coast is rightly famed for its beauty, so we need to promote the towns of Whitby, Scarborough and Filey as places where people can come to enjoy it.”

“I hope that our North Yorkshire coastal MPs Robert Goodwill and John Greenway will appreciate what Travelodge are trying to do and sign the EDM.”

Figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats show that North Yorkshire County Council has made severe cutbacks in maintaining the county’s public footpaths.

The Conservative-run council spent only £280k on maintaining the network last year, compared with £505k in 2005/6. The Council now employs 22 full-time equivalent staff on public rights-of-way, compared with 28 in 2005/6.

Even more worryingly, performance indicators show that only 65% of footpaths are now considered easy to use by walkers, compared with 75% last year.

The Ramblers’ Association has also expressed concern at the reduction in resources for footpath work.

Lib Dem Councillor Keith Barnes (Harrogate Oatlands) commented:

“In recent years the County Council has significantly improved the footpath network, responding positively to information from walkers. But the Council appears to be letting things slip now. There is still a lot to do. Many rights-of-way require maintenance as well as work on the large number of path diversions and creation orders awaiting resolution.”

Cllr Barnes raised the issue at this week’s meeting of the Council, at which the Conservative portfolio holder conceded that the fall in performance was disappointing.

Cllr Barnes added:

“Walking is a big part of our county’s leisure and tourism industry, bringing a great deal of money into the local economy. It is false economics to let the footpath network deteriorate, especially when the Council clearly has the money.”

Lib Dem Councillor Caroline Seymour is dismayed at the Tory council’s poor provision for young people in Stokesley this summer.

The Youth Service. working with the police, has done much work to reduce youth nuisance in the town.

However, the youth worker has gone on maternity leave and been told that there no replacement planned for the summer holiday.

County Councillor Caroline Seymour, who represents Stokesley and the surrounding villages, raised the issue with the Conservative portfolio holder for the Youth Service at today’s meeting of the Council. Cllr Seymour was told that action was being taken to provide cover but that it was “unlikely” to be in place for the summer.

Cllr Seymour commented:

“This is not an unexpected staff absence. The Council should have been able to make alternative arrangements in time for the summer holidays, the very time when this service is most needed.”

Cllr Seymour added:

“This poor level of service is even more upsetting to people in Stokesley in view of the Council’s £115,000 underspend by the Youth Service, and the £8.3 million underspend last year by the Council as a whole.”

Lib Dem Councillors are optimistic that their long campaign for a second recycling centre for Harrogate and Knaresborough may be successful.

At today’s meeting of the Council, Councillor Richard Hall (Lib Dem, Knaresborough), asked the Conservative portfolio holder if she could give any hope to the relief of the Stonefall site on Wetherby Road.

Conservative Councillor Clare Wood said that she was “hopeful that successful negotiations will be concluded for a new site soon.”

The Council was also reassured that money is still available for the comprehensive redevelopment of the Stonefall site when the new site is open.

Cllr Richard Hall commented:

“This is a welcome development, and not before time.”

“Stonefall is the largest Household Waste Recycling Centre in Yorkshire, taking in excess of 22,000 tons of waste per year. Use of the site is causing huge traffic problems on the A661 Wetherby Road in Harrogate. Liberal Democrats have been campaigning for a new HWRC for our area, to take the pressure off Stonefall, for some years.”

“I will believe it when I see it, but at last the Tories seem to be treating this as a priority.”

Lib Dem Councillor Mark Wheeler is fighting to maintain a fully staffed and operational police station in Crosshills.

At today’s meeting of the Council, Councillor Wheeler sought assurances from the Conservative Chair of the Police Authority that the station on Wheatlands Lane will not be closed.

However, no such assurance was given for Crosshills, or Ripon, Knaresborough or Settle.

Cllr Wheeler (Lib Dem, Airedale) commented:

“It seems our community is about to take another hit. First a reduction in our bus service, then post offices, and now our police stations may go the same way. Surely enough is enough.”

“Rural areas deserve as much of a police service as urban areas. Crime, whatever the perceived level of severity, has a long lasting effect on the victim.”

“Our area has a higher than average proportion of elderly people, for whom fear of crime is a real concern. Without their local police station they will be less confident that any crime can be dealt with quickly.”

Liberal Democrats in North Yorkshire are opposed to parking charges being imposed in the towns of Northallerton, Stokesley, Thirsk and Bedale.

We believe that they would:

1. Destroy the economic viability of our town centres

2. Put small shops out of business

3. Cost jobs

4. Displace parking into residential areas

Stokesley County Councillor Caroline Seymour said:
“The Conservatives who run the Hambleton District Council are responsible for creating the financial difficulties that have led to these charging proposals.
I am disappointed that the Tory bosses at the County Council have made no objection to the charges.
In addition, Labour Government policies have made it difficult for councils to raise the money needed to maintain services.”

There will be a peaceful march from Northallerton Town Hall to Hambleton Forum to protest against the charges on Tuesday 24 June at 12:30pm.

Anyone who wants to add their name to the thousands of signatures already collected can sign the petition at many of the shops in the town centres.

A report to the Council’s Standards Committee shows that the number of complaints rocketed from 532 in 2006-07 to 847 in 2007-08. This is an increase of nearly 60%. There was little change in the number of complaints in the year before that.

The bulk of the increase appears to be in Adult & Community Services, which covers social care and libraries.

Cllr John Marshall, Lib Dem spokesperson, commented:

“Alarm bells should be ringing at County Hall. A 60% rise in complaints should be a cause for concern for any organisation. Most worrying is the rise in complaints about adult & community services, which have more than doubled.”

Cllr Marshall, from Harrogate, added:

“When the Standards Committee meets next week I will be asking what has gone wrong and what is to be done about it. The Conservative bosses at County Hall really need to give this their full attention.”

Liberal Democrat Councillor Polly English today spoke out against the decision by North Yorkshire County Council not to go ahead with the proposed rebuild of a new centre for adults with learning difficulties on the grounds of Stepping Stones.

On 25 March the Tory leaders agreed to have a full consultation with local members and carers. This has not happened.

Then on 25 April there were headlines in the Craven Herald confirming that this rebuild would not go ahead.

Craven District Council have been working in partnership with the County Council for 19 months to ensure the rebuild went ahead. But they have only just been advised that NYCC has pulled the plug on the venture after spending £1200 in officer time.

Cllr English said:

“I feel ashamed to be a member of North Yorkshire County Council, which rides roughshod over its local members, partner councils and most importantly, the most vulnerable people, the adults with learning difficulties in our area.”