bury

Just another Mycouncillor.org.uk weblog Learn more

Bury’s Budget 2008-2009 – Press Statement

by timpickstone on 21 February, 2008

Lib Dem’s Secure More Money for Children and Young People, and more money for Parks and Cleaner Streets 

Liberal Democrat Councillors saved services for young people and vulnerable children and secured extra expenditure on much needed environmental services such as parks, cleaner streets and environmental enforcement in Bury Council’s budget for next year.

The Lib Dem proposals, which were agreed and have become part of the budget:

– saved advice services for children and money for youth services across Bury

– saved services for disabled children, the “young carers” service and provision for children who are at risk

– secured new money for our parks and environmental services

 

– secured new money for a cleaner environment such as street cleaning and enforcement such as dog fouling and fly-tipping

 Cllr Tim Pickstone, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group said:

 “This is a difficult budget again for Bury. We all need to be clear on why these difficult savings once again have to be made. The blame is quite clearly with the Labour Government who, despite many years of pressure, continue to effectively give Bury a “poor deal”.

“Services to young people are already stretched    A vibrant youth support service is essential to ensure educational staying on rates and engagement in training or employment, with the subsequent positive impact on reducing anti-social behaviour”

“We are not prepared to put up with an unsafe reduction in support for vulnerable children, and to not see advances in supporting the environment in this borough.”

Cllr Richard Baum, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Resources said

“The people of this Borough want cleaner streets, green space and safe places for their families. And the Liberal Democrat group will ensure that as much as possible is done to give them what they want. Our proposals tonight are to invest in parks in this Borough to ensure that every community has a well-managed place of peace and greenery to enjoy.

Attacking the Labour Party Proposal to cut vital services for a zero Council Tax rise Cllr Pickstone said:

“This proposal is madness. We would all like to have a zero council tax rise, but the Labour Party are proposing to scrap £700,000 on much needed services for disabled people, are proposing to scrap services for young people and vulnerable children, and proposing to run Bury Council into the ground by running reserves down to a dangerous level. This is a disgrace – I am shocked that that Labour Party will stoop so low in a pathetic attempt to gain votes.

“There are two opposition parties in Bury. One, the Lib Dems, have achieved over £1/3 million of expenditure on young people, children and the environment, while Labour have achieved nothing but a cheap gimmick at the expense of vulnerable people.” 

   Leave a comment

Leave a Reply

You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>