Sunday, March 04, 2007

Druid Flats



Anyone passing Druids Flats recently will notice work has begun on the roof. This is phase two of the modernisation of the building which when completed will have a new roof and wall cladding. The work has progressed thanks to local estate staff. When i was first elected Druids Flats had been a problem building for many years, and demoliton was on the cards. But i felt that their was a demand for low cost flats in the area. I invited the Chief housing officer, together with the landlord services manager, housing operations manager& estate manager to have a look at the building and pursaded them to invest in it. Today most of the flats are occupied and their are no anti-social behavour problems. A fine example of what happens when housing department shares the same vision as me and invest some money.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Council Tax

A meeting was held in the Guildhall last night (28th February) To decide on the Council budget for the year and set the council tax. The rulling lib-dem group recommended a 3.68% increase in the tax. The Labour group put forward an amendement to the budget.

That the following service pressures be supported
  • £30.000 For addressing the educational attainment gap between Junior & Lower secondary pupils
  • £50.000 to fund a pilot scheme for patient re-enablement( to reduce bed-blocking)
  • £50.000 to support modern apprentice scheme
  • £125.000 to fund preventative / inclusion measures for young people including safegaurding of youth facilites
  • £150.000 to improve homecare

The above service pressure be funded by reducing the amount currently proposed to go to balances by £800.000

The Lib-Dem led administration voted against this amendment, and as a result Labour councillors felt they could not support the budget or the council tax increase. I along with my fellow labour councillors voted against the budget and the council tax increase of 3.68%