The Real Alternative Liberal Democrat Manifesto for the 2017 Leicestershire County Council Elections.
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Foreword from the Leader The County Council is operating in an extremely challenging financial environment. Since the Coalition ended the Tories, unrestrained, have ramped up austerity. Despite seven years of cuts, current projections suggest we’re still only halfway through. By 2020 the Government will have completely removed the Revenue Support Grant, and will even be taking chunks of locally raised taxes such as Business Rates. There is a deepening financial crisis in the NHS, the Government has proposed plans to reduce funding for Education and Local Government, and it is expect that new responsibilities will be transferred to the County Council, forcing them to stretch the tight budget even further. All this suggests that the second half of this period of austerity is going to be even harder than the first. Yet now is not the time to despair. It is time to turn things around. There are things we can do to change direction and put local residents concerns and needs at the heart of decision making. Whether it’s by fixing the problems with adult social care, ensuring we have enough adequately qualified foster carers to ensure every vulnerable child has a stable home, or abandoning unpopular plans to install parking meters in our towns there is much that can be done to improve things in Leicestershire. Even from opposition, the Liberal Democrats have played a positive role in improving the decisions at Leicestershire County Council, finding alternatives to cuts such as saving £2m by using energy efficient LED street lights, and generating solar power on Council property. The more Liberal Democrat councillors you elect, the more we can do for you, ranging from protecting vital services such as adult social care, to improving democracy at County Hall by giving you more say in how decisions are made. It often feels like Leicestershire is taken for granted by the Government and ignored. Locally the Conservatives claim to be putting pressure on the Government for fairer funding but so far they have achieved nothing. The truth is the Tories are in charge both at Westminster and at County Hall. There is nobody else they can blame; its time for a change and only the Liberal Democrats are in a position to deliver this. Please give us your vote to elect a strong team of Liberal Democrat councillors. We promise to open up the dark corridors of County Hall and run Leicestershire’s largest Council in an open and transparent manner. On May 4th, the choice will be yours.
Simon Galton Leader of the Leicestershire Liberal Democrats
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What we’ve Achieved Four years ago you elected thirteen Liberal Democrat councillors to represent you. As well as represent you locally, your Lib Dem councillors have played a key role in ensuring good decisions are made at County Hall.
Saving Money through Efficiency From the opposition benches we pushed for the Council to install solar panels on its property, to replace the old street lamps with LEDs and other efficiency measures. Our plans were eventually adopted, saving the Council £2.4 million a year, as well as reducing its carbon footprint. This also halted plans to remove street lights altogether from some areas, leaving them pitch black.
Saving Leicestershire’s Fire and Rescue Service In 2015, Labour and Conservative members of the Fire Authority voted to start a consultation on severe cuts to Leicestershire’s Fire Service that would close two fire stations and reduce the number of engines by a third. Working with the unions, the Liberal Democrats used the County Council Scrutiny processes to reveal how dangerous these cuts would be. As a result, the cuts were abandoned after the consultation finished.
Common Sense on Grass Cutting Tory cuts to grass-cutting services led to record numbers of complaints. The Liberal Democrats queried whether the cost of dealing with these complaints wiped out the savings. It was revealed that £100,000 was spent dealing with these complaints so this money was reinvested in the service to prevent the need for complaints in the first place.
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Our Key Priorities The key issues facing the County Council right now are the problems facing Adult Social Care and Children’s Services, both of which will need a strong focus to get back on track. Road maintenance is also a key concern, as is the rolling back the increasing charges that Leicestershire residents face.
Fix Adult Social Care
Prioritise Children’s Services
Adult Social Care has been a disaster under the Tories. Each area only has one provider so if one pulls out, or fails a CQC inspection then there isn’t an alternative.
Ofsted recently said that the Council’s children service “Requires Improvement”, largely due to not having enough caseworkers to cover the workload.
The result; multiple crises, negatively impacting on essential services for vulnerable people. This needs to change.
This is unacceptable. Vulnerable children depend on these services and it’s essential that we properly invest in them.
Maintain Our Highways
Reduce Charges
Road maintenance has been cut to the bone. By 2020 real terms investment will be just 22% of what it was in 2010.
Over the last four years, the Tories have introduced charges for waste disposal, green waste bins and now plan to introduce parking charges in town centres too.
We have been warned that there will be record numbers of potholes unless this is turned around. We mustn’t let the Tories carry on cutting as they are.
It’s bad enough that the cost of living is rising and that the Council Tax keeps going up. These extra charges are unfair! 5
Facing the Challenges Ahead “As challenging as the next four years are, there are still opportunities to make a real difference to how the Council is run for local people. From introducing new management styles and improving accountability, to giving residents more say over issues that affect us all, there are numerous ways the County Council can improve our quality of life. A challenging budget is no excuse for failing to listen!”
Simon Galton
Leader of the Leicestershire Liberal Democrats
Respecting Your Voice
More Powers Locally
Consultation at the Council is currently a box-ticking exercise where the responses are routinely ignored.
The Liberal Democrats believe that decisions about Leicestershire schools, hospitals and other services should be made by people in Leicestershire rather than people in London.
We will give people a meaningful say in how the Council operates and how decisions are made.
We will work with neighbouring authorities to win bids to devolve powers and services and lobby the Government to move forward without the imposition of a ‘metro mayor’.
Partnership Working The Conservatives claim that they want to work in partnership with Districts but their recent actions show the opposite, such as removing recycling credits and publicly criticising them during Cabinet meetings. We will reset the relationship with the Districts to open the way towards genuine partnership where we work together with Districts as equals.
Better Democracy Cabinet currently runs as a closed shop, rubber-stamping decisions without the opportunity for input from those affected. We will give residents the opportunity to address Cabinet when it makes decisions. We will oppose any attempts to close down the District Councils and centralise 6 decision-making at County Hall.
Modern Management Style
It’s not just about Money
Old forms of management result in rigid hierarchical systems that discourage innovation and common sense.
The County Council currently measures the financial cost of decisions, but less effort is placed into measuring the social costs, the affect on residents and services users.
We will implement “systems thinking” style of management that encourages frontline workers to use common sense to solve the problems of service users.
We will ensure a summary of the affect on residents and service users accompanies every Cabinet decision.
“Local Government has faced severe cuts over the last six years and it’s only going to get worse. Since the Coalition ended, the Tories have ramped up the level of cuts to Local Government. In 2018, when our Revenue Support Grant has been totally removed, they’ll even start taking some of our locally raised business rates. With social care costs rising each year, it will take tough decisions and strong innovation to protect local services.”
Keith Lynch
Spokesman for Finance
The Right Priorities
Funding Social Care
Despite the tough challenges ahead, there are ways to minimise the damage of Tory Government cuts.
Increasing need for social care is the largest financial pressure the council faces. By 2020, the Council will be needing to spend £20m extra a year to meet this demand.
We will investigate new sources of revenue, such as traded services and green energy, develop efficient new ways of delivering services and prioritise resources to protect the most vulnerable in society.
Fight for Fairness
We will lobby the Government to adopt the recommendations by the independent panel of experts led by Norman Lamb MP in order to give Britain’s Health and Social Care services a sustainable future.
Honesty Over Cuts
Although Councils across the country are being under-funded, in Leicestershire this is exacerbated by an unfair funding formula that benefits London at the expense of the rest of the Country.
The Tory Administration’s reports tend to paint an overly rosy picture and avoid full discussion of the effect of cuts they make.
We will lobby the Government for a fairer formula that treats Leicestershire fairly.
We will handle budget reductions in a more transparent way, setting out clearly the implications of cuts so that the Government is aware of the damage they cause. 7
Children and Families “Children social care is facing severe pressures. There are more children than ever with complex needs. We have to spend £12 million a year more compared with 2013 to meet this demand, yet the budget keeps shrinking due to funding cutbacks from the Central Government. These cuts are already having an effect. Ofsted’s recently graded the County Council as ‘needing improvement’, partly due to not having enough caseworkers to adequately handle the caseload. These services need proper investment.”
Geoff Welsh
Spokesman for Children and Families
Coordinating Schools Academisation has led to fragmentation of Leicestershire’s schools. This led to complications around age range changes, mergers and home to school transport.
Keeping Children Safe One of the key jobs of the County Council is to help keep children safe, whether this means finding a foster home for vulnerable children, or making children aware of the dangers of sexual predators.
We will work in partnership with schools to develop a coordinated approach to admissions, mergers and age range changes.
We will ensure that there are enough caseworkers to handle cases effectively.
Oppose Cuts to Schools
We will speed up recruitment of directly managed foster carers, reducing the cost of going through the private sector and develop a force of highly skilled, full time, level 6 foster carers to take children with complex needs out of residential care homes.
Government cuts and a new funding formula will leave most of Leicestershire’s schools with lower budgets. We will oppose any attempts by the Government to cut funding to our schools.
We will continue to invest in “signs of safety” and staff support to keep vulnerable children safe.
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Adults and Communities “Every year as Council budgets shrink, the number of people needing Adult Social Care keep growing. This combination of increased need and lower funding has left many with great concerns over the future of the service. It has already started to bite. Attempts to reduce the costs of homecare contracts led to multiple crises, badly affecting essential services for our most vulnerable. We need to take action now.�
Michael Charlesworth
Spokesman for Adults and Communities
Fixing Social Care
Transforming services
In order to reduce costs, the Tories introduced a new domestic care scheme with just one provider per area. So now whenever there is a problem with a single provider, the whole system falls.
There are many service providers that work alongside the county council; we need to know that effective management of all services is being carried out.
We will redesign the service so that each area has more than one provider. We will also properly vet providers to ensure they all have good CQC records.
Managing Growth The need for services for older people and adults with learning disabilities will grow by nearly ÂŁ20 million by 2020; this will stretch council resources to breaking point. We will ensure that all required assessments are carried out on a case-bycase basis; this will make sure that the right people are getting the right service.
We will assess all partners and our own management on a regular basis to ensure good practice and value for money.
Communities & Wellbeing The library and museum services have been decimated over the past few years and the Conservative administration want to load even more responsibilities on to communities. We will support Community Libraries and ensure that they are given every opportunity to succeed while adopting the OPEN+ model for our larger market town libraries. We will offer to work with Leicester City to establish a unified museum service.
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Environment and Transport “With more and more vehicles expected on our roads the infrastructure to support this growth is simply not there. It only takes one accident or deliberate attempt and the motorways and main roads can grind to a halt for hours on end. Our built and natural environment all need protecting and above all everyone in the community should be engaged in the process as we plan our way ahead.”
David Bill
Spokesman for Environment and Transport
Waste Site Charges
Well Maintained Roads
The Council has recently introduced charges for disposing of waste at waste sites. This encourages fly tipping and other undesirable effects.
The Council’s recent road maintenance strategy includes worrying admissions, with expectations of record numbers of potholes on Leicestershire roads.
We will scrap any charges to residents for waste disposal, making it easier to dispose of waste legitimately.
We will re-prioritise capital spending to reinvest in road maintenance, as well provide evidence to the Government to make them aware of the consequences of continued cuts.
Keep Parking Free The Council has revealed plans to raise money through parking charges. This could negatively affect local residents and impact on the trade of local businesses. We will cancel all planned parking charge schemes for town centres and only allow residential parking schemes to go ahead where there is popular support.
Protect our Buses A third of Leicestershire’s bus services depend on a subsidy to operate. Removal of this subsidy would leave a large number of areas without access to public transport. We will protect the subsidy to ensure that those who need public transport in rural areas continue to have a service.
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Health and Wellbeing “The NHS is facing severe budget pressures, with continued austerity and new government plans to end deficit spending in local NHS bodies. If we are to reduce spending without lowering health outcomes then we must put a strong focus on prevention. Work to prevent illness is rarely glamourous but it saves huge costs down the line and is the best hope we have at saving the NHS from the pressures it faces.�
Dr Sarah Hill
Spokeswoman for Health and Wellbeing
Free Up Hospital Beds
Local Control
The NHS currently faces huge demand. Despite this, many patients stay in hospital far longer than necessary due to delays in having a suitable social care package set up.
The NHS is a treasured service but is currently controlled by Whitehall in London, rather than by locally accountable elected representatives.
We will address the bottlenecks leading to delayed transfers of care. Improving the efficiency in setting up social care packages will not only assist recovery, but also free up resources for other patients.
Tackle Problems Early
We will push for control of NHS services to be devolved to Leicestershire, giving local residents more say over their health services and improving efficiency.
Mental Health
Early intervention to tackle problems at an early stage prevents more serious conditions from developing.
Mental Health issues, left untreated, can lead to an overall deterioration of health, devastating for the patient and their family and expensive for the NHS.
We will prioritise spending on prevention services, reducing the need for more expensive services down the line.
We will put resources into tackling mental health issues at an early stage to prevent them devolving into crises. 11
Vote for your Local Liberal Democrat Candidate on 4th May Oadby & Wigston
Hinckley & Bosworth
Melton
EAST WIGSTON Michael Charlesworth
BURBAGE Keith Lynch
BELVOIR Lily Kaufman
NORTH WIGSTON Linda Broadley
DE MONTFORT Michael Mullaney
MELTON EAST Ian Ridley
OADBY Dean Gamble Jeff Kaufman SOUTH & WEST WIGSTON Bill Boulter
EARL SHILTON Mathew Hulbert GROBY & RATBY Muriel Crooks
MELTON WEST Sam Asplin
Blaby BLABY & GLEN PARVA Geoff Welsh COSBY & COUNTESTHORPE Beverley Welsh ENDERBY & LUBBESTHORPE Mark Widdop GLENFIELDS, KIRBY MUXLOE & LEICESTER FORESTS Mark Godfrey-Vallance Kathryn Sansome STONEY STANTON & CROFT Christine Merrill
Harborough BROUGHTON ASTLEY Colin Porter BRUNTINGTHORPE Peter Bridge GARTREE James Lindsay LAUNDE Simon Galton LUTTERWORTH Martin Sarfas MARKET HARBOROUGH EAST Sarah Hill MARKET HARBOROUGH WEST & FOXTON Peter James
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MELTON WOLDS Ian Lauder
HOLLYCROFT David Bill MALLORY Bill Crooks
Charnwood
MARKET BOSWORTH Ann Clay
BIRSTALL Simon Sansome
MARKFIELD, DESFORD & THORNTON Robin Webber-Jones
BRADGATE Robert Simpson
ST MARY’S Stuart Bray
LOUGHBOROUGH EAST John Elliott LOUGBOROUGH NORTH Philip Thornborow LOUGHBOROUGH WEST David Scott
North West Leics ASHBY DE LA ZOUCH Vivienne Brooks CASTLE DONNINGTON & KEGWORTH Moira Lynch COALVILLE NORTH Barry Wyatt COALVILLE SOUTH Michael Wyatt FOREST & MEASHAM Aaron Windram
LOUGHBOROUGH SOUTH Alex Guerrero LOUGHBOROUGH SOUTH WEST David Walker QUORN & BARROW Carolyn Thornborow ROTHLEY & MOUNTSORREL Marianne Gilbert SHEPSHED Donald Cochrane SILEBY & THE WOLDS Nicky Ashby
IBSTOCK & APPLEBY Lee Windram
SYSTON FOSSE Mat Mortel
VALLEY Paul Tyler
SYSTON RIDGEWAY Ian Sharpe
WHITWICK Maureen Wyatt
THURMASTON Nitesh Dave
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For more information email info@leicestershirelibdems.org.uk or visit www.leicestershirelibdems.org.uk Published by Simon Galton on behalf of the Leicestershire Liberal Democrats, Thurnby Court, Thurnby, Leicester LE7 9PX