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Northampton Liberal DemocratsMoving Northampton Forward |
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Thruppence for local democracy
February 2, 2006 2:31 PM
The Lib Dems have challenged the Tory plan to cut area committees and pull out of grassroots area partnerships with Northampton Borough Council. They could be retained at a cost to the citizen of just 3 pence per year. The Tory administration 2005/06 budget proposals include funding cuts that would seriously undermine the public's ability to communicate with the County Council and discuss the services that the County Council provide.
The cuts would result in the abandonment of the 7 Area Committees that operate across Northamptonshire and would serious undermine the viability of the Area Partnerships which serve Northampton and are jointly run with the Borough Council.
These proposals were discussed by the Northampton Area Committee on Tuesday night (31st January) and the committee made recommendations to the cabinet which would save money and maintain the service. Richard Church said "The Liberal Democrat Group is fundamentally opposed to these cuts because local Government can not operate effectively with out proper communication and dialogue with the tax payers".
The Lib Dem proposals would maintain 60% of the proposed savings but would retain a budget of £20,000, less than three pence per year for each citizen to maintain the structure of area committees.
"Local democracy has a price and this is a very low price to pay to maintain these meetings," concluded Richard Church. "If the Tory administration do not accept these proposals it will be because they do not want to communicate with the public not because they need to save money."