With the East of England plan being scrapped as a result of the coalition government’s Localism Act, North Herts Council now has the power to decide how many new houses should be built in the district during the next 20 years.

The Council has decided to consult local people on a range of options, including one that is currently the Conservative administration’s preferred option.
The options are:

•  15,800 – The number in the East of England Plan.
•  14,500 – Based on national population projections
•  13,000 – Large scales development around Stevenage, but no green field development elsewhere.
•  11,000  – Continue with recent rate of development.
•  7,700 – Continue with recent rates of development, excluding Great Ashby.
•  7,000 – Based on the number required to deliver the additional affordable homes needed.
•  5,400  – The number required to meet the forecast growth needs of the district.
•  2,500  – The number that can be accommodated without any green field development.

The Council’s preferred option is 7,000. This would need some development on the edges of Baldock, Hitchin, Letchworth and Stevenage.

The consultation will begin in February.

It is good that local people will have a chance to have their say on how much development there is in North Herts. Once we know the exact dates and how people can respond more details will be available here.

North Herts Councillors have voted to pay themselves 65p a mile for car travel at a council meeting minutes before they agreed that they would pay the workers who run local elections just 23p a mile. Conservative councillors voted down a proposal by Liberal Democrat leader Steve Jarvis that would have limited all councillors to the 46p currently paid to those with the smallest cars. 

Steve Jarvis said, “Most employers only allow their staff to claim the 45p a mile which the tax rules say is reasonable, regardless of the size of their car, but apparently Conservative councillors in North Herts think that they should be treated differently. There is no reason why local people should contribute to the cost of buying and insuring the car, which councillors would need to pay for their private use. There is also no reason why local tax payers should have to pay more just because a councillor decides to have a larger car.

“It is particularly ironic that at the same meeting councillors approved the fees to be paid to elections staff, including a payment for car mileage at just 23p per mile.”

Hertfordshire’s schools are to receive an extra £8.5m for via the Pupil Premium.

The original plans for an extra £430 per pupil have been boosted by £100m, meaning that every school in Hertfordshire will now get nearly £500 for every child on Free School Meals.

Liberal Democrat Children’s Minister, Sarah Teather, recently announced that the total Pupil Premium funding for next year will rise to £1.25bn, double the amount in 2011-12.

Thanks to the Liberal Democrats in government, the money allocated to the pupil premium will rise again each year until 2014-15, when it will be worth £2.5bn.

North Herts Council has insisted that it was right to consult on introducing car park charges in the evening and on Sundays, even though it claims to have no plans to make these charges.

The councillor responsible for this claims that they are consulting on introducing a charge of zero, which most people will think is daft.

He claims that there will be another consultation if the charge is to be canged from zero.

Most local people seem to think either that the council has taken leave of its senses or that they are going to introduce the changes soon despite what they say.

Increases in tax allowances from April will mean that 48,000 people in North Herts will pay £200 less in Income Tax. More than 1200 of those on the lowest incomes will pay no Income Tax at all from April.

Across Hertfordshire more than 400,000 people will better off.

These changes are a result of the Lib Dem policy, adopted by the Coalition Government, to raise the tax threshold.