Work on converting around 70% of street lights in North Herts to turn off between midnight and 6am starts on 21 May in Letchworth, with work in Hitchin startinglater in the week. Baldock, Royston and the villages follow, with all the work expected to be completed by the end of June.

Street lights in town centres, on main roads and at some junctions will be left on. So will some lights which are not owned by the County Council.

But local people are not allowed to know which these are.

At the moment nobody except the County Council and the County County Councillors knows which lights will be left on and which will be switched off (although some County Councillors have consulted District Councillors others have not bothered).

The County Council has started the process of deciding which street lights in North Herts will be turned off between midnight and 6am.

All the district’s County Councillors have been given maps showing which lights are to be turned off in their areas, but the public are not allowed to know until after the  County Councillors have agreed to the proposals. Some County Councillors have said that they will consult with District Councillors, but there will be no other consultation.

Whilst there is nothing wrong with turning off many street lights – it will save money and energy – there are some that need to stay on. The idea that the County Council knows best about every street light in the district is plainly absurd. Liberal Democrat councillors tried to get a proper consultation process, but the Conservatives blocked this.

We will provide details of what is proposed as soon as we are able to.

Herts County Council has introduced a new system for report of highway problems such as pot holes on line, but the new system has two important drawbacks:

• It’s much more complicated to use than the old system
• It often doesn’t work

The Executive Member for Highways admitted at a recent county council meeting that they hadn’t bothered testing the new system and that it did things it wasn’t supposed to.’

North Herts Council has agreed to go ahead with the changes to Hitchin Town Hall that will see it house the council’s museum and a range of community facilities – subject to resolution of a number of detailed issues.

This has taken the council considerably longer that was expected. Lib Dem councillor Lawrence Oliver has been asking searching questions about the delay and was told last autumn that the council would be ready to go ahead in January. Now it looks like being at least June before the final details are agreed.

Since the scheme will be a real benfit to Hitchin – and will save the council money – we have to hope that the next stage (the implementation of the proposals) does not slip in the same way.

Helping communities to do more

There are many things that the council does or gets involved in that would be better done by community groups – such as running halls, allotments and other local facilities. Where the council has helped local people to do this they have done a better job than the council, usually at a lower cost.

Unfortunately the council often raises all sorts of objections rather than helping schemes like this get off the ground. A Liberal Democrat council would work with local people on projects like Bancroft Hall in Hitchin, Baldock Town Hall and traders in Letchworth who want to fund free car parking.

Delivering better value for money

After many years the council has at long last stopped putting up the council tax every year and has started to make some of the savings that Liberal Democrat councillors have been calling for. But North Herts still has amongst the highest council tax in Hertfordshire.

This year the council will save more than half a million pounds and most local people will see no difference in the services provided. These savings could have been made years ago but the Conservatives did nothing about this until the coalition government forced them to. Also there is still too much being spent on computer systems that do not deliver benefits and delivering mounds of paper by courier to councillors when it could all go by email.

A Liberal Democrat council would cut spending faster on “back room” functions that do not affect local services and share work with other councils faster to save more.

Introducing doorstep plastic recycling

North Herts has been successful at increasing recycling but many people think that the door to door collections should include plastic recycling. The Conservatives say this is not possible, yet 8 out 10 councils in Hertfordshire manage to do this.

 A Liberal Democrat council would introduce doorstep plastic recycling here too.

Herts County Council is to pay back £935,000 collected in invalid fines after failing to follow the proper process and install the correct signs on a bus lane in Hemel Hempstead. They were told in August 2011 that they had made several mistakes but insisted on continuing to collect the fines rather than fixing the problem until a tribunal forced them to stop.

Now they have to give the money back to the people they fined – but since they paid most of it to an enforcement company they will have to find an extra £800,000 – of our money. That’s £800,000 that they now cannot spend mending the roads.

Conservatives on North Herts Council have voted against a Liberal Democrat proposal calling on Herts County Council to consult people on which street lights are to be turned off between midnight and 6am.

They said that it was too hard to ask people, and that asking the County Councillors (who are all Conservatives) would be good enough.

Although turning off some of the lights will save money and cut CO2 emissions there are some lights which it is important to leave on – and local people often know best which these are.

Labour Councillors also voted against the proposal. They want all the lights left on all the time, even where everyone agrees that they are not needed and are just wasting energy.