Sal Jarvis

North Herts Conservative Councillors have blocked a Liberal Democrat proposal to make value for money one of the council’s top priorities. The proposal would have replaced the council’s existing priorities, making delivering better value an additional priority.

Liberal Democrat opposition leader Steve Jarvis said, “Coming the week after the council discovered that this year’s council tax rise was double what it needed to be and an Audit Commission report that highlighted the council’s poor performance on value for money, the decision by the Conservatives that this should not be one of the council’s top priorities is stunning. People in North Herts are paying far more than those in surrounding areas, yet the Conservatives don’t seem to care.”

“When we challenge them on this they say that they are being careful with the council’s money. The problem is that they are using our money to do it. Other councils can do better than this. Why can’t North Herts?”

Papers for this week’s North Herts Council cabinet meeting reveal that, after pushing through a 3.9% increase in Council Tax in February, the council has now discovered that the increase could have been much lower. The council spent nearly £200,000 less than expected last year – enough to reduce the council tax rise by 2%. 

Liberal Democrat leader of the opposition on the council, Steve Jarvis said, “North Herts has one of the highest levels of council tax in the area and a track record of big increases.  Now it is clear that this year’s rise could actually been much lower, with no impact on local services. The Conservatives who run the council say that they are being prudent, but it’s easy to be prudent when somebody else picks up the bill. It’s time they recognised that they are giving local people a bad deal and brought their performance into line with other councils.” 

Liberal Democrats proposed further savings in spending on new computers and software at the time of the budget. Coupled with the savings that have now been discovered these could have resulted in a tax rise of less than 1.5%. Neighbouring St.Albans council, which is run by the Liberal Democrats, did not increase its council tax at all this year.

At a meeting of the council on Thursday the Conservatives running North Herts Council dismissed a bad report from the Audit Commission claiming that the Audit Commission got it wrong. They rejected a Liberal Democrat proposal to recognise that the Council was falling behind other districts and needed to do better.

Steve Jarvis, Liberal Democrat leader of the opposition on the council, said, “The Audit Commission report clearly identified that North Herts council’s performance and value for money is worse than most other district councils. They reached this conclusion after studying the council’s performance and comparing it will other councils where they have conducted similar exercises . The Audit Commission is an independent body that has no reason to conclude that North Herts Council is worse than other councils unless that’s what the evidence shows. Rather than accept that there is a need to do things differently and that the Audit Commission is providing helpful information the leader of the council told us that the Audit Commission is wrong and that everything is fine.

“Many people will think that this sort of complacency is one of the reasons why North Herts Council performs more poorly than it could.”

Comments made by the Audit Commission in their annual audit letter to the council include

• Performance has largely stood still whilst other councils have improved
• Value for money is improving but sill falls short of levels achieved at most other authorities
• Over the last three years the council has also achieved a below average rate of improvement. This indicates that the council’s performance has not advanced at the rate of most district councils.

North Herts Council has confirmed that providing better facilities for teenagers in the district is not one of its priorities – even though residents in three of the district’s four towns say that this is the single most important thing that the Council could do to make the area a better place to live. Answering a question from Liberal Democrat Councillor Steve Jarvis the council’s policy portfolio holder told a meeting of the council that providing facilities for teenagers was not a priority and not the District Council’s responsibility despite the public’s views. She told the meeting that the County Council should be dealing with the issue.

Commenting Steve Jarvis said, “I’m afraid that this buck passing between the District Council and the County Council – both of which are run by the Conservatives – is all too common. Local people clearly think that providing more facilities for young people is important but the Council has decided that it knows best.”

 “People will wonder why, when it is already one of the most expensive councils in the area, it wastes its money on asking people’s opinions if it doesn’t intend to pay any attention to the results.” 

The District Council surveyed a representative sample of 1,000 people from across the District in July and August

The Liberal Democrats now form the opposition on North Herts Council after the local elections on May 1st.

All three Liberal Democrat Councillors standing for re-election - Clare Body in Hitchin Highbury, Lee Downie in Chesfield and Marilyn Kirkland in Baldock East - were re-elected. Labour lost two seats to the Conservatives.

 Lib Dem leader Steve Jarvis, who will now be leader of the opposition on the council, said, “North Herts Council is expensive, with the highest council tax rise of any district in Hertfordshire this year. Unlike the previous Labour opposition we will make sure that the Conservatives who run the council are challenged to deliver better value for local people.”

Conservative North Herts Council has agreed that it will increase spending by £115,000 to allow operation of the markets to be contracted out. Councillors were told that this is the markets share of the council’s overheads and if the extra budget was not agreed the council would have to carry on running the markets itself.

Liberal Democrat councillor Steve Jarvis said, “This shows how little grip the Conservatives have on the council’s finances. Everybody agrees that the markets should be taken over by somebody who can make a better job of running them, but to say it will cost £115,000 this year for the Council not to run the markets is crazy. If the council is doing less it should be cutting overheads, not just transferring the spending to another budget.”

“What’s worse is that next year they plan to spend £125,000 not running the markets. No wonder

 The increased spending is equivalent to a council tax increase of 1.2%.

Conservative members of North Herts Council have blocked a proposal to reopen public toilets at Bancroft in Hitchin and to provide proper toilet facilities at Baldock. They also refused to commit the council to keeping the bus station toilets in Royston open.

The council says that public toilets are not their responsibility.

The council’s refusal comes at a time when the dramatic fal in the number of public toilets has attracted national publicity.

North Herts Council agreed to impose the biggest council tax rise in Herts at its meeting on 7th February. The Council voted for a rise of 4.5%, meaning that the rise will be more than in any other district in the County. Both Labour and Conservative Councillors voted down a Liberal Democrat proposal that would have reduced the rise to 3.8%.

Liberal Democrat leader Steve Jarvis said, “North Herts has been increasing its council tax faster than the surrounding districts for several years, whilst cutting support for services like dial-a-ride and local buses. The Audit Commission says that the council is high cost, but the Conservatives who run the council say this is wrong. I suspect local people who pay more than most of the rest of Herts for fewer services know who they believe.”

The Liberal Democrat proposal would have scrapped a restructuring of the council’s Environmental Health department which will increase costs by nearly £60,000 a year without any improvement in services.