Last night the Liberal Democrats won support from Council for their budget proposals for 2013/14

The Liberal Democrat budget shows that we listen to residents and have prioritised the services which matter most to them, from youth services to weekly bin collections.

We recognise that the current economic climate is tough which is why we have frozen Council tax for a further year. In fact, there have been no increases in Council tax since the Liberal Democrats took control of the Council in 2011.

I am proud that this Liberal Democrat administration is making sensible investments to secure new homes and jobs for local people.

It is disappointing that the Conservative Councillors preferred to play political games rather than supporting this budget which delivers so much for local communities. In the end the vote was won by 38 vote for (28 Liberal Democrats supported by 5 Independent and 5 Labour votes with 1 Conservative abstention and 24 Conservative votes against.

The budget has much good news for our environment and cannot afford to ignore the environment even in this time of austerity. Capital spending on energy efficiency improvements in schools, a fund for biomass projects, resources to start delivering the Retrofit and Green Deal partnership, together with further work to reduce the Council’s own carbon footprint show that we are really committed to investing in the future of the environment. These measures will also give economic benefits, delivering financial cost savings and employment opportunities, and social benefits, enhancing community cohesion and improving the quality of life for our residents. The budget also brings £500,000 investment into improving cycle paths, cycle lanes and routes across B&NES. This will be an enormous boost to cycling locally and will help enable many people to choose more sustainable means of transport. The Liberal Democrats are prioritising investment to sustainability leading to fewer cars on the road and reduced congestion. This is a highlight of an exciting week for cycling; a week which has seen the opening of the Millmead Road bridge section of the Two Tunnels route and work starting on the cycle route from Lower Bristol Road to Bath Spa University funded by the Local Sustainable Transport Fund.

 

·         Please visit http://www.bathlibdems.org.uk/budget for more budget stories from B&NES Liberal Democrats.

·         “Everything you need to know about the budget” on bathnes.gov.uk – LINK

·         Follow the hashtag #listeningbudget2013 on Twitter for more on the budget process.