A new, progressive choice for everyone

A new, progressive choice for everyone

The East Riding of Yorkshire Council needs fair and transparent funding from Central Government

East Riding of Yorkshire ratepayers will have a small rise of 1.5% in their council tax charges this coming year.

The Conservative Controlled East Riding of Yorkshire Council has set a budget for the next financial year of £269 million, which requires a council tax at Band D of £1,212.20. The council tax increase is the lowest ever set by East Riding of Yorkshire Council and will mean that the increase for an average household will be less than £16 per year.

While the costs of providing services in a large but quite sparsely populated rural area like the East Riding are high - as with all Local Authorities the East Riding of Yorkshire Council relies heavily on the Central Government grant for funding; unfortunately over recent years the area has received less and less. At present we receive around £100 per person less than the national average, and significantly less then our neighbouring authorities, e.g. the East Riding gets only £384 per person compared to £600 in Hull. (please see table below)

The formula Labour use is so complicated it is impossible for most people to understand but it adds up to Central Government giving the East Riding a staggering £100 million less that it would if we were funded to the same level as Hull.

The unfairness in Central Government funding also applies to schools, with the East Riding pupils again receiving less funding per head then the national average and also that of our neighbours, e.g. East Riding schools receiving £337 less per pupil than Hull schools. (please see table below)

An extremely positive outcome of the 2010/11 budget is that the East Riding of Yorkshire Council will be carrying out its biggest ever building or ‘capital’ programme, with £148 million to be spent on improving essential infrastructure like roads, housing and schools. The programme has been boosted and accelerated by the fiscal stimulus of £100 million approved last year which is resulting in the council bringing forward many schemes to assist the local economy and support local businesses.

In addition, the council is undertaking a £33 million programme over the next year, which will see the first new council, homes in the East Riding for many years. Some 275 properties are to be built and more will follow as a result of additional funding that has been secured. This building programme will also help support local businesses, especially the construction industry.

In conclusion, despite being constantly squeezed by lower and lower Central Government funding year on year. The East Riding Council continues to deliver top level, four-star services, investment in infrastructure, and sound financial management, whilst keeping the Council Tax relatively low..... and strange as it may seem we also have a net influx of pupils from Hull attending East Riding of Yorkshire Council's high performing schools.

Please find the following from Prospective MP for Brigg and Goole Andrew Percy:

Labour Seek to Double Council Tax Rise

Submitted by andrew on Thu, 11/02/2010 - 21:01.
Andrew Percy has reacted with anger at an attempt by Labour Councillors to double the Council tax rise for residents in the Goole and Snaith area.

The East Riding Council met today to set the Council Tax for the next year with Labour Councillors trying to force a higher than inflation rise of 3% on hard pressed taxpayers.

Andrew Percy says, "With unemployment in our area still rising, and with the Humber area suffering the hardest from Gordon Brown's recession, you would have thought that Labour Councillors would have wanted to give hard pressed taxpayers a break. Pensioners in particular feel Council Tax rises especially hard, and after 13 years of putting up the bills of pensioners, Labour have clearly learned nothing!

It is only thanks to the vigilance of Conservative Councillors that this year's rise will be kept to 1.5%, well below the current rate of inflation. I don't always agree with everything the East Riding Council does but they have certainly made the right decision on this year's Council Tax.

The East Riding receives some of the worst funding in England from the Labour Government, meaning that keeping Council Tax rises down is no mean feat."

Skate/BMX parks - and how young people can develop a sense of ownership

The Goole and Howdenshire Local Action Team (LAT) is working with other groups, organisations and partners to look at anti-social behaviour issues. The perceived lack of youth facilities and activities to enable young people to have things to do and places to go appears to be a contributory factor, particularly in both Goole and Old Goole.Along with fellow East Riding of Yorkshire Councillor (ERYC) Beryl Beck Taylor, Goole’s detached youth workers, and a number of young people I was invited on a fact- finding mission to look at youth facilities including skate parks, BMX tracks and play areas in Hull and the East Riding.

Unfortunately the weather was a little cold so there were not many young people using the facilities, but I was very much impressed by the Ings Road site provided by Hull City Council and free to use. The £330k concrete skate/bike park was funded through grants and administered by the council, and is of a concrete construction with a shelter and seating. The site is unfenced but is protected by CCTV and timed lighting. The most striking thing (apart from the non-offensive graffiti) was the lack of vandalism.

(Ings Road skate/BMX park)

I was amazed by the young people we spoke to, who said they police the site themselves, bring their own brushes to clean it, and won’t allow offensive graffiti. They actually came across as having a strong sense of ownership, having been part of the decision making process from the very beginning - which was great to hear.

The visit also included a visit to the Haltemprice Sport Centre’s flood-lit metal skate park, which was developed as a result of community leaders supporting young people with their applications for funding and helping them to commission contractors to work on their ideas.

Interestingly this was on the back of a visit to the Bridlington Town Council’s skate/BMX park a few weeks ago. This project was put together by Bridlington Town Council, and differs significantly in the fact that the whole area is fenced and locked, there is a charge to use the facility and most importantly the young people we spoke to felt no ownership of the skate park whatsoever. Unfortunately the site has suffered from vandalism.

The visit to Hull was about giving young people the opportunity to consider and discuss their dreams and ideas for Goole. The BMX trail in West Park, Goole is due to be extended and developed, so it was a useful opportunity to find out what works elsewhere.

The young people played an active role in developing some of the sites that we visited, and we wanted to encourage and motivate our young people to play their part in shaping Goole for the future.

The visit formed part of a project the ERYC Youth Service in delivering in Goole using some £19,000 of the Government’s ‘Connecting Communities’ funding which is to be used to fund a number of community based activities in the town over the next few months. The aim is to encourage young people to engage in decision-making processes and inspire them to influence those decisions affecting their communities.

Unfortunately the weather was a little cold so there were not many young people using the facilities, but I was very much impressed by the Ings Road site provided by Hull City Council and free to use. The £330k concrete skate/bike park was funded through grants and administered by the council, and is of a concrete construction with a shelter and seating. The site is protected by CCTV and timed lighting.

I was amazed by the kids we spoke to, who said they police the site themselves, bring their own brushes to clean it, and won’t allow offensive graffiti. They actually came across as having a strong sense of ownership, having been part of the decision making process from the very beginning - which was great to hear.

I feel that young people are not always listened to – especially on issues that affect them directly.

Last week I was invited to take part in the mock general election at Wolfreton School and Sixth Form College as part of their democracy day. Along with representatives from the Labour Party, Green Party and the Lib Dems we were asked to talk for a few minutes on Young People and Democracy. The following is the short presentation I gave:


Young People and Democracy

I feel that young people are not always listened to – especially on issues that affect them directly.

Today’s young people are the decision makers of tomorrow. We must stimulate your interest in democracy, enable your voices to be heard and for you to have a stake in the political process.
It is a myth that young people are not interested in politics.

I know from talking to many young people that you are passionately interested in issues as diverse as crime, anti-social behaviour and bullying, alcohol and drugs, sexual health and teenage pregnancy, youth activities and sport, and reducing the voting age to 16.

But it up to us adults to listen to you, we have to have to make formal politics more relevant and somewhat less boring – and we need to capitalise on the interest shown today. All organisations need to listen more to young people and should be encouraged to ‘youth proof’ their activities wherever possible.

We need to look at how the political parties, Government and Local Councils communicate with young people – How many of you use Facebook?

We need to maximise the use of Facebook but also Twitter, Bebo, My Space and blogs.

We need to improve the opportunities for young people to get involved in politics at a local level, through your school council, through the East Riding Youth Assembly and through emerging community youth councils.

Young people have to feel that someone is listening to them and to their point of view; this will go a long way to enhance their belief in politics. Specifically if young people were able to vote at 16, be able to fully participate in the East Riding Youth Assembly, and have the opportunity to connect with their elected Councillors, MPs and MEPs - then we might just see more engagement of young people in the political process.

(School photo by Paul Harrop)

Link to the East Riding Youth Assembly: ihttp://www.eriding.net/young_people/youth_assembly.shtml

Link to Wolfreton School:
http://www.wolfreton.co.uk/

Lowest ever council tax rise set by East Riding of Yorkshire Council

East Riding of Yorkshire ratepayers will have a small rise of 1.5% in their council tax charges this coming year.

The Conservative Controlled East Riding of Yorkshire Council has set a budget for the next financial year of £269 million, which requires a council tax at Band D of £1,212.20. The council tax increase is the lowest ever set by East Riding of Yorkshire Council and will mean that the increase for an average household will be less than £16 per year.

As Councillors we had as a basis for discussion a budget prepared by the council’s corporate management team which indicated a 3% rise in council tax. However, this increase has been halved by taking money from various reserves and budgeting for a half per cent pay rise, which is in line with national expectations, and not from front line services.

I hope that this lower-than-expected increase will come as some relief to the many East Riding families who continue to endure the adverse effects of the recession, especially those on fixed incomes. This is more good news for Gilberdyke residents who will also benefit from the 30% cut in the Parish Council part of their council tax.

I think we certainly took our political opponents by surprise in announcing the 1.5% increase. It was sad that the Liberal Democrat group could not support our proposals, and even worse that the Labour Councillors not only failed to support the budget, but instead proposed a full 3% increase. I am not sure what message the local Labour Group is sending out but it has all the hallmarks of what we have seen with Labour nationally since 1997 – HIGHER TAXES!

I agree with Beverley and Holderness Tory MP Graham Stuart when reacting to our budget proposals he said,

“Labour has learnt nothing, the choice at the General Election is now clear – responsible government under the Conservatives or sky rocketing taxes under Labour."

http://www.grahamstuart.com/

Campaign For Faster Broadband Speeds in Howdenshire Villages

Continuing on the campaign for faster broadband speeds in Howdenshire Villages, particularly Holme on Spalding Moor, Newport and Bubwith, the Conservatives have unveiled plans to help make the UK the first major European country that has superfast broadband in the majority of homes by 2017.

Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport said "we are currently one of the slowest countries in the developed world for broadband", but with the Conservatives "we'll become one of the fastest".

Most importantly, Mr. Hunt said that under these plans "high speeds will be available not just in our cities but across the rural areas that have been left behind for too long".

Commenting on the plans Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs Jim Paice MP said:
“Our proposals to deliver superfast broadband will benefit town and country, leaving no rural community behind. We will use any underspend from the digital switchover fund to establish a universal broadband network of 2 Mbps by 2012.

This approach could be continued post 2012 if our plans to force BT to open their infrastructure to other operators have not started delivering high speed broadband to even the most windswept reaches of the country.

Farmers are increasingly expected to deal with the Government online so it is incumbent on Ministers to enable them to do this with high speed broadband connections.”

Disused Bubwith Arts Centre Gets Planning Consent For Development

The East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Planning Committee has, subject to access issues being resolved, approved the development of the disused Arts International Centre just north of Bubwith. The centre has not been used for many years and despite numerous attempts by the owners, could not be sold.

The application was for a conversion to accommodate 14 dwellings and 2 offices plus a part conversion of the existing theatre to provide a Rural Enterprise Centre. This in my view was the best compromise and will ensure that the building does not fall into disrepair, adds to the sustainability of Bubwith village and the shops and services it provides.

My fellow Howdenshire Councillor Mrs Engall spoke in support of the application. I then proposed that we as a planning committee supported the application, but asked for a footpath to directly link the development to the village be included, and that the vehicular access should be onto a side road rather than the Howden - York Road, fortunately the majority of the committee members agreed and we have a way forward. (Photo by Gordon Kneale Brooke)