Lib Dems plan for cleaner,greener Reading gets green light

Last night, the Council budget was finally set - after three attempts. The final text of the motion reflected almost exactly the alternative budget we had put forward, three meetings earlier. Labour politicians could have saved the people of Reading time and money if they had accepted our ideas sooner, but they were too arrogant to do that.

 

Our proposals focused on three key areas:

1. Reduced the Council tax as far as possible, and we were told 3.99% was as far as it could safely be reduced, by the Director of Resources - without seriously affecting services.
2. Put an cash back into the reserves - after Labour had been raiding them, year-on-year
3. Targeted service improvements:

• Reduction in charges for bulky waste collection for low income households

• A “Green Hit Squad” – a dedicated two-man team to tackle fly tipping

• A communications budget for the local police Neighbourhood Action Groups (NAG), outlined by Daisy yesterday

• More speed guns for the police – to help target speeding hot-spots

  

Back in October, we tabled a motion to extend free collections of bulky waste. We argued that if  more people , particularly those on low incomes, could get ride of their fridges, freezers or sofas for free then fewer residents would turn to dumping their rubbish out of desperation.

 

At the time both Labour and the Tories voted down our proposals. It would seem  they were quite happy to sit on their hands rather than make Reading a cleaner fairer place. .

 

The problem of fly-tipping continues to be a massive problem across Redlands and the Borough as a whole.

 

5 months on since we debated the issue in Council and after years of campaigning by the Lib Dem team (link to earlier blog post), we have now succeeded to get real action on fly-tipping on the books.

 

Officers will now be instructed to reform the scheme including extending free collections to people on low incomes. In conjunction with timely and targeted environmental enforcement - this scheme should have an impact on many of our cramp terraced lined streets.

Streets, which currently feature many front gardens filled with bulky waste. At present, residents just have to look out houses – and draw there own conclusion on how effective the current Labour policy is. We have been reporting dumped rubbish for clearance across Redlands for months.

We are pleased that Labour politicians in Reading are finally waking up to the need to take action for our local environment. Once again, it is the Lib Dems on Reading Borough Council who have put the environment first. As ever, the Conservatives have been silent on the issues that matter, beyond the occasional blog post.

Comments

[Chipper]

Why didn't you reduce it to 3.9%, 3.99% = 4.0% to 1 decimal place? Please stop spinning the figures!

[Glenn Goodall]

Because in the text of the motion it says 3.99 % (I keep dropping 9 by accident). So it's not spin it's a presentation of the facts. Something the Tories are clearly unable to achieve!