Nice to Have! (Somerset Liberal Democrat Group)

Somerset Liberal Democrat Group <info@somersetlibdems.org.uk>

Nice to Have!

March 25, 2010 4:00 PM
By John Bailey in Western Gazette

Dear Sir,

Somerset was a 4 STAR County but speaking in last week's Somerset County Council budget debate, Conservative leader Cllr. Maddock spoke of "nice to have but no longer affordable" services.

Which of your services are ' nice to have'

Local bus routes are among the wide range of services facing cutbacks. For many people, especially those in rural areas of our county, the local bus is not just "nice to have" but an essential link to the world outside their village.

Cuts are inevitable in the present economic climate, and the Lib Dems fully understand that, but the Conservatives' scattergun approach has, in many cases, hit the wrong targets. SCC shouldn't be cutting services to the vulnerable, young or old. Neither should services affecting safety be sacrificed. It appears that the ruling party takes a rather different view with cutbacks both to services for disadvantaged children and in care for the elderly.

At the same time the top Tories on the council are taking on four new highly paid support staff and creating a new Cabinet Office to make their own lives easier. Never before in the history of Somerset County Council has any party in power at County Hall felt it necessary to featherbed its councillors in this way. The cost is in excess pf a third of a million pounds annually. 'Nice to have', indeed, for the Conservative councillors but not even remotely affordable now or in the foreseeable future.

We should all be angry that this money is not going instead to maintaining the county's services.

John Bailey - County Councillor for Martock