Local Conservatives are underspending on council services and storing up millions of pounds in reserve funds, according to their OWN report. The report, on Essex County Council finances for 2007/08, was approved at a meeting of the council's cabinet at county hall.
Chelmsford Liberal Democrats are backing calls to save the Post Office card account, which currently helps keep open local post offices around the country. The Government has added uncertainty to the future of the Post Office network by putting the Post Office Card Account (POCA) out to tender. If another organisation such as PayPoint or an international bank wins the tender, the Post Office Network will lose a vital part of their business, with further closures likely.
This week Surrey County Council debated its 2007 Community Survey, which reveals that:
Local MP Tim Farron has today backed Liberal Democrat plans to scrap mandatory testing for school children. Mr Farron, who regularly holds youth forums, often hears from both young people and educators that the mandatory national tests for seven and fourteen year olds do more harm than good. The abolition of mandatory tests would save the Government millions of pounds, which Mr Farron believes could be of great benefit to his constituents.
Local MP Tim Farron has welcomed the progress made towards establishing a Witherslack Community Shop. Witherslack has been without a local shop since the closure of their Post Office two years ago, and have now been offered a temporary site adjacent to the local pub, the Derby Arms, until a permanent location can be agreed with the Witherslack Community Land Trust, which owns the site.
Liberal Democrat MP and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Hill Farming Tim Farron has today spoken out against a "complacent" attitude to farming in general and in particular the Global Food Crisis by the Government. Mr Farron spoke out following a reply he received from DEFRA to a written question enquiring i nto the Governments strategy for ensuring security of food supply within the UK. The Government's response was purely a description of the current situation, and did not offer any solutions to what may soon become a very desperate situation.
