Liberal Democrats condemned the Conservative group at county hall for failing to back proposals to increase spending on youth by £1 million.

Liberal Democrats at County Hall say: ‘It beggars belief that the Tory run County Council still does not get it. Young people need to be given something to do. Our proposals would have provided a subsidy for young people to enable them to use District Council leisure facilities or provide activities in areas where there are currently none.  This would have been paid for by reducing the wastage and over staffing at County Hall.

Local Hitchin Liberal Democrat Paul Clark says;”We need to respect our young people and give them something to do that they want, then they will not be tempted into harm’s way. But the Tories seemed locked into an old-fashioned approach to youth provision which sees it as somehow an arm of the Education Department and Schools.  In todays modern age the young people want to be treated fairly and given a choice which is what our proposals would have done.”

North Herts Council is now planning to spend a massive £10.6 million pounds on new council offices - 40% more than they originally estimated. The revised figures was presented to the Council’s Cabinet as part of the Council’s budget for 2009/10.  Liberal Democrats say “This is an outrageous amount of money for the Council to spend on new offices at any time. 

It looks particularly bad at a time when many people in the District are finding it hard to make ends meet.  “The Council’s papers show the new offices as part of its programme to deliver “satisfied communities”. We cannot imagine that many people in

North Herts will feel greater satisfaction as a result of the council spending nearly £1,000 for every resident of the District on a new office building.” The Liberal Democrat group on the Council has consistently opposed the decision to move to new offices.  Remarkably, Labour Councillors have supported the Tory leadership and voted for the move and the expense.

The Tories have refused to cut waste at County Hall when confronted in the budget debate with the need for much deeper reductions in costs.

Lib Dem say: ‘The Tories are boasting that they have made £17.4 million efficiency savings. But at a time of deep recession it should not be too difficult. Suppliers know full well that everybody is reducing margins and will be willing to offer much keener prices.

‘We have proposed that an extra £3 million be saved by reducing procurement costs especially in regard to Hertfordshire Highways, £3.75 million be saved from reducing staff numbers and £600,000 saved from reducing the endless stream of glossy publications pouring out of County Hall which are not being read by anyone.

Hitchin Lib Dem Paul Clark says”Yet again inflation busting Council Tax bills from our Conservatives Councils will be dropping through our letter boxes soon.  Services will be reduced and the bureaucratic paper work will no doubt increase with no help to residents or our troubled local economy.

Hitchin is also being targeted by the Tories further as they look to hike the carparking charges in Hitchin & Letchworth while leaving other areas unaffected.  This is wrong and Lib Dems on the District Council fought to get this reversed but the Conservatives voted to impose the increased Tax Pain. 

Roads in our town are becoming increasingly hazardous due to several factors;-On Hitchin Hill past Standhill Road the road has been steadily crumbling.  We are now told that this will now be resurfaced in March next year but we wait to see what happens.

The Conservative run County Council continue to waste taxpayer’s money with short term measures such as patching.  Lib Dems are calling for a proper long-lasting renewal of our roads.With the recent bad weather conditions, areas such as Bridge Street have flooded due to blocked drains.  The County Council has seemingly not been managing the gulley cleansing programme in a proper manner to stop this happening.  Only when local residents complain do they do something to stop the problem.Rat running remains a problem as seen in an incident on Hitchin Hill when a vehicle drove into the front of a house.  At the time these houses were built the kerb should have been raised to offer some protection, but this was not done.

Now the County Council has taken its responsibility to remedy and improve the situation.  In addition they are also working with the Police to make the area safer for residents.In Tilehouse Street, Standhill Road, Cemetery Road, St John’s Road and Hollow Lane car parking is getting worse.  Some relief is in prospect for Standhill Road, Hollow lane, Kershaw’s Hill and Cemetery Road etc following work by local Highbury Councillor Paul Clark.  Funding for a residents parking scheme has been put in place and should be installed soon.