| Greens propose County budget - Labour sit on their hands |
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Green Group County Council Budget Amendments 9 February 2010 Whilst the Greens proposed a full amendment to the Conservative-run County Council's annual budget (see below), the Labour Group chose to offer no alternative.
Detail of the Green Group Budget Amendment is given below, explained by County Green Group Leader Cllr. Larry Sanders:
The Green Party believes it is the duty of 1) Invest £4.5 million to provide free insulation to thousands of homes. This investment would bring in at least asmuch again from the government and energy companies. Householders would save at least £18 million in energy costs. Most of that money would be spent locally. 2) Invest £5 million to provide anaccessible and effective system of benefits Information, advice and advocacy toserve older people, adults with disabilities, children with disabilities andtheir families, people on low incomes and the unemployed. Similar serviceselsewhere in the country show a return of 5-10 times the investment. This will bring at least £25 million poundsto be spent in every locality of the County, creating profits and furtheremployment. 3) Our new programmes and the restorationof £20 million pounds that the Conservative Cabinet plans to remove from vitalservices for people with disabilities and children will restore the more than 500 posts that would be eliminated. TheCounty cannot afford the loss of income for more than 500 people and the morethan £10 million they spend in the shops and services of the County. We make major provision forimprovement in the following areas: - Reducing Carbon Emissions - Improving economic well-being and reducing poverty - Creation of a coherent structure for the improvement of Adult Social Care - Restoration of cuts to services for older people, learning disabled people and people with mental health problems - Restoration of cuts to archive and library services - Restoration of cuts to services for Children, Young People and Families How do we pay for these investments? The major source of extra funding is the creation of moderate charges for the Park and Ride (P and R) sites andon-street parking in We plan on a level 2.75% increase in Council Tax for each of the 5 years. This is likely tobe little more than inflation. It is the same as the Cabinet levy in Year 1 andlower than the 3.75% increase they propose for Years 4 and 5. They rely on a ConservativeGovernment to bail them out with taxpayer money collected by the Government inYears 2 and 3. We do not. Council Tax is an unfair and regressive tax.Unfortunately, the Conservative and Labour governments of the last 30 yearshave made Income Tax the same.
REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS Carbonreduction is a major responsibility of all public bodies. Oxfordshire isfailing. The per capita emission of carbon in Oxfordshire is substantiallyhigher than the national average and even higher than the South east average. Carbonuse will certainly be massively reduced. Our choice is whether to do it in aplanned and fair manner or be forced to do it late, expensively and at theexpense of the poorest people. Our budget will massively reduce carbonemissions in the following ways: 1) Insulating 18,000 houses: The £4.5 million investment discussedabove would bring in at least another £4.5 million from Government and EnergyCompanies. This would insulate some 18,000 houses at £500 per house. The levelof take-up would be great because the service would be free. The average energysavings of about £240 per year would give householders some £18 million overfive years. The savings would, of course, continue long after. The carbon savingswould be substantial. The areas of the County with the highest proportion ofpoor people would be tackled first. This would quickly lead to a substantialreduction in the numbers of people living in fuel poverty. 2) Renewable energy produced in thousandsof homes: We would adopt the RE-charge scheme which has been pioneered in Kirklees. The County would borrow £3 million over 3 years. Interest free loans of about £10,000 each would be made to home owners to install approved renewable energy. The loans neednot be repaid until the property is sold. As loans are repaid a revolving fundwill be created, permitting more loans. The scheme will deliver CO2 savings ofmore than 1,000 tonnes a year. The estimated cost to the County is £1.5 millionover 40 years. 3) Renewable energy projects in everyschool in the County: Weprovide £1,725,000 over 5 years so that every school in the County will receivealmost £6,000 to invest in solar or wind power. This will reduce carbonemissions and save significant sums which can be used by the schools. Even moreimportantly, all our children will learn about the importance and practicalityof renewable energy. 4) Shared spaces- a more walkableOxfordshire: Pedestrianuse of the streets is healthy, enjoyable and low carbon. The recent publicationby the Oxford Pedestrians Association “A More Walkable Oxford” proposes manyways to enhance such use, based on the principle of putting the pedestrian atthe centre of the design process, rather than the car. We provide £500,000, £100,000for five years, to make these changes possible. The approach should be appliedto the entire County. 5) Pedestrian Officer: We fund this post at £40,000 per year,for five years, to make sure that the needs and views of pedestrians arerepresented in all discussions about streets and traffic. Increased walking ishealthy and carbon saving. 6) Cycling Officer: We fund this post at £40,000 per yearto make sure that the needs and views of cyclists are represented in alldiscussions of streets and traffic. Safe cycling is healthful and allows asubstantial reduction in car use. 7) Research Light Tram Line: There have been significant developments in the design of light tramlines in recent years. They would be a better solution to the problems of 8) Research congestion charge: A congestion charge can be animportant part of a system of reducing car travel, reducing carbon emissionsand pollution. It can also raise substantial amounts of money to improve publictransportation. What are the possible outlines of such a policy for IMPROVING ECONOMIC WELL-BEING ANDREDUCING POVERTY The economicwell- being of the people of Oxfordshire and the reduction of poverty should bemajor concerns of the County Council. The proposals discussed in the openingparagraphs of this paper show how we would bring over £60 million to the peopleof the County. The projects listed belowgive more detail of how we would improve well-being and reduce poverty. 1) Major increase in information,advice and advocacy: Therecession increases the need, already not fully met, for access to free,reliable Advice and Advocacy for mortgage, tenancy, benefit and debt managementproblems. Thousandsmore families will be affected by unemployment and hundreds will be at risk ofloss of their homes. We know that tens of millions of pounds in disability,pension and low-income benefits are not being claimed by the people of thisCounty. We will change this. We will work in partnership with the District Councils,the PCT and voluntary sector organisations. We would provide a £740,000 peryear increase, for a total of £3,700,000 over the five years. This would makepossible weekly sessions in virtually every General Practice surgery in theCounty and in Village Halls, Schools and other community facilities. Every family in danger of losing their homewould have first-class advice and representation. These services will help manypeople with disabilities and their carers to make the complicated submissionsnecessary to successfully claim Attendance Allowance and Disability LivingAllowance which can enhance their lives. This service is an important part ofthe overall Green plan for a full life for Older People and People withLearning Disabilities. Similar services and take-up campaigns elsewhere in thecountry show that they can be expected to bring to claimants five to ten timesthe money spent on them. In our case that would mean at least £18 million.Access to employment would always an integral part of take-up work. 2) School focused benefittake-up projects- significantly reduce childhood poverty: Allied to theabove project would be one which focuses on the benefits of disabled children andthe families of children living in poverty. We provide £260,000 a year, for atotal of £1.3 million over 5 years. We would finally make a realistic attemptto reduce childhood poverty. The need to tackle it is even more urgent in hardfinancial times. Poverty affects the health and educational attainment ofchildren. It affects their sense of self-esteem and their mental health. Projects focused on children have an evenbetter return on investment than more general projects. We would be likely to helpthem receive benefits to which they are entitled to a value of much more than£6.5 million. Employment prospects for parents and older children would be anessential part of the programme. 3) Credit Union Development: Many of the people of Oxfordshire areunable to access credit, no matter how necessary or affordable, except by useof extortionate money-lenders. The Credit Union is an established and vitaladdition to the banking system. It is largely run by volunteers and helps createcommunity cohesion. There is only one in Oxfordshire. We provide a one-off fundof £50,000 to help expand that Credit Union and establish such others as mightbe needed and viable. 4) Food PurchasingCooperative: In the recession many people will need to find ways of buyingnutritious food at reduced cost. These cooperatives are able to buy foodwholesale at much lower cost than retail. The purchases, repacking anddistribution are done by volunteer members of the Cooperative. We provide aone-off grant of £50,000 to help develop as many local organisations as areneeded and wanted, throughout the County. IMPROVING ADULT SOCIAL The large increasein the number of people living to an age at which they require help and thelarge increase of the numbers of people with Learning Disabilities survivingchildhood and having increased life spans are major accomplishments of oursociety. Our challenge is, not merely to keep people alive, but to make itpossible for them to have full and socially involved lives. If they areisolated in their homes, staring at four walls, it would not be much to beproud of. They need to be surrounded by a system of prevention, earlyintervention and alert and empowered communities. We propose afunded policy with four main elements: - Care based on villages andneighbourhoods Wepropose a team of 10 Community Development Workers, employed by the County orfunded through voluntary sector organisations to help people in each communityin the County to work together to make life more interesting for all those whowould like to participate, to fill gaps which presently exist and to supportall those who are already active. They would also be able to help local peoplemake sure their voice is heard by all the other voluntary and statutoryorganisations. Most communities would have local buildings: schools, villagehalls, community centres at which there would be meals and a variety ofactivities, as well as a variety of home visiting and outings. We provide £400,000a year, for a total of £2,000,000. This team would provide the time and skillto bring about the wished-for increase in volunteering, place-making and mutualhelp. These things do not happen by accident. The present Community Developmentteam is too small to do what is needed. People,whether they have disabilities or not, want to travel to be with other people,to attend classes and performances, to see friends, to see and be in touch withnature. In addition to the varioussubsidies presently in place we propose £200,000 a year for a total of£1,000,000 over five years to support local voluntary schemes, to providebackup in the case of illness, to provide insurance and to subsidise taxitravel. Itis fully accepted now that Carers are the backbone of all statutory andvoluntary care for people with disabilities. Oxfordshire has made substantialimprovements in support of Carers but there remains much to be done to assurethem the rest that they need to continue to care. We propose an additional £2,275,000over five years for these purposes. - Cultural and Adult Learning Services Afull life means learning, enjoying and doing. The County, within its employ andoutside, has many gifted and willing teachers, artists, writers and performers.We propose an expenditure of £100,000 a year from 2010 to 2014, a total of£400,000, to make these joys available to many more people with disabilitiesthan are presently involved, whether they are in their own homes or in Nursingor Care Homes or long-term in hospital. RESTORING SERVICES FOR OLDER PEOPLE,PEOPLE WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES AND PEOPLE WITH MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS The Cabinetbudget proposals contain large and damaging reductions in essential programmes.The Transforming Social Care project has many good elements. These will be putat risk if funding is inadequate. The preventive measures need a lot more timeand monitoring before we will know if they save the kinds of money beingremoved from the system by the Cabinet proposals. Many people can live at home butonly if their services are good enough. Many people will eventually needresidential care. Good quality care must be available for them. Thesereductions will cause pain and hardship for the vulnerable and their families.We therefore restore the following services: - Saving on care home and home careexpenditure for older people. Restorethe full £1.1 million over 5 years. - Large packages of home support forolder people. Thesepackages are provided only for the most disabled. We restore half of these cuts,for a total of £875,000 over 5 years. - Savings from increased investment inreenablement for older people. Theidea of providing intense rehabilitation to people at an early point in theirdisability is sound. Many will be strengthened enough to require lesscontinuing support. This cut, however, is too much, too soon. We restore half ofthe reduction, a total of £1.25 million over 5 years. - Savings on redesign of servicedelivery with the voluntary sector for people with mental health problems. This is not so much redesign assevere damage to a useful partnership which provides valuable help in apreventive manner. Oxfordshire hashistorically been among the least helpful authorities for people with mentalhealth problems. This is a tradition to leave behind. We restore the fullamount of £530,000 over 5 years. - Savings from the supportedaccommodation review (for people with Learning Disabilities). This is another one of those reviewswhich know the results in advance. Supported living has been a real success forthis Council. This cut will harm many people with Learning Disabilities andtheir frequently aged parents. We restore the full £1 million over 5 years. - Saving from delayed admission to supportedliving (for people with Learning Disabilities). This cut intensifies the pressures onstruggling families and is bad for the sense of independence of those who haveshown they are capable of more independent living. We restore the full £1.6million over 5 years. RESTORATION OF OTHER COMMUNITYSERVICES - Reduction in Archive Services. This is an unnecessary cut in a muchvalued service. More people are becoming interested in using these fascinatingresources to increase understanding of their own families and of the history ofwhich we are part. We restore the cut in full; £200,000 over 5 years - Reduction in book expenditure. The Library service is of inestimablevalue to the people of the County. Books are the heart of the Library Service.This is a sad cut. We restore the full amount of the cut: £189.000 over 5years. ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMES FOR SOCIAL ANDCOMMUNITY SERVICES - Asylum seekers with Mental Healthproblems. Asylumseekers waiting long periods for final determination, not allowed to work, onreduced or no benefit income are in dire difficulties. Those with significantmental health problems are even worse off. We propose £100,000 a year for fiveyears, a total of £500,000, for basic housing and living needs for thesepeople. - Reducing pressures on Adult SocialCare. There are verylarge amounts of reductions which have not yet been found in the later years ofthe MTFP. As a contribution towards reducing the need for cuts we create a fundof £2.5 million in Years 4 and 5 for a total of £5.0 million. RESTORING SERVICES FOR CHILDREN, YOUNGPEOPLE AND FAMILIES Some of themost important services of this Directorate are being sacrificed to themistaken priorities of the current Administration. We restore them in full. - Savings on services for disabledchildren. These aredestructive and wasteful. The lack of services now will put fearful pressureson the families and reduce the chance for more independent lives for thechildren as they become adults. We restore the full £250,000 over 5 years. - Savings on early years and children’scentres. These havebeen immensely effective innovations in support for children and theirfamilies. Oxfordshire has done excellent work in these areas. These cuts willhave damaging effects which will be seen for decades, if not for generations.We restore the full cuts of £2.4 million over 5 years. - Savings on Respite Care for Childrenwith Disabilities. Respitecare is often the saving grace for families under immense pressures. It oftenprovides a taste of independence and fun for severely disabled children. Thesecuts are unthinkable. We restore the full amount of the cuts: £1 million over 5years. - Saving on restructure of ASET and EMAS(educational services for the children of Traveller families and for childrenfrom Ethnic Minorities).Both groups of children frequently have difficulties in education. Some ofthese are connected with the need to learn and improve English Language skills.There is room for improvement in these services. The massive cuts proposed willnot accomplish them. They will simply create unnecessary problems for childrenand the adults they will become in becoming prosperous members of society. Werestore the full amount cut: £2,330 million over 5 years. ADDITIONAL SERVICE FOR CHILDREN, YOUNGPEOPLE AND FAMILIES Support for parents of children withsevere disabilities. Arecent Mencap report noted the number of parents of children with severeLearning Disabilities who were at “breaking point”. This is one of many suchreports. It is the County’s responsibility to reduce the enormous pressure onparents of children with every form of severe disability and it has not yetdone so fully. We propose an additional expenditure of £400,000 a year, £2million over five years to significantly improve the short break facilities forthese families. Increase number of Apprentices. There has been a drastically increasedlevel of unemployment amongst young people as the recession deepens. Those whomight have had difficulties in finding employment in better times, includingCare Leavers, will have more difficulties. There are many young people for whomApprenticeships are a good way in which to enter rewarding work lives. Wepropose an increase in funding for the County to employ Apprentices in allDirectorates of £100,000 a year for five years, a total of £500,000. |