A leading Liberal Democrat has used a visit to York to warn that families in the city could still be hit by welfare cuts despite a high-profile Government U-Turn last year.

Lord Jonathan Oates, who was recently made a life peer after serving as a councillor in Kingston Upon Thames and Chief of Staff to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg throughout the Coalition Government, outlined his concerns at an event for party members at the weekend.

Last year, George Osborne was forced to re-think cuts to tax credits after a local and national campaign by the Lib Dems. The changes were set to hit 8,000 families in York, but Osborne said households claiming the benefit would be helped by “transitional protection” as they moved to the new single Universal Credit. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith claimed that “nobody will lose any money on arrival on universal credit from tax credits”.

However, the Government has revealed the “transition” funding will not be given to new claimants or families if they have a “significant change in circumstances” such as finding a partner or moving home. This means a single parent in York who finds a new partner and decides to form a two-parent family could as a result lose around £1,000 in benefit. The Lib Dems have dubbed this a “love tax” and launched a petition against the changes: www.yorklibdems.org.uk/universalcredit
Lord Oates, a Liberal Democrat peer in the House of Lords, commented:

“During the coalition, the Lib Dems supported Universal Credit because we believed that it would increase work incentives. However, these cuts undermine this and threaten to hit low-income working families in York and across the country.  The Conservative national manifesto says that the aim of welfare reform should be to reward hard work and protect the vulnerable. These changes do the opposite and show that the Conservatives are not on the side of working people.”

Cllr Sue Hunter, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Westfield who campaigned against the cuts to tax credits last year, commented:

“Lib Dems campaigned strongly and George Osborne was forced to rethink plans to cut working tax credits. However, it now looks like the Conservative Government is pushing through very similar cuts. Families in York could in fact lose out by £1,080 a year when they were led to believe they would be no worse off with Universal Credit.”

Cllr Keith Aspden, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, commented:

“I am pleased that Lord Oates and the Lib Dem team in Parliament are fighting these unfair changes to Universal Credit. I would urge residents in York to sign our petition to show their opposition to these changes which could hit low-income families across the city. The petition can be found at www.yorklibdems.org,uk/universalcredit”

York’s Executive has announced an amendment to its 2016/17 budget which increases investment in transport, bins and local ward committee projects. Extra money will also be set aside to help with the flood recovery and remodel early-intervention services for children and young people.

Earlier this month, the Government announced that York will receive £781,000 in transitional funding following the original national finance settlement announced last December. The Executive is therefore moving an amendment to its Budget on Thursday to allocate this money. The amendment also takes account of feedback to the original proposals announced at the beginning of February.

The investment will cover:

• £35,000 to fund new dog and litter bins across the city.
• £45,000 for Design and Conservation.
• £300,000 to support changes in Prevention and Early Intervention Services for children and young people.
• £50,000 to support the remodelling of bus subsidies.
• £150,000 for ‘Pride in York’ (part of Ward Committee funding) to support environmental projects, grounds maintenance and voluntary groups.
• £26,000 to ensure that substance misuse advice can continue to be offered at York Carers Centre.
• £20,000 to support greater capacity in planning enforcement.
• £30,000 to support sustainable transport projects.
• £125,000 into contingency to plan for further flood and drainage costs.

Cllr Keith Aspden, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader of City of York Council, commented:

“Whilst this transitional funding is welcome the council is still facing an overall budget cut from the government over the next four years as well as the rising costs of adult social care. We have therefore focused this transitional money on helping to ensure crucial services such as early intervention work for children and young people and bus subsidies are sustainable in the long-term. We have also listened to those who have been responding to our consultation and initial proposals. This means more investment in frontline services such as bins, more money into local ward budgets and community projects, as well as more support for York Carers Centre.”

Even more street lights in York will be replaced with a new ‘white light’ – providing a clearer light, which will aim to make people feel safer at night.

Over 900 new 25 watt LED lantern conversions will be installed from 15th February predominately in residential areas around York. The areas selected to receive the new lights have the highest number of 35 watt low pressure sodium lanterns (orange light) and 70 watt high pressure sodium lanterns (yellow light).

The new lighting will help make significant carbon, energy and cost savings. In addition to the new LEDs, lights will be adjusted by up to 50-60 per cent on streets between midnight and 6am when the traffic flow levels can be described as quiet helping to further reduce environmental impacts and costs. Although the level of lighting reduces this is still within current lighting level standards.

Cllr Andrew Waller (pictured), Liberal Democrat Executive Member for the Environment, said: “Fitting the 900 new LED lanterns will help to save on average 102 tonnes of carbon a year. The rollout will also help the council to save £30 a year for each new lantern, helping to save a combined £27,000. On top of these savings they offer a more directed source of light to more effectively illuminate roads at night and help with safety issues.”

The cost of the lantern and installation is estimated to be £200 each in residential areas and it is anticipated that there will be an average net energy saving per lantern of £30 each equating to a £27,000 saving per calendar year on the additional 900 new LED lanterns.

There are a number of reasons why an increasing number of council’s across the country including North Yorkshire, Worcester, Wakefield, Sheffield, Birmingham, Leicestershire, Durham, Salford, Bury and Plymouth are choosing to install LED lighting and are introducing a regime to reduce the light wattage:

• LED lighting has a lower energy consumption (offering the lowest possible running costs: less than 100 watts for the highest power units; whereas with other forms of lighting much more energy is wasted generating heat)

• Superior quality illumination (even spread of light, no dark or bright spots, better targeting especially with higher-end LED lighting products)

• Longer product life and reliability (up to 100,000 hours – in comparison fluorescent bulbs typically last 10,000 hours and incandescent bulbs 1,000; the best LED products available today deliver 10-years life, with warranty)

•No maintenance (no bulb failure, no down-time)

• Instant start (no warm up time for full light output)

• Suitable for challenging environments (higher-end products are weather-hardened, hot and cold climate tolerant, vandal resistant).

Liberal Democrats are warning that government policy could see York lose up to £455 million and prevent the building of council homes in the city.

A report from council officers says policies introduced by the Conservative Government since last May mean the council’s housing income will “at best be reduced by £340m and at worst £455m over the next 30 years”. Officers are warning that significant savings will need to be made to balance the books with forced reductions in spending meaning: “It is likely that any future building programme for new council homes will need to be significantly reduced or ended completely”.

The officer projections form part of the council’s draft 30-year ‘Housing Revenue Account Business Plan’ which will be discussed by York’s Executive tonight. The report says the looming budget shortfall is a result of Government social housing rent cuts and the effects of plans to extend the controversial Right to Buy policy – which officers say will “disproportionally” hit York as the council is forced to sell-off homes across the city.

Cllr Sue Hunter, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Housing, is writing to Housing Minister Brandon Lewis on the issue. She commented:

“We know the scale of the housing problems in York with a shortage of affordable homes and sky-high rents. Liberal Democrats want to increase the building of council homes, but at the moment Conservative Government policy is threatening to make this impossible as they continue their national attack on council and social housing.

“Officers are clear that the council could lose between £340m and £455m over the next 30 years as a result of national policies. At the same time, the Government is forcing us to sell-off so-called ‘high-value’ council homes across the city. It is a perfect storm for the council and one which will only deepen the housing crisis in York.

“I am writing to the Housing Minister to ask him to rethink the plans. As well as this issue, residents I speak to are also concerned about the proposals for market rents and the ending of lifetime tenancies for new social housing tenants. We need more clarity from the Government in this area.”

City of York Council’s Liberal Democrat-Conservative Executive have unveiled proposals for the authority’s 2016-2017 budget focused on protecting frontline services, vulnerable and young people.

The council has confirmed it will need to make savings of £6.5million in 2016/17 which is equivalent to 5.5% of its net budget (£117.9m). However, the council continues to spend one of the lowest amounts per head per population amongst UK local authorities. York has the 13^th lowest band D council tax, the 2^nd lowest spend per head of population of any unitary council in England.

York continues to face increased pressures including the costs of adult social care. In 2015/16 the gross spend on this service was £70.7m. It is expected that by 2019/20 adult social care costs will account for around 50 per cent of the council’s net budget. It is therefore proposed that the council takes advantage of the Government’s two per cent social care precept, which will be used exclusively to fund adult social care cost pressures. Added to this will be a further one per cent increase in Council Tax.

The Executive noted that feedback from the recent budget consultation indicated the majority of those who responded to the options provided (56% or 224 people) would prefer that there was an increase in Council Tax levels, rather than increased charges or the council providing fewer services.

The council will invest a further £1.9m in children’s social care for 2016/17 to ensure continuation of proper safeguarding arrangements and adequate provision for children looked after. A further £100k investment is outlined for mental health services as well as £234k to fund street based services work including fly-tipping and graffiti and £60k to fund a strategic flood risk assessment.

Cllr Keith Aspden, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader of City of York Council, said:

“We are focusing resources on frontline services such as road repairs, street lighting, tackling fly-tipping and graffiti as well as plans to make York the Greenest City in the North. We are also investing in community mental health facilities and supporting local businesses after the floods by freezing car park charges across the city.

“Continued funding cuts and the increased costs of elderly care have left the council with some stark choices. However, we have listened to residents and whilst making significant savings we are ensuring the funding is in place for vulnerable children, adult social care and crucial street-level services.”

Key budget proposals include:

• £234,000 investment in the Community Safety Hub  to tackle anti-social behaviour including issues such as fly-tipping and graffiti.
• £2.7 million in 2016/17 to improve roads and footpaths across York
• £2 million investment confirmed for Ward Committees, Community Centres and scrapping Labour’s plans to charge you for your first Green Bin
• £175,000 to help York recover from the floods through a new strategic plan and freezing car park charges to help local businesses
• £1.9 million to protect vulnerable children and £100,000 to improve community based mental health services in York
• £446,000 to support Lib Dem plans to make York the ‘Greenest City in the North’ through investment in solar panels and new LED streetlights
• A balanced budget which deals with government cuts and reduces Labour’s wasteful spending on vanity projects.

Whilst legally, the council can only set a budget for one year, the authority is also setting out plans for the next four years, which will enable a more joined up approach.

Further information can be found in our budget briefing here: http://yorklibdems.org.uk/en/document/budget-briefing.pdf

The full budget report, which presents a budget that is fully balanced, will be taken to Executive for consideration on 11 February from 5.30pm and Full Council for approval on 25February 2016 from 6pm: http://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=733&MId=8846

Westfield Liberal Democrats have welcomed the decision to scrap planned cuts to Tax Credits.

Figures highlighted by the Lib Dems in October showed that 8,000 low-income families in York were set to lose out under Conservative plans. Lib Dems opposed the move saying it undermined the work of the Coalition Government to make sure it always pays more to be in work than on benefits.

The dramatic U-turn was announced yesterday by the Chancellor George Osborne in his Autumn Statement.

Cllr Sue Hunter, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Westfield who has been campaigning against the cuts, said:

“I am pleased that the Chancellor has been forced into this U-Turn and the planed changes have been scrapped. The cuts threatened to hammer 8,000 working families in York.

“Locally, we have campaigned against these cuts which were also opposed by Lib Dems in the House of Lords. We need to make sure that work always pays more than choosing to remain on benefits. These changes threatened to completely undermine this important principle.

“We now need to look carefully at what George Osborne is proposing and how the wider welfare changes and move to Universal Credit will impact on people. As ever, the devil will be in the detail when it comes to the effect on residents in York.”

The Westfield Councillors attended the annual service at the City Memorial Gardens today to mark Remembrance Sunday. Each year the attendance grows and now there are crowds not only in Memorial Gardens but lining the route along Lendal Bridge, and a large number of residents and visitors to the city applauded the Parade in St Helen’s Square where a special platform was placed for the Lord Lieutenant for North Yorkshire, and the Lord Mayor to review the proceedings (as the steps of the Mansion House are out of action due to the refurbishment of the building).