Liberal Democrat councillors reacted with shock at a council meeting today when the full extent of the cuts to NHS Wiltshire were unveiled. The cuts, which will see reductions of up to £40m per year for the next three years were confirmed in response to a question from Cllr Chris Caswill.
Lib Dem Councillors have pushed the Conservative-run Council to "Put their money where their mouth is" on when speaking about supporting Wiltshire businesses.
The Conservative report on car park charges places the blame squarely on market town traders and the national economy, and refuses to accept any influence from higher costs driving people away from our town centres. In November's Full Council meeting, Wiltshire Lib Dems challenged the Conservative whitewash, and demanded 30 minutes free parking in every (Band 3) market town, but the proposal was dismissed.
Mayor Dave Hodgson ...
Mayor Dave Hodgson has signalled his ongoing commitment to boosting Bedford Town Centre with plans for another parking charge freeze for 2012. The announcement comes after the current year's car park charge freeze, which was the first seen in Bedford for many years and which was delivered despite rising inflation and an extremely tough financial situation facing the Council. Now, with inflation at nearly 6% and even greater financial pressures for the Council, Mayor Dave has shown his commitment to supporting shoppers and boosting the vitality of Bedford town centre by proposing a freeze for charges in the council's car parks and for on-street parking.
In response to last week's verdict in the Inquest into the Grayrigg tragedy of February 2007, Cumbrian MP Tim Farron has used Transport Questions to call on the government to set up a nationwide enquiry into points related failures across the network to ensure a tragedy like Grayrigg is not repeated.