South Lakes MP Tim Farron attended a meeting with University of Cumbria chiefs yesterday where they committed themselves to bringing more students back to Ambleside than ever before.
I wrote on here some months ago about reforms we've introduced to restrict the Council's ability to spy on local residents, and to ensure that it is accountable publicly for each and every use of the powers it has to conduct surveillance. The main features of the reforms were the restriction of the abilitiy to authorise the use of the powers to only the most senior officers (shortening the list of authorising officers considerably), and the introduction of a new requirement that every use of the powers by the Council must be reported to the public meetings of the Council's Executive four times a year. For the first time this has ensured public oversight of the Council's use of these powers, which have been dubbed a 'snooper's charter' for Councils after several instances of their excessive and unjustified use elsewhere. These have included the case of a council spying on parents incorrectly suspected of using a false address to get their child into a preferred school and numerous cases of councils spying on t
South Lakes MP Tim Farron has today called on the government to step in and help curb the massive increase in prices of heating oil in rural areas like ours. Tim has been contacted by local residents who are having to pay up to £1,300 to fill their tank of heating oil.
Shortly after the chaos caused by the heavy snow back in the winter the then Liberal Democrat Borough Council started to put in place measures to try and ensure a better response if the Chesterfield area is hit by heavy snow this winter, for thr third year running. They decided they could not leave things solely to Derbyshire County Council who have responsibility for snow clearance of the roads and pavements - but who have not managed to provide the necessary level of service to keep things running. Good financial management has ensured that the he Borough Council has had the money to buy snow clearing equipment to fit to the front of normal Council vehicles when necessary and has been able to involve some local farmers in helping if needed. The Council has also striven to get the general public to help on their own streets and has agreed plans to work in a better co-ordinated way with Derbyshire County Council. This foresight and planning should mean that the borough is able to cope with the winter much bet
The number of day-trip coaches bringing visitors to Chesterfield is increasing once again this year and is set to break the 500 a year mark for the very first time. When the Liberal Democrats came to power in Chesterfield in 2003 the yearly figure was only about 100. They replaced the disgrace of a Coach Station for the new modern facility we now have and mad many improvements to the town centre. They also worked hard on raising the profile of Chesterfield across the country, got Derbyshire playing cricket here again and introduced the very successful annual Arts and Markets Festival. This hard work is paying off year on year and the many more visitors who spend money here have helped Chesterfield survive better than most during the recession.
Official Chesterfield Borough Council reports show that the former Liberal Democrat Borough Council that lost power in the May elections, left the borough's finances in very good order indeed. Despite the general public being told by Labour politicians that the Liberal Democrats had 'spent all the money' the reports show that the Borough Council left over £8 million of reserves ( savings ) and that the annual budget was balanced for at least the next two years! This comes at a time when many Councils across the country are having to cut services to the public and close down facilities such as swimming pools and libraries. Cllr Ray Russell ( Leader of the Borough Council Liberal Democrat Group ) said ' When people look around the borough and see the many exciting things that have happened under the Liberal Democrat Council and see the health of the Council's finances I hope they will feel that we did a very solid job - particularly as we also had to find £3.2 million of savings to make up for the money lost by