Home Local News Labour Group Budget Statement 2018/19

Labour Group Budget Statement 2018/19

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Highways and Transport Spend to Save

Permanent Pothole Repairs

Labour is proposing to spend an additional £1 million a year extra for the next four years to provide permanent pothole repairs. This would come from the transitional reserve.

Permanent Pothole repairs means that a whole section of the road would be cut out, including the main potholes and the smaller defects that surround them. This would then be filled, compressed and sealed, as a virtual new section of road.

Impact on service:

  • Reduce temporary repairs.
  • Reduce repeat repairs.
  • Reduce small defects surrounding main potholes.
  • Increase lifetime of road surface.

This will free up future revenue to maintain the road safety schemes the Conservative administration is proposing to cut, £2.6 million.

Highway Lines and Signs Renewal budget from £1 million to only £500,000 by the Conservative administration at Lancashire County Council. Despite the facts as identified in their own report that “The report also states that warning signs would only be maintained “where there is evidence of a significant casualty record.”

Significant casualty record, means people will have to be killed or seriously injured before the council will do anything. The reasons why we have the signs and lines in the first place is to stop this from happening. We have many rural roads with poor lighting right across Lancashire, the lines provide a good road reference for drivers, reducing the risk of collisions especially when driving in the dark.”

Street Light Maintenance proposed cut by reducing routine maintenance and testing cycle of Street Lighting by 50% right across Lancashire. The council has also decide in its wisdom to stop all night time inspections of Street Lighting, inspection will only take place during the day.

This is a completely false economy. Everyone knows that if you do not maintain equipment properly, not only will it break down more often, but the cost of repairing it goes up. Resulting in more and more Street Lights being shut down permanently as the funding will not be there to repair them. This would be in keeping with the Conservative previous budget proposal to remove one in three street lights.

The Conservatives recognise that this will result in more complaints but like the cut in the renewal of white lines, they do not seem to care. The risk to the public is not recognised within their administration. The loss of lighting will not only affect road safety, it will also create a sense of unease amongst many members of the community. Especially the elderly and parents who worry about their children being out after dark.”

Transitional funding would be in place before the impact of savings has been accrued in order to cover the cost of the road safety schemes.

Highways and Transport Capital Program Ring Fence

£4 million for Pothole Repairs

£1 million to increase Gully Cleaning Fleet

Within the proposed £53,415 million Highways Capital Programme, Labour is proposing that £4 million is ring fence for highways defects and potholes and £1 million on increasing the Gully Cleaning Fleet. Which would enable the current network improvements to be maintained and sustained, despite Conservative Government cuts in highway funding.

Within the Conservative Capital Program proposals there is no specific funding identified to increase funding on potholes or gully cleaning.

The increase in the Gully Cleaning fleet would reduce the risk of flooding and damage to the roads.

Impact on service:

  • Improve highways right across Lancashire
  • Improve highway safety.
  • Reduce temporary repairs.
  • Reduce repair returns due to failures.
  • Reduce the risk of flooding.
  • Reduce water damage to roads.

Highways and Transport Spend to Save

The Bus Services Act 2017

Labour are proposing to spend £1 million a year for the next three years in order to gain the required agreement with the Secretary of State for Transport, through the Bus Services Act 2017, to establish  the regulation of bus services right across Lancashire through franchising.

Under the current deregulated system, private operators decide routes, ticket prices and timetables. Although Lancashire County Council has the responsibility to publish the timetables, it is only a consultee on routes, standards and ticket pricing. The current subsidising of bus services is not a statutory responsibility, it is an historic commitment made by the council to support communities on routes deemed non-profitable by the private companies.

Franchising will enable the council to set routes, ticket prices and service standards across Lancashire. By grouping services together under agreed licensing arrangements, franchising will enable non-profit making, currently subsidised routes to be supported by profit making services, while maintaining a profit for the operators.

This will then free up an estimated £3 million pound a year, £6 million over the last two years of a 5 year cycle. This money would be used pay back into the transition reserves.

Greater Manchester and Liverpool are already making preparation to franchise their areas. This will then open the door to a fully integrated transport system including single ticket services for all forms of public transport. An added bonus will be a reduction in the cost of traffic congestion and road maintenance while boosting economic activity. This will leave Lancashire even further behind when it comes to transport infrastructure and developing the economy.

Impact on service:

  • Enhance and improve bus services right across Lancashire.
  • Maintain all current services.
  • Link up with surrounding areas providing a complete transport service.
  • Reduce traffic congestion.
  • Reducing environmental impact.
  • Cross subsidies profit making services to support subsidised services. Freeing up current revenue funding.

Highways and Transport Spend to Save

Community Transport – Protection of Vulnerable Passengers

Labour are proposing a joint package between Transport, Adult Social Care and Health to maintain and develop a strategic service in keeping with the CTC current service. This would be personalised for those vulnerable people who are at risk of becoming isolated by the cut in service.

Through the Community Transport Operators, we should be able to identify those at risk and support can then be provided. Labour is asking that the current proposal be dropped and a joint service be developed with the consortium. This will reduce the distress to those people affected and their family and friends by providing a £130,000 a year package for the next three years, to reduce the risk and improve the lives of people in our communities. This money should not just come out of the transport budget.

The funding would come from within existing budgets:

  • Highways and Transport £30,000 a year.
  • Adult Social Care £50,000 a year.
  • NHS/CCG          £50,000 a year.

Impact on Service:

  • Promoting good health and wellbeing.
  • Reducing loneliness and isolation.
  • Help people access important services.
  • Reduce long term health and care costs.
  • Support smaller communities and those living in rural areas.
  • Maintain service for 6,200 regular users who, between them, made in excess of 166,000 journeys in 2016/17.

Staffing and Agency Funding

Reduce the £16 Million Cost of Agency Staff

Labour are proposing to reduce the cost of agency staffing at Lancashire County Council, which currently stands at £16 million a year, by £1 million pound a year over the next 5 years.

This would replace the current proposal to save £5 million pounds from the revenue budget, through changing staffs conditions of service by sacking them, then re employing them on new contracts.

Impact on Service:

  • Increase current staff training and opportunities to fill these posts.
  • Improve staff morale.
  • Reduce sickness and absence.
  • Reduce revenue cost.
  • Provide a great integrated service through staff fluidity.

Highways and Transport

Maintain and Improve revenue Opportunities at Carnforth Station Information Centre

Labour is proposing to maintain and improve facilities at Carnforth Station Information Centre, £12,000 will be made available from Transitional Funding Reserve in order to develop opportunities to enhance its service to increase its revenue ability.

Impact on Service:

  • Maintain facility for the community.
  • Improve facilities for the community.
  • Reduce revenue costs.

Crime and Disorder

Police Community Support Officers

Labour are proposing to maintain the Police Community Support Officers, through transition reserve funding of £319,000. Reversing the cuts being proposed by the Conservative administration that would impact on crime and disorder in local communities.

Latest full year figures from the Home Office for 2016/17 on police recorded crime show that there were 107,610 crimes (excluding fraud) in the Lancashire-14 areas. This represents an 11% increase (10,498 more crimes) in the Lancashire-14 area compared with 2015/16.

Violence against the person saw a rise of 18% in Lancashire-14 areas. Sexual offences also showed an increase for the third year running (up 23% on 2015/16). The number of recorded hate crimes rose by 22% on the previous year.

Impact on Service:

  • Maintain support to local communities by PCSO’s.
  • Reducing crime & the fear of crime.
  • Supporting Lancashire Police Constabulary.

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