Richard Kemp 0803

Annual General Meeting Report

It has been another busy year for the County Council with a better than expected settlement from the Government, the probable abolition of the present system of local government in Suffolk, a radical reorganisation of the county council, the introduction of care charges and the proposal of a waste incinerator.

County Council Budget

The County Council met in February to set a council tax of 3.75% for 2008/2009.
The County Council also received a better than expected grant this year with an increase of 7.9% - leading to £12.5 million more than expected.

Many savings are still being made across the council however including:

Adult Care

£470,000 income from Care Charges in 08/09 (and in following two years)
£3.9m saving through the ‘Customer Journey’ in 08/09 (and in following two years

Children and Young People

£80,000 saving from ‘Inclusive School Improvement Service’ – reduction in the commissioning of non-statutory school support services: support for dance and drama teaching and extra-curricular sport will no longer be available unless schools choose to pay for these from their budgets.

Environment and Transport

£1,641m saving from ‘Structural Maintenance of Roads’

I am very concerned about the risks posed by a cut in the roads maintenance budget of this value, nearly 40% of the overall budget. The continued risk to vulnerable adults and older people these savings will create is an ongoing concern as well. The Administration at the county council could have used the extra money it received in grant this year much more wisely than it did.

Local Government Review
The Government announced in December that only 5 of the 9 unitary bids had met all criteria and that Suffolk (and Norfolk) would be subject to a Boundary Review. The Boundary Committee has now met with representatives of the 7 local district/borough/county authorities in Suffolk and an outline timetable has now taken shape:

3 March - 11 April (Stage 1): submission of 'concepts' for new councils in Suffolk and Norfolk
14 April - 4 July (Stage 2): the Boundary Committee will talk to Authorities and other stakeholders about the ideas put forward
7 July - 26 Sept (Stage 3): draft proposals published and public consultation
29 Sept - 19 Dec (Stage 4): final considerations and decisions by the Boundary Committee
31 Dec 2008: the Boundary Committee aims to report to the Secretary of State

At its Full Council meeting on 27th March the Administration at the County Council put a motion through council which suggested that the county only investigate a Single Unitary solution for Suffolk.

This, and all other submission, will have to meet the Government’s five criteria of:

Be affordable
Provide stronger leadership
Improve public services
Empower local communities
Deliver value for money
The Ipswich proposal must also be able to demonstrate a broad cross-section of support for the change.

Further information will appear on the Boundary Committee website (http://www.boundarycommittee.org.uk).

Schools Organisational Review

Suffolk County Council’s Administration continued with its plan to review the organisation of schools in Suffolk, moving to an all two-tier school system.

In March 2008 the second stage of the review, which saw middle schools in the Lowestoft and Haverhill areas abolished and plans to move to two tier system set in place. As part of these recommendations, all middle schools in these two areas would close, with young people remaining in primary schools until the age of 11 before transferring to a secondary school.

Further information about the next stages in the process can be found here: www.suffolk.gov.uk/sor

Or by phoning: 08456 031842.

Plastic Bags

At the December Full Council meeting the County Council agreed to take a lead in persuading both retailers and consumers that Suffolk should be free of plastic bags.

Annually an estimated total of around 13 billion plastic bags are given away each year in the UK and most of these end up in landfill, where they can take up to 400 years to breakdown, causing substantial cost to the taxpayer and council.

The council also called on the Government to go further in their policy and consider ways to reduce plastic carrier bag usage. Further, it agreed to write to Suffolk's MPs, the Local Government Association and the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, informing them of the role of the Suffolk Waste Partnership and urging them to use their respective influence to encourage the Government to go further on their policy.

Waste

The proposed site for an incinerator for Suffolk had been chosen: the plant will be located at the Suffolk County Council highways maintenance depot at Great Blakenham in Mid-Suffolk. Suffolk County Council chose the site from six shortlisted locations after whittling down the options from a possible 70 locations; the location of two of the other shortlisted sites have been released, but the remaining sites are unknown.

The incinerator option was originally intended to cost council taxpayers £541 million over a 28 year period from 2011, in March this figure was increased to £612 million over 28 years. Concerns have been raised about the facility regarding the potential effects on the environment, human health, house prices in the area and the effect on recycling rates in the County.

It is expected that public consultation on the site will be carried out entirely by the developer.

Locality budget

Over the past year I’m pleased to have been able to help a number of organisations in my division. Some of the projects I have supported are listed through the link below. I’m pleased that the locality budget will be remaining at the same level next year. Should any of you have any projects or organisations which you feel would benefit from some locality money, please do get in touch.

http://www.suffolkcc.gov.uk/central/members/LocalityBudgets.htm