Reading Liberal Democrats

Lib Dem transport minister Norman Baker MP was welcomed to Reading by Cllr Kirsten Bayes, Deputy Leader of Reading Borough Council and Leader of the Lib Dem Group, “Securing government funding for this exciting project is fantastic news.’

‘The railway has long played a major part in the growth of Reading as a town and improving the station will help Reading continue to progress on to the fast track of economic growth for the benefit of local residents and businesses.”

Reading Borough Council is the only local authority in Britain to benefit from £100,000 worth of funding to develop an approach which will enable more innovative low carbon heating systems to be installed across Europe and save council tax payers money in future years, it has been announced.

‘Geo.Power is a European funded programme which enables partners to work together on the introduction of ‘ground source’ heat pumps.

This innovative low carbon method of heating buildings uses the constant heat which exists below the ground by capturing it, compressing it and distributing it to warm buildings. In Summer the process can be reversed, taking heat from the building and putting it in the ground. Considerable carbon, energy and financial savings can be made as a result.

Reading Borough Council has been selected as the only partner in the UK to benefit and is one of 12 partners spanning eight different countries – England, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary, Sweden, Estonia and Belgium.

The funding is worth just over £100,000, and will help further develop Reading’s pro-active approach in playing its own part in tackling Climate Change.

The council already has ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions while providing value for money for the local council tax payer. Now, over the next two years, it will be playing a leading role in the pioneering project which will eventually help cut carbon emissions across Britain and the Continent.

The innovative low carbon method of heating buildings has already been installed at the state of the art Avenue Centre, some council buildings and one of the buildings at Prospect School.

Reading Borough Council will now be working closely with the other partners on the two-year European funded programme to share technology and experiences of installing and using ground source heat pumps. At the end of the two years all the work will be pulled together to set out a way forward as to how more ground source heat pumps could be installed to help reduce carbon emissions across Europe and benefit from the new Renewable Heat Incentive from the Government to be announced next year.

Warren Swaine, Reading’s Lead Councillor for Environment and Sustainability, said: ‘Winning this bid shows that our Council is prepared to take a lead in developing a sustainable future - not just for Reading but for the rest of the country. Congratulations to the sustainability team for their hard work putting together this successful bid.’

Ben Burfoot, Sustainability Manager at Reading Borough Council, added: ‘This project gives us the opportunity to pave the way for using this technology in new and existing buildings in Reading, as well as enabling us to maximise the use of ground source heat pumps nationally to provide the low carbon heating systems of the future.”

Reading Lib Dems today welcomed the announcement by the Council of the new car park charges for the coming year. Short stay car park charges are being frozen and long stay charges are being significantly reduced despite requests to raise charges from NCP who run the car parks under contract to the Council.

Transport Spokesperson Cllr Ricky Duveen said, ‘this is a good deal for Reading motorists and I think the council has done well to keep the car park charges down.’

Ricky was particularly pleased that the recently introduced charges for car parks in Tilehurst and Caversham were being frozen as in each case they were essential to local shops. Tilehurst and Chester Street shoppers can still park free for the first hour, something that is vital for local traders especially during tough economic times.

A report to Reading Borough Council’s Community Care, Housing and Health Scrutiny Panel this evening (7 December) has revealed that following concerns initially raised by Cllr Daisy Benson and anti-fraud officers, the Council is  taking a more robust approach to identifying and reducing housing tenancy fraud in Council housing in Reading.

This is already paying dividends with 21 potential frauds investigated and a number of properties re-let.

Endorsing the findings of the report, Cllr Daisy Benson, Lead Member for Housing on Reading Borough Council said:

“I raised serious questions in 2009 about the robustness of the Council’s procedures in relation to tracking and cracking down on potential housing tenacy fraud after nationally it was revealed that illegal tenancy fraud is rife in many towns and cities.”

“I am pleased to see as a result of the concerns I raised the Council is now taking a more robust approach including raising awareness with staff and Council tenants to identify fraud and get action taken.”

“People who fraduently sub-let Council properties are defrauding the public purse and putting additional, unwanted pressure on Council housing in Reading which is already  in high demand.

“The cost to the Council of every fraud is estimated at £11,000 which equals the cost of putting up families in temporary accomodation.”

“This is wholly unacceptable and the Coalition Administration of Reading Borough Council is committed to taking further steps to identifying potential fraud and action against offenders.

“This is in stark contrast to the complacent approach of the previous Labour administration which could have cost taxpayers dear.”

For more details about the actions taken by the Council since March 2010 please view the housing fraud report.

Cllr Daisy Benson, Lead Member for Health on Reading Borough Council has welcomed plans published today by the Coalition Government to help people live healthier lives and restore powers to councils to improve public health.

Cllr Benson commented:

“Over the past 13 years, despite millions of taxpayers money being spent, health inequalities in parts of Reading have widened with life expectancy varying from one postcode to another.”

“This is a damning indictment of the Labour government’s failed system of centrally-imposed targets and residents deserve better.”

“These radical new proposals will place the responsibility to improve the health outcomes and life chances of local residents in the hands of elected councillors, accountable to residents , not Whitehall.”

“I hope it will enable us  to lead sustained health improvement in our Town and improve transparency and accountability for public money spent in this area.”

Creative Commons image by Salim Fadhley

Reading Train Station

Reading Lib Dem Transport Spokesperson, Cllr Ricky Duveen, welcomed news of more major investment in the rail network following the announcement by the government of plans for a further £8bn of investment in Britain’s railways. Although much of this will go into new rolling stock for Crossrail and for Thameslink there will be clear benefits to Reading commuters.

However, Cllr Duveen, was disappointed to see that no firm decision had yet been made on electrification of the main Great Western line through Reading. The commuter routes through Reading to Oxford and Newbury would indeed be electrified but not the whole mainline through to South Wales and Cornwall. This left the government with difficult decisions as to what rolling stock would be best, given that trains on the First Great Western line would need both diesel and electric power. This difficulty had been the cause of a delay in plans to replace the 40 year old HST trains that currently carry FGW passengers, slam doors and all.

‘Previous governments have left our country’s public transport outdated and underfunded and out of control after botched nationalisation schemes. It is good to see a much increased level of funding from the new government, especially given the chronic state of public finances left by the last Labour government.’

Cllr Duveen also criticised Network Rail for amassing half year profits of £300m whilst supposedly providing a public service. ‘I do not think that making fat profits at the commuters expense is necessarily the most efficient way to run a rail network and I wonder what passengers think of the impending fare rises recently announced which will soon begin to bite. I think passengers would like to see real improvements in standards and less overcrowding on commuter lines before being asked to subsidise rail companies profits. How much longer do we have to stand on overcrowded trains every day whilst paying the highest rail fares in Europe?

Creative Commons image of Reading Station by mattbuck4950

Article updated 30/11/2010

It has been announced (on Saturday 13 November) that Reading Liberal Democrat councillor and 2010 Reading East Parliamentary candidate Gareth Epps has been elected to the Liberal Democrats’ Federal Policy Committee.

The Committee, chaired by the Party Leader until the Liberal Democrats’ entry into Government this year, authors the party’s policy and is responsible for its election manifestos.  It also has powers to take up policy issues as they occur – a key function now the Liberal Democrats are in Government.

16 people – including former MPs Evan Harris and Sandra Gidley – were elected from a record field of 63 people standing for election to a two-year term of office.  Gareth stood on a platform of working for the committee to articulate Liberal Democrat values – including speaking out against the Coalition Government where that is necessary.

Commenting, Gareth says:-
‘It’s going to be more and more important for Liberal Democrats to be able to set out our own policy in coalition.  This will be particularly important if Government policies emerge that were not in the Coalition Agreement and are regressive.  It’s also going to be important for the Party to set out fresh policies in a changing global landscape, to fight the next election as an independent party.

‘I will be making sure that the interests of the people of Reading are represented at the heart of Liberal Democrat policies, and will not hesitate to speak out if the Coalition talks of adopting Conservative policies that are not progressive.’

The vision is about making services more personalised, more preventative and more focused on delivering the best outcomes for those who use them.

It encourages care and support to be delivered in a partnership between individuals, communities, the voluntary sector, the NHS and councils – including wider support services, such as housing.

The vision sets out a new agenda for adult social care based on a power shift from the state to the citizen, by committing to:

• Extend the rollout of personal budgets
• Increase preventative action in local communities,
• Keeping people independent and helping to build the Big Society
• Break down barriers between health and social care funding
• Encouraging care and support to be delivered in a partnership between individuals, communities, the voluntary sector, the NHS and councils – including wider support

Welcoming the plans, Cllr Kirsten Bayes, Deputy Leader of Reading Borough Council said:

“The Coalition Government has demonstrated its clear commitment to supporting carers and vulnerable people and that is very welcome.”

“These proposals will help us to support older and disabled people in Reading – and their carers, to live more independent lives.”

Cllr Daisy Benson, Lead Member for Community Care added:

“The vision is built on two key reforms that Liberal Democrats have been campaigning for many years.”

“The first is that people – not institutions- will have control over their care. By extending the roll out of personal budgets, first proposed by the Liberal Democrats in 2004, we will give individuals the freedom to decide what their money is spent on.

“The Coalition Government’s vision for social care will also deliver on our Party’s manifesto commitment to provide respite care to carers by making additional funding available  for this specific purpose.”

Cllr Daisy Benson outside a former empty home

Cllr Daisy Benson, Lead Member for Housing on Reading Borough Council has welcomed the Coalition Government’s announcement that it plans to reward councils that bring empty homes in their area back into use as part of the New Homes Bonus.

• The Department for Communities and Local Government has launched a consultation on the proposed New Homes Bonus.
• Through the New Homes Bonus, the Government proposes to strengthen the incentive for local authorities to identify empty properties and work with property owners to find innovative solutions that allow these properties to be brought back into use.
• The Government is proposing to reward local authorities for bringing empty properties back into use through the New Homes Bonus
• The measures include counting refurbished empty houses as additional housing supply, the same as new build.

Cllr Benson commented,

“I am pleased that in line with the Coalition  Agreement the Government is putting policies in place which will help councils not only build more much needed affordable and socially rented housing, but will also tackle the important issue of empty homes.”

“Homes that are unoccupied for long periods  are a blight on our neighbourhoods and represent an unnecessary waste of resources when demand for housing in our area is high.”

“Locally the Lib Dems led the campaign to get Reading Borough Council to bring long-term empty properties back into use after Labour neglected the problem for years.”

“In recent months  long-term empty properties across the Town have been brought back into use by the council working in partnership with landlords – including properties in prominent positions in London Road (Alexandra House) and Christchurch Road (pictured).”

“It’s right that councils should be incentivised for every home they bring back into use in this way as the system set up by the previous Labour government provides no real incentives for councils to act.”

“Tackling the problem of empty homes is one of the things we must do to help meet the demand for housing in our Reading.”

Residents of Tilehurst are celebrating another victory over mobile phone giants Vodafone after the council’s planning officers rejected Vodafone’s latest application to install a 15 metre high mast in Lower Elmstone Drive. This is the second application in 18 months to be rejected as it would have an ‘unacceptable detrimental impact on the visual amenity in the surrounding area.’

Local Lib Dem Councillor Ricky Duveen has again organised and led residents to a resounding win over Vodafone after knocking on doors and collecting 272 signatures on a petition against the mast. Ricky commented, ‘this is splendid news, and the result of some hard work with local residents, knocking on doors, encouraging people to write in with their comments and also to sign our petition.’

Ricky added that ‘it was high time that Vodafone realised that the idea of a 50 foot high mast in a quiet residential area would be a real eyesore. It would be visible for miles around and was always going to rouse stiff opposition from local residents. In planning terms it was a monstrosity sticking out like a sore thumb. It was a great shame that Vodafone had simply not listened to local people 18 months ago during the first application but had gone ahead and presented a second plan with an even taller mast. Thankfully that has now been rejected and we can all breathe a sigh of relief.’