Reading Liberal Democrats

Following the announcement that the government is increasing the coming year’s funding for road maintenance in Reading by £400,000 to over £2m in total. This is the money used to make repairs to roads and footpaths across the town, many of which have suffered from severe weather for the second year running.

Lib Dem Transport Spokesperson Cllr Ricky Duveen said:
“This increased investment in Reading’s roads is very welcome particularly after the freezing weather wreaked havoc on many streets in our town.

“When money is tight we are very pleased to see the new Government helping Reading Council fix local roads as this will help reduce accidents and damage to vehicles and bicycles.”

Reading Lib Dems welcomed the news from Transport Minister Norman Baker who announced a consultation on giving local authorities greater control over how their roads appear on maps and satnav systems. They could be empowered to change the classification of roads in their area as opposed to Whitehall determining these matters.

Lib Dem Transport Spokesperson Cllr Ricky Duveen hailed the announcement as a great step forward and he was particularly pleased with the minister’s comment that “We are also using this as an opportunity to invite new ideas of tackling some of the problems caused by satnavs, for example lorries being directed down unsuitable roads. We want to hear suggestions as to how the current system could be improved – and how councils could better work with satnav companies.”

Ricky said ‘this may well prove to be a godsend to Reading if it means that heavy lorries are no longer routed through the centre of Reading and up the A4074.’

Ricky added that ‘I know from my own experience in Tilehurst that satnavs direct lorries down the shortest routes and often this involves travelling through residential areas outside of designated lorry routes. Getting the satnav companies to work with councils sounds like a really good  idea and should have been done a long time ago.’

Today Nick Clegg and Paul Burstow unveiled a new mental health strategy in which more focus will be placed on dealing with mental health problems at an early stage.

This has been warmly welcomed by local Lib Dems.

The new mental health strategy for England promises an extra £400m for therapies, such as counselling, to increase access to them by 60% by 2015. It also stresses the need for early intervention, to nip in the bud mental health problems in children.

Mental health represents 23% of burden of disease (30% of people that walk through a GP’s door, for example) but only 11% of expenditure. One of the first speeches Nick Clegg made on becoming Liberal Democrat leader was to highlight the state of mental health provision and accuse politicians of “shamefully” turning a blind eye to the scale of mental health problems.

Under Labour the top-down approach has ultimately denied many service users the personalised support they need.

Under measures announced today We will be investing around £400 million in talking therapies over the next four years:

• an extra 1.2m people able to get treatment for depression and anxiety
• 0.5m more people will recover, many more showing measurable improvement
• 75,000 more people will be able to work, or take part in education, training or volunteering
• and more than £700m in savings, in healthcare, tax and welfare gains.

Commenting on the news, Cllr Daisy Benson, Lead Member for Health on Reading Borough Council said:

“Berkshire West was one of the first areas to pilot Talking Therapies (2009) and we are already seeing the benefits for residents in Reading in speedier recovery times from common mental health problems.”

“With one in four people expected to experience mental health problems at some point in their life it is is really important that a range of services exist in the community to support people effectively.”

“This investment is a real boost for children and adults of all areas in our area who have lacked access to this vital service in the past and I hope it means more people can benefit.”