Safer, greener, and cleaner, these are the watch words when the Liberal Democrats present their budget amendment proposals to the Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday 8th February (6pm).
Shaw Councillor Chris Gloster, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance and Green, is looking forward to presenting the budget amendment to the committee and believes that the Liberal Democrats have come up with sensible adjustments to the budget that will have no impact on council finances but deliver maximum impact to residents whose valuable input as to what residents want to see is at the heart of the proposals.
“The Oldham Liberal Democrats want to make further efficiencies in civic centre bureaucracy to squeeze out more money for our priorities, and those of the public – more cash to spend on front-line services,” said Councillor Gloster.
“As we begin to emerge from the nightmare of COVID-19, we wish to look at building back better in our Borough by focussing on making it safer, greener and cleaner.”
The Liberal Councillors are proposing to repurpose part of Labour’s capital investment programme and find more money from cutting bureaucracy and waste elsewhere in the Council’s budget. The proposals include:
- Invest £3,750,000 between 2022 and 2027 to fund Climate Change initiatives.
- Over the next two years, create a dedicated fund worth £3 million to repair our roads and footways, fund safety initiatives and address the issue of disabled parking bays which there is a massive backlog.
- We will also be investing in our Public Rights of Way – which have been hammered during Covid and will help keep people walking and improve access to the countryside. A real example of building back better and one of the few positive outcomes from Covid.
- Increase the investment in tackling environmental crime by £200,000 over the next year to combat the scourge of fly tipping, dog fouling and littering.
- Support a 20s Plenty scheme to make the Borough’s roads safer at a cost of £235,000 over the next two years.
- Reverse cuts to Early Years staffing who help the Borough’s most vulnerable people often diverting them away from our overstretched health, mental and social work teams, at a cost of £100,000.
- Introduce a fund for free bulky waste collection to prevent fly tipping. This will really tackle the blight of dumping; help clean up our town and help those without their own transport.
- Invest more cash into local Youth Services, with an emphasis on district outreach at a cost of £100,000.
- Spend an additional £150,000 on crime prevention and safety to make our citizens more confident and safer.
- Recognise the work of both Saddleworth and Shaw & Crompton Parish Councils’ by reinstating the previously cut Parish Grant totalling £15,000 which will assist these unpaid and undervalued volunteers to continue their excellent work.
Councillor Gloster said: “Our budget amendment is simple, after listening to the people that actually pay for these services in the first place, we have produced savings that will release money to re-invest in the front-line services that the public value.”
“In the next year, the Liberal Democrats will save £1 million by cutting Civic Centre bureaucracy and waste to spend on these front-line services as well as re focus the Capital Programme to achieve maximum benefit to the people who matter, the public, without any additional increase in expenditure or loss of service.”