The budget amendment put forward by Liberal Democrats on East Cambridgeshire District Council focuses on recovering from COVID, says Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Lorna Dupré.
“COVID has hit many families and local businesses hard,” says Lorna. “Jobs are at risk. Mental health is declining for many people. And teenagers and young adults have been particularly affected by the long periods of lockdown on top of the chronic lack of affordable local amenities.
“That’s why our budget proposal centres on helping small firms at the council’s eSpace centres help with their rents; offering advice on COVID safety to food serving establishments hoping to open or re-open; and on ring-fencing £40,000 within the council’s Major Projects fund to start a piece of work with partners on improving leisure and recreation across the district, with young people and the outdoors particularly in mind.
“We have also identified efficiency savings in the council budget to reduce the Conservatives’ budget shortfall.
“Both parties’ proposals provide balanced budgets in 2021/22 and 2022/23 but require substantial savings in 2023/24. By addressing efficiency savings early, the Liberal Democrat proposal reduces the savings requirement in 2023/24 by over £400,000.
“Finally, the Conservatives propose to freeze council tax this coming year, but then to increase it by the maximum possible amount every year for the lifetime of their financial plan. We agree with them that they have starved the council of income for basic services for far too long.
“But we have proposed instead a small increase of 1 per cent in council tax this coming year, and 2 per cent the following year, waiting until April 2023 to increase the council tax by the 3.5 per cent that the Conservatives propose from April 2022.”
It would be interesting to know what your exact plans to spend the £40k on with regards to leisure and recreation are? Has any consultation been done and what strategic evidence would be used? A focus on young people is good in terms of them being less active during lockdowns but what is it that they want/need? I am aware community groups in Ely particularly are pushing for a splash pad and for a new skate park.
Unfortunately our proposal was defeated. We wanted to work in partnership with parish councils, community groups, young people and others to develop a project to scope what was needed and what could be achieved. A splash pad and skate park in Ely would be good, and there are needs elsewhere in villages for accessible activities. Many young people have been particularly hard hit by the lockdowns, with so much energy to burn off and the need to socialise.