Steven Lambert

This week the Tory cabinet met and discussed how the AVDC budget is facing deep trouble and that there is a funding gap of £1.5 million. What is now not in doubt is that services will have to be cut for vale residents. 

Since the transfer of the council houses to VAHT, this council has had a massive amount of money in the bank which it could use to invest in the Vale to improve community centres, play parks and recycling services. Instead the Tories have squandered over £45 million on a Theatre – which we will all own but not earn anything from.   

This week at the cabinet meting the Tories went ahead and approved their hair brained scheme for a new £12 million Council chamber (which will only get used 8 times a year by the 59 District Councillors!) and a new office block at the Gateway – which is outside the centre of town for nearly all the council staff leaving the town centre devoid of any meaningful council services.  

In a week that AVDC lost £3 million in the failed Icelandic Bank fiasco and possibly more in other ‘investments’ you really have to wonder what they have been playing at. The interest earned by investing the house sale money properly could keep council tax down and allow the Council to pump money into the local economy and deliver infrastructure improvements for all residents. The Tories have not been mending the roof while the sun was shining. They have been looking after their legacy.  

At the Resources scrutiny committee this week I put it to the cabinet member responsible for finance that the council chamber should be scrapped. I will do so again and again until they see sense.  Now is not the time for legacy buildings. Now is the time to look after the people you serve.

You have to ask your self who is really running AVDC and what on earth they have in their mind about our past and our future. At the September District Environment scrutiny meeting the Tories tried a double whammy.  

Firstly to get rid of the Shipton conservation site, which would have seen the first ever removal of a designated conservation site in the District. Thankfully, the Liberal Democrats where successful at getting them to reconsider these plans which would have seen the loss of a beautiful vale village. We now have to wait for a further report from officers and a Cabinet Member decision before we know that Shipton is safe. 

Secondly, the Tories used their majority to push through a disastrous plan to ruin one of the last remaining ancient monuments in Bucks. It seems that the only place the officers think a new crematorium should go is virtually on top of the Scheduled Ancient Monument at Quarrendon. 

The Liberal Democrats argued that that if a crematorium is really needed then it must be moved further away to the north east and across the relief road that is to be built between Berryfields and Weedon Hill to protect the historical site. The Berryfields and Weedon Hill development sites are so close and that already we have fought to move the releif road by 30m away from the historic site. It must be protected or it wil be lost forever. 

Despite a letter from English Heritage saying that “it is unlikely that any development could be accommodated her without having an unacceptable impact upon the significance of the monument… we would have no choice but to object to the allocation of this area for the development…”  But not one Tory in the meeting argued against protecting the site or asked further questions on the plans. Instead the Tories voted against the Liberal Democrats and approved the plans to the next stage.  

It’s not enough that the Tories are ripping the heart out of Aylesbury with costly pet projects like the Theatre and Council office building programmes, but they are also determined to destroy our heritage across the Vale.

The Quarrendon protection scheduling notice web link  www.buckscc.gov.uk/moderngov/mgIssueHistoryHome.asp?IId=5806

34 rubbish bags.JPG

This weekend individuals and communities worldwide are encouraged to clean up, repair and conserve their local environment, with people in over 120 countries participating. We did our bit in Coldharbour along with the Coldharbour parish Council and the Fairford Leys WI.

With over 20 volunteers from Fairford Leys, we collected 34 bags of rubbish in just under two hours from the grass verges and riverine corridor. Most of it was cans and plastic bottles and crisp packets. But there were a few larger items that had just been dumped.It’s a shame that we need to do these clean up days, but while the developers and District Council haggle over the adoptions, no one is maintaining these green areas of Fairford Leys.

Surely this is evidence enough that something has to be done and done now, so that this key village feature can be kept clean and enjoyed by the local residents and wildlife? In the mean time, I will continue to press for the adoptions and be on the next clean up the world day with friends and neighbours.

After fixing the technical problem with this website, I’m pleased to be back here blogging away… and while I have so much to tell you that has been going on for the past couple of months, Focus has still been printed and delivered across the ward, so I won’t repeat myself on these articles except to say, that I have been busy working away on issues facing our community. Issues such as:

- Tackling anti social behaviour in our play parks, where I have got the Police to carry out more regular patrols. I had an open air meeting with the police in the main Play Park in Fairford Leys and been on my hands and knees cleaning up the broken glass and beer cans from the children’s play area. I am pleased that we now have the Parish Council grounds maintenance team doing extra clean up patrols on Saturday morning in the main play parks.

- The school catchment debacle continues with Bucks County Council still messing around with our community’s school needs. I am pleased to be joining the Fairford leys parents group at a public meeting on Thursday 9th October at the Church on Fairford Leys, where they will feedback on the fight so far and consider further options. (See their website www.fairfordleysparents.co.uk) for further details

- Taking Andrew Grant the Chief Executive of the District Council on a ward walk all through Hartwell, Prebendal estates and Fairford Leys to show him what our community needs and the issues we face.

- Joining Cllr Paul Hughes on a ward walk with the head of Leisure and open spaces from the District Council through Fairford Leys to talk about riverine adoptions, tree management, Play Park adoptions.

- As you can see its been busy, but a worthwhile summer. More to come in the autumn.

This week I went to the Liberal Democrat party conference in

Bournemouth – and what an exiting week it was! I took part in debates and discussions ranging from renewable energy to how politics is seen by so many as remote and irrelevant. All this confirmed in me, that here in Aylesbury, we can only benefit from the proposals the Liberal Democrats are putting forward.The centrepiece debate of the week was chaired by Cllr Alan Sherwell of the Aylesbury Party and was on ‘Make it Happen’.

It set out our party’s vision and values as well as gave key areas of focus for the party. Make it Happen commits us to being the only party who are committed to keeping British freedoms protected. We are proposing a Freedom Law to get the government of our backs and put in place new protection to keep your personal data private.

Make it Happen sets out our vision of a fair society where no-one is imprisoned by poverty, Families up and down the country are struggling with rising bills, rising prices, and wages that aren’t keeping up. So we will force energy companies to pay a large share of their windfall subsidy to help homes use energy more efficiently.

Make it Happen makes clear that front line services must be protected and we are identifying 3% of government spending that we consider to be wasted or misdirected, identifying £20 billion of savings on things like ID cards, industrial subsidies and wasteful IT projects. We’ll use this money to meet the spending priorities. If there is money to spare, once we have paid for these spending commitments, we’ll channel it into extending our tax cuts

Make it Happen, is local too like not wasting money on expensive office blocks and a new council chamber. Understanding peoples needs on a local level, energising local communities and empowering people.

This is what the Liberal Democrats do best and conference re affirmed this in me. I’m looking forward to making it happen.

                            

After a massive delay the County Council are due to start the statutory public consultation in the next few weeks, with the aim of having the lines down by the end of May.

I was pleased to be re elected as Chairman of Coldharbour Parish Council on Thursday.  I really enjoy the role and am passionate about Coldharbour Parish Council and the role it has played in shaping Fairford Leys into what we see here today.   

Furthermore, I am delighted that Cllr Stuart Jarvis was elected as my Vice Chairman.  Cllr Pat Martin has been a great support to me as Vice Chairman over the past year and I am proud that he maintains his role as a Coldharbour Parish Council Councillor.

I’m not normally given to thanking the Tories, but on this occasion as we received our annual report of the Scrutiny Committees I was pleased to stand up at last week’s full AVDC Council meeting with my Lib Dem Colleagues from the Environment Scrutiny Committee who in unison, recognised the hard work of Cllr Lindsay Rowlands in chairing the Environment Scrutiny Committee.  We have had a huge agenda this year with the Agenda for Growth and where the 9300 homes are to go as well as the new Council office plans.   

This is the first Scrutiny Committee that Cllr Rowlands has chaired and with the huge amount of work and new ground being covered she has done a great job at helping all the Councillors do our job of scrutinising the work of the Council and making sure that the Southern Growth Arc was properly covered. It certainly made a very complicated subject less arduous.  Thank you Lindsay!

Although we didn’t have elections her in Aylesbury Vale last week no one can have escaped the fact that they were happening elsewhere.  I was helping the Lib Dem team in Milton Keynes on the day where we maintained our majority.  It was a really good feeling on the doorstep talking to voters and getting the feel of local issues, but what really came out was the 10p tax issue and that Labour suffered as a result.  Here is a snap shot of results:

 National share of the vote (BBC)

• Conservative                       44%
• Liberal Democrat               25%
• Labour                                24%

Council control 

The Liberal Democrats retained control of:

• Cambridge
• Eastleigh
• Liverpool[1]
• Rochdale
• Stockport
• Newcastle
• Watford
• Three Rivers
• South Lakeland . 

We also gained control of :

• Sheffield
• St Albans
• Hull 

• Burnley

 We did though lose control of Pendle and West Lindsey.  

Following these elections the Liberal Democrats are just one seat short of overall control in Oldham (4 gains), Warrington (1 gain) and Cheltenham (3 gains). We also continue to be the largest party in Cardiff (2 gains), Sefton (1 gain), North East Lincolnshire (1 gain) and are now also the largest party in Derby (5 gains), Exeter (1 gain) and Wrexham (3 gains).

 Councillors elected The Liberal Democrats made 137 gains in these elections four years ago and have now added to those gains.  We have over 4,200 council seats (more than 21% of the total in Great Britain).  With results in from all 159 councils, the net figures are:

Conservative             +256
Liberal Democrats    + 34
Labour                       -331

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[1] 

Liverpool was Labour’s number one target.  The council composition is now Lib Dem 46, Labour 39, Liberals 3, Greens 2  (total 90).Overall the Lib Dems are a proving to be a force to be reckoned with.

Clearly we are making headway and did well nationally; here is a snap shot of facts and figures.  If you want to join this winning team of Lib Dems click on the link below or send me an email!  

http://www.libdems.org.uk/support

Again this week at AVDC Council I followed up the adoption and maintenance of the Bearbrook Riverine Corridor and this time with some success.  I am pleased to say that things are moving on. The developers have now hired a contractor to visit the area weekly and litter pick the riverine banks and tidy up some of the trees and shrubs and the walkways.   

The District Council have also now said that they are keen to abide by the terms of the adoption agreement and are keen to outline a timetable for full adoption with the developers.  A fly in the ointment is that the developers have yet to submit a map of the area to the District Council so that they can plan a workforce and maintenance regime post adoption.   

We have been fighting for this over a number of years and I am really pleased that at last things are moving on…………….. Watch this space for further updates!