Council budget inaction on Gunnersbury Park and Cranford Agreement a disgrace, say Lib Dems

Campaigning against Heathrow expansion - Simon Hughes MP, Cllr Munira Wilson, Brian Paddick, Cllr Stephen Knight, Cllr Andrew Dakers and Susan Kramer MP

A Lib Dem proposal for the long-term restoration of Gunnersbury Park and its Mansions was rejected at the Council's Budget setting meeting last night. The Lib Dems proposal was backed an eleven page report setting out how the money could be raised. The Lib Dems call for investment to restore the Cranford Agreement through a parliamentary bill was also rejected. The agreement was reached in the 1950s to protect residents in Cranford from excessive noise. The Lib Dems say that by scrapping the Cranford Agreement the Labour Government betrayed undertakings to protect the public from negative effects of Heathrow development. Given the rejection of these proposals - and a range of other ideas - the Lib Dem group voted against the Council budget.

On Gunnersbury…

The Lib Dems say that their analysis showed that the park, local history museum and mansions could be restored without imposing an excessive burden on Council tax payers. The Lib Dem proposal was for £8.2m to be raised through prudential borrowing and repaid over 25 years. They say that now Hounslow and Ealing Councils will be drawn to the proposal to raise the money by selling some of the park to developers or leave the local history collection to decay.

Cllr Andrew Dakers, Leader of Hounslow Liberal Democrats, said:

"We are deeply disappointed that the Council was not prepared to take the action required to stop the decline of the park, local history museum and mansions. This is a site of local and national importance. We carefully costed our proposals and used the work of the consultants employed by the Council to chart a way forward. Now it seems that the indecision that has blighted the park and its mansions for years is set to continue.

"The arguments have gone on for too long. We wanted to inject a sense of urgency into the situation. While we accept that there were shortcomings in the public consultation about the future of the Park we think that this should not be used to stop efforts to make substantial progress.

"We are very worried about the future of the Local History Museum in view of the deteriorating fabric of the building it is in. Leaking roofs threaten the collection. We are sorry that the other parties did not see this as an important enough matter to make the modest investment we proposed. It seems the Conservatives are not very interested in conservation."

On Heathrow and the Cranford agreement…

The Lib Dems want Hounslow to join with other Councils in putting a Cranford Agreement Bill before Parliament. They say that this would cost about £168,000 but that this could be shared with other Councils affected by airport noise. Their proposal that £56,000 be set aside for this purpose in the Council Budget was rejected at last Tuesday's Budget meeting. The proposals have received the support of Cllr Mike Cox, leader of the Hillingdon Lib Dem Group as well as Cllr Stephen Knight, Deputy Leader of Richmond Council, who offered Richmond's broad support for the proposal and would welcome a meeting with LB Hounslow to discuss it further.

Cllr Andrew Dakers, Leader of Hounslow Liberal Democrats, said:

"Voters should take into account the fact that MPs Ann and Alan Keen dropped their opposition to airport expansion on the basis of a promise to keep runway alternation. Apart from the dismal record of BAA with respect to such promises it means that they found scrapping the Cranford Agreement acceptable.

"We greatly regret that the other parties did not see this issue as important enough to put up the money to take it all the way to Parliament. Unacceptable aircraft noise blights people's lives. Parliament is responsible for the situation and we should make use of our right to place a Bill before it to restore the Cranford Agreement."

Cllr Barbara Reid, the lead member for Heathrow, said that rejecting the Lib Dem budget proposal did not mean that their proposal was ruled out. She seemed to imply that if the Bill seemed likely to produce a result it could perhaps be financed from money already allocated to efforts to oppose Heathrow expansion.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1) Paper with a full analysis of how Gunnersbury could be funded can be found here:

http://tinyurl.com/InvestingInGunnersburyReport

2) Detailed case for the Cranford Agreement Bill proposal:

http://tinyurl.com/CranfordAgreementBill

3) Liberal Democrat Alternative Budget

1. ADDITIONAL EXPENDITURE - Total £855k

1.1. Social care funding - £100k

The administration suggests in will: "utilise increases in Care Matters grant in 2010/11 to offset existing LBH funded expenditure within Children's Social Care and to look at other areas of Children' Social care where expenditure reductions can be identified." We do not accept that a reduction in the social care funding is without risk given the multiple pressures on this service area and believe this saving should not be implemented.

1.2. Contain increases to pay and display parking charges & street licensing - £200K

The proposed £250k saving should be reduced to a £50k saving. Increases in Pay and Display charges and street licensing charges will hit local small businesses at a time when many are struggling to survive.

1.3. Funding for "Part time employment guarantee - Real work, real jobs" - £149k

This resource would be invested in a pilot job creation scheme. The Council would bid to run a pilot project under the DWP's 'Right to bid' scheme, transferring up to £500k of DWP spending to the Council's control. The trial would be run in a part of the borough and would be aimed at anyone unemployed and on benefits for more than 6 months. Under the trial participants would be guaranteed part-time work and their Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) would cease. This would reduce benefits dependency and enable people to develop a portfolio of employment or transition into full-time employment.

1.4. Making Locata Housing Allocation simpler with 'Auto-bidding' - £40k

Housing allocation through 'Locata' causes stress and anxiety for many users, particularly the most vulnerable. This resource would enable Locata to introduce 'Auto-bidding' technology which is already available in other boroughs. A scrutiny investigation has already recommended that this approach is piloted, which was accepted by the Executive, but has not yet been implemented.

1.5. Cranford Agreement Bill - to control expansion of Heathrow by stealth - £56k

This resource would enable to Council to use the 1972 Local Authority Act to restore the Cranford Agreement by putting a Private Bill before Parliament. This would cost about £56k by submitting the Bill with other Councils fighting the expansion of Heathrow.

1.6. Grants programme for English Language teaching - £110k

Hounslow's diverse school population means that support is needed to ensure that all children have good English standards. This resource would be made available through the Community Cohesion unit for bids from schools and Hounslow Language Service to provide additional high quality language tuition on the basis of proven needs.

1.7. Funding for Gunnersbury Park, local history museum and mansions - Fundraising manager in 2010/11 - £50k / Cost of borrowing £8.2m capital over 25 years (year 1 - 2010/11) - £0k

This resource would initiate a programme of investment in Gunnersbury Park, local history museum and mansions. The cost of £8.2m prudential borrowing, with capital drawdown commencing this year, would be spread over a 25 year period. The revenue cost in 2010/11 is £50k for a fundraising manager whose objective would be to also raise funding through other sources.

1.8. Investment in Council reserves fund for contingencies (such as snow!) - £150k

2. ADDITIONAL SAVINGS/ REVENUE - Total £855k

2.1 Additional resource from restructure/ salary grade review of top 3 tiers - £150k

The appointment of a new Chief Executive is an opportunity to review the structure and pay grades at the top of the organisation. Currently the top 28 posts cost £2.7 million. We believe the cost should be reduced by £150k in 2010/11.

2.2 Council Tax Recommendations - £705k

This would cost a Band D Council tax payer an extra 16p/ week. A 0.75% increase.

Taken together with a 19p reduction in the Mayor's London precept that Lib Dems on the GLA proposed, this would have represented a net reduction of 3p/week for Hounslow residents.