Essex Liberal Democrats
Our Priorities for the 2013 Elections
Four years of Tory scandal and financial mismanagement
Over the last four years Conservative run Essex County Council has been hit by a series of financial and other scandals
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The former Leader, Lord Hanningfield, was forced to resign over his House of Lords expenses for which he was imprisoned
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Lord Hanningfield?s ECC expenses were exposed which showed ?287,000 had been spent over the five years 2005-10, the previous five years records having been destroyed
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Further revelations showed his office staff claimed ?70,000 over three years and ECC paid his ?4,600 bar bill at the House of Lords
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The Conservatives, with Labour support, refused a Liberal Democrat call for an Inquiry to establish who authorised those payments and why
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The use of ?P? cards (payment cards) by officers was exposed which revealed ?1.7m had been spent on luxury hotels, trips abroad and shopping sprees
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Five cases of personal identity data were leaked or mislaid
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The revelation that ECC had ?14.5m of art treasures hidden away from public view
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Developer contributions (Section 106 monies) were lost through inaction
Now is the time to sweep away the secrecy and open up the County Council to public scrutiny
The Liberal Democrats will make that change by:
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Council meetings to be web cast
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Allowing the public to speak and ask questions at Council meetings
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No more decisions made behind closed doors
Thank you for publishing the “Priorities” for the Liberal Democrats standing for Election to Essex County Council across the whole County of Essex.
All the County Wards or Divisions in our District are in contest from a wide range of candidates.
I am a voter in Rochford North. Here is what I would wish ALL of the candidates looking for my vote to address.
There are 3,500 new dwellings agreed in the Rochford Core Strategy. Already 976 have been given planning permission in the Central part of the District.
Voters cannot see how the overall highways infrastructure can cope without major improvements.
Essex County Council is the Authority responsible for Highway improvement planning.
I do not know of a single other subject that ALL voters in our District want to see addressed as a Priority by a newly elected Administration at Essex County Council, whatever the political balance at the end of the election.
The roads in the Rochford District have not been strategically improved since green-space separated all towns and villages on the Shoebury peninsular (for want of a better name).
The development of Cherry Orchard Way (B1013) resulted in Hawkwell getting true through traffic avoiding the A127 congestion for the very first time.
The Hawkwell Parish Plan Group is so concerned that it has suggested that a Rochford Bypass should be reconsidered when planning to improve the current inadequate road infrastructure. I understand that many voters in Hawkwell support this. What are the County Council Candidates views on this?
As explained by the current Administration at ECC, “the current Essex Local Transport Plan (LTP) was developed in line with Department for Transport Guidance on LTPs. This LTP represents a significant change from previous LTPs. It is not a 5 year plan that sets out a specific programme, instead it is a long term document that provides the framework within which transport programmes can be developed.”
The current Administration at ECC Essex County Council stated in an email to me on 21 December 2012 “On a local level every strategic development proposal is accompanied by a transport assessment, the scope of which must be agreed with the Highway Authority. This assessment considers the impact the proposed development will have on the highway network and includes industry standard forecasted growth (TEMPRO) to ensure a comprehensive approach that accounts for present traffic conditions (including any new and committed development) and future traffic growth.”
The Highways Authority has evidently not looked strategically at the cumulative effect of traffic impacts of planned development through the Local Transport Plan and The Highways Authority will only address improvements in a limited piecemeal fashion on each planning application for development.
This is not good enough and voters will want to hear what the Parties contesting the County Council Elections are going to do about it. Let us hope that it is not “Nothing” !!
You are correct – the Highways Authority has not looked strategically at the cumulative effect of traffic impacts of planned development.
Speaking personally, I am against a Rochford bypass because the only way I can see it being funded is by a vast amount of housebuilding in our green belt.
So Chris, what will the Liberal Democrat County Councillors when if re-elected/newly elected propose to do about it please?
And if Chris permits them to post here what would the other Parties do about it?
What other proposals for funding strategic infrastructure improvement would the Lib Dems and other Parties put forward?
I do hope that there will be some proposals/ideas put forward for voters to choose from before they go to the Ballot Box.
John, it would be a bit arrogant of me to propose big highways schemes without thorough traffic assessments first ! If elected I will be pushing first for an impact assessment of all the RDC devlopment schemes combined. Then I think we can talk about new highways improvements in more detail.
So whilst I have been pushing for a new pedestrian crossing in Hullbridge Road, and want to see improvements to Watery Lane and the London Road/ Downhall Road Junction, and want to see an end of flooding at the Fairglen Interchange, I don’t know if I can go much further than that without receiving more information….
A very real issue highlighted here, but I would like to know what proposals you have for repairing the current road network, which seems to get more pot-holed on a daily basis.
Also, would you push for a cap on the amount of expenses that can be claimed, as some other candidates are saying they would do?
Christine, I don’t think we are going to fix our potholes, and stop new ones, without increasing the budget for maintenance in our area. So if elected I would be spending time reading through the budget books, getting adviskce from Lib Dem colleagues on how to increase that budget heading, and looking to work with the new County Councillors for Rayleigh South, Rochford West, Rochford North and Rochford South , whatever party they belong to, on a cross-party approach to dealing with the pothole problem in our district.
I’d also like to get back to a system where District Councillors can communicate easily with County Engineers.
And I do think there should be a cap on expenses and allowances for councillors.