Bill Hoult

On behalf of myself and County Councillor Richard Hall a formal objection has been lodged on behalf of local residents in our division to the allocation of the above site for Waste Transfer and Recycling.

Our main reasons are as follows:-

1) The proximity of the site to residential properties is a concern, not only is there a house attached to the adjoining nursery but residential properties at the end of Bar Lane, Beech Grove and Boroughbridge Road. The use for “municipal waste” is totally unacceptable (see point 2)

2) The size and scale of the site indicates a use for a much larger operation than envisaged in the “other sites” definition. The extent of the site shown on the plan is such that it indicates that waste disposal operations may be conducted at remote locations from adjoining residential areas. This is not so as most of the site shown hatched on the plan is currently a ground water lake that is used for recreational purposes. To utilise this area (which could only be done by filling in the lake) would mean a loss of a much valued amenity. If the lake is not intended to be filled in the area of site usable for any operations is limited and is in close proximity to the residential properties identified in (1).

3) The lake itself indicates the level of the “ground water” in this area and there are serious concerns regarding contamination of this environment.

4) There are inevitably great concerns regarding heavy goods vehicle traffic that would be generated through Bond End Knaresborough an already congested and narrow main road.

Liberal Democrats at County Hall labelled the Conservatives Council Tax proposal  of  4.75% as callous and irresponsble  and called for a lower tax of 3.75% to be levied. However the Tories voted it down. This year the County Council received a generous grant settlement from Government that was £3 million pounds more than expected. It also has £60 million in total reserves (compared with £26 million predicted two years ago) and is expecting to finish the financial year having underspent more than £7 million, an amount equivalent to a 3% tax rise.The Government has warned local authorities that it expects Council Tax rises to be “substantially” below 5% or they will be capped. Capping means that the Government will set the Council Tax rate and the County Council will have to stump up the costs of sending out revised tax bills to council tax payers. This could cost up to £500,000.The Liberal Democrats instead proposed a 3.75% tax increase, with a small element of reserves used to ensure no cuts to services.County Councillor Bill Hoult, Leader of the Liberal Democrats at County Hall, comments:“The wage earner in an ordinary family is looking at a 2% pay rise, heating and lighting costs rising by 15-20% and petrol costs at over £1 a litre. They will not understand why, having underspent by £7 million on this year’s budget, the Tories are imposing such a huge tax increase of double the inflation rate.”“The Council is also taking an incredible risk in challenging Government guidance. It is ludicrous to suggest that 0.25% is substantially below 5%. With the Council’s good settlement and massive reserves it is asking to be capped.”

“The Liberal Democrats will continue to campaign for the unfair Council Tax to be abolished and replaced by a fair alternative based on ability to pay.”

Hear the debate by linking to the www.northyorks.gov.uk/   Council and Democracy-Listen to Council meetings- Item 6.1 REvenue Budget 2008/09 and Medium term Financial Strategy.

A Liberal Democrat amendment to reduce Harrogate’s council tax increase from
4.2% to 3.95% was defeated by a coalition of Tories and Ripon Independents
at tonight’s budget meeting (13/2/08). Council leader, Cllr Mike Gardiner,
stated that, “the gain to tax payers wasn’t worth having”.

A further amendment to move £20,000 of the £30,000 promised for voluntary
organizations from predicted underspends to a base budget commitment was
also defeated.

Liberal Democrat leader, Cllr de Courcey Bayley, commented, “Whilst we all
appreciate the difficulties faced in the budget process I believe that we
should make every effort to keep council tax increases to an absolute
minimum. To say that this reduction “wasn’t worth having” just shows how
out of touch the Tories are with the council taxpayer. The shift of £20,000
for the voluntary sector to the base budget would have given them some
degree of certainty that this would be carried forward for future years.”

In financial terms the two amendments would have added up to £51,000 which
was proposed to be taken from annual allocation of £270,000 to the computer
reserve, a fund which already stands at nearly £1.5 million.

Late last year Tory Chiefs at the North Yorkshire County Council admitted it had underestimated the cost of a £10million highway depot review by £5million.  This prompted claims by Liberal Democrat Councillors that the estimates must have been prepared on the “back of a fag packet”.

The review was intended to be broadly self funding with sales of some depot sites for housing development paying for providing new sites and upgrading poor facilities at the rest.

In a report to Council chiefs there were claims that the lessons had been learned and that in future contracts would be better managed.

However it has been reported in a local newspaper that work has been halted on the prestige