Lib Dem plans for potholes, SEND and flooding blocked by Herts Conservatives

Conservatives at Herts County Council have blocked Liberal Democrat proposals to fix more potholes, improve services for children with special needs and do more to tackle flooding. They rejected fully costed proposals that the council could afford to do all these things as part of the council’s budget for the year starting in April.

Hertfordshire Liberal Democrat group leader, County Councillor Steve Jarvis said, “The Conservatives told us that they were doing a great job but that’s not the experience of many residents. They see holes in the roads, their children wait months or years if the need help special needs and hundreds of homes have been flooded this winter.

“Like all councils Hertfordshire is under pressure but the Liberal Democrat proposals would have made improvements in all these areas as well as expanding the popular HertsLynx on demand bus delivering road safety improvements outside more schools.”

The Liberal Democrat proposals included:

• Increased spending on SEND services to increase the number of Education and Health Care Plans that are completed on time and to an acceptable level.
• Additional money for drainage maintenance to reduce flooding in areas of high flooding.
• A trial to fix all adjacent potholes in a single visit.
• Scrapping the proposed household recycling and waste centre booking system and the proposal to cut the number of days the largest centres are open.
• Additional funding for Road Safety measures outside local schools, including pedestrian crossings.

These proposals would have been paid for by selling sites that the council has no need for, cutting spending on publicity and increasing income from commercial premises.