FLOOD RISK INFO ESSENTIAL FOR PUBLIC AWARENESS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Commenting on the launch of an online map to tell homeowners about flooding risks in England and Wales, Norman Baker MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, said:
Commenting on the launch of an online map to tell homeowners about flooding risks in England and Wales, Norman Baker MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, said:
Liberal Democrat Leader Charles Kennedy today launched the Liberal Democrat Pre-manifesto - the first important stage in the manifesto process, which will take the Party into the General Election.
Under new Liberal Democrat proposals police chiefs would sign contracts with local communities setting out how many officers they would deploy. The "minimum policing guarantees" would set funding levels for local police for a rolling three-year period. The guarantees are part of the party's new plans to tackle crime. The plans include using money earmarked for the government's ID card plan to hire an extra 10,000 front line police and 20,000 community support officers.
It appears that Lib Dem pressure to make the Tory administration think twice before they propose any further cuts to bus services in the County, may be bearing fruit. No further cuts have been made to bus services and Transport Consultative Groups have been set up. The Conservative administration was persuaded that the review of public transport taking place after the drastic cuts made last year should be widened to include all transport provided within Surrey, and the Task Group is soon to announce the findings.
Surrey County Council did not reply to the government's recent consultation on school transport. Despite the Liberal Democrat motion to Council (see "Liberal Democrats Speak Up for School Transport" 11th June 2004) noting that a response should be given by June 25th, the matter was instead referred to the Executive and hence missed the deadline.
The lack of youth workers has contributed to the failure to deliver the expected services for our young people. Added to this, Connexions, a new service for young people, after a year of operations has also failed to be a visible service.
The Lib Dem group proposed a motion at the County Council meeting on 15th June to urge the Government to retain free school transport. However, the Conservative administration at County Hall refused to debate the subject in time to respond to the Government's consultation's deadline of 25th June.
The Liberal Democrat group have called on Surrey County Council's Conservative administration to allow Local Committees to run their own local Youth Services. The Lib Dems are also demanding an explanation about the budget for the Youth Service this year.
Liberal Democrats are calling on Surrey County Council to oppose government plans to remove free school transport for children in Surrey. The Government is currently consulting Councils across the country about their plans to introduce new legislation for school transport. Liberal Democrats are concerned that the removal of free transport would be a financial blow to many families and would worsen Surrey's traffic congestion problem.