600 Homeless Deaths a National Disgrace

Figures released this week by the Government show that 597 deaths in 2017 related to street homelessness. Manchester, with 21 deaths, had the highest number. Birmingham (18) and Bristol, Lambeth and Liverpool (all 17), also registering more than one death a month.

Our view is that the fact that nearly 600 people died on our streets in 2017 is not just a tragedy, but a national disgrace of which we should be deeply ashamed.

These figures show that all over the country, our homelessness crisis is at epidemic levels and people are indefensibly losing their lives. Liberal Democrats want the Government to be building up to 100,000 affordable social homes a year and to provide accommodation and support to those in need.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, prior to his election, promised to “end rough sleeping in Greater Manchester by 2020”. This is only 10 months away, and we need to hold the Mayor to account for his promise.

A Freedom of Information request by Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran has shown that 6,518 ‘offenders’ were found guilty under the Vagrancy Act (1824) between the years 2014 to 2017 in England and Wales. Greater Manchester Police made 441 prosecutions in the four year period.

“The Government, and local authorities, should be ashamed that they have continued to allow the use of a law that makes rough sleeping a criminal offence, and for it to be used so prolifically with little regard for the people afflicted.This law was controversial 200 years ago, and it has no place in a modern, compassionate society.I call on the Government to back my cross-party campaign to scrap the Vagrancy Act, a Bill which criminalises and degrades the most vulnerable, and should bring shame to those who allow its use.”

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran is campaigning to scrap the 1824 Vagrancy Act.

Reporting Back – Budget Council

Last night was the ‘Budget Council’ meeting at Bury Town Hall, where councillors set the Council’s budget for 2019-20, as well as the Council Tax rate residents will pay.

The proposals from the ruling Labour Group were agreed. These include:

– Council Tax rise of 4.4%. The maximum rise allowed by Government without a referendum is 3%, so this is made up of 2.94% rise by Bury, and then on top of that are higher than inflation rises by Greater Manchester Police £24 a year for a Band D property and a more than doubling Greater Manchester Mayor’s tax from £8 to £17, for a Band D property.

– The Council has used some of it’s previous reserves – £5 million – to make the budget balance this year. This is perfectly legal, but obviously they can only be used once – so they are already creating a problem for 2020-21 when additional cuts of £5 million will need to be found.

– Money remains very tight and significant savings need to be made. Two that stood out for us is a reduction in the amount available for road repairs of £600,000 and a reduction in the amount spent on home care visits for older people who need this support of £1.4 million.

– The Council has increased the amount of Council Tax that must be paid on an empty property to double the normal rate.

– Using this extra income to borrow more there  is some money for some new things by borrowing about £4.5 million . This includes £1 million to refurbish Bury Market and money to take forwards proposals in Prestwich, Radcliffe and Whitefield town centres (the money to do the studies, not the money to build anything).

What did the Liberal Democrats do?
We didn’t support the budget, there are some good things, but in general we couldn’t support a budget that was cutting road repairs and home care visits and only balanced by using reserves.

We made an alternative proposal which included:
– More money for road repairs (£3.6 million)
– More money to tackle congestion and ‘rat runs’, and money to tackle air pollution outside of schools (No-idling zones) (£0.5 million)
– More money to address mental health concerns in schools and to tackle fly-tipping (£0.6 million over three years).
The proposal was affordable by reducing management costs by just two posts.

Regrettably Labour Councillors voted agains these proposals.

Hope this is useful please get in touch if you have any questions. The budget papers for the meeting are here.

New Council Tax Rates (from 1 April)
Band A – £1217.44
Band B – £1420.35
Band C – £1623.26
Band D – £1826.19
Band E – £2232.00
Band F – £2637.80
Band G – £3043.63
Band H – £3652.35

Reporting Back: Greater Manchester Budget Scrutiny

Last week was an important opportunity to scrutinise the Council budgets which are set at a Greater Manchester level with the regular meeting of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority ‘Corporate Issues and Reform Scrutiny. Bury’s Lib Dem Councillor Tim Pickstone represents Bury on the Committee and reports here:

Mayor’s General Budget
A part of our Council Tax bills are paid directly to the Mayor of Greater Manchester’s office. A large part of this is for fire services, for which there are no major changes this year in total costs.

In 2018-19, for the first time, the Mayor levied an extra General Levy to residents of £8 a year (for a band D property). The proposal is that this will increase by 125% to £17 per band D property.

The rationale for this increase is around buses. They Mayor wishes to introduce free bus travel for 16 and 17 year olds – estimated at costing up to £9 million. There are also significant monies set aside for future ‘bus reform’ – this is recent changes to legislation which gives city regions like Greater Manchester the potential to have a more regulated bus system.

Bus travel in Greater Manchester has been steadily declining over the last 20 years (as with most of the rest of the country), but the Mayor sees improved bus travel as a key solution to congestion. We’re less convinced this is the only way forwards and would like to see significant investment in all pubic transport options (tram and train) as well.

I asked the Mayor about the 16/17 year old free bus travel. One question is that this is only buses (so not free travel on trams and trains) which I feel will limit the usefulness off getting young people to opportunities (like apprenticeships) which are difficult journeys by bus. A second concern is what measures will be taken to make sure all bus users feel safe using the bus, for example at night.

Transport
There is not proposed to be any increase in the amount local councils have to contribute to Transport for Greater Manchester in 2019/20 – though there is extra money for bus reform and 16/17 year old travel (see above). The largest expenditure items in Transport are – concessionary travel for pensioners, subsidised bus services and the cost of borrowing (largely the cost of building new Metrolink lines in recent years).

Police
The proposal from the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner (who is Greater Manchester is the Mayor) is that the police element of our Council Tax should go up by the maximum allowed by Government which is £24 per year (for a band D property).

Waste
The final element of GM revenue finances is the waste disposal service which has been undergoing significant changes in recent years as the Council’s bought ourselves out of the previous contract with Viridor Laing and are now re-tendering the service. 

Capital Budgets
A large amount of money also flows through the Combined Authority around capital or investments – around £1/2 billion in 2019-20. The largest individual items here are the continuing work on the Trafford Centre line extension to Metrolink and the Housing Investment Fund on new houses.

More information and the full set of Committee papers are here. Any questions please ask!

Greater Manchester Spatial Framework – One month to have your say!

The formal public consultation on the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework ends a month from now on 18 March 2019. This is your opportunity to have your say on these important plans which will have a massive impact on our local area for generations to come.

You can take part in the consultation online, or in the post. Details of the online consultation are here.

Responses sent in the post should be to: Planning Team Consultation, GMCA, Churchgate House, 56 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 6EU

The GMSF proposes 202,000 new homes in Greater Manchester (to put that in context the whole of the city of Manchester is currently 200,000 homes). That includes:
– 9,500 in Bury – 5,000 of which on Green Belt land.
– Greater Manchester will lose 4% of its green belt land, but in Bury the figure is 12% and in Prestwich and Whitefield significantly higher (37% and 33%). 
More details on the big Prestwich/Whitefield/Middleton Development here.
More details on the other big Bury plans (Elton Reservoir and Walshaw) here.

Our view is that we do need some more housing, but this needs to be the homes that people need and can afford. We would do this on existing brownfield sites and be regenerating town centres – with no loss of green belt land.

Sign our petition to say Hands off our Green Belt here. 

The map below is the proposed Northern Gateway site across Prestwich, Middleton and Whitefield where green belt land would be lost.

Age UK Condemns Delay in Care Green Paper

A survey released by Age UK has found that more than 50,000 older people have now died waiting in vain for care during the 700 days since the Government first said it would publish a Care Green Paper

Over the same period, in excess of half a million older people (626,701) have had their requests for social care refused, and 7,240 older people have had the terrible experience of running down all their savings because of their care bills, leaving them reliant on the state to fund their care in future and with nothing to leave for loved ones after their death and 1,263,844 older people have developed an unmet need, such as being able to wash or dress. This is 1,805 developing an unmet need every day.

Commenting on the findings, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson, Baroness Judith Jolly, said:

“The statistics and personal stories uncovered by Age UK are deeply distressing to read. I cannot understand how the Conservative Government can hear these stories and continue to ignore the crisis in social care.

“The Conservative Government has failed. They have delayed the Social Care Green Paper six times because of their failure. The Conservatives must now work with other political parties to achieve a genuine long term, sustainable settlement for the NHS and social care.

“The Liberal Democrats would put a penny on income tax to directly invest funds in social care. We will also keep making the case for a new, dedicated NHS and care tax to guarantee a modern, effective and efficient NHS and care system to ensure that when our loved ones need help, help is there.”

Bury Liberal Democrat Councillor Mary D’Albert said:
“Now is the time for answers. Every day that is spent further defining the problem and consulting on changes, is another day in which people’s lives are not being lived to the full.

“The current system of social care is unsustainable and will buckle under the weight of demand. With people living longer, increases in costs and decreases in funding, adult social care is at breaking point. This is something that the Government must address in its Green Paper on social care and in the forthcoming Spending Review.”

Local Government Finance Settlement leaves £3 Billion funding gap

Last week the Government published its annual ‘Local Government Spending Allocations.

Councillor Tim Pickstone, Liberal Democrat Group leader on Bury Council said:
“Councils still face a funding gap of more than £3 billion this year. The money councils have to provide local services is running out fast and there is huge uncertainty about how they will pay for them into the next decade and beyond.

“If we truly value our local services then we have to be prepared to pay for them. Fully funding councils rather than smaller “one off” bits of extra funding is the only way they will be able to keep providing the services which make a difference to people’s lives, such as caring for older and disabled people, protecting children, building homes, maintaining our parks, fixing roads and collecting bins.

“Investing in local government services will also help reduce pressure on other parts of the public sector, such as the NHS, and save money for the public purse.”

Liberal Democrat Local Government Spokesperson Wera Hobhouse MP added:
“This settlement does nothing to address the growing inequalities across our country. The highly regressive council tax system means that, as the Conservative Government continue to underfund local government, subsequent council tax rises hit poorer communities the hardest.

“There must be a reform of council tax to prevent the places with the highest demand for services for vulnerable people, struggling the most to fund it.

“Liberal Democrats demand better than the sticking plaster that has been presented. The Government are once again kicking the can down the road, instead of setting out a long-term financial package that provides security for our local services.”