Update on County Council Matters

COUNTY COUNCIL REPORT TO GROVE PARISH COUNCIL

I presented my report to Grove Parish Council regarding my activities on Tuesday evening to the full council meeting.  I thought it would be useful to make it available here with more detail. Meetings that I have attended this year include the Wantage and Grove Traffic Advisory Committee (this includes issues raised by Grove Parish Council and Wantage Town Council on a regular basis). With no local highways budget now to do anything, everything is supposed to be reported to Fix My Street in order to get it done.   May I advise residents who wish to report a problem to use this link provided.  It will also keep track of what is reported.  I believe that this method means that someone will come out and assess the work and it will be prioritised.

I also attended the Wantage and Faringdon Locality meeting, where again, there was much said by the officers from the council attending the meeting, but with budget restrictions in the pipeline, very little is promised.  Cuts to services are happening as we speak, in particular, the Children’s Centres, Day Centres, bus subsidy withdrawals, roads and highways works etc.  However,  many residents already know about this and for this reason, parishes and towns are expected to take on more.  Fortunately, Grove Parish Council have agreed to take on some of the County Council's grass-cutting responsibilities, because they are already cutting grass to a high standard in the village, so I am pleased that this will continue.  Too often, when I get complaints about grass-cutting in Grove, it turns out to be due to a contractor doing the work on behalf of the district council.  Hopefully, in the future, all of this will be managed by the parish who have their own grounds staff and machinery.

Meanwhile, today saw the announcement by the Home Secretary regarding closer working and co-operation between all emergency services which means that the County Council will no longer be managing the local fire service.  This will now come under the local PCC (Police and Crime Commissioner).  I am sure more details on this will emerge, but locally as cuts in the police service continue, our police counter by the Library in Wantage has been closed.  If you will recall, this move was published on my blog several years ago, when the local police station in Wantage was closing and the County worked with Thames Valley Police to make available this counter space by the Library for their use.  I am sad that after fighting for this to happen and keep some police presence in the town, some years down the line, it has been closed anyway!

Meanwhile, I held my surgery in January and had many issues raised again, including parking on verges and grassed areas – an age old chestnut!  Some of the issues raised at my surgery do involve the police, especially where inconsiderate parking is involved.  It is worth noting that the PCSO surgery at Grove Library often follows on from my surgery on Saturday mornings, so please do come along to see our PCSO Tom Walcott Smith if your concern is regarding police matters.

The next meeting I shall attend at the County Council will be the February Budget Council meeting.  However, until the government recognises the problems they are causing local councils by reducing their settlement for local services, without allowing us to raise council tax without a costly referendum, then unfortunately this situation will continue.