http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/newsarchive.php Recent News Stories from West Berkshire Liberal Democrats en-GB West Berkshire Liberal Democrats http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/ Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/ (c) 2009 West Berkshire Liberal Democrats 2009-07-04T00:32+01:00 United Kingdom http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/news/000316/conservatives_ditch_plans_for_west_berkshire_council_to_meet_the_public_at_the_royal_county_of_berkshire_show_this_year.html District Councillor Keith Woodhams (Lib Dem, Thatcham West) said that he was astonished to learn from the Leader of Council, Graham Jones, that he was pulling the Council out of the Royal County of Berkshire Show this year. 2009-06-02T09:53+01:00 http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/news/000315/lib_dems_urge_residents_to_respond_to_consultation_on_new_housing__if_it_ever_gets_underway.html West Berkshire Council Liberal Democrats are urging all residents to respond to the Council's consultation on the distribution of 10,500 new homes allocated to the District in the South East Plan. The consultation relates to the document Options for the Future - West Berkshire Core Strategy which proposes locating 75% of the new homes in and around the major settlements of Newbury, Thatcham and the western part of Reading, and 20% in seven "Rural Service Centres", i.e. Burghfield Common, Hungerford, Lambourn, Mortimer, Pangbourne and Theale. It also presents options on strategic sites where major development will be concentrated. 2009-05-27T15:13+01:00 http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/news/000314/theale_councillor_creates_website_to_help_fight_unacceptable_housing_site_proposal.html Theale Lib-Dem councillor for Theale, Alan Macro, has set up a special website to help fight West Berks Council's proposal to put a site for 450 houses in Theale in its Local Development Framework. 2009-05-18T11:57+01:00 http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/news/000313/resurfacing_the_roads_in_west_berkshire.html Residents are becoming increasingly angry at the Conservatives lackadaisical attitude to maintaining West Berkshires highways. The district's road surfaces are now turning into a slalom course with vehicles steering cautiously to avoid being caught up in dangerous holes and troughs. Why are we repeatedly paying out thousands of pounds for patching the roads, surely this cannot be a cost effective or economical way of improving our road network? 2009-05-18T11:56+01:00 http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/news/000312/tories_parking_concessions_too_little_too_late_say_liberal_democrats.html Roger Hunneman, Deputy Leader of the West Berkshire Council Liberal Democrats, has responded scathingly to the Council's plans to introduce free parking for a number of Thursdays in central Newbury as well as Hungerford, Theale, Pangbourne and Thatcham. 2009-05-08T00:00+01:00 http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/news/000311/rendel_blasts_above_inflation_council_tax_rise.html West Berkshire residents struggling to pay mortgages or facing unemployment will be furious to find they are faced with an average £46 increase on their council tax bill this year, according to Lib Dem Finance spokesperson David Rendel. The 3.9% increase announced yesterday is well above inflation now and within a few months inflation is expected to tumble towards zero. 2009-02-12T15:36+00:00 http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/news/000310/come_clean_on_mixed_waste__lib_dems.html The Liberal Democrats have learned that the Council's waste contractor, Veolia, is using Partially Segregated Recovery Vehicles (PSRVs) on three of its eight collection routes in West Berkshire. Use of these vehicles involves mixing together and compacting the various types of waste material set out by householders for recycling, in contrast to vehicles used on the other five routes where the different types of recyclables are kept separate. The usual excuse is being trotted out again: the amount of waste set out for recycling has exceeded all expectations and the Contractor has insufficient capacity to the meet this demand. 2009-01-19T16:11+00:00 http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/news/000309/tories_delay_crucial_credit_crisis_aid__macro.html Vulnerable residents could be left out in the cold this winter after crucial measures to help were delayed by Tory Councillors. An urgent raft of measures designed to ease the pressure on West Berkshire people struggling financially were deferred at Thursday night's meeting of full Council. 2008-12-15T15:00+00:00 http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/news/000308/tories_refuse_to_end_32m_annual_growth_on_wage_bill__brooks.html Council tax payers in West Berkshire are facing continued uncontrolled rises in the public sector wage bill at the Council after Tories voted against a measure to stop creating new positions. 2008-12-15T14:53+00:00 http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/news/000307/council_watchdog_more_like_tory_lapdog__brooks.html Cross-party recommendations made by the Council's watchdog committee, the Overview and Scrutiny Commission (O&SC), and intended to improve Council performance were very largely ignored at Tuesday's Executive meeting. 2008-12-15T12:37+00:00 http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/news/000306/wind_turbine_guidance_needed__longton.html Greener energy could be one step closer for West Berkshire if a Lib Dem motion finds favour at a meeting of Council next week. The Motion resolves to take action to increase both energy efficiency and the amount of energy generated in the District from green energy sources such as wind, sun and biomass. As an example it also sets out guidelines to help identify suitable sites for wind turbines. The motion's author, Dr Royce Longton, explained why the motion is so critical. "It is crucial that West Berkshire starts to play catch up on action to combat climate change at a local level. Dubbed 'Britain's most ecologically dismal Council' in the national press, these measures will go some way to reversing this Council's poor reputation by making it easier to identify suitable sites for wind turbines and thus encourage green energy generation in West Berkshire". 2008-12-05T13:08+00:00 http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/news/000305/credit_crunch_help_on_horizon_for_west_berks_residents__macro.html West Berkshire residents could soon benefit from a host of measures designed to ease the pressure of the credit crunch, if a Liberal Democrat motion is successful at next week's meeting of West Berkshire Council. 2008-12-05T13:07+00:00 http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/news/000304/lib_dems_call_for_end_to_one_new_employee_a_week_at_council__brooks.html An end to the soaring numbers of West Berkshire Council staff added over the past three years could be in sight if Lib Dem calls for a freeze on the Council's headcount are passed at next week's full Council meeting. 2008-12-05T11:58+00:00 http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/news/000303/govt_grant_to_wbc_even_better_than_expected.html The Government has announced a £5.8 Million extra payment to West Berkshire Council for next year. This is even higher than the amount expected after last year's three-year settlement was announced. It should enable WBC to keep Council Tax down well below the average, while also providing much better than average services for local residents. 2008-12-03T13:57+00:00 http://westberkslibdems.org.uk/news/000302/lib_dem_disappointment_over_continuing_tory_lack_of_ambition_in_cleaner_greener_debate.html Lib Dems have criticised the Tory Leader of West Berkshire Council for his admission of his administration's lack of ambition. Having placed an empty slogan of Cleaner & Greener in green ink on every piece of Council headed paper; it is rarely turned into real policies in the Council. 2008-11-18T15:34+00:00