The Grimsby Institute (which will gain University Status),  along with Franklin and Herford Colleges have £170 million of funding allocated to develop a learning corridor.  It took two years for negotiations to reach this stage, and everyone, including the Conservatives and our local MP’s were signed up to the project.  The Conservatives have now decided to try and undo the project by suggesting that the Institute/ University should be rebuilt on Grimsby Docks.   It would take at least 10 years before development work could begin on the docks site, which is privately owned, but the main funder of the project – the Learning and Skills Council will cease to exist in 2010.  This means that the funding would cease to exist much beyond 2010.

THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS, UNLIKE THE CONSERVATIVES, ARE NOT PREPARED TO TAKE THE RISK OF LOSING £170 MILLION OF INVESTMENT FOR THE FUTURE EDUCATION OF OUR YOUNG PEOPLE! 

A VOTE FOR THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS AT THE ELECTION ON MAY 1ST IS A VOTE FOR A BETTER FUTURE FOR OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. 

THINK OF THEIR FUTURE AND VOTE LIB DEM!

The Liberal Democrat group from North East Lincs. Council are the winners of three national awards from the Local Government Association.  The presentaions were made recently in Liverpool at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

The awards include “The Council Group of the Year” and the award for “Improving Health and Social Care”

UK Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Cleggsaid “From a base of just five Councillors in 2005, this winning group has made massive progress and with a group now of 19, they now lead the Council in a joint administration with the support of the Conservatives.

“The group have turned the Council round, saved it from bankruptcy, revolutionised service provision and they have restored local and national Government confidence.”

Nick Clegg also paid tribute to the Council Leader.  He said ”Andrew De Freitas is a very modest, almost shy person and it is a tribute to his 30 years plus on the Council and his leadership of the Council that I am delighted to give Andrew the award for the Council Group of the Year”

Julia Goldsworthy MP, the shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government predented the award for “Improving Health and Social Care”.  She said “North East Lincolnshire has set up with the Primary Care Trust the innovative and ground breaking Care Trust Plus that will transform health and social care which will ensure that the services they provide will be fully integrated.

This year the labour government will only contribute £613,000 towards the free off peak bus pass scheme for people in North East Lincolnshire who are over 60 and people who have disabilities. 

It is estimated that next year the North East Lincolnshire scheme will cost at least £1.6million to run.  This means that North East Lincolnshire Council will have to find at least £1million to meet the shortfall in funding for the new scheme.

There is NO government funding AT ALL for free peak time travel.

Mary Little, your Liberal Democrat candidate for Yarborough Ward in the forthcoming local council elections says  “By limitting the funding for the free travel scheme the Labour government has discriminated against people who need to start journeys before 9.30am to access essential services” 

Every day this country allows thousands of people to settle in our country, many of them with no previous attatchment to the United Kingdom.  I think that it is a wrong that Brown’s Labour Government cannot make room for the few thousand Gurkha ex – servicemen who have been refused permission to live here by the Government.  This is not the proper way to treat  faithfull allies who have bravely and loyally served in our armed forces to help defend our nation!  I am ashamed that it is being done in my name! 

The beginning of May should see the restart of the popular football training sessions for young people in the Yarborough Ward It can now be announced that Sportlincs, Shoreline HP, and the Ward Councillors are to set up a Football Academy in the area. 

It is intended that the project, which will be jointly financed by the three partners, will also include Netball and Street Dance sessions to give the young people of the area a choice of popular evening activities in their own area.  It is also hoped that the area will be able to field teams in the local Fairplay Leagues.  I would like to thank the partnership for their help in bringing this project to reality, and hope that it will be well supported and appreciated by the young people from the area.  

Talks are still in progress with the intention of providing similar activities for young people of the Laceby Acres and Littlecoates part of the Ward.  It is hoped that these will start some time in the near future. 

North East Lincolnshire Council has made a press release on the Concessionary Fares Scheme:-

CONCESSIONARY FARES FROM 1 APRIL 2008 

 Concessionary bus fares – A welcome move but a budgeting dilemma. 

The new England wide concessionary bus fare scheme for the over 60s and others who qualify will start on April 1^st.  The scheme will be significant benefit to many deserving people and for that reason the Council welcomes the new arrangements and is encouraging residents who qualify to apply for a bus pass.

Another reason the scheme is welcomed is that it will support the Council’s CO2 emissions and climate change policy by getting more people to use public transport as an alternative to using cars. However, the roll out of the scheme will present the Council with a budgeting dilemma. The problem for the Council is one of knowing that it will have to supplement the grant made to the Council by Government to introduce the scheme but in the first year having no way of estimating by how much. Using the latest available figures we know that there are some 34,263 North East Lincolnshire residents aged 60 and over.  As at February this year 18,037 of these (53%) had obtained a pass under the old scheme.  An additional 1,638 passes had been issued to those who qualified through disability.  The number of other residents who qualify through disability is not known.  It is anticipated that a significant number of those who have not previously applied for a pass will be prompted to do so by the publicity being given to the scheme in the media throughout England and the encouragement we are giving to North East Lincolnshire residents. The budgeting difficulty is increased by the fact that visitors to North East Lincolnshire who hold passes issued by other Councils in England will be able to use them locally and North East Lincolnshire Council will be required to pick up the bill. The potential size of the bill and the budgeting dilemma becomes evident from the fact that some 8 million people visited North East Lincolnshire in 2006.  Clearly not all of these will have held bus passes or had reason to use their pass if they did have one but the figure does serve to indicate the nature of the dilemma. In terms of costs, for 2008/09 the Council has put aside another £250,000 to supplement the government grant of £603,000 to fund the expansion of the scheme.  The current scheme is estimated to cost £1.5m in 2007/08; so for 2008/09 £2.35m will be available to fund the scheme.  The Government has not included peak time travel in the new scheme because of the anticipated prohibitive costs and the Council has decided to suspend the peak time facility locally in view of the unknowns and to protect other services to the elderly from cuts. Councillor Powell said that “Even so, the Council intends to keep the matter under review and to reintroduce peak time travel for locals if that can be afforded without cutting other services”. 

Residents of N E Lincs will pay just 2.8% more for Council Services in 2008 – 9.  This means that band A properties will pay just 42p a week more for the Council’s part of the annual tax bill, 80% of residents will pay less than 50p more each week, and furthermore the increases for the next two years are also likely to be kept below 3%.

The Council agreed to the new budget at a meeting last month, setting the increase to a level that is lower than the rate of inflation, and also lower than this year’s increase in pensions which takes effect from April 1st.

The Council has also provided an extra £500,000 on adult care, increased the sum allocated to be spent on upgrading and replacing public toilets to £1,000,000, and provided £418,000 to cover the shortfall in Government Grants.

Councillor David Powell, the Lib Dem portfolio holder for Finance said ” In many ways this is a budget without surprises.  It follows through on the plans we outlined last year.  The growth proposals identified last year are all retained, and we have added to those by redirecting value for money savings to areas such as vulnerable children, support for the voluntary sector, and the escalating cost of waste disposal.  The additional spending that we have added since the draft budget in December addresses particularly concerns about provisions for children with learning disabilities.

“We have looked at the options and costs of improving public toilets across the Borough we have found an additional £550,000 by trimming back elsewhere.

“With price increases running at about 4% we felt that holding the price increase in Council Tax to 2.8%, exactly the same as last year would reinforce the Council’s commitment to affordable increases, and we have similarly reduced the indicative increases for the subsequent two years to no more than 3%.”

The total Council Tax bill amount for each property will be set when the figures for Humberside Police, Humberside Fire and Rescue, and Town and  and Parish Councils have been added.

New Build Homebuy (formerly known as Shared Ownership) enables people who cannot afford to buy a home outright on the open market to purchase a share in a brand new home.

Through the scheme you could buy an initial share of between 25% and 75% of a newly built house or apartment.  You would pay rent on the remaining share you do not own.  The higher the share you purchase, the less rent you will pay, and further shares could be purchased in the future until you own 100%.

Properties are coming available in a number of areas throughout North East Lincolnshire – including Housing Association developments at Scartho Top (Northern Counties) and Robert Street (Havelok) in Grimsby.  Homebuy properties are also currently available on ‘private’ developments like Stamford Homes’ site on Ladysmith Road (2 bedroomed appartments). 

You would need to be able to obtain a mortgage for the share you wish to buy and have some savings to pay for solicitors’ fees, etc. 

Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust are the ‘Zone Agents’ for Homebuy in North East Lincolnshire.  You can register your interest in the Homebuy scheme with them, and they will advise you of your eligibility and of available properties in the area – even if there is nothing in the area you prefer now, you will be kept informed of properties as they become available and be referred to the relevant Housing Associations.

Joseph Rowntree can be contacted on 0800 6335670 or email homebuy@jrht.org.uk

Or you can contact Sam England in Strategic Housing on 324995 or samantha.england@nelincs.gov.uk for more information.

North East Lincolnshire Council has produced the following press release about changes to the bus pass scheme:-

Concessionary bus fares – Council’s caution vindicated 

North East Lincolnshire Council’s decision to implement the new concessionary fares scheme from 1^st April in line with the government’s national off peak proposals is supported by recent research by the Local Government Association (LGA).  The LGA has warned the government that many authorities will face costs well in excess of the funding provided by the government when the scheme is extended to allow off peak travel free of charge across the whole of England from 1^st April 2008.  David Powell, Liberal Democrat Portfolio Holder for finance, neighbourhoods and transformation said  “The LGA’s findings show we were right to be cautious in introducing the new extended scheme on an off peak basis only. The Department for Transport has acknowledged that offering the new scheme during peak hours would be prohibitively expensive. However, the LGA’s research suggests even the off peak service is likely to cost councils much more than the government is providing. The LGA has warned that individual councils faced with excess costs of up to £1.5m each may have to look at cuts in other services to the elderly. We have deliberately been cautious in adopting the new scheme to ensure so far as we can that North East Lincolnshire is protected from having to make those sorts of choices.”  From 1^st April those over 60 and anyone who qualifies because of disability will be able to travel free of charge on buses across the whole of England. The current national scheme provides only for travel within the area of any one local authority. As now, the national scheme will apply to travel after 9.30am weekdays and until 11pm and all day at weekends and bank holidays. In North East Lincolnshire the current scheme is set to cost at least £1.6m which is some £100,000 more than was budgeted for the current year. The additional cost arises in part because the Council is meeting the cost of allowing peak time travel within the borough. An additional £863,000 has been put into the budget for 2008/09 which is £250,000 on top of what government has provided. In the light of the Department for Transport’s comments about including peak travel being prohibitively expensive when the scheme operates across the whole of England the Council has adopted the national off peak arrangements. However, the Council has undertaken to keep the newly extended scheme under review to see whether it will be possible to include peak time travel in the future. “

From 1st April 2008 the existing bus pass scheme for over 60′s and disabled wil be extended so that eligible pass holders will be able to travel free of charge on any local bus service anywhere in the country between 9.30am and 11.00pm and also on Bank Holidays and weekends. 

The new scheme, which has been funded by the Government, places the cost of each free journey upon the Council for the area in which the journey starts.  This means that Councils who represent areas that include popular tourist destinations will have to bear the cost of the journey home for all of the free bus pass holders.  Although the cost of operating the revised bus pass scheme for the next year is not yet known, it has been estimated that the cost to NELC of operating the concessionary scheme in the same form as last year is likely to exceed the grant by about £800,000.  As a result it has been decided by the Council that it is not prudent to continue to allow unrestricted free travel to pass holders due to the high cost of operating the scheme, but in all other respects the bus pass scheme will continue to be the same as last year.

For the answers to some frequently asked questions, then click on the following link:-

Frequently Asked Questions

If you would like to see the latest bus timetable, then click on thefollowing link:-

http://www.stagecoachbus.com/uploads/NELincsBsRlMG07web.pdf