The Cabinet member for Adult Social Services and Housing for on the Council has announced that he will not alter his original decision to implement new charges for home care services despite the call-in of the decision having been upheld.

It is extremely disappointing that the Cabinet member has decided to ignore the recommendations of the call-in panel to phase in care cost increases and allow people who use this service the time to adapt. The Lib Dems have expressed our opposition to these steep increases time and time again at O&S, Cabinet and Council and the Cabinet member has taken no notice.

The Cabinet member will no doubt face criticism for his unwillingness to listen to the call-in panel and indeed for his announcement to the press before the call-in even took place that he did not plan to change his decision no matter what might be said. We are disgusted by his dismissive attitude to the democratically-expressed concerns raised by not only the Liberal Democrat and Labour Groups but also service users and Action for Pensioners. These charges are fundamentally unfair and will hit vulnerable people hard.

Will Sandry said:

“I have grave concerns about the consultation process that took place before the original decision was made. At the call-in I was unable to find any evidence that the consultation had influenced the proposals on which the decision was made. I am angry that Cllr Pritchard has implemented these huge increases in home care charges, which I think are cruel.”

It concerns us that the Cabinet member has not taken into account the volume of opposition from residents who use these services in this decision, nor the plea from groups such as Action for Pensioners, who asked that a phased introduction of the proposed increases be considered.

Those whom the Cabinet member has deemed able to pay the biggest increases, are likely to be people who have carefully saved for this stage of their lives, and now they will not have any time to prepare for such a steep increase, and may well decide to cut back on services, in order to make ends meet.

We have not been given the detailed facts to support his argument that the proposal of the panel would be more detrimental than the original decision. Local Lib Dems have asked the Cabinet Member last week to furnish us with the actual situation with vacancies at present, but have not received a reply to date.

We hope that you saw the front page headline article in the Western Daily Press on Monday of this week. If you didn’t, then see it here. Our MP, Don Foster has called on the Post Office to remove Lower Weston Post Office from the consultation. Up to 4,000 new residents will have Lower Weston as their nearest office; it simply does not make sense to take it away.

Don and the local Lib Dem councillors, Dixon and Darracott went out to collect signatures on our petition to Save Claremont Post Office last Friday, and the local community there is stunned. The nearest office may only be half a mile away, but there is a very steep hill in between. It will be elderly and disabled people who lose out.

You may have seen that today there is a debate on Post Offices in the House of Commons, called for by the Conservatives. The Conservatives’ policy consists of a list of potential additional services that can be offered by or through the Post Office. They have no proposals on the future structure of Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd or where investment funds are going to come from. The Liberal Democrats have tabled an amendment to this motion outlining our plans for future investment. Don Foster has agreed to give us an update on the debate after the Easter weekend.

Locally we must continue to campaign hard and show the government and the Post Office Ltd how much our Post Offices mean to the local community.

Remember to get your friends to sign the on-line petition at http://ourcampaign.org.uk/savebathspostoffices

7.56% is the real tax increase residents are facing this year. Directly, residents are going to be charged a 3.95% Council tax increase. However, with all of the hikes in other fees and charges and the introduction of new fees planned by the Conservative Cabinet, the real figure is 7.56%.

New and increased charges in this budget include: the introduction of charges for on-street parking for disabled drivers; increases in charges for services for older people; an increase of 56% for residents’ parking permits; increases in park and ride fares; extensions to other car park charges; and a 10% increase in garden and bulky waste charges.

This Conservative budget appears to have a low Council tax rise, but when all the other charges and fees are taken into account, the real burden on residents is much higher.

The budget will hit vulnerable people with high charges; it will punish drivers, without improving traffic flows; it will delay, put off or abandon important environmental measures, such as same-day collection and extending recycling; and it will exacerbate problems through cuts to the Council’s youth and other services.

The Liberal Democrats believe this Tory budget of service cuts and increased charges is fundamentally flawed. We have fought hard for improvements, and will be proposing an amendment which is intended to reduce the burden on older people and the vulnerable, to help protect services for young people and to put environmental protection high on the agenda.

By trying to claim a low Council tax increase on the one hand and introducing new fees and increased charges on the other, the Tory Cabinet is driving our authority into the sand, putting its head in after it and blaming everyone else.

Cllr Will Sandry, a members of the Council’s Healthier Communities and Older People Overview and Scrutiny Panel has commented on this weeks meeting when he questioned the proposed 74% increase in Home Care charges.

The Lib Dem Councillors on the Panel accepted that service users should pay the actual cost of the care they receive, providing that they are in a position to pay for it. However Will had grave concerns that this proposed immediate increase of 74% will place up to 90 service users in a very difficult financial position.

Will and the other Lib Dem members wanted to instruct Conservative Cabinet Member, Cllr Vic Prichard, not to increase the charges by 74%, but unfortunately the Overview and Scrutiny panel does not have that authority. The Liberal Democrat Group was unable to support the draft recommendations and as a result of this the Overview and Scrutiny panel did not move to a vote and will therefore formally “express concerns” over the proposed increase.

Cllr Vic Prichard was at the meeting and is therefore now fully aware of the strength of our concerns.