At a meeting of the District Council’s Cabinet on 2nd February, members agreed to propose that St Albans City and District Council’s council tax for 2010/11 be decreased by 0.4% to ensure nobody has to pay more than last year.Because of the way Council Tax is calculated across the District, overall this would mean that those residents living in Parish areas will see a reduction in their rate of council tax and for those residents in the unparished City wards, council tax will, in effect, be frozen – a 0% increase.  The figures will be proposed to the meeting of full Council on 24th February.

I have asked Herts Highways to investigate a 20mph zone. Some traffic management measures to bring speeds down from the average of 28/29mph to 25mph may be needed. The funding of these measures is currently being looked at and I hope that positive proposals will be announced soon.

I have been pleased to be able to give many local organisations a helping hand with the County Council locality budgets. I have tried to concentrate on smaller local groups who don’t normally get funding from councils or national grants.

So far, amongst other I have granted funds to;

St Albans Organ Theatre                (£2000)

Highfield Park Trust                        (£250)

Parentline Plus                                   (£500)

Whitecroft Residents association  (£2000)        

Computer Friendly                            (£500)

Thirlmere Church                              (£350)

Cell Barnes Youth Project                (£600)

If you know of a local organisation that needs a helping hand please contact me or apply on line to

www.hertsdirect.org/yrccouncil/councillors/ localitybudgetscheme09/

London Road is to be resurfaced between Cunningham Hill Road and the Grosvenor road roundabout. Works are scheduled to start on 22^nd February 2010 and will last for 5 nights.

The work will involve milling out and resurfacing the existing worn out carriageway repairing manholes etc. cleaning out the drains and renewing the road markings.

When the road is closed a fully signed diversion route will be in place utilising Alma Road, Victoria Street, Stanhope Road, Hatfield Road, Ashley Road and Drakes Drive.

Monday 4th January 11.15am
The District Council offices are open today as normal. You can call the contact centre on 01727 819285 or the switchboard on 01727 866100. Out of hours the helpline number is 01727 811155. For further details on opening times see the St Albans  webpage.

 Meals on Wheels  
They are working to ensure the needs of clients of the meals on wheels service continue to be met across the New Year period and immediately after New Year. Herts Community Meals are operational. 

Refuse and Recycling Collection In Winter Conditions:  
Most scheduled New Year collections will occur 2 days later than usual, therefore, please refer to  http://www.recyclingforapremier.com/Bank-Holiday for specific information about your area. Please ensure that your refuse and recycling boxes / bins are out for collection by 7am. 

From the 18th January 2010 please refer to the new calendar on the back page of Recycling News. If you haven’t received your copy and would like one, please call Client Services on 01727 819285.

Please share this information with anyone who may not have access to the internet.

See the dedicated refuse and recycling website: http://www.recyclingforapremier.com/ for detailed information, including scheduled collection times in the New Year.

In the week before Christmas the Department for Transport released statistics which showed that, unsurprisingly for most Herts residents, that the Roads in Hertfordshire are worse than the national average and deteriorating fast.

County Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst, Liberal Democrat Spekesperson on Roads said: ‘The Tories keep telling us how wonderful their Asset Management system is, but this independent research shows that they’re just overseeing the gradual collapse of the road network. The roads have got notably worse during the life of the last council. Pot hole filling doesn’t solve the problem.’

I am trying to go around the roads in Cunningham and Ashley following the snow and ice to report any new potholes that have appeared. If you know of a new pothole in your road please report it direct to Herts Highways at  http://www.hertsdirect.org/actweb/hfr/default.cfm

Lib Dem Cllr Rob Prowse has been surprised to learn that the County Council need to find £95million over the next few years to build enough primary school places.  What is even more worrying is that the Conservative administration  don’t yet know where the money will come from.  Until Government tell them how much Herts will get in grant they won’t know how much they will have to find.  As those figures won’t now be available until after the general election the project planning can’t start. It takes 4 to 5 years to build a new school so it looks like the places may not be available in time.

Cllr Rob Prowse said, ‘St Albans already has a problem with not enough primary places. Now we know it is likely to get a lot worse before it gets better. Some extra places have been provided but what is needed is a new primary school and that is as far off now as it has ever been.’

Liberal Democrats have written to the Transport portfolio holder to press for action following new guidance from central government over 20 mph zones and limits. This will make it clear that the Government expects 20 mph to be the normal limit near schools and in residential areas.The guidance reflects public opinion and is something that the Liberal Democrats in Hertfordshire have been advocating for some time.But the response from Herts Highways has been to say the least tepid: when there are requests, both general and specific, for 20 mph limits and/or zones we are given various reasons why not or why introduction cannot be immediate. There also seems to be no real funding available.

We have asked for a clear timetable of when the county council through Herts Highways will be introducing 20 mph speed limits across the county.

St Albans City & District Council has been described as “continuing to provide good quality services which matter most to its local residents”, in a recent Audit Commission inspection of how the Council operates.The Council has been rated as ‘performs well’ on managing its performance.

The report highlights successes such as increasing recycling and reducing litter, providing discounted leisure facilities and health schemes for people with particular needs, local arts and culture events such as St Albans Festival, and helping local people during the recession to find jobs and to get advice with problems such as debt.The organisational assessment is part of the new Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) process, which focuses on how well councils, the police, NHS and others are working together to serve local people and tackle priority issues. This assessment of the Council feeds into an overall area assessment for Hertfordshire.

The county council is at last admitting that it has a problem with secondary school places in the district of St Albans. Papers coming before county councillors today said:‘A shortage of places is forecast from 2014-2015 [ie in four years’ time]. Together with demand in Harpenden…and allowing for some surplus capacity to meet parental preference an additional 14 forms of entry (420 places) will be required up to 2021.’