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In a move Liberal Democrats called ‘completely mad’ Luton Council’s Labour executive decided on Monday 12th July to engage expensive consultants to help in a bid to the government for Luton to be called a city and in the same meeting to cull 17 jobs and cut spending by £4.5M.

Liberal Democrat leader, David Franks, says the decision to appoint the consultants was taken in the public part of the meeting but the Executive Committee excluded members of the public before disclosing how much they intended to pay them.

“Because of the Council’s secrecy rules I am not allowed to say how much they propose to spend,” David Franks told this newspaper, “but we have to ask whether this time of severe service cuts is the right time to commit public money to pay outside consultants in a bid to allow Luton to call itself a city.”

“Of course city status would bring prestige and a much needed boost to the town’s image, but with looming cuts in the road safety budgets, an eventual end to free swimming and reductions in summer activities for children, this is no time to splash out on consultants’ fees for a luxury we cannot afford. The sum they have set aside for this project is substantial.”

The official Luton Annual Policing Plan for 2010-11 came under fire at the meeting of the full Council at Luton town hall on Tuesday 8th June when Liberal Democrat leader, David Franks, strongly questioned the complete absence of any reference to drug crime in the town.

Councillor David Franks told the meeting;

“Around 60% of all street robbery, house burglary and theft from cars in Luton is committed by people trying to finance drug habits, it is completely unacceptable that drug detox and rehabilitation does not feature on the priority list for Luton policing.”

“Crimes committed to finance drug habits inflict terrible suffering on the victims, sometimes violent and always severely traumatising. In a large, busy town like Luton getting more offenders into effective treatment must be a priority.”

The Liberal Democrat candidate for Luton North, Rabi Martins, and for Luton South, Qurban Hussain, have today issued a statement thanking all the Luton residents who voted for the Liberal Democrats last Thursday for their support.

In the statement they say;

“We are very grateful to all those who supported the Liberal Democrats in this General Election. While the result may not of been what we hoped for, we deeply appreciate the welcome that so many Luton residents have given us during the election campaign. We also know that Luton Liberal Democrats will continue to campaign for liberal values and work for the best interests of the town.”

Luton North

Luton South

Labour majority: 2,329

Turnout: 70.4%