“Welcome to the latest piece of town centre chaos from Luton Council as they build the busway nobody wants,” says Liberal Democrat Leader councillor David Franks. “It’s a couple of days late for an April Fool joke so I suppose they must be serious about it.”

“Nobody you speak to around the town actually wants the Council to spend £90M of taxpayers’ money on the busway and most people think the disruption we’ve suffered already is well beyond a joke.”

Luton was in a small minority of Councils (around 1 in 10) to raise Council Tax this year – by 3.44 percent, just under the figure where a referendum would be needed.  The Labour administration has faced widespread criticism from residents for rejecting a Government grant for £1.6 million, then charging local residents £2.2 million instead.

Bills hitting doormats last week contained no reference to the Labour rise.

Following a complaint by a local resident, the Council has been forced to write to ALL Luton Council Tax payers with details of Labour’s controversial 3.44% increase.

The Council Tax (Demand Notices) (England) Regulations clearly state that the relevant percentage increases must be displayed on the Bills (Part 2 Schedule 1), and that should these be omitted then “as soon as practicable after the mistake is discovered the billing authority must serve a statement of the relevant matter on the person on whom the notice was served” (No 3038, Part 2, Regulation 7.)

The Labour-run Council has now decided to comply with the law.

Luton Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, Martin Pantling said:

“By not publishing their tax rise, Labour have thrown a fair chunk of the tiny extra amount they’ll collect through their rise straight down the drain.  But they barely care because it’s Luton residents who will continue to pay the cost of this inept Labour administration.”

Luton’s Rent Deposit scheme is designed to help residents who are either homeless or at risk of becoming homeless by lending them a deposit. This money is then repaid, wherever possible, to go towards helping others in a similar situation.

However, a recent Internal Audit Report has found that:

• Of £114,000 lent out to tenants in 2010/11, only £3,600 had been recovered
• NO Debt Recovery Procedures of ANY kind were in operation up to the end of 2011
• The Council is only getting money back when tenants are actively offering to pay

Liberal Democrat Deputy Group Leader, Martin Pantling says:

“ We support the aims of the Rent Deposit scheme. It helps people who might not have a deposit at the time to secure housing, and saves the Council money in the long run.

“ But operating it like this makes Luton look like a Basket case. In one breath Labour say resources are scarce, with the next they are handing out cash hand over fist without asking for it back. Who else would agree loans then not bother to chase any repayments?”

“ Failing to get so much money back also means the pot available to help others is much smaller, and this could make the whole scheme unviable. Labour need to explain just what exactly they thought they were doing, and how they now intend to rescue this scheme.”

At the meeting Liberal Democrat councillors pointed out that the new budget voted through for the year which starts in April included a provision of £1.4M to cover savings included in last year’s budget which have failed to materialise.

“But for Labour screwing up last year’s budget, and their refusal to take the government tax freeze grant, they could have reduced Luton’s Council Tax by 1.33%,” said Liberal Democrat leader David Franks.

“If Cllr. Harris had got it right last time and his £1.4M of savings had been delivered, and if he accepted the government offer of £1.6M to freeze Luton’s Council Tax, the Council budget would have a surplus of £843,550 and he could have REDUCED Council tax by 1.33%”

“Instead, our ‘spend it all’ Labour Council is hitting Luton taxpayers with a completely unnecessary 3.44% hike in Council Tax just at a time when their wage rises are below inflation, if they are getting a rise at all, and many are struggling to make ends meet.”

Writing to Luton Council’s Director of Children & Learning, Liberal Democrat leader David Franks says he was closely involved in discussions with Barnfield Director Pete Birkett over the establishment of the two Academies in 2007.

“I sought and was given assurances that the admissions and exclusions policies of the academies would be identical to those of other Luton schools. The legal documents completed at the time must now be examined to see whether the assurances I was given were actually part of the deal and whether they can be enforced.”

“If Barnfield are allowed to get away with this they will undermine the whole principle of comprehensive education, will destroy the social benefits of most young people going to their local school and make it much more difficult for the two academies to work co-operatively with other Luton schools.”

“These outrageous Barnfield admissions proposals fly in the face of the agreement I was told we had in 2007. Any unilateral introduction of Admissions Tests must be consigned to the dustbin.”

“That’s because the government is offering a £1.6M extra grant if the Council does not increase the Council tax,” says Liberal Democrat leader, David Franks. “In dumping a near £2.2M extra burden on Luton Council Tax payers the Council is saying no to an extra £1.6M in government grant and will only be £595,000 better off. From local taxpayers perspective it’s a con and a rip off.”

“The increase in income for the Council if they took the government grant and left Council tax the same as last year would be £1.6M. They increase Council income by £2.2M if they put the tax up by 3.44% but lose the £1.6M government grant. So the Labour council only gets £595,000 more but charges Luton taxpayers £2.2M. That’s the economics of the mad house.”

Only six other Councils have said they are planning to refuse the government Council Tax Freeze Grant and it is clear most Councils will freeze their Tax and accept the government extra grant for doing so.

The actual figures are –

All Councils have to have a Food Law Enforcement Service Plan and the one adopted by the Labour Council in July stated that the Council would not meet its statutory obligations, that 124 medium high risk food businesses due a hygiene intervention will not get one and included a 30% reduction in microbiological examinations & analysis.

The government Food Standards Agency insists microbiological examination & analysis of food including inspection for, and identification of, insects is a priority.

“The Council’s Food Law Enforcement Service Plan is already unsafe and we tried to get them to change it last July,” says Liberal Democrat leader Cllr David Franks. “To cut back even further must present a serious health risk to Luton residents.”

“Most food establishments in Luton operate to very high standards of hygiene and produce & sell perfectly safe high quality food to satisfied customers, but sadly not all achieve the required standards.”

“Just look around the town, you cannot avoid seeing the explosion in numbers of fast food shops and it’s the Council’s job to make sure they all live up to the high standards of the best. Yet with a service plan which says the Council will not meet its statutory obligations they are now planning even more cuts.”

“Horrible, food hygiene related health problems like e-coli are on the increase. People die of e-coli. Yet Luton’s Labour Council plans to cut back on food premises inspections at a time when risks are increasing and the number of fast food outlets is rapidly increasing.”

The plan will now be looked at by the Council’s Scrutiny Board which can make recommendations for changes if it feels these are necessary.

All local authorities employ lawyers to give legal advice on how they deliver services to their local residents & businesses and to make sure they stay within the law. The joint services plan, put together by the Chief Executives of the four Councils, was to save money by having just one legal department keeping an eye on all four Councils.

Luton Council’s Labour Executive Committee was due to give approval for formal consultation with the staff involved on the final details of the scheme this month (December 2011) but, at the last minute, the whole scheme was scrapped because the other three Councils decided they did not want to go ahead with it.

“I have not yet had a full briefing on why the other three councils did not want to work with Luton,” said Liberal Democrat leader, councillor David Franks. “Central Bedfordshire & Milton Keynes councils are Conservative run and Bedford has a Liberal Democrat directly elected mayor. Labour councillors in Luton have a very bad record on working with other parties. There have been a few occasions in the years I have been on the Council when no single party had a majority. Every time Labour refused to get involved in joint administrations, to put aside party interests and do what is best for the town. They always seem to put Party interests first.”

“Yet when it comes to Corporate Director level, people paid around the £100,000 mark, they decided to cut the numbers from six to five. We suggested they could easily go one further and cut down to four Corporate Directors and they refused.”

“It sends exactly the wrong signal to lower paid staff who have lost their jobs or are in danger of doing so.”

“There’s no logic in what they are doing. There is no sense in keeping separate Corporate Directors for adult social care and children’s social care. There is already a ‘gap’ when vulnerable children become vulnerable adults, the department responsible for their care switches overnight. In fact of course people’s needs do not change overnight, needs evolve and there would be a much better chance of continuity if the two departments were merged.”

“The Liberal Democrat amended structure was rejected by the Labour majority on the Council so they will continue to employ five Corporate Directors and continue to sack the people who local residents can actually see doing the job.”

Labour Executive members had originally proposed that a number of parking charges would rise by 50 percent or more from 1st November. Lib Dem Councillors said that this would do nothing to help residents struggling with weekly finances or Town Centre shops, who had not been consulted, in the run-up to Christmas, and formally challenged the decision by ‘calling it in’ for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

Members of all three political parties on the Scrutiny Board asked for the highest proposed rises to be reconsidered. However, this request was refused by the Labour Executive, who instead reconfirmed all the rises. The challenge has however forced the Council to delay the rises until 9th January, giving residents and struggling shops 2 months grace.

Liberal Democrat Group Deputy Leader, Cllr Martin Pantling comments:

“ Residents who use shops and facilities both in the Town Centre and locally now look set to face New Year misery. The Labour leadership, if they can be called that, have defiantly confirmed their decision to increase parking charges by 10 times the inflation rate despite a cross-party Committee of councillors who reviewed the Fees asking them not to.”

“ There was no consultation with residents or businesses. Labour just want to fleece people for £60,000 a year more as a drop in the ocean towards their unfunded Busway costs.”

“ I’m pleased that through our challenge, the Liberal Democrats have forced a delay until the New Year. The last thing anyone needs is a Council cynically hiking parking fees just before Christmas, which the original decision did. The fact remains though that with much of the town being dug up, obstructed or diverted right now, and a lot of shopping competition nearby, Labour seem oblivious to the damage they could be doing to Luton as a whole.”