We are looking forward to our Liberal Democrat spring conference in York in March, where local government will be central to the party’s debates.
Peter Taylor, the elected Mayor of Watford, has been lined up to give a speech that is expected to draw on his reputation as one of the most skilled campaigners in the party, against both the Tories and Labour, as evidenced by the recent by-election victory in Watford’s Tudor ward.
The conference will debate a long-overdue policy paper on regeneration and revitalising our high streets and town centres. This comes at just the right time, as the Government plans to announce its vision for the high street.
We should be proud and celebrate the successes of our councils, such as Sutton, Eastbourne and Portsmouth, in providing new homes, creating new community spaces, investing in the public realm and reinventing spaces for leisure at the heart of their vision for their areas. Such spaces are the engine rooms of our villages, towns and neighbourhoods, and we will do all we can to avoid them dying.
“There is nothing fair about the Fair Funding Review 2.0”
We expect local government finance and the crisis councils face to be highlighted, with colleagues from Somerset and Woking discussing the catastrophic messes they inherited from former Tory administrations, which Liberal Democrat councillors are now sorting out.
Zöe Franklin MP, our Local Government Spokesperson, will no doubt also continue to remind us very strongly that there is nothing fair about the Fair Funding Review 2.0.
It isn’t how you divide up the cake – the cake isn’t big enough without a major overhaul of support for special educational needs and disabilities, and the funding of adult social care.
This Government just avoids and delays dealing with the issues, kicking the can down the road and leaving it for our grandkids to solve the problems.