The Liberal Democrats have recently criticized the Conservative Town Council in Saffron Walden for the increased share of the Town Councils tax whilst taking on additional services in and around the Town.

Town Councillor, Cllr Jim Ketteridge said: “My view is that these amenities, such as the Gardens and the cemetery, are much better maintained at Town Council level where greater civic pride comes to bear as was the case with the case in the days of the old Borough Council. And of course we were aware that the Town Council precept would be increased and we made that decision in that knowledge. There will be some help. There is a tapering grant from UDC over the next three years, £50,000 for equipment and £50,000 for revenue costs in the next financial year.

The Liberal Democrats didn’t make any objections to items on the budget during the meeting. In fact I found it quite strange they asked for a recorded vote and then didn’t vote. In fact their only contribution was to make the precept higher than we had agreed before the meeting.”

Saffron Walden Town Council have completed the transfer of a number of amenity areas from the District Council including Jubilee Gardens, the Battle Ditches, Dorset House Gardens, Saffron Walden Cemetery and will shortly take over the lease of Bridge End Gardens.At its meeting last week the Town Council set its budget for 2010/11 taking into account the investment needed to maintain and improve these areas for the benefit of town’s people and visitors alike.

Cllr David Watson in proposing the budget said that bringing these facilities back under local control had been a council objective which would give townspeople greater control and accountability for these valuable local assets. Work will commence shortly to improve the Jubilee Gardens and the benefits of local control can be seen in the renovation of the recently acquired Close Gardens and the refurbishment of the Saffron Walden Tourist Information Centre. The principle of Localism is supported by all three main political parties.

Cllr David-James Sadler stated on his website (http://david-jamessadler.yourcllr.com/): “If the Liberal Democrats really opposed our budget they should have tabled their own budget for us to scrutinize. There may have been some helpful suggestions in an alternative budget however they chose to sit on their hands, they then chose to increase it and now they have taken the low road of trying to score political points out of it while assuming the public are ignorant of what happened at the meeting.”

Tags: Uttlesford Liberal Democrats