Liberal Democrats have mixed feelings about Hebden Royd budget
Thursday, 31 January 2013
The Liberal Democrats have sent the HebWeb the following statement on the Hebden Royd Town Council budget, emphasising a wish for Mytholmroyd to break with Hebden Bridge.
We are pleased that the Town Council voted to proceed with our plans to take on an apprentice when setting its budget for 2013/14. Since 2010 Liberal Democrats in Government have created 4,350 new apprenticeships in Calderdale, an increase of 75% on the last Labour government. The decision by Hebden Royd to fund an apprentice will make a huge difference to someone’s life, giving them an opportunity to succeed that would otherwise not exist.
We also welcome the success of our campaign to restore some funding to the Mytholmroyd station car park project, and the decision to progress with a neighbourhood plan for the area. The car park project only needed a small amount of funding for some survey work, but was denied this due to the Labour groups’ decision last year to cut its entire budget. We have successfully argued a small amount of funding should be restored to progress with some survey work, and we now look forward to working in partnership with Metro and Calderdale Council to get this project back on track.
Despite welcoming some positive aspects of the budget, it however disappointing that due to the Town Council spending all of its budget allocations there will be no precept cut for tax payers. Last year people were faced with a 25% tax hike on the understanding that this was a one-off levy to pay for improvements to the Picture House Cinema. Keeping the precept at this higher level will result in a continued burden on families struggling to pay their household bills.
It is also unfortunate the budget does little to address the spending inequality between Hebden Bridge, and the rest of the Township. As the vast majority of the Town Council’s money gets spent in Hebden Bridge, tax payers in Mytholmroyd would be much better off with their own smaller parish. A new parish council for Mytholmroyd, Cragg Vale and Brearley could deliver both a tax cut to residents, and still be able to spend more on local projects than Hebden Royd does currently.