A key policy at the last General Election for the Lib Dems was to bring in a ‘Pupil Premium’ to help children from poorer backgrounds get a better education.

Last autumn Liberal Democrats in government were able to announce that every school would get £488 a year per pupil who was eligible for free school meals.

Across West Dorset that means £617,002 of new funding available to local schools.

“So, in spite of the harsh economic climate and public sector cuts, most of our schools will be better off,” says County Councillor Trevor Jones. “This is just the start. The Pupil Premium will more than treble by 2015.” This is an effective example of Liberal Democrats making a real difference in government!

What the Pupil Premium will mean this year:

Full details are contained in the attached spreadsheet PUPIL-PREMIUM-ALLOCATIONS-TO-SCHOOLS-2011-12.xls.

	to a 10% cut in the District’s Council Tax
	to keeping open Day Care Centres
	to saving School Crossing Patrols
	to building more Affordable Homes
	to keeping open local libraries

West Dorset Liberal Democrats can afford to do all this by:

• cancelling Conservative plans to spend £10 million on new Council Offices, £6 million on a new Dorchester Library and up to £4 million on a new Dorchester Park & Ride
• using some of the £50 million in investments that the Conservative Council has built up ‘for a rainy day’ and
• merging local councils, as they have done in Cornwall and Wiltshire recently, which independent experts have estimated will save £20 million

“On May 5th either the Liberal Democrats will be in control of West Dorset District Council, the new Council Offices will be cancelled and local services will be saved or the Conservatives will be back again, the Offices will be built and the cuts will go ahead. No other result is possible here.”

Councillors Caroline Payne and Janet Page at former flood troublespot - now draining free

Following visits by the Environment Agency to town and parish councils some flood warden schemes have been put in place. Cllr Janet Page says that the one in Beaminster is already working well. “Where blocked drains reported to the County Council are kept clear and cleaned out flash floods are less likely.” Cllr Caroline Payne recommended this idea to villagers with problem areas. “It would help if the County Council also ensures hedge and verge trimmings are cleaned away and ditches maintained”.

Beaminster Cllr Caroline Payne and Sue Farrant call for more affordable housing in rural areas

A roof over one’s head is a basic need. Sadly, all too many people in West Dorset simply can’t take it for granted.

Fact: In the year to March 2008, 61 households were accepted by West Dorset District Council as being homeless and in priority need. Another 61 homeless households were put onto the housing list but for one reason or another are not priority cases and are unlikely to be housed by the Council.

Fact: Across the six Dorset District Councils, 140 households were judged to be homeless and in priority need in the year ending 31 March 2008.

Fact: At the end of March this year, a total of 125 Dorset households were living in temporary accommodation (including bed and breakfast).

These figures don’t include all the people who live in flats, bed sits and houses that are overcrowded, too expensive to heat or in bad condition. As the credit crunch bites harder more and more people will lose their homes because they can’t keep up with rent and mortgage payments. The waiting lists will grow and so will human misery.

Rural Communities At Risk

The situation in rural Dorset is even worse than in the towns. Local people on middle or low incomes just can’t afford to live locally. If workers and families are forced to move to cheaper areas, the remaining local services and businesses will close. The County and District Councils are not moving quickly enough.
Matthew Taylor, Liberal Democrat M.P. for Truro and St Austell, was asked by the government to find a way forward. In July this year his report Living, Working Countryside: The Taylor Review of Rural Economy and Affordable Housing was warmly welcomed. The CPRE and National Housing Federation even published a pamphlet Save Rural England: Build Affordable Homes, calling on the government to accept Matthew Taylor’s report and draw up an action plan.

Is your family affected?

Help us put pressure on the Council and government to build more homes for Dorset people on low incomes. If you or your family have been affected, tell us your story. Contact us by writing to Sue Farrant, West Dorset Lib Dems, FREEPOST, Bridport, DT6 4SU or e-mail ku.gro.smedbil-tesrod-tsewnull@tnarraf.eus.

Karl Wallace with petitions against closure of West Bay Post Office

Over 1000 signatures were collected by Karl Wallace and the Lib Dem team for the petition against the proposed Post Office closure at West Bay. We are now awaiting the official decision regarding the future of this essential local service. Karl says ‘We have campaigned hard right from the beginning to try and prevent the loss of this vital resource.’

Dorset County Council chose the season of goodwill to announce that they want to close Beaminster’s Day Centre.

Beaminster is the hub for a large rural area providing a range of valuable services – including St. Mary’s Day Care Centre. People come from miles around to use this service.

St. Mary’s is welcoming and safe, where people find a friendly caring face and familiar staff who can give them the attention that they need. They also have a cooked lunch. For some it is their only chance for a social life and to engage in activities that stimulate the mind and body.

Local Councillor Caroline Payne said, “I have been contacted by several people who use the Day Care Centre. They all spoke of the kindness of the carers and the pleasure of being with their friends in a safe and friendly environment. Someone from Hursey welcomed the opportunity to play Scrabble and the chance to be sociable. The Centre had helped her to ‘get her smile back’ and regain her confidence.”

“I believe that closing Day Care Centres will prove to be a false economy. Without their tonic many elderly people’s health will go downhill. This will cost the NHS far more in the end as well as ruining the final years of their lives.”

Beaminster Cllr Caroline Payne and Gil Streets are working together to keep our countryside safe and quiet from the threat posed by a new law to make Byways Open to All Traffic (B.O.A.T.S.)

“We don’t want to hear 4×4’s and quad bikes roaring up tiny paths disturbing local residents and wildlife and damaging ancient rights of way,” said Caroline.

Last month campaigners from across Britain handed in the largest ever UK petition to 10 Downing Street. Over four million people are calling on the Government to safeguard our vital post office network.

Local post offices are under threat like never before because the Government keeps moving away business from them while not allowing new services to be offered, or encouraging any new investment. At the present time many small post offices are losing money. These often provide a vital, or even the only, local service in many villages. Their importance has been recognised in recent years by a small subsidy from the Government but they have so far refused to say whether this subsidy will continue beyond the end of this year.

The Government has also announced that it will not use Post Office Card Accounts to pay pensions and benefits from 2010. This is worth more than one billion pounds to local post offices between 2003 and 2010, and could lead to the closures of thousands more post offices.

Caroline Payne, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Beaminster, is backing the national campaign to get the Government to safeguard the future of the local post office network.

“Under the last Conservative Government, 3,500 local post offices closed, while under Labour another 4,000 have closed, hitting communities across the country. 10,000 more could face closure in the coming years, reducing the number to a mere 4,000. Neither the Tories nor Labour have any plan to safeguard the future of our vital post office network,” says Caroline. “Without a change of attitude the future for many local post offices looks bleak.”

The Lib Dems are proposing a 5 point plan to breathe new life into the post office network, including a £2 billion investment fund, new services and retention of the Post Office Card Account.

Lib Dem 5 Point Plan to save our Post Offices

• Invest £2 billion in Post Office branches
• Open new branches where there is need
• Retain Post Office Card Accounts for benefit payments
• Free the Post Office from Royal Mail restrictions to let it develop new business
• New legal requirement for the Government to maintain the local Post Office network

The Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for the introduction of doorstep recycling – now they are calling for the range of products being collected to be increased.

“We must follow leading Lib Dem Councils, such as South Somerset, in collecting kitchen waste for recycling and look again at collecting plastic,” added Caroline.

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Beaminster Playgroup does a fantastic job; it’s time their long-running campaign for better accommodation was fully supported.”

The Liberal Democrats will invest in early years education, and here in West Dorset Justine McGuinness pledges to support Beaminster Playgroup and other facilities like it.