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.

Amazingly, official figures show that one in five houses in Lyme Regis is a second home.

For the whole of West Dorset around one in twenty houses are second homes.

This means that there are 2,500 homes across the district unavailable for local people to live in – with many of them empty for much of the year.

Depending on their circumstances the owners of these second homes can get up to a 50% reduction in their Council Tax! This is a huge loss to local councils at a time of very tight budgets and cuts to local services.

“Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for second homes to be taxed fully,” says Cllr. Andy Canning, the Chair of West Dorset Liberal Democrats.

“In opposition there wasn’t much we could do, but in government we can make sure that all homes are taxed fairly.”

As a result of work undertaken by Liberal Democrat Communities Minister, Andrew Stunnell, the Coalition Government is looking to make changes to make Council Tax fairer.

These include:

• an end to the mandatory discount on second homes
• an end to the mandatory discount for the first six months on empty homes
• giving the council the ability to charge an empty tax premium of up to 50% on homes that are empty for more than two years.

There will still be some exemptions to allow for when an owner has died or gone into hospital or a care home.

“At a time when so many local young people can’t get onto the property ladder it is totally wrong to be offering tax discounts for people with second or empty homes,” added Cllr. Canning.

“In government the Liberal Democrats are helping to bring more homes back into use for local people and ensuring that second home owners are paying their fair share of local tax. This will help our councils maintain key local services in these difficult times.”

Cllr Ros Kayes and Cllr Dave Rickard at Bridport Magistrates Court

For the last 18 months Lib Dem-run Bridport Town Council has been supporting a pioneering project to bring local restorative justice to our community, by way of Community Justice Panels (CJPs).

The idea was introduced by Cllr. Dave Rickard who saw a successful pilot working wonders in Somerset. With support of Cllr. Ros Kayes they developed the project through the Town Council, using its new powers of Social Wellbeing.

Supported by the District Council, Magna and Raglan Housing Associations together with the Police, a steering group has successfully supported the training of ten local volunteer facilitators. Under police supervision they have already dealt with over a dozen cases.

Restorative Justice brings wrongdoers together with the victim in a conference to see the harm they have caused. This enables them to recognise the consequences of their behaviour, with the victim being able to explain the impact and repercussions of their crime. Both victim and wrongdoer then agree a course of action to make amends for their behaviour.

It is now clear that where CJPs are used they greatly reduce re-offending rates. This increases public confidence in the justice system because it is delivered locally and is more transparent.

CJPs also increase victim satisfaction in getting relatively swift reparation and closure and it saves police time and money by keeping low level crime out of the criminal justice system.

It meets many of the criteria for the Coalition Government’s ‘localism’ agenda and is proving so successful that the steering group and the police are now looking to roll it out across West Dorset and eventually the whole of Dorset.

Yet another good Liberal Democrat community idea put into practice.

	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.”

Sue Farrant with Catherine Brabner, SW Regional Manager, National Housing Federation at the launch of SW Home Truths 2010

Just over one in twenty homes in West Dorset  is somebody’s second home, occupied for a small part of the year and contributing little to the local economy. Meanwhile, there are more than 2,000 households on the social housing waiting list. With an average house price of £223,000 and an average income of £17,000, not many local people are in a position to get a mortgage to buy themselves a home.

Speaking at the launch of this year’s Home Truths, published by the National Housing Federation last week, Sue Farrant of West Dorset Liberal Democrats said, “This report makes grim reading. There is a terrible shortage of affordable housing in the south west of England and West Dorset is one of the worst places to be looking for a home unless your income is way above average. We’ve really got to tackle house prices and we’ve also got to have a great many more houses and flats at affordable rents.

“This is an economic problem as much as a social problem. Economic recovery here will be driven by small businesses. Small businesses need workers and initially at least they can’t pay high salaries. So, where are those workers going to live? The rate of affordable house building has been shamefully low for many years now (just 106 new housing association properties were completed in West Dorset in 2009) and just hasn’t kept pace with need. This government is planning to encourage people to set up local housing trusts and although I think they are a good idea, housing trusts haven’t had a very good record so far in actually delivering new homes.

“I think it is time to look at ways to stop developers from hoarding land waiting for the price to rise and stop public bodies from letting land they own to be left unused, do more to encourage housing co-operatives and self-build co-operatives, consider restricting the number of second homes in this area and be more vigorous about bringing empty homes back into use.

Above all, we should be using public money to fund an affordable homes building programme. That will not only provide homes for people in need but will also stimulate the local economy by providing work for tradespeople and suppliers and helping local businesses to attract and retain workers.”

The proposed new development includes a new library building for Dorset County Council. It’s not an additional library, but a replacement for the existing building in Dorchester. That will cost the County Council a projected £4 million. Meanwhile, the Council is planning significant cuts to its book budget and is considering closing village libraries.

At the same time, Dorset County Council has a £4.2 million deficit on its adult social care budget and expects that to rise to £6 million. That will hit the old, the infirm and the disabled. Is building a new library when there is nothing wrong with the old one the right priority?

If you want to send a message to the councillors who will be making the decision without having to speak at the meeting, come and join us on the steps of County Hall at 2pm. I’m expecting a large number of people to be there to demonstrate that this planned expenditure of somewhere between £10 million and £15 million of our money does not have public support.

Don’t forget that all the councillors are up for election in May 2011 – that will give every voter a chance to give their opinion about the decision that is made on 28th September!

Have your say

We, the people who will have to pay for the offices, do at least have an opportunity to comment on the planning application. Unfortunately, whether or not the new offices make sense financially is not considered relevant to the planning process. However, we can at least have our say on the design.

It is definitely worth lodging an objection; the application will be discussed by a committee of elected Councillors and they do have the power to refuse planning consent even if the Council’s officers recommend approval. The Councillors need to know how strongly people feel about this and any member of the public who submits a written comment has the right to speak for up to three minutes at the meeting.

We need to encourage the Councillors to be brave on this issue and stand up for the people who elected them rather than just meekly do what they are told.

How to do it

The planning application has the reference 1/D/10/000763. You can go into Stratton House and ask to see the plans, they are also available online.

There are two ways that you can comment:

1. by post to Andrew Martin, WDDC, Stratton House, 58-60 High West Street, Dorchester, DT1 1UZ or;
2. online at www.dorsertforyou.com, the link takes you to West Dorset’s planning applications page, where you need to input the reference above.

All comments must be received by the Council by June 18th at the latest and don’t forget to use the reference number in all correspondence.

The new Council offices are part of a major redevelopment scheme for Charles Street and the plans are for the whole scheme. You can object to the offices without commenting on the rest of the scheme or you can have your say on other elements of the development as well.

What is considered relevant in planning terms

Only comments on the design of the building, its impact on the surrounding area and whether it conforms to the Council’s own planning policies will be considered.

You could, for example, object on one or more of the following grounds:

• the building is detrimental to the character and appearance of Dorchester’s conservation area on the grounds of its size, height and/or length;
• the building will overshadow South Walks which is a scheduled ancient monument;
• the attempt to build offices on Charles Street is contrary to policy EA14 in the local plan which says there should only be shopping, leisure/arts/tourism uses or housing on this site;
• the design of the office building has no local distinctiveness which is contrary to policy DA3;
• the design is significantly larger than nearby buildings which is contrary to policy DA5;
• the design is not sympathetic or in keeping with the surrounding area contrary to policy DA7;
• there is a loss of trees and of open space in what is otherwise a fairly built up area.

Just use your own words to express your views. The more objections the better and the more likely that Councillors will throw out the application.

Our online poll is still open for people to vote Yes or No on the new offices. If you haven’t already voted, go to officespoll.org.uk. Tell your friends!

The result was as follows:

Sue would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in the campaign for their hard work and the superb support they have given her throughout.

Sue said: “Very many people have been kind enough to contact me with messages of support since Thursday night and I really appreciate that kindness. Losing an election is not a pleasant experience but knowing that I have your backing makes all the difference.”

There are always a number of people who do not get to vote on polling day itself. So, to make it easier we would like to suggest to as many people as possible to register for a postal vote.

If you would like more information on how to apply, please phone us at the office on 01935 815947.

Alternatively, go to aboutmyvote.co.uk to register online.

Shirley Williams joins Sue Farrant to visit local shops in Sherborne

Dr Sue Farrant, parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats in West Dorset, was joined by Shirley Williams, revered politician and founder of the SDP, on the election campaign trail in Sherborne yesterday.

Meeting at ‘The Conduit’ in Cheap Street, and joined by a throng of Liberal Democrat activists, they embarked on a ‘meet and greet’ through the town centre, stopping to speak to local residents and dropping in to shops to chat with owners and customers.

Party workers were then invited back to Sue Farrant’s house for tea and Baroness Williams gave a speech on Liberal Democrat values and her views on this intriguing election campaign.

By way of an introduction, Sue Farrant said: “It is a great honour for me to have Shirley Williams here to lend her support to my campaign. She is one of my heroines and a wonderful role model. It gives us great encouragement in the last stage of the campaign.”

Shirley Williams said: “This election is tremendously exciting. It is much bigger for us now than at any other time. I’ve seen the mould cracking. The people of Great Britain are fed up with the voting system. I was on Channel Four last night and when the audience was asked if they wanted real change at this election, nine tenths were in favour. The debates have presented the Liberal Democrats to the British people as a party of real change.”

Baroness Williams laid out the policy areas that required this real change. In finance, the establishment of the Council of Economic Stability, an independent body, is crucial to the decision making process in dealing with the scale of the economic problem.

Political reform is a top priority. She said: “We need to be tough on expenses fiddling. But, we must go much deeper than that. Proper independent committees must be set up to keep this in check.”

On the issue of the constitution, Baroness Williams said: “Gordon Brown is right to say there is no evidence the Tories believe in fundamental constitutional change.

“But there is little evidence either of a serious Labour commitment, apart from devolution of power to Scotland and Wales. In power for thirteen years, Labour never proposed genuine electoral reform, nor more effective oversight of government by the House of Commons, nor even stronger rules over Parliamentary expenses. Proposals by the Wright Committee to strengthen the role of Parliament were blocked by the Prime Minister himself in February.”

She concluded: “The Liberal Democrats have campaigned for constitutional reform since they were founded more than twenty years ago. Liberal Democrats campaigned for devolution, for freedom of information and for a Ministry of Justice long before Labour reluctantly adopted them.

“British voters want a fundamental reform of politics in this country. So do we. We will only get it if Britain’s electors vote for it by voting Liberal Democrat.”