Bob Smytherman

Tories reject chance to reduce car parking charges 

Worthing Tories rejected the chance to reduce car parking charges at tonight’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee following a proposal from the Liberal Democrats. Alan Rice, Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet Member for Resources and committee member, proposed at the meeting that one third of an unexpected £660,000 bonus from central government, confirmed only last Friday should be used to ease car parking charges to support local residents and businesses during the fragile economic recovery expected over the next year. The £660,000 was an additional grant from central government towards the cost of the concessionary fare bus scheme and had only in the last few months been scheduled to plug a hole in the 2010/2011 budget - instead of the originally proposed use of reserves. Additionally the council had received a large VAT rebate and together with the extra concessionary fare grant reserves have been boosted by well in excess of £2 million. Tories rejected the proposal on the basis the reserves were needed for hard times to come. Alan commented afterwards:“The Tories want to save for a rainy day but for too many it is raining all ready.  High car parking charges are putting off residents and visitors alike from shopping in the town. They deserve to share some cheer from this unexpected bonus.” Fellow Lib Dem Committee Member and Shadow Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Bob Smytherman, added: 

“Everyone complains about the high cost of car parking in the town including the Tory councillors but when the Tories have a chance to do something they once again fail to act.”

Ends

Adur & Worthing Partnership ‘loses momentum’ says watchdog It’s Official: - Adur & Worthing Council’s partnership is suffering a lack of momentum according to a recent Audit Commission report.The Audit report which was not available for the scrutiny committee review was a late presentation at last week’s joint meeting of the two councils’ Governance and Audit committees and outlined the significant service delivery challenges.The successful delivery of the integrated refuse and recycling services which first began back in 2002/3 by the then Lib Dem administration in Worthing was recognised as a good example of effective partnership working demonstrating improved service outcomes and reduced costs for residents, however the report went on to say that this was in part due to officers being able to focus on one key project over a longer period.  It is far more challenging to provide shared services and address transformation across all services at the same time.Both councils have now recognised that the timescales for change were far too ambitious and the target of March 2010 for service reviews to be carried out and implemented will be missed.  Alan Rice, Lib Dem Shadow Cabinet Member for Resources, said: “The easy win on refuse and recycling was not a quick one - it took many with all eyes on this one key project. As the report says now the task becomes more difficult as officers have to tackle several areas at once. I trust front line services and hence our residents will not suffer as a result.”Ends West Sussex Community Initiative Funding

Worthing County Local Committees (CLC) have been allocated funding to enhance the delivery of the County Council’s identified priorities.