Fair But Could And Should Do Better

9.23.01am GMT Mon 8th Nov 2004

Councillor Jerry Roodhouse

Councillor Jerry Roodhouse Leader of the Rugby Liberal Democrat Council group is calling on the Tory & Labour groups to act on the report from the Audit Commission's Comprehensive Performance Assessment report (CPA) on the Borough Council, which judged it as "Fair".

Cllr Jerry Roodhouse in his report to local Liberal Democrats said:

"Fair is the Audit Commission's judgement about Rugby Borough Council. The report slams the Council over

· Partnership working.

· Housing & homelessness matters.

· The lack of vision.

I quote: 'As a result the Council is not offering Leadership'.

Liberal Democrats believe that the judgement is the right one and that the Council could do better, but we are becoming increasingly concerned that instead of working together and taking the Borough forward the Conservatives and Labour groups will instead choose to take us backwards".

Liberal Democrats will be asking the Tory controlled Cabinet how they intend to now engage with the community and Partners to ensure that this Borough strives to be excellent in all services, especially since the Leader of the Council is on the record as saying that the "fabric of our society is breaking down".

Liberal Democrats have also welcomed the report from CIPFA (which represents public sector accountants) on Local Income Tax, which says the average band D council tax bill would go down by £600 if a local income tax of 2p in the £ was used to supplement local authority spending. This would also see an efficiency saving of approx £300m a year.