Green budget amendment "unconvincing"

9.00.00am GMT Tue 14th Feb 2006

Cllr Jean Fooks, speaking at the County Council meeting on 14th February about the Greens' budget amendment, said:

"The savings being suggested by the Greens are unconvincing. They suggest deferring Thornhill expansion, which will mean the traffic problems in Headington remain for longer and congestion and pollution will continue unabated without the extra capacity. They reduce highway maintenance which is the last thing the public want - the state of the roads and pavements is of great concern to people. Verge cutting is already reduced to allow wild flowers to seed, but we believe that doing even less work could lead to obstruction of visibility and consequent dangers.

"And their spending proposals are also not well thought-out. While we agree that the appalling cuts in services to older people must be reversed, we think that considerably more investment is needed here than the Greens are proposing. We are very concerned about the cuts proposed by the Tories to services and support for vulnerable children, both in and out of school, and in our budget propose reversing the cuts in this area. We think that we should be supporting our foster carers better which is part of our responsibility as corporate parents for the children in our care.

"As for school meals, we believe that all children should have a nutritious school meal available, cooked on the premises using local produce. This will need capital investment in kitchens where these do not exist. The whole system needs a comprehensive overhaul, not a quick fix of an average of less than £1,000 per school."