Lib Dems uncover Conservative charges for dead children and stillborn babies - secret or just politely hidden?

Cllr Andy Maric has today had his worst fears confirmed – secrets/ hidden figures within the Council’s budget.

Pictured left: Newport Pagnell Cllrs Paul Alexander, Derek Eastman, Andy Maric and Douglas McCall with Newport Pagnell Rev Jenny Mills (Centre).

A ‘Grave mistake’ has been made by the Conservatives in Milton Keynes, according to Cllr Andy Maric from Newport Pagnell who is also the Lib Dem spokesperson for Finance and uncovered the hidden increases.

Lib Dems from Newport Pagnell uncovered hidden charges from the Conservative Council’s budget which specifically targets stillborn babies and children under 16yrs who die, they are set to face a 40.63% increase in Burials and Cremations which was hidden behind an ‘average’ of a 10% increase across the board for Burials and Cremations.

“It’s an absolute disgrace that the Conservatives not only tried to hide this 40.63% increase for stillborn babies and children who die, but its completely immoral and insensitive to think that they would even propose such a thing, quite frankly it makes me feel sick”, said Cllr Andy Maric.

The Conservative Budget which is currently on Milton Keynes Council’s website for Consultation does not display the Council’s exemptions to the standard 4% increase across the board, ‘Annex E’, and the only reference to Burials and Cremations in the paper back copies, is a average of 10%.

Cllrs Douglas McCall and Paul Alexander both agreed and said that “How can the public possibly provide feedback on a public budget when figures are hidden and they try to keep it a secret, surely the Consultation process so far is void?”

Rev Jenny Mills, minister of the United Reformed Chuch, whom is also representing other Churches from Newport Pagnell and agrees with the Lib Dems on this issue said, “No cuts or increases are ever easy or welcomed but it seems particularly harsh to make increases that hit people when they are at their most vulnerable, especially when faced with having to deal with the death of their baby or child. The impact of the increased costs will make money a focus, and an extra burden, when families are grieving and struggling anyway”.

A petition has been set up online to try and force the Conservative Cabinet member for Finance to resign and also tell the Public what else they are hiding in their secret budget: www.ipetitions.com/petition/council-secrets/

You can also tell the Council what you think direct by emailing: budget@Milton-Keynes.gov.uk or write to; Budget Consultation, Civic Offices, 1 Saxon Gate East, Milton Keynes, MK9 EJ before 3rd February 2012.

Is there a secret budget the Council aren't telling the public about?

Councillor questions Conservative Council’s agenda.

“Is the Conservative group who run Milton Keynes Council being totally honest with taxpayers?” Asks Cllr Andy Maric, the Liberal Democrat finance spokesperson who represents Newport Pagnell South.
It’s after Lib Dem Councillors realised part of the consultation documents on the Councils website have been missing for months and had been separated from the original Cabinet report.

Annex E, which contains all price increases both above and below the standard 4% is absent from the consultation documents and web page.

Cllr Maric said, “Obviously the document will likely exist elsewhere in the depths of the Councils website, but I fear this has been a deliberate attempt to try and hide information from members of the public, how can people possibly provide feedback on public money and budgets if its made nearly impossible for them to access the information?

The Conservatives need to publicly apologise for this as they have wasted months of already passed consultation time, reveal anything else that’s hidden by coming clean and re-assure us and members of the public that they are not hiding anything else and stake their job that their budget is and will be 100% transparent”.

Link to consultation: http://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/mkcconsultationdetails/?ConsultationID=184

The Point, forced the closure of the Cinema in Tickford Arcade, Newport Pagnell in the late 1980's

Cllr Andy Maric expresses his views on one of the Cities most iconic landmarks and asks has the ‘Point’ in time passed for The Point in Central Milton Keynes? After all, it forced the closure of our Cinema in Newport Pagnell back in the late 80′s!

“Its big, its red and its been many things over the years whilst I have been growing up in Newport Pagnell, Milton Keynes. From Restaurants, to Cinema’s, to briefly closing large aspects of it and then re-inventing itself once more, but how long can The Point in Central Milton Keynes stay ahead of the times and be an asset to the City rather than a hindrance as it slowly moves into disrepair and becomes an eye sore?

My most vivid memory about the Point, was the Cinema, going regularly with my Nan and taking in some sweets from the Market as we couldn’t afford their own pick and mix, travelling too and from on the buses from Newport Pagnell where I grew up and still live today! But memories amongst others, it has largely sat in the background to other iconic landmarks and I feel its very much underused and poorly maintained. From the iconic red lights not being replaced, to the interior in dyer need of pushing back into the futuristic and icon style it was once created as to draw back in the public for more than a visit to the Odeon Cinema.

I remember using the Council’s Connections Service for young people when I was in college and looking for part time work, it was a great service and really easily accessible, which is why I ask has The Point peaked? The landmark which once was ‘the icon’ of the centre of Milton Keynes and opened in 1985, has severely faded behind other assets such as the Church in CMK, Xscape, the expanded shopping centre and our obsessive compulsive disorder with Round-a-bouts which has really caught on around the world even more so in the last decade, the latest with a City in the U.S.A replacing intersections and traffic lights with big round ‘things’!

The Point needs to either be refurbished and properly utilised, or potentially have a re-think of its strategy, unfortunately its not owned by the Council, its privately owned, but as the City continues to grow and the need to expand Public Amenities and services grows with it, the space its presides over it easily accessible and highly desirable. One idea is for it to Front a University Campus in the future, preserving the landmark and building, potentially using it all as classrooms and a Student Union (considering there used to be a NightClub there). That way our Cities heritage would be preserved but ensuring we future proof for our City for younger generations and our local economy. It would be much better than just knocking it all down.

If only the Private owners would invest more in it, perhaps these kind of views wouldn’t generate and I would never have asked the question!”

Supporting recycling, Andrew Maric

“I recently received a policy refresh from the Conservative Milton Keynes Council which made some suspicious statements and made me wonder if the Conservatives may start to charge you for the luxury of recycling pink sacks in Milton Keynes, it certainly doesn’t rule it out!?

It stated the following changes to the policy:
“Contribute towards the budgetary savings required, reviewing the charges for services which, to date have been provided free of charge, but where there is flexibility for local authorities to introduce charging. (S)”

Also on the back under ‘Actions for 2011-2013 are’

“…improve income and improve efficiency, including charges for services where there is the flexibility to do so…”

It not only would be political suicide for the MK Conservatives to introduce charges but absolutely outrageous to you and me as bog standard tax payers.

Maybe the Conservatives should cut back on internal red tape and senior directors before thinking about short cuts to savings by charging people money they simply cannot afford. I don’t support the plans for introducing charges for bulky waste removal either, its not only stupid but will put areas on a backwards spiral to more bulky waste being ditched on the side of the road. It’s just not worth the money they think they can generate from it. Sure its fine if you are affluent enough to afford the money, but if you barely break even each month and struggle to put food on the table, what are you going to do? Put food on the table for children and family or pay another stealth tax out of your wallet to collect your broken washing machine, which should already be covered in your taxes anyway!

In any event, this change in policy wording doesn’t protect the Newport Pagnell taxpayer in any way from future charging, if anything it opens a dangerous door for the future.”

Grit bin

Grit bins in Newport Pagnell and Milton Keynes are at risk of being taken back by the Conservative run Milton Keynes Council.

Grit bins which are already extreemely scarce in Newport Pagnell, are at risk of being ‘relocated’ to other areas of Milton Keynes.

Andy Maric said: “Residents, Groups and the Lib Dem Focus team have fought hard over the years to get what we can from the Council, and we had a plan and a promise of many more ready for the forthcoming winter. Since Lib Dems lost control of the Council, that plan has been scrapped and they now want to do the opposite and take what we already have away to put elsewhere.

Obviously what is currently in place exists for a good reason, or it wouldn’t have been there to start with, taking them away is just insulting and clearly playing silly political games. What the Conservatives really need to think about it will it be amusing when someone falls over and breaks bones because there was no grit bins to grit icy roads in Newport Pagnell, I think not, but they clearly want to learn the hard way…

We are going to work hard to defend our Grit bins in Newport Pagnell and continue to ask for and fight for more where they are needed. We would welcome your views.”

Andy Maric has told the Conservatives to ‘pull their finger out’.

Andy Maric, said “The Conservatives are not taking enough attention in
operational matters or giving proper oversight to what their staff are doing”.

Andy said, “Their own Internal Report has stated that a staggering 45% of the
Council’s ‘Major Corporate Projects’ are failing or at risk. Failing at 45% is not
acceptable at any time, especially in this time of austerity when every penny
counts, they should be running a tight ship; the problem here is that they have
no clear Captain.

They are loosing control and the only people who are suffering are the people
of this borough and Newport Pagnell”.

Some of these projects include “Transforming Community Services” a pivotal
health project; and a “Shared Legal Services” project which aims to combine
legal services across 3 other Council’s to save huge amounts of taxpayers
money.

Andy Maric at a traveller free roadside close to Newport Pagnell

Andy Maric has warned the Conservative Council that not providing for Gypsy and Travellers in Milton Keynes; would be a “disastrous” and “naïve” step backwards for the City.

Last year MK Council dealt with a total of 34 encampments, and this year have already moved on 32 encampments across the city, on track for a 100% increase. After the Conservatives took control of the Council in May, they unanimously took a decision to halt the project after it originally commenced in February this year when receiving a specific grant from Central Government.

Cllr Andy Maric said, “It really frustrates me when I hear Conservative Councillors saying there isn’t a need for a travellers site and we should breach legal contracts to spend the little money left elsewhere, it’s a downright lie and their own data reflects that. Caravans and encampments by the side of our roads used to be a real problem in MK and was one of the things the Lib Dem’s took action on when they used to run the Council; it received a lot of local and cross party support for addressing it up front.

The Council has already spent over half a Million pounds on the project, backing out now would breach contracts and potentially break the law as minority groups could place a legal challenge against the Council, all at the expense of the taxpayer.

Do we really want to go back to the days when we had rubbish, human excrement and encampments at the side of our grid roads and pretend there isn’t a problem? The Conservatives are taking us backwards in time with this decision to abandon a nearly complete project and its really crucial we stand together to defend our green, excrement and encampment free roadsides and address the issue instead of pretending that there isn’t a problem at all”.

Sign the petition at: www.ipetitions.com/petition/StepBackwards/

Andy Maric is serious about recycling

“Bags not Paperwork” were the calls from Andy Maric on Tuesday’s Full Council Meeting as free Pink sacks were nowhere to be seen across Milton Keynes as Libraries and Council offices have so far been depleted of stocks for nearly two weeks since the Conservatives took control of Milton Keynes Council over a month ago.

Andy made his point clear to the new Conservative administration that recycling rates which grew substantially to nearly 60% in some areas under the previous Lib Dem administration, some of the highest rates in the country, must be maintained and continue to grow.

Cllr Andy Maric told the new Tory Cabinet member that they must take recycling seriously and provide pink sacks instead of a report, which the Tory Cabinet member initially suggested.

Cllr Andy Maric said, “It’s common sense, the new Conservative Cabinet walk past these empty boxes probably multiple times each day, and have done since they’be been empty, yet still said they said they would bring me a report to another meeting the following week, and that they weren’t aware of the issue and said they would “look into it”.

It will hit tax payers hardest as not only will people be forced to use black sacks which, if you use more than your given, you have to buy extra rolls from Supermarkets, but Council’s black sack waste is fined by Government as it goes directly to landfill, all because they seem more focused on paperwork and bureaucracy than front line services which will end up hitting taxpayers pockets!

Extra pink sacks are free from Council offices and libraries throughout the Borough when they are there, as famously instigated by the previous Lib Dem Administration, the Conservatives told residents of Milton Keynes at the local elections they were up for the job of running the Council, but they really need to pull their socks up as their oversight is costing us all money, money tax payers nor the Council has spare right now…”

So far between January- June 2010 64 young people have improved their employability by completing the Milton Keynes Future Jobs Fund (FJF) programme and 29 are now in full time work and six have returned for vocational training.

All 64 have undertaken a MK College training course and an employer specific training course dependant on their position funded by Milton Keynes Council’s Recession Busters project.

The idea was to give all young people on the programme the sustainable skills necessary to improve their chances of finding work in the future.

To date 39 started NVQs with 22 completions so far and six have started other credited training courses such as Football Coaching Awards.

The young people had a variety of work placements ranging from business administration, sports coaching, landscaping and gardening to a warehouse and logistics companies.

The good news for Milton Keynes is that the majority of the young people on the scheme are no longer unemployed, but are now on the path to their future careers.

Cllr Andy Maric, the youngest Milton Keynes Councillor, said: “This project is all about creating real jobs for young people in the long term by linking up with the college and employers we give them the foundations to be successful in their future working careers.”

Please get in touch or reply to this news release with any suggestions you may have.