Liberal Democrat budget - weeds

Speech by Cllr Jenny Hannaby delivered to County Council on Tue 10th Feb 2009

The Liberal Democrats are disappointed that the Conservative Budget does not follow our example and add in more money to aid the growing problem of weeds. This is short sighted and will have costly results in future for road and pathway maintenance.

Oxfordshire County Council is required to maintain the highway. This includes road surfaces. Pavements, verges and alley ways. Weed treatment is as a maintenance activity and therefore falls squarely within the remit of the County Council.

The Cabinet member has stated that structural damage caused by weeds is minimal and so far has had no serious effect. Will he be saying the same thing in a few years hence? I think not.

Unlike the County Council the Liberal Democrats listen to the concerns of the community and have put into their budget a sum of £95K for weed treatment along with the additional monies of £530k for general highway repairs - for roads, pavements and cycleways. The Liberal Democrats have shown they care about the community's environment in Towns and Villages across the County.

The Conservative administration talks a lot about partnership working and giving support to other Councils to provide services across the County helping them meet their Local Area Agreement targets. Abandoning weed control altogether will not help the County play a full and helpful part within one of the Partnerships, namely the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership to deliver their LAA targets especially NI 195 Detritus which has a set target of 9% by the year 2011. To date most District Councils are struggling with these targets, some recording unacceptably high percentages. Have the County listened to their partners when they have requested further funding for extra weed control measures to be put in place? No they haven't.

We are told greater pressure will be put onto County in the coming years to fulfil their obligations regarding food waste, recycling, composting and reduction in landfill which attracts heavy penalties if targets are missed. County need their partners across Oxfordshire to help them with their targets. The Liberal Democrats recognize the excellent works put in by our partnership Councils and the community across the county to reach targets in recycling and litter. Our budget would support them in the areas that need improving most.