Open Letter to Jill Tuck, Conservative Leader of the County Council

5.32.26pm GMT Mon 16th Feb 2009

Dear Jill

I'm writing to following the approval of the Tory budget at Cambridgeshire County Council last week.

As a resident and tax payer I am angry. I am angry that you have seen fit to squeeze the many small companies which provide support to the vulnerable in our communities. You have done this for the third year in a row. And I am angry that you've done this at a time when you are proposing to add 100 or so new jobs to the council and to raise council tax by an inflation busting 3.9%.

As a councillor I am disappointed. Disappointed on the one hand by the lack of leadership which you have shown by choosing to suggest that the County Council deserves the money that's around more than the tax-payers of the County. In your roles as Leader of the Council and chair of Cambridgeshire Together you should have done better.

I am also disappointed by the way in which you have tried to describe your budget as somehow good, one that delivers more services to the people of Cambridge. In your press release you talked about the 'extra' money which is going into different services. There's an implication that this extra money is being invested in services. It's nothing of the sort. It's largely being 'invested' in inflation. In fact this council will spend £13.8 million less than it needs to just to stand still. Services are being eroded.

The Lib Dems recognise this which is why we challenged your inflation assumption; it's why we proposed releasing reserves to really invest in services during these difficult times; and it why we said that we must tackle inefficient departments and ineffective contracts which cost this County too much.

David Jenkins

Lib Dem Group Leader

Cambridgeshire County Council