Published: Monday, 1st September, 2008 11:10
Lib Dems attack 'failing' West Berks council
By Alex Gore
Comments (0)
Print Article
Lib Dem councillor Jeff Brooks
A LIB Dem councillor has attacked the Tory administration for failing to meet half of its targets for the past year.
His attack follows the publication of a Performance Indicators report for 2007/08 which highlights West Berkshire Council’s progress across a range of projects.
Lib Dem leader Cllr Jeff Brooks said: “Failing half of the targets that they set themselves is simply abysmal. A 50% failure rate is not acceptable in school exams or even central Government so why should we let it happen in West Berkshire?
“The Tories need to step up to the plate and start to improve their game as they are letting down residents.”
In particular councillor Brooks points to the council’s failure to reduce crime after missing its target by 28% and also failing to meet a target of 51% for bus passenger satisfaction, instead it stood at 46%.
He also highlights the council’s failure to meet its planning application responsiveness target by 14.1% and helping only 65% of boys to attain Level 2B+ in reading by age seven compared to the target of 73.5%.
Cllr Brooks also points to the council’s failure to re-launch the Emergency Planning website and revise its Major Incident Plan.
Cllr Brooks said: “More than a year down the line from the 2007 floods the Tories have failed to learn lessons and have not put into place the necessary framework to reduce the impact of such natural disasters happening again.”
But the Tories have welcomed the Performance Indicators and believe the report shows the past year has been a success with plenty of progress being made across a number of areas.
Performance leader Cllr Anthony Stansfeld said: “In total there are 300 service and council plan indicators that feed into the report. There has been a reduction from 24% to 21% of indicators that require attention,.
“Particular success included one of the fastest rates of improvement in Key Stage 2 results in the country and turning around the recent increase in crime so that it is now 12% lower than in the previous year.
Cllr Stansfield said he was pleased with the report and that it showed the council was making progress against challenging targets it had set itself.
Cllr Brooks added: “These are just a drop in the ocean of red lights on Tory performance targets. I am appalled by this dismal and lacklustre performance which they are passing off as “successful” with “good progress”.
Further Details
Gaza protest in town centre