"I wish we had longer to properly build much-needed social properties in the district"
"At full council this month the council voted on the budget, and in my opinion, we missed an opportunity for a Covid recovery plan."
By Luke Taylor
Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Mid Devon District Council
I start this month’s column by saying that as we celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8, I was disappointed to see Councillor Elizabeth Wainwright of the Green Party sacked from her cabinet seat.
She excelled in her role as member for climate change – a very serious position. The council had voted on a challenging target to become carbon-neutral by 2030 and I just hope that the eradication of this cabinet position does not mean that the council are sliding on their commitments.
I thank Elizabeth for her contributions and look forward to continuing to work with her.
I was somewhat confused that the Liberal Democrat group were accused of losing £650,000 when in cabinet for not using the money to build social properties.
Sadly, this is only a half-truth – yes, the money was paid back after we had been in cabinet for just five months, but it had been sitting in the coffers of Mid Devon for the previous two and a half years under the Conservative-run council with no plans whatsoever to spend the money.
Five months might seem like a long time to allocate the money; however, these funds had to be physically spent in this time. I wish we had longer to properly build much-needed social properties in the district rather than what is happening now with the risking of millions in Mid Devon Council’s property development company, Three Rivers.
At full council this month the council voted on the budget, and in my opinion, we missed an opportunity for a Covid recovery plan. There should have been more to support local businesses which fall through the net of Government grants, and support for food banks, which are under immense pressure and demand.
The budget instead opted to lend £14.74 million to Three Rivers, which is making achingly slow progress on the town hall site. It is two years behind schedule and costing the taxpayer, as costs are ever-increasing.
