LABOUR REBELLION AND BARRACKING MARK ADOPTION OF CITY COUNCIL BUDGET

The Lib Dem plan to pause and reconsider Labour’s cutbacks in street cleaning, public realm enforcement, public toilet closures and the price of a swim was rejected last night at Cambridge City Council.

This came despite a Labour backbench rebellion on public toilet closures and attempts to prevent the council hearing the impact of its cutbacks on the council’s team of environmental patrols, enforcing against littering, fly tipping and dog control, which will see a reduction of over 40%.

Labour councillor Mark Ashton supported the Lib Dem budget amendment, saying that his colleagues’ proposals crossed a line. Another Labour councillor abstained.

But the speech of Lib Dem leader, Cllr Tim Bick, on the Liberal Democrat budget amendment was repeatedly interrupted by other Labour councillors who tried to prevent his description of the impact of reducing public realm enforcement officers to just 4 across the city. [His speech attached with the passage highlighted].

Cllr Bick said after the meeting: “I have never before experienced such barracking in the council to prevent debate. The impact of reducing the environmental patrols will be very serious and councillors needed to understand that. No detail of that cutback had been published, yet Labour expected councillors to just vote heir budget through without talking about what was in it!  Council officers were happy with my statements ahead of the meeting, yet it seems the truth was more than Labour councillors could take. They really appear to have a problem with transparency. That is why we were arguing for a pause to examine the facts before risking harm to the way the city is experienced by residents and visitors”.