Well…. my predictions, it turns out, were hopelessly optimistic….

The Conservatives won Bridge, Fant and Coxheath, although they did lose Barming. Maidstone, for the first time since 1983 is no longer a hung council. The sad thing is, I just can’t put my finger on why….

I feel that Fant ward was won by the Tories purely because the vote was split between Labour, Lib Dem & Green. The Tories only got elected ‘through the middle’.

However, Bridge and Coxheath…. WHY?

• National swing?
• Inaccurate and misleading Tory literature?
• Not enough work by the Lib Dems?

I don’t know is the honest answer - I can’t believe for one moment though that it was due to lack of work by the Lib Dem team (although granted I’m biased). Whilst there can be no doubt that there were dubious claims made in local Tory literature, I still don’t believe that this was the reason, but at the same time I don’t believe that people voted Conservative to make a point about national politics.

I wish I had more experience in these things! I’m going to bed just a few hours before the school run, feeling desperately depressed by the evening.
David Pickett (who has worked so hard for Bridge ward in this past year) and Fran Smith (who has campaigned all her adult life for a better environment in Fant) - I’m sorry. I suspect the majority of your wards will be too.

After so many weeks busy on the campaign trail, today, at last, saw the arrival of polling day.

After a day spent “Telling”, “Knocking-up”, leaflet delivering and running around like a loon, I’m just showered and changed ready to go off to the count. For once I’m early and so I thought I might as well put together my predictions for tonights results. Maidstone is one of the key seats for the Tories. The Leader of the Council, Fran Wilson (Lib Dem) often says “Maidstone is an island of yellow, in a Kentish sea of blue”. The Tories are clearly vying for this borough to finally become a Tory council after many many years as a hung one.

Anyway - here’s the low down:

To take overall control the Conservatives need a gain of one seat. If my predictions are correct, overall the Conservatives face a one seat loss, meaning providing the coalition holds, the Conservatives will not take control of the Council.

Things to bear in mind when reading this:

1. I’m a glass is half full, not half empty kind of girl; and
2. I’ve really only been involved in four of the above wards and don’t know all the in’s and out’s of the others.

Right - time for the off - I’ll post the real results in the morning!

And so it begins - with an impending election, the Conservatives have chosen to not tell the truth in their literature in the hopes of winning a few illgotten votes….

The Conservatives are claiming that the Liberal Democrats wilfully refused to support a fully costed scheme which would have preserved tokens for the disabled and vulnerable.

This is untrue. The Conservatives proposed a rushed scheme which was not fully costed and opened up the Council to huge financial risks.  They did not even say who would be covered by their proposals. 

The government has significantly under-funded the new national bus pass scheme.  It has allocated just £444,000 to Maidstone for a scheme which is likely to cost the taxpayer close on £2 million by the end of the first year.  The Council will almost certainly need to go back to the government for top-up funding but it has been made clear that this will not be available to any Council continuing to provide ‘additional’ concessions such as Maidstone’s existing token scheme. Without such extra funding, huge increases to the Council Tax could not be avoided.

 All parties on the Council were working together to seek a solution which would provide the benefits of the Token Scheme without running this kind of risk.  The Conservatives then broke ranks and decided to bring forward their own rushed and ill- thought-out proposals.

The Liberal Democrats have continued to work with others to find a system that will enable the Council to fund outside Agencies to help those vulnerable people who have been disadvantaged by the new bus pass scheme.

This will take time.  However, the first grant under this heading (£6000) has already been awarded to Age Concern to enable them to continue to provide free transport to and from their Day Centres for those who need it.

I just left my friends house where we were discussing the state of the country today (as you do), and something was said that really resonated with me and I felt was worth blogging.

We were talking about the amount of red-tape and over regulation that exists today in this country for just about every aspect of our lives. This is something I’ve been reading about in an amusing, yet worrying book entitled “How to Label a Goat” by Ross Clark. (I highly recommend by the way!)

Anyway, my friend  said:

“The trouble with the law today is it’s like a house with central heating. The Govt. have added more and more pipes to an existing adequate system, that simply allows for more leaks, more creaking and it’s harder for the heat to get around.”

Pretty good analogy isn’t it!

In April 2008 the Government will be introducing it’s new national concessionary bus fare scheme. From now on, every person over the age of 60 and all disabled people will be able to travel on any bus in the country for free.

Sounds great doesn’t it?

Yes it does - and it is a great IDEA….. however, once again, not enough thought has gone into how this will actually work in reality….

Each borough across the country will have to pay for any journey started in it’s boundaries, regardless of where the traveller actually comes from. With a great town like Maidstone, a lot of people will get the bus to us for a days shopping, which their local authority will pay for. However, every trip home (by virtue of the fact that it’s beginning in our borough) will be paid for by us.

Now the Govt. is giving us funding to pay for this - however, it’s woefully short of even the most conservative of our projections. In addition, any additional benefits we offer to our residents (such as companion bus passes for disabled people, or are alternative ‘voucher scheme) will have to stop, or we will be penalized through lack of further funding.

What can be done? Well - on this one, I’ve gone and got all political!

Over the weekend, I’ve been collecting Councillors signatures to call for an extraordinary meeting of Maidstone’s council to debate the following motion:

CONCESSIONARY FARE MOTION

The Council regrets the government’s failure to fund fully the new national concessionary fares travel scheme and in particular the limitations to the funding that will affect the lives of disabled people and carers in Maidstone.

The Council calls on the government to reconsider its decision ont he criteria for the national scheme and to include companion passes, on a national basis, for the benefit of disabled people.

The Council also calls on the government to ensre that it fully funds each individual authority in adminstering the new national scheme in order to relieve the enormous pressure on our budget which has affected our ability to fund additional discretionary services.

In addition to this, I’ve written to Norman Baker (shadow Transport) requesting he submits an Early Day Motion (EDM) on this topic.

I’ve also been investigating how other councils have been affected, and it appears pretty bleak for them too. Lots have started similar campaigns. An example being Harlow Lib Dems. 

If you have any ideas on how this can be progressed further, please let me know and I’ll give your ideas a go.

On the 21st December (my 35th birthday for those of you who’d like to send me a card in future!) those lovely people at HM Revenue & Customs sent me a bill for just over £750 for underpayment of tax in the year 2000/01 which I was to pay by tomorrow. In other words 6 business days notice.

There was no explanation as to why nearly 7 years on I was suddenly liable for this amount of money. Much as I’d like it to be otherwise, I just don’t have that sort of money to hand to pay for bills with this little notice. I immediately phoned up the helpline to discuss what the bill was for, why I was suddenly expected to pay it with next to no notice and how I could extend the deadline slightly to give me a chance to come up with the money.

I pointed out that any other business would surely give more than 6 business days notice and if it didn’t (after such a long period of time had elapsed) the Government would come down on them like a tonne of bricks. This is especially bearing in mind that the letter was overtly threatening (non-payment by 3rd Jan would result in a fine and interest would begin to be accrued immediately), had no justification for the request whatsoever and was the first I’d heard. I asked the lady on the other end of the phone, that if I sent her a bill for £750, to be paid within a few days, would she send me the money immediately?

Apparently I was being ridiculous… what would the bill be for she asked? I asked her the same of my tax bill - what’s it for? I worked in that tax year and was part of a PAYE (pay as you earn) scheme - what’s suddenly changed? I was told she couldn’t tell me what it was for, but if I wrote in and allowed one calendar month for it to be processed, they would send me further information. However, I should be aware that fines and interest would begin to accrue immediately 3rd Jan had passed.

All over christmas, this has been at the front of my mind and worrying me desperately. So much so, that my lovely sister-in-law even offered to help out and loan me the money to avoid fines. I didn’t take her up on this kind offer though, as I couldn’t believe I could possibly owe them the money.

Anyway, I got in touch with my old company and asked for them to email me a copy of my P60 for that year which they did.

Armed with this information, this morning I went down to my local tax office (thankfully it’s in Maidstone). It turns out, I’d incorrectly added statutory maternity pay (which should not be taxed) to my income and all of a sudden they’d decided I should be charged additional tax. In addition, this was the year that I was made redundant. I’d filled in the amount of my redundancy in the appropriate box on the form (self-assesment). Any amount under £30,000 is tax free - mine was substantially under this amount, but a clerical error had meant that they now deemed this to be a taxable amount hence the sudden bill.

To cut a very long story short, it turns out that HMRC owe me money (to the tune of at least £500). All I had to do was put my request in writing - they told me exactly what to write - and post to my local tax office. At the time of this, I was on the phone to a national call centre whilst sitting in my local office. I got a piece of paper off a clerk in the office, wrote the letter and handed it in.

How long would it take to process I asked? This is bearing in mind that;

1. I had handed in the letter to my local office (so there won’t be any postal delays); and
2. They’d expected me to deal with this whole issue (and pay) within 6 business days.

The answer?
I need to allow one month for all post.

But it’s not really post I said - just hand it in to the person in the office next door (away from us pesky tax payers) and they can make the two amendments and process the claim immediately.

Oh no, I was told, all letters have to go via our postal system and you need to allow one month.

No doubt my letter is now sitting in someones filing cabinet for an alloted period of time, before being sent to the office next door, via Australia, for someone to file for another pre-determined period before anything’s actually done.

If I have to wait for a month will I still be fined and interest added to this non-existant bill? was my next question.

Yes. I will be fined for non-payment and interest will begin accruing on Friday morning. However, should it be that I do not actually owe any money, they will drop the fines and interest - how very kind!

Final question - Can I fine you for not paying quickly and how do I go about charging you interest?

Apparently, HMRC do not have to pay fines for being slow or making mistakes (surprise surprise) however, interest will automatically be added to my claim, backdated to 2001.

So, although the tax office managed to ruin my birthday, christmas and new year, at least I don’t owe them any money, and even better I’m going to get a lot back!

A happy ending for me, but what about the poor people that just bury their heads in the sand, knowing they can’t possibly afford bills like this and not realising that it may well be just a mistake by the tax office?

I’ve filed this post under ‘crime’ as I think it is one!

By just 511 votes, Nick Clegg has been voted the new leader of the Lib Dems.

Hooray!

I’ve been waiting all day to find out…. Who is the next leader of the Liberal Democrat party?…

 and I still don’t know!

 Update assured for tomorrow!

Big excitement in the Batt household this morning, as I’ve made it to the front page of the Downs Mail town edition under the headline “The city of Maidstone”.

The story reads:

Tentative moves are being made to revisit city status for Maidstone.
Cllr Julia Batt raised the question at a borough council scrutiny committee meeting and inital enquiries will be pursued by officers.
Cllr Batt said she felt the issue had been dropped too readily after Maidstone’s bid for city status at the Millennium ended in failure.
Vice-chairman of the committee, Cllr Stephen Beerling, said any renewed effort had to carry more clout than the previous attempt.
He recalled: “When Maidstone went into it before, it seemed to be with the approach that we wouldn’t get it anyway - so it proved.”

I thought I’d take the time to explain this story in more depth, as in all honesty, prior to election, I wouldn’t have understood much of it myself!

Firstly, what is a scrutiny meeting?

Every aspect of the work done by the council is covered by an ‘Overview & Scrutiny (O&S) committee. There are currently four of these groups; Regeneration, Environment and Leisure, External and Corporate Services. The scrutiny group that I sit on this year is Regeneration - as the name implies this scrutinises all decisions to do with the regeneration of Maidstone. Topics that have been investigated so far this year include ‘Maidstone Market’, Maidstone’s Housing Strategy, closure of the Coombe Quarry Park & ride closure, and we’ve also touched upon Concessionary bus fares (more to come on this topic!).

Members of the public are welcome to attend these meetings and are invited to suggest topics for overview. They can also be viewed online. However, the truth is, for whatever reason, that no-one ever comes to meetings (unless the Tories rile them up!) and it’s very rare for people to offer suggestions for review.

As well as scrutinising decisions that have been made, topics can be reviewed by these committees. ANYTHING can be covered (providing it’s under the right group). As an example, the Borough Council could research the possibility of organising trips to the moon from the High Street. The committee would investigate this topic from all angles with interviews from relevant experts in their fields…

• would it bring in additional revenue via tourism streams?
• would there be a Health & Safety risk with people singeing their hair (from rocket fumes)?!
• how big would the launch pad exclusion zone need to be?
• could we advertise Maidstone on the sides of the rockets?
• would the rockets be reuseable?
• etc etc…

At the end of the investigation, a recommendation or policy suggestion would be made to either the borough or county council, or indeed to national government.

So that’s the O&S committee explained, the next part to explain is the city status application:

Occasionally, oppurtunities are given for Council’s to apply to be granted city status. Maidstone did apply at the last chance (for the millenium) but the bid was rejected - allegedly due to ‘lack of history’.

I honestly don’t know what (if any) the benefits of city status are - this would all be for the scrutiny group to investigate. However, should the chance present itself again, I wouldn’t want to think that we’d miss out on something that may be excellent for us, purely because we hadn’t fully prepared for it.

To see this meeting in progress, click here.

Anthony Hull has resigned from his position as Borough Councillor for Shepway South ward on Friday. This means we will be having a bi-election in the next few weeks.

Elections always mean extra work - delivering leaflets, telephone canvassing, etc  - and for this reason I was incredibly grateful to Gordon Brown for deciding against a General Election just a few weeks ago.

Typical - you think you’re off the hook and then someone comes and puts you straight back on it… thanks Anthony!

It was full council tonight. The main topic for debate was funding of the recycling strategy. If people voted against it (as many of the Conservatives did), it would have meant we would have had to continue with the previous administrations plans to switch to alternate weekly collections. Thankfully, the recommendation was carried, and in February additional recycling will take place along side our existing weekly refuse collections.

As usual, there were Councillors talking a load of rubbish at the meeting -  I guess trying to win some points from somewhere… However, there were one or two valid points raised by members of the opposition. Councillors Chris Garland, Paul Oldham and Eric Hotson (all Conservative) made some fair comments against the proposals. Paul in fact proposed that the suggestion to take profits from the museum to pay for increased recycling should be removed. This motion was seconded and I’m very pleased to say unanimously carried.

Rightly or wrongly, I feel that some Councillors (from all parties) do not listen to the comments made by members of the opposition, having already made up their mind which way their vote will go. When I arrived at the meeting last night, I was certain that I would be voting for the proposal - it was one of our key election promises that we would do whatever we could to retain full weekly refuse collections. However, when Councillor Oldham made his proposal, I felt he was spot on, and was left panicing as to what to do… Could we afford to drop this money from the budget and still have enough to fulfill the increased recycling?

Thankfully the leader of the Council, Councillor Fran Wilson, quickly pointed out that we could afford to drop this and so with a major weight lifted, I very happily voted “for” this proposal.

Final votes were:

24 for the proposal (all Lib Dem, Labour or Indepdant); 18 against the proposal (all Conservative) and 5 abstentions (2 Lab - Hull & Moriaty, 3 Con - Ash, Garland and Ring).

I’ve sent the following into the Letters page of the KM today:

Dear Sir,

I refer to Councillor Pollington’s letter (KM 21/09/07) regarding Maidstone’s local planning policy.

Had Councillor Pollington attended some of the planning training provided for all elected Councillors, he would have heard an independent trainer praise the fact that our local plan is signed by representatives of all political groups on the Council.

Indeed, had he ever opened the local plan, (which I would expect every person who ever sits on the planning committee to have done) he would have seen this signed testament clearly stating it has cross party support.

Perhaps Councillor Pollington’s time would be better served helping his constituents, rather than just spouting nonsense – the facts of which he has clearly never investigated.

Cllr Julia Batt
Heath Ward, Maidstone Borough Council
01622 721432

I know as local Councillor’s we’re all supposed to be ‘politicians’ but quite frankly, I’m sick of all the ’spin’ that goes on for the sake of a few illegitimately won votes. It’s not rare for me to lose my rag privately, but to put down on paper something like this shows I’m really cross!

I went to my first ever party conference, just for the day, yesterday - and I loved it! It was great meeting so many like-minded people, having the oppurtunity to pick up some great ideas, attend some really well thought out training and in between dashing from one thing to another, see a little of Brighton!

My only regret, is that I could only stay the day - time constraints and young family mean that’s my maximum this year.

On top of all the positives mentioned, I learnt a new word (not as unusual as you might hope):

SUBSIDIARITY - I knew the concept (in short, the principle which states that matters ought to be handled by the lowest competent authority), but had never heard the title before. Now, I don’t know about you, but the only way I can ever get a new word to stick in my head is to use it frequently for a few days - you should have heard the nonsense I was spouting when I learnt ‘onomatopoeia’and don’t even think of getting me started on ‘crenellations’.

Anyway, try as I might, I can’t think of a single, even half way sensible, sentance I can use on the school run containing subsidiarity. Email suggestions welcome here!