Cllrs Dominic McGill, Julie Roberts & Michael Wyatt

County Councillor Michael Wyatt and his team have this week delivered over 1000 letters to local people in bardon asking for their help to convince the Tory Bosses on the District and County to get rid of two sites in Bardon, which are becoming an eyesore.

Within days Cllr Wyatt has recieved over 200 signed petition forms back supporting his campaign to clean up Bardon.

Michael said, “We are determined to try and get these two sites sold off. The former forest way school site and the old scout hut site are becoming blot on the landscape. They need to be cleared and made available to developers who can provide much needed housing in the local area, and it will help to stop the unwarranted destruction of our open countryside.”

Michael would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their continued support and good wishes.

Please remember to send your petition forms back as soon as possible so Michael can continue his campaign to help clean up Bardon and tackle the Tory neglect.

Bill Newton Dunn, East Midlands MEP has welcomed the European Parliament vote in favour of exempting struggling small businesses from producing onerous annual accounts.

The objective of the proposal is to reduce the bureaucratic burden on micro-entities in order to enhance their competitiveness in the wake of the financial crisis. Micro-entities are defined as businesses where two of the following three criteria apply: - 1. The balance sheet does not exceed €500.000; 2. The net turnover does not exceed € 1,000,000 and; 3. The average number of employees during the financial year is 10 or less.

Bill Newton Dunn said, “This is a ray of light for small businesses at a very difficult time in Coalville and Ashby. There are around two million businesses in the UK that have nine employees or less. We can therefore be very confident that this proposal would allow many small British businesses the breathing space they need in a tough economic environment. Under this measure small businesses must still keep records that show the company’s business transactions and their financial situation. That is important to ensure good practice.

“But they would no longer have to keep the same reporting rules as the big companies that have the time and money to produce annual accounts with ease. EU governments now have the opportunity to endorse this proposal and give a helping hand to small businesses. I hope our Government will do its best to support it and seize this opportunity to lighten the bureaucratic burden”.

Councillor Michael Wyatt has today called on the District Council to seriously look at his proposal of employing litter enforcement officers to dish out fines to people who cannot be bothered to bin their litter.

Councillor Michael Wyatt has been pushing for litter wardens for the past few weeks due to the ever-increasing problem of litter piling up in our streets in Coalville, which is giving a bad impression to people who visit the area.

Councillor Wyatt said, “Local people are sick and tired of seeing our streets littered with waste. Where ever you go there’s litter in our hedges, roads, footpaths and our flowerbeds. It’s disgusting; It’s nothing but a disgrace. We need to start fining people who cannot be bothered to put their waste in a bin.

Educating people is clearly not working. The only way to educate people who drop their waste is to hit them in their pocket by giving them a fine. How can we encourage people to take pride in our area when clearly the Tory Bosses at the Council are not taking the matter of litter in our streets seriously? We need positive action to tackle this problem. By employing litter wardens we will be sending a very strong message that enough is enough.”

Bill Newton Dunn MEP for the East Midlands backs Pets’ Passport scheme for cats, dogs and ferrets. New EU rules will allow family pets to take continental holidays for years to come.

Agreement has been reached to extend the ‘Pets’ Passport’ scheme for cats, dogs and ferrets that have been vaccinated against rabies. British pets are likely to benefit most - they make up 60% of the animals in Europe taking advantage of the arrangements.

Lib Dem MEP Bill Newton Dunn said: “The UK’s Pets’ Travel scheme, which was introduced 10 years ago, ended the misery of quarantine for thousands of pets.

“The UK arrangements were copied and extended throughout the EU in 2005 and have proved to be a great success. With this in mind, the new EU rules, which broaden the scheme to include cats, dogs and ferrets, are welcome news. Rabies incidents across Europe have fallen from 2,679 cases in domestic animals in 1990 to just 251 in 2008, with none attributable to animals with ‘passports.’ But some EU countries still maintain restrictions. In Portugal, for example, ferrets are classified as ‘vermin’ and may be destroyed by the authorities. Pets’ ‘passports’ are usually embedded microchips that provide proof of rabies vaccination.”

At last night’s meeting of the joint scrutiny meeting we discussed several options on how to make savings from our Leisure Centre’s. The Tory members were pushing for a joint partnership working arrangement with other local council’s, which could saving thousands. Cllr Fenning from Ibstock, a Labour Councillor spoke at the meeting saying proposing that we sell off our Leisure centre’s and the surrounding land, which is contray to what Labour was saying at the last Budget meeting.

Cllr Michael Wyatt also spoke at the meeting asking for cllr Fenning’s comments to be recorded. Michael said, “I am absolutely amazed that a Labour Councillor who jumped up at the last budget meeting complaining about the Tory Budget is now proposing selling our Leisure Centre’s. Its pure hypocracy. The Labour Group is in a total mess and as no clear direction or now any policies, which would help to tackle the ever growing financial constraints on the Council.”

Local Councillor Julie Roberts has demanded the owners of the old Cocked Hat Site disposed of the derelict ste as soon as possible. The Council forced the owners to pull down the old public house after a fire ripped through the building over 2 years ago. Since then the site as become a blot on the landscape.

Cllr Julie Roberts said, “We are doing our best to try and clean up the local area. We need the council and the owner of the site to come up with a plan of action to utilise the site off Cropston Drive in Greenhill. We do not want this site to be left to 10 years, derelict and a potential death trap. I can assure local residents we will be pushing very hard for the site to be use either for additional housing or some kind of play facility.”

Cllr Michael Wyatt, Lee Windram, and members of the local Coalville Liberal Democrats have received a huge number of survey responses back supporting the Liberal Democrats. Over 5000 survey’s have been delivered to local residents in Coalville asking for their views. Over 95% say they support our policy to introduce litter wardens, 96% blame the Tories for ASDA not  being giving planning permission, and over 89% support our call for the County Council to grit our side streets.

Cllr Michael Wyatt said, “We have had a huge amount of responses. We are already tackling some of the neglect left by Labour. We are also having to sort out problems the Tories and the BNP have failed to address. Many residents have told us they no longer trust the Tories or the fascist BNP. They want positive action, they want someone who will listen to local people. Thats why more and more people are turning to the Liberal Democrats.”

Cllr Michael Wyatt at today’s budget meeting at the North West Leicestershire District Council moved an amendment to the Tory budget to allow our pensioners to be able to use their concessionary travel pass before 9.30am, and introduce litter wardens to help address the growing problems of litter being dropped in our streets. Both proposals were rejected by the Tories who said they would of supported the amendment if they had received the amendment earlier. “A poor excuse to deny our elderly their rights, and a extremely poor excuse to taking seriously the need for action to tackle to growing problem of litter in our streets.” says Cllr Dominic McGill.

Cllr Michael Wyatt said, “Once again the Tories are embarrassed due to the Liberal Democrats coming up with new idea’s and new initiatives to help improve the area, and give our pensioners the service they deserve. Why should our pensioners not receive the same service as others in Leicestershire. Its wrong, and the Tories should be ashamed of themselves for not supporting our amendment. I’m sure like many of our previous policies the Tories will adopt our recommendations for next years budget like many others like the free booze for councillors, parking charges for staff, a reduction in agency costs, cut in mobile phone bills. The list is growing every year.”

Cllr Michael Wyatt has today demanded the County Council take urgent action to demolish the old school building on Waterworks Road and sell the site for development, which would help to ease the pressure on the council to allow building on green field site. Cllr Michael Wyatt said, “This old school building must be demolished and cleared. It’s a blot on the landscape and becoming a potential place for criminal activity. This brown field site would not only provide additional housing to local people but it would also help the council to find places where the additional housing need can be met without destroying our open countryside, which some greedy developers want to destroy. I am writing once again to the Officers asking them to take urgent action to dispose of the site.”

County Councillor Michael Wyatt has been asked by local residents on Highfield Street for action to help tackle speeding along the road. Councillor Wyatt has asked the Highway Officers to look at this issue, which the local councillors for the area have failed to take up. The Officers have informed Councillor Wyatt that they will report back to him within the next few months. County Councillor Michael Wyatt said, “We are finding more and more local people are coming to us for help. They can see what can be achieved if you have a Liberal Democrat Councillor. Most people want someone who will take action and listen to their concerns. Unfortunately like many area’s people have councillors who do not listen to the real concerns of local people.”