A Sustainable Budget

Speech by Cllr David Goodall delivered to Eastleigh Borough Full Council Meeting on Mon 26th Feb 2007

I will be supporting this budget but before I do a quick word about the proposals from the opposition :-

• as usual the conservative group talked over the past and didn't have any new ideas, proposed tax cuts and didn't say what services they were going to cut to pay for it.

• the Labour group proposals are as ever interesting and their proposals do at least balance. And as ever some of these ideas may well find there way into future programmes.

So back to the Liberal Democrat Budget I am pleased to support this budget which although it has an increase 1% below inflation is still able to support increase spending with :-

• Police Community Support Officer's

• Improved Ground Maintenance

• Concessionary Travel Scheme

I am also pleased to support the three main themes of :-

• Climate Change with zero carbon Eastleigh by 2012

• Sustainable Regeneration with improved town centre and economic area

• Health Communities with a smoke free Eastleigh

It is quite right that the most important of these is Climate Change. Yet the Government response to Climate Change only last week was to downgrade and delay bringing forward Climate Change bills and the Government response to flood defence has been to cut flood defence budgets.

Yet Climate Change is by far the greatest threat to this country and those of us who have seen the now Oscar winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" will realise that.

In Eastleigh we do take this threat seriously and will continue as outlined this evening to make this of utmost importance, so that we can look forward to a future which is both confident and sustainable.