8/12/2019 Conservatives Reveal Labour Failings

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Harlow Conservatives 18th July 2014Press releaseConservatives Reveal Labour failingsLast nights Cabinet meeting revealed a dramatic fall in residents' satisfaction in council

services and called into question Labours handling of taxpayers money.Harlow Councils latest performance report revealed that the authority failed to meet its

own targets for street cleaning, tree works and dealing with customer complaints. Labour faced a further set back when it was revealed that only 30% of residents felt the

authority provided value for money.

When the Conservative group looked closely at the reports to Cabinet it was discovered that

Labour are once again spending money they havent got by relying on unspecified

savings. The new Council building and window contract will exceed the current budget

allocation by 41,000. The Administration claim the shortfall will be managed within the

Regeneration budget but failed to confirm how.

It was also revealed that 40,000 of taxpayersmoney has been spent on dealing with

recent illegal encampments across Harlow.Councillor Joel Charles Deputy Leader of Harlow Conservatives said:One of Labours key priorities is a clean environment but they are failing to meet their ownstreet cleaning target. They have also missed their target for dealing with residents

complaints, and one in four residents who call Contact Harlow hang up because they

cannot get through. The Labour Party is struggling to show any leadership to improve these

key frontline services. I am calling on Labour to urgently review procedures in Contact

Harlow and Kier Harlows schedule of cleaning across the town to identify solutions to

improve frontline delivery.

In response to my questions last night it was revealed that Labour have spent 40,000 of

taxpayers money on recent illegal encampments. The figure would have been far less if

Labour had taken measures throughout the year to protect council land. The Labour Party

reacted too late to stop travellers trespassing on council land and taxpayers now face risingbills through Labours negligence.

The Conservative group are also alarmed that Labour are relying on unspecified savings to

pay bills. This breaks a key rule of budget management that could leave the council with a

deficit at the end of the financial year if the practice is expanded across all council services.

The Leader of the Council should set out clearly how savings will be achieved before

announcing increased spending.

ENDSContact: Joel Charles 07752096765Published by Andrew Johnson on behalf of Harlow Conservatives, all of Kao Hockham House, Edinburgh Way, Harlow CM20 2NQ