Instead of raising Council Tax and thereby incurring financial penalties from Central Government, Tory Councils in Devon are proposing a separate tax on Garden Waste.
In Teignbridge the new "Garden Tax" will be introduced from June next year. Green wheelie bins will only be emptied if you pay £35 a year to have your garden waste collected and there will be another smaller bin for food waste, plus a separate container for cardboard.
Devon Liberal Democrats have 'called-in' the decision to close 20 residential care homes and 17 day centres across the county, announced yesterday.
However the planned challenge and debate to the closure of 20 residential care homes and 17 day centres across Devon is being 'choked off' by the ruling Conservative leadership at Devon County Council, say opposition councillors who have called-in the decisions for detailed scrutiny.
Concerned by the way Conservative consultations about closures of care homes, day centres, youth services, meals on wheels, children's homes and centres have been handled, Liberal Democrats have produced an alternative budget that would help to protect many of the services under threat.
Astonished at the way young people were prevented from speaking at the council's budget meeting in February and council care staff stopped from giving their views at a recent cabinet meeting, the Lib Dems have said 'enough is enough' and forced through a special meeting of the council to challenge the Conservatives plans.
An emergency meeting of Devon County Council is being called by the county's Liberal Democrats who are concerned at the secrecy and way major decisions are being taken behind closed doors at county hall.
Concerned by the way consultations about closures of care homes, day centres, youth services and children's homes are being handled, the county's Liberal Democrats have invoked a special rule calling for a special meeting of the county council to be held.
Bovey Tracey Town Councillor Tony Allen reflects on the County Council Elections.
The latest County Council elections show there are a lot of people around that don't want anything in the UK to change, but are keen to put the world to rights despite the fact that most of our resources to do so have been lost or sold off (to foreigners!) decades ago, and our international influence has diminished accordingly.
Well the big day arrived at last - you could make a themed advent-styled calendar with top sayings from the inquiry. My personal favourite was the one that under the flap simply said "LOL" ... oh how we laughed! Or perhaps you held a party as you waited for 1.30pm, counting down the time until it's release or even downloaded the full version of the report (the 45 page executive summary is just for "lightweights" ) and are now arguing over schedule 2b in the appendix 4..... No? OK it's just me then.
Newton St Cyres played host to Central Devon Liberal Democrats AGM this year with guest speaker Torbay MP Adrian Sanders.
In a thought-provoking speech the Torbay MP listed the achievements of Liberal Democrats in Government while being open about the challenges that lay ahead.
"We have helped to raise the income tax threshold that has brought 2 million of the lowest earners out of income tax altogether and given 21 million people a tax cut of over £500.
"Next time we will do it differently" was the definitive message from Nick Harvey MP, addressing guests in Crediton recently.
The North Devon MP who was recently honoured with a knighthood was addressing guests at the Central Devon constituency, Liberal Democrat dinner in Crediton.
The central plank of his speech was the coalition and how the coalescence of the parties was seen by both the press and wider public. Mr Harvey admitted that the Lib Dems had missed a trick in their post-election preparations and that we should learn from our experiences this time around .
