The LGA Conservative Group is the national voice for Conservative Local Government. We are here to support both Conservative council groups and Conservative councillors. Conservatives are leading the way in local government, embracing the new localist agenda, protecting frontline services and offering value for money.
Cllr Kevin Bentley’s August column for LGA First
Ahead of the Conservative Party Conference in October, the LGA Conservative Group has been working hard to bring together our manifesto publication to launch at conference. This document will highlight our key asks of the Conservative Government ahead of the next General Election, with the aim of getting some of these included in the King’s Speech. For those of you who are interested in seeing our manifesto, please do come along to our reception which will take place on Sunday 1 October at 3.30pm in the Trafford Room of the Midland Hotel.
I also wanted to use my First article this month to highlight one of the recommendations that we intend to seek the support of Government for. I know that for councils that are responsible for the collection of fly-tipping and the removal of litter, the fines that are currently in place simply don’t cover the removal and cleaning costs that are incurred. We will therefore be asking the government to give councils the powers to set their own fine levels for fly-tipping, littering, and graffiti offences, with these decided by local councillors.
This proposal will give councils the powers they need to ensure that they can fully recover the costs that they incur. It is only right that council budgets are not penalised by the actions of criminals who cause havoc on our environment. Whilst recognising the recent uplift in fines levels from DEFRA, we believe we can go further!
LGA Conservative Group report and review 2022/2023
The LGA Conservative Group produces an annual report so that Conservative councillors are kept informed about our activities and the wider work of the corporate LGA. We hope that you will find this publication, which covers the 2022/2023 LGA year and includes reports from our senior members, to be useful. If you have any feedback about the report, or require further information about any of the issues highlighted, please email us at [email protected]