Care Home Fees

This morning I was on Radio Cornwall talking about the council's approach to setting care home fees. This follows the announcement yesterday that a care home in Hayle is to close in two weeks and that 19 residents will have to be found new homes.

Normally, care homes need to give at least 28 days notice if they are to close or evict a resident. This allows relatives, the council and other care providers the time to find the most appropriate alternative accommodation. It is disappointing in this case than only two weeks notice has been given but the council teams will work with residents and their relatives to make sure that they are safely re-housed.

The council is making more than £170 million savings. Every department but one has seen their budgets cut dramatically. The exception is adult care - a recognition of the increasing workload and the fact that they look after some of the most vulnerable people in Cornwall. Last year, we were even able to increase fees.

However, the council cannot afford to increase fee levels further and we are confident that the amount we pay is enough to provide the right level of care for elderly and vulnerable people. But we will always listen to care home providers if they feel that they have extra information to give us. We will also help care homes to work together to get better deals on things like utility bills and supplies.

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My post on the Police boss's questionnaire

I posted last week about a questionnaire which had been produced by Tony Hogg the Police and Crime Commissioner. The point I was trying to make was that the monitoring questions - about disability, sexuality, age and so on - seemed to have greater prominence but were not linked to the questions about crime and community safety.

There is a real point to having monitoring questions like this. They can help to identify whether services are used by and responsive to the needs of different sections of the community. The point I was trying to make in my previous post was that there did not appear to be any useful link between the services Mr Hogg oversees and the monitoring questions. It appeared to me that the monitoring questions were asked because someone felt they had to be, not because they would help plan services.

Within Cornwall Council I have been trying to make sure that the data we get back from our questionnaires is properly monitored and used to help inform our decisions.

My previous post has caused some disquiet, which is entirely my fault. I apologise for this, it was not my intention. I have taken down the original post.

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Is Cornwall Council too poor to pay for bins?

It is true - Cornwall Council is not going to pay for bins (whether wheelie or otherwise) for every home in Cornwall. I'm not entirely sure why this story deserved to be the front page lead in today's Western Morning News.

Back in 2010, the council took the decision to move to a single waste contract for the whole of Cornwall. Stopping having six different contracts saved a heck of a lot of money. The new service didn't start too well - in fact it was a total disaster for the first couple of months. But it has now bedded down and I think most householders believe it to be a generally good service.

One of the decisions taken at the start was about whether to have wheelie bins or not. The last administration decided not. So residents put their rubbish out in black sacks and these are collected. If they want to use a bin of some description to protect the bags until they are collected then that is fine by us.

The only difference is in the former Penwith area where the old district council had a wheelie bin system. Many residents still use these bins and the council is happy to empty them. But they are not compulsory and the council will not replace them if they are lost or damaged.

Some residents have problems with seagulls or other wildlife attacking their rubbish bags before they can be collected. The council advises them either to use a bin, a seagull-proof bag or to cover their bags with an old bit of carpet. But we cannot provide any of these for residents.

The responsibility for rubbish stays with the resident until it is collected by the council. That is why we advise people to put their bins out on the morning of collection rather than the night before if possible. If their rubbish does cause a mess on a regular basis then our staff will talk to the householder concerned and give advice about how to stop the mess. If that advice is ignored then we will give a written warning. If they continue to refuse to take action then the council will issue a fixed penalty notice for littering - but this is very much the last resort.

Avoiding causing a mess and a nuisance for neighbours is just a matter of a bit of common sense. The alternative - the council paying for bins for all 270,000 houses in Cornwall - would be massively expensive and is not something that we can even think about affording at the moment.

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Eric Pickles wants to allow parking on double yellow lines

The latest cunning wheeze from Local Government minister Eric Pickles is that drivers should be allowed to park for up to 15 minutes on double yellow lines. He thinks that this is the answer to helping high street retailers out of the current economic woes.

It is important to encourage visitors into town centres, but yellow lines are in place for a reason.  Allowing motorists a ‘grace period’ to park for a short period of time would cause danger and inconvenience to pedestrians and other road users, making it harder for people to cross the road and increasing congestion as motorists look for places to park.

 

The Council is continuously reviewing all parking restrictions and, if we feel that yellow lines can safely be removed, we will do so. We shouldn't have more regulation in place than is necessary.

There are many reasons why trade has fallen in many high streets over recent years, but we believe one of the ways to improve the vitality of town centres is to encourage people to stay for longer. In a number of towns, the Council, in conjunction with local Members, has introduced a lower two-hour parking charge to encourage longer stays. Most towns have free, on street limited waiting for those shorter stays – however road layouts make this impractical in certain towns.

 

The introduction of a grace period would be impractical to enforce as we would need to employ many more civil enforcement officers to ensure drivers did not treat any changes to restrictions as a licence to park all day.

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Could the end to wasteful council advertising be in sight?

It looks like the end of wasteful council advertising in local newspapers might be in sight. A Lib Dem initiative which could save Cornwall Council up to £360,000 each year has found favour with Eric Pickles.

The spending in question is on statutory planning, licensing and highways advertising in local newspapers. Many bits of the council's business have to be advertised in local newspapers in a prescribed format. That format is pretty boring and isn't really designed to draw readers in. In my opinion it is money very badly spent, but the council has no choice over it.

Now Lib Dem member of the House of Lords Graham Tope has proposed an end to the requirement to advertise in newspapers and says that councils should instead have to publicise the notices in any way the council “thinks is likely to bring it to the attention of persons who live in its area”. That might include on the council's own website and through One Stop Shops.

In response, Local Government Minister Eric Pickles has apparently told Conservative councillors that he is open to the idea and the requirement might end in as little as two years.

Cornwall Council currently spends £363,000 each year on adverts in local newspapers, with the majority being on these statutory adverts. If the legal requirement was withdrawn then the authority could decide what sort of advertising was proper value for money and on what occasions using local newspapers was the best way of reaching the desired audience.

Local newspapers are a very valuable way of reaching some of the residents of Cornwall and there is no doubt that the council will want to maintain a strong relationship with them. But relaxing the rules which require wasteful spending will mean we can save taxpayers money and potentially do more in partnership with local papers on schemes that actually work.

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Launceston Rotary Shop needs volunteers

The community shop set up and run by Launceston Rotary has been hugely successful. They have raised and donated more than £50,000 for local groups and organisations.

Now they are on the look out for new volunteers to help in the shop.

If you can spare a few hours on a regular basis, please pop into the shop and speak to Peter or Alan.

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Launceston Big Clean

Last night Launceston Town Council backed an idea from the mayor, Dave Gordon, for a Launceston Big Clean group to work to tidy up our town. The idea stemmed from a community clean up organised by local accountants Hodgsons last month.

The primary responsibility for cleaning our town lies with Cornwall Council and contractors Cory. The general view is that the town centre - which is cleaned every day - is very good. The rest of the residential parts of the town and pretty clean in the main but there are problems from time to time. When we are made aware of these, we report them and take action.

But there are many areas that are not the responsibility of Cornwall Council such as the river and some of the back alleys. So the new group will come together a couple of times each year to organise clean ups. We're keen to involve local residents associations, youth groups and anyone else who wants to take part. If this includes you, contact Dave Gordon via the town hall.

It was also good to hear that new litter bins will be installed on the peace garden - the island in the river at Newport Bridge - and on the new picnic area that is being developed by the Causley memorial stone further along the river near to the bowls club.

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