County Councils are about more than just potholes!

County Councils are about more than just potholes! As Northamptonshire has show, county councils are also about good governance and financial prudence.

This is of course not to say that the massive cuts to county council funding - typically £20 million a year every year for nearly a decade - were not a factor. They were. But the show must go on, however imperfectly.

The very partial list below is from Herts County Council. We do not necessarily agree, with any particular proposal but the list might illustrate that there are many more issues other than potholes that county counils deal with. And are all being put at risk by continued government financial pressure on the public sector.

• Proposal to reconfigure existing services in schools to support them to meet the needs of primary aged children with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD).
• Secondary School Expansion at The Hemel School, Hemel Hempstead.
• Four New Fire Appliances for Herts Fire & Rescue Services
• Tender for Residential Home for Children & Young People (11-18) with Autism, Learning Difficulties and/or Challenging Behaviour at Wynchlands Crescent, St Albans
• Demolition and Rebuild of Sports Hall at The Hemel School, Hemel Hempstead.
• Boiler Works at Parkgate School, Watford and Margaret Wix Primary School, St Albans
• Boiler Works at Cassiobury Infant & Nursery School, Watford, Redbourn Infant & Nursery School, Redbourn
• Commission a Contract to provide Residential and Educational Services for Children & Young People with Complex Needs via the Regional Partnership (made up of the following councils: Bracknell Forest, Buckinghamshire,Milton Keynes, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Reading and Slough)
• Roofing Works at Heathlands School, St Albans, Heath Lane Nursery School, Hemel Hempstead
• Contracts for Residential Placements for Children & Young People (11-17) with Challenging and Complex Needs
• Contract to provide a 2-Bed Emergency Therapeutic Residential Unit for Children & Young People (11-16) with Challenging and Complex Needs
• Contract for Four Residential Solo Placements for Children & Young People (11-17) with Challenging and Complex Needs.
• Procure a contract for Fibre Broadband extension to remaining outstanding rural business areas in the county (DEFRA funding provision)

It's a sort of random list, though perhaps skewed a bit towards Childrens' Services. The point is - if you now have a broader view of the responsibilities of county councils and feel that services like these are important, then why not write to your MP at the House of Commons and say to her/him that you would like the government to reverse the cuts to local authorities to protect important social service like these?

House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA