Lib Dems £475,000 Parks boost

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 26th Feb 2007

Manchester Lib Dem Leader Cllr Simon Ashley is calling for extra money earmarked for an increase in a management fee to a private company to be instead spent improving local parks.

Before Christmas, Labour proposed SERCO be given an extra £475,000 in management fees. The Lib Dems opposed the plan, given that Manchester Council had already negotiated a management fee in the original contract.

When the Lib Dems "called in" the item for scrutiny, the all-party finance Scrutiny committee flagged up the fact that it was bad practice that Councillors had not been told that there was a renegotiation clause in the original contract when they agreed it 5 years ago.

Cllr Ashley said today:

"The Lib Dems would rather see this money spent improving our parks, not going to improve the bank balance of SERCO shareholders. We signed a contract with SERCO and if their figures don't added up that is their responsibility, not the responsibility of Manchester's hard-pressed Council Tax payers."

The Lib Dems are proposing a freeze on Council Tax in their alternative budget.

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