Mendip’s Liberal Democrats presented three amendments to the Conservative budget at Mendip District Council to:

– better tackle environmental crime, including flytipping, 

– promote economic development, including tourism, and 

– boost our town centres through one day a week free car parking in each of the towns in Mendip,

We suggested these improvements to the budget were necessary, and would cost the council about £200,000 for a year, which should be released from reserves. Even Eric Pickles, the Conservative Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, has pointedly asked councils to not hoard cash in reserves but instead to invest in the local community and the local economy. But the proposal was outvoted by the Conservatives when put to the vote.