In 2008/09, I have contributed to:-
• the restructuring of the Lancaster District Local Strategic Partnership (LDLSP) which has meant that the Partnership is better able than before to tackle effectively the needs of the District. [For more information about the LDLSP, see www.lancaster.gov.uk/lsp]
• the emergence of the Sustainable Community Strategy for the District, which has meant that the needs and aspirations of the District are better articulated than before,
• the work of the LDLSP on the development of a Community Engagement Framework which will improve engagement with our communities by the key partners in the LDLSP.
• the publication of the Faber Maunsell Report offering practical ideas for the development of the transport infrastructure in the District, additional to the benefits to be provided by the construction of the Heysham-M6 Link,
• the production of the long awaited revised parking strategy for the district, and
• negotiating a future rôle for the Lancaster and District Vision Board in the context of the new structure of the LDLSP, and the long term economic development of the District.

In December 2008, Council decided - despite Conservative opposition - to change the system of allocating City Council expenditure of Council Tax between Council Tax payers in different parts of the District. The result of this change is that Council Tax charged to most of the rural areas in the District for meeting City Council expenditure in 2009-10 has gone up by 10.5% (ten and a half per cent), while the City's demand for Council Tax from households in parts of the district in which there are no parish councils has gone up by only 1% (one per cent).

I consider this change to be unfair in its failure to recognise issues of double taxation and the functional roles of Parish and Town Councils in our District. Residents in Parished areas are paying twice for some services which are provided in their areas by Parish Councils and Town Councils but are provided by the City Council in other areas. Conservatives have persuaded Council to tackle these problems by undertaking in 2009-10 the Review of the Funding of Parish Councils which was first mooted several years ago – and we will press hard for an effective solution to be agreed.

In April 2008, I reported as Council Leader that the groups had worked well together in Cabinet, despite the doubts held by many that a PR Cabinet containing five political Groups could ever achieve enough harmony to reach decisions. Those doubts that I dismissed last year had more truth in them than I had hoped and differences between groups became progressively of greater importance than similarities. I was able to sustain the rôles of Chairing the Cabinet, and being Leader of the Council, only for so long as I could justify the decisions being made. Cabinet had decided to recommend to Council the planned 4% rise in the City’s Council Tax before it knew of the nature of the cuts necessary to achieve it. Conservatives had opposed this decision in Cabinet, and I was unwilling to propose the recommendation to Council.

I resigned as Council Leader on 4th February 2009, by which date, tensions had risen on a number of matters, and it had become apparent that for me to continue to negotiate consensus had become a pipe dream. Only by resigning could I free myself to defend the interests of communities in Kellet Ward against proposals made by others which I believe are to the detriment of the District as a whole.