At this Thursday's budget meeting at Kent CC Ida Linfield (Lib Dem county councillor in Canterbury) is proposing the allocation of £250,000 to fund a Befriending service to support elderly residents in Kent. The funds would be drawn from a special £3.5 million unallocated reserve which KCC are proposing for future initiatives.
Two thirds of Kent school children who are the main person looking after a sick or disabled parent may not be getting the support they need.
Lib Dem Councillor Trudy Dean will be proposing an addition of £250,000 to KCC's budget to train teachers to spot young carers, and then provide the children with the necessary support and advice they need to help them with this huge task.
Mental health services for children and adolescents are at breaking point - and the government's plan to fix them isn't enough. We're pushing the Tories to do more.
By Munira Wilson MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Health, Wellbeing and Social Care
Week in, week out, either at my constituency surgery, in my inbox or just through conversations with friends and acquaintances, I hear yet another tragic story of a child or young person struggling with their mental health. They're having to battle to get any sort of help.
At a Kent County Council meeting this week councillors endorsed a KCC proposal to implement a trial lorry control area aimed to substantially reduce inappropriate HGV movements. The trial area is likely to be to the south of Maidstone.
The County Council is already in advanced discussions with the Government about obtaining the necessary legal powers to permit KCC officers to undertake the enforcement. A similar scheme is already in place in London. Up to now, most HGV restrictions in Kent have tended to be flouted by lorry drivers.
About 20 climate protesters interrupted a Budget meeting with loud hailers and whistles at County Hall today causing the meeting to be suspended whilst they made their statement to the largely empty chamber. Only Liberal Democrat and Labour Councillors stayed to hear what they had to say.
The protesters said that the County Council had failed to explain the urgency of the climate change situation to Kent residents, failed to agree effective emission targets, failed to set aside money to carry out the necessary changes and failed to set up Citizens Assemblies which could discuss residents views on the environmental impact of KCC policies.
Britain's network of buses is faltering, leaving many people isolated and unable to get to work. A radical government would consider making bus travel free
The great story of the British bus, which arrived in 1824 and by 1950 accounted for 42 per cent of all journeys, is running into difficulties. Use in this country is at its lowest level since records began 50 years ago. Only 4 per cent of all journeys made last year were by bus. Outside London there were nine million fewer journeys in Britain in 2018-19 compared with the previous year, a result of higher fares and cancelled routes. The inconvenience caused has not been evenly spread. Most cuts have fallen on less populated and rural regions. Some busy places have only two bus rides a day. Smaller villages might see a bus perhaps twice a week, while others are cut off entirely.
No Liberal Democrat breakthrough in Kent and Medway but good progress throughout region.
The Liberal Democrat share of the votes cast in Kent & Medway for the December 2019 Election was 10.3%. This was a notabable improvement on 2017, with the number of Liberal Democrat votes 4.8% higher than in the previous General Election. This increase was slightly better than the 4.6% recorded in England and the 4.2% recorded across the United Kingdom. The Liberal Democrat share of the vote increased in every Kent & Medway constituencyapart from Canterbury - which was sucessfully defended by the remain-supporting Labour MP, Rosie Duffield.
