Somerset County Council is consulting on a potential increase in the charge in applying for or renewing the Blue Badge Scheme. The proposal is to increase the charge from £2 to £10.
Further information can be found at www.somerset.gov.uk/bluebadge. The deadline for responses to the consultation is 15th January 2012
From Somerset and Avon Police Authority:
“There is still time to tell us what you think about the policing budget.
You can have your say online by completing our 2012/13 Budget Consultation or by calling 01275 816377.
This year to explain the consequences of the Government’s offer of a freeze for the policing part of the council tax our Treasurer has turned to YouTube for help. You can watch him explain the impact of the comprehensive spending review (CSR) on the police budget and what the council tax freeze means to you…. Click here to see the Treasurer on YouTube!
Visit our consultation website to have your say. You have until January 15, 2012 to tell us your views.”
“Somerset County Council is proposing to reduce its funding to bus services from 2012 due to cuts in our funding. This could mean bus operators running fewer buses or stopping some services. For full details of the proposals and to submit your comments please visit www.somerset.gov.uk/bussurvey and complete the online survey or contact us on 0845 345 9155 to have a survey posted to you.
The last date to have a survey posted to you is the 13 January 2012.”
A copy of the questionnaire has been included here for you to download and complete at your convenience. Questionnaires need to be completed and returned to Somerset County Council (the address is on the questionnaire) by 20th January 2012.
[wpfilebase tag=file path=’Bus Consultation Survey hard copy.pdf’ /]
Some advice and information from Somerset Waste Partnership:
In severe weather, recycling and refuse crews will try to keep collecting if it is safe.
If your collection is missed, please be patient; we will try to return once conditions improve, working late and on Saturdays to catch up. Please put out recycling and refuse by 7am for the next three working days; if we have not been back by then, please take it back in and put out by 7am on your next usual collection day.
If your collection is delayed, extra amounts of regular waste will be accepted: please put rubbish in black sacks, recycling in carrier bags and food in covered buckets or in black sacks with other rubbish.
In very bad conditions, we may have to suspend collecting garden and bulky waste to give priority to the main services. If our clinical waste service is interrupted, we will get back as soon as possible.
Recycling is not just good for our environment, it also saves us all money.
If you do not separate out things like kitchen scraps, paper and cans, they end up in landfill. Over £5million a year of your money currently has to be spent on landfill; money that would be better spent maintaining public services. Every extra bottle, jar, can or piece of cardboard you recycle does make a difference. The best thing you can fill your bin with is fresh air!
For help with how and where to recycle and information on collections during severe weather, go to:
Website – www.somersetwaste.gov.uk
Facebook – www.facebook.com/somersetwaste
Twitter feed – @somersetwaste
Local radio and local council customer services
Have you ever needed a statistic about Somerset and not known where to find it? Ever wanted to access a wide range of information about the county, at different geographical levels, all in one place?
If so, you may be interested in INFORM Somerset, the new online data hub providing detailed information about and for Somerset.
Structured across a range of themes, including Health and Wellbeing, Housing, Crime and Community Safety, and Economy and Jobs, the user friendly site includes indicators presented in interactive maps and tables that can either be simply viewed or be printed off and downloaded. Together, these indicators allow users to build up a detailed picture of the people living in Somerset, the organisations operating here, and the issues and challenges
they face.
The hub is maintained by the Partnership Intelligence Unit (PIU), with input from across Somerset County Council and the wider Somerset Intelligence Network (SINe).
You can access INFORM here: http://inform.sine.org.uk/
