County Councillor Mark Watkin, Lib Dem spokesperson for Children's Services, has raised concerns about the Government's £3 million under funding of Herts County's high needs services for children with special needs.

Cllr Watkin said, "Hertfordshire receives the 4th lowest funding based on its population of any of the 160 English local authorities. Compared to the average local authority, this means each year it receives £3million less to fund its crucially needed SEND services including its special schools, its advisory services, its school-based special resources and funding for children to receive specialist support.

The Liberal Democrat motion calling on Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) to take action to end Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), was debated and agreed at Cabinet Panel for Adult Care, Health and Wellbeing on Wednesday 8 December despite an attempt by leading Tories to weaken the message.

The Lib Dem motion seeks a number of actions to end the 'epidemic' of male violence against women and girls, in support of a call from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services for 'fundamental cross-system change'. Key amongst the requested actions is that the Leader of the Council calls on the Home Secretary and Prime Minister to declare Misogyny to be a Hate Crime and for Hertfordshire Police to record it as such. It also calls upon the Leader to ask the Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Constable for Hertfordshire what steps they are taking to review internal safeguarding and vetting procedures following the sentencing of a serving police officer on 30 September 2021.

Hertfordshire Liberal Democrats have hit out at County Council claims that their roads are in "Good Shape".

In March this year, the Lib Dems hit out as over 60 road resurfacing reconstruction schemes were cut from works due by the County Council.

The ruling Conservatives cut road improvement schemes (mainly on secondary side roads across Herts) and reduced the budget for such schemes by £2m in the next year and in each of the following three years, cutting £8m in total from the planned £37m spend up to 2025 - a cut of 22%.

Now the County Council has released figures showing that the number of such side roads in Hertfordshire that are in need of repair has nearly doubled since last year - increasing from 7% to 12%.

County Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst (Lib Dem Group Leader and Highways Spokesperson) said:

"The Conservatives claimed that our side roads had improved over recent years and said they did not need to spend this money as the roads were in such good condition. Residents knew this was not true and the facts now show that!"

"This is a kick in the teeth, not just for motorists but also for cyclists. The impact that will be felt by cyclists is particularly disappointing given that the County should be encouraging residents to change to more sustainable forms of transport"

The Liberal Democrats had proposed to restore this budget cut and increase spending on pavement repairs. They were voted down.

At the Hertfordshire County Council Cabinet Panel for Resources and Performance on 1 December it
was revealed that a further £46m of slippage in the capital budget occurred in the second quarter of
the financial year. Added to the slippage of £89m in the first quarter, this amounts to £135m in six
months and represents 37% of the capital budget for 2021/22 agreed in February 2021.