[Geoff]

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The following interview is based on a choice of questions submitted by the users of Sheffield Forum. If you have any follow up questions or need anything clarifying please contact the councillor directly - do do not post follow up questions online. Also please credit sheffieldforum.co.uk if you quote or reference this interview in your newspaper, web site, etc.
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Answers from Cllr. Paul Scriven (Liberal Democrat)

People who live in other Northern Cities like Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle can recycle materials such as metal tins, glass and plastic via collection from the kerbside. At the moment Sheffield only collects paper and card. Would you expend kerbside recycling if in control of the council after May?

Local people have made it clear to me that they want to take action to preserve our environment and contribute to the battle against climate change. The answer to this is to 'reduce, reuse and recycle' waste. We would encourage the reduction of waste through calling for less packaging in the first place. We would also promote reusing waste by advertising best practice to local residents. Finally, we would support more recycling.

Expanding kerbside recycling is one of our key priorities. We introduced the scheme to collect paper and card via the blue bins when we were in control of the council between 1999 and 2002. But we have been disappointed with the lack of progress since Labour took over. As this question correctly points out, other northern cities collect a wider range of materials via the doorstep. We want to address this and give local people the opportunity to recycle more.

That's why at the last budget Council meeting, we proposed a costed plan to invest an extra £1,000,000 in kerbside recycling and an extra £200,000 to introduce a new kitchen waste recycling/composting scheme. This was paid for through various efficiency savings within the Town Hall.

Our Group was frustrated that Labour, the Tories and, surprisingly the Greens, voted down our proposal. We are the only Party going into the local elections with a costed plan to expand kerbside recycling.

There is clearly a shortage of social housing for rent in Sheffield, particularly houses for families. Many people cannot afford to buy, nor can they afford the so-called "affordable houses for sale" as the rent and the mortgage combined are too expensive. How do you propose to tackle this shortage, both in the long and short term?

It's clear that Sheffield and many other similar places in the UK are suffering from the growing problem of the lack of appropriate housing. There are no easy answers to this but our Party does have some alternative polices to address the problem.

We would work with developers to come up with some new and innovative schemes such as having a set number of properties on new developments designated as joint equity. We could also look at having a set percentage designated for social rent. We can also investigate having a fixed price scheme were properties are sold at a fixed price and then profits generated from the re-sale in the future are split between the developer and owner.

As well as doing this, we would press Government to look at the 'Fourth Option' for investing in the Council's housing stock. This means direct investment in housing rather than having to use the ALMO, PFI or Stock Transfer model. We would also want the Government to make it easier for local authorities to be able to build more social housing.

Can anyone explain what 'Working in partnership' really means?

To me, working in partnership means working with others to achieve a common goal. We don't believe in the Council's current vision of working in partnership as it seems to be predominantly about talking to the 'usual suspects' such as quangos and big business. Whilst this is important, we believe that working in partnership is about much more than this.

The Council should be working in partnership with local people to make Sheffield a better place to live, work and enjoy. That's why we support involving local people more in the decisions that affect them and allowing local residents to make their priorities the Council's priorities. We propose to bring this about through a range of new measures.

We would devolve budgets for things like street cleaning, parks and libraries to a neighbourhood level so that local councillors and local people can influence decisions. We believe local people and local councillors know their area best and should be trusted to make the right decision. We are committed to making sure important decisions are taken locally and not in the Town Hall.

Sheffield has a poor image nationally, which does not reflect the improvements the city has seen and its many attributes. What would be done to project a positive image of Sheffield to the rest of Britain and further afield?

Sheffield has improved over the last decade or so but I agree that we don't yet have the positive image that we deserve. I often talk to first time visitors that are pleasantly surprised that Sheffield doesn't quite fit into the 'Full Monty' image that some people wrongly identify as representative of Sheffield.

I believe that the Council has neglected promoting Sheffield as a city for leisure and business over the last few years and unfortunately, other places such as Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds have had a real head-start on us. But the good news is that Sheffield has a lot to offer that is slightly different to other northern cities that can be exploited for the benefit of the city.

We need to be clear about our assets and what makes Sheffield distinctive. Our beautiful green spaces and national park, the friendly people, the theatres and the vibrant music scene are all positives that can attract people to come to Sheffield. But we then need to utilise the internet and become more business friendly if we are to get the full benefits.

We would seek to address these issues by working with the media at a local, regional and national level. We could promote Sheffield at key gateways such as airports as a place to invest and live in. This would include pushing Sheffield's image with the media, addressing the regional bias towards Leeds and smaller things such as getting Sheffield on the national weather map!

There are often rumours about Sheffield park land being sold off. Can the councillors please clarify their positions on what park land in Sheffield means to their party?

Keeping our parks and green spaces is central to maintaining Sheffield's status as the greenest city in the UK. Local Liberal Democrats are passionate about this and have demonstrated the fact by committing £500,000 extra investment for our parks in our alternative Council budget.

We see parks as a community resource for play, leisure and relaxation. Their importance cannot be underestimated as places where the local community come together. We therefore believe that local people should be able to become more involved with the running of their local park. That's why we want to devolve park budgets to a neighbourhood level so local people can decide what their priorities are.

With hindsight on the turning down of Ikea and their subsequent acceptance in other major cities nationwide like Manchester and Belfast, was that the right or wrong decision in your opinion?

We believe that turning down IKEA was the wrong decision. At the time we made this clear but Labour went ahead and allowed IKEA to just walk away.

Whether you like or loathe the furniture, IKEA stores do attract people and provide jobs and investment for the local area. Many people travel to nearby places that have IKEA stores such as Leeds and Nottingham to spend their money and Sheffield misses out.

Would any party sponsor the installation and maintenance of an automated weather station at Sheffield Airport? This would be instrumental in ensuring that Sheffield appears on maps the world over, rather than showing Derby or Manchester and would substantially increase the city's national and international profile as well as providing the obvious accurate weather reports for the City.

We want to see Sheffield appear on the weather map at a national and international level as any coverage is important for promoting our city. Therefore the above idea sounds interesting and is definitely worth investigating.

Traffic is nightmare in Sheffield. The buses are perceived as being expensive and providing a poor service, the roads are in a terrible state [consider the recent BBC poll the nation's pot holes] and there are many 'bottlenecks' within the city. What is the solution and would you support banning private cars completely from the city centre?

I agree with all the points in the question. I know from reading this Forum and talking to local people that transport and the state of the roads are two of their major concerns. There is no overnight solution but I believe that of all the political Parties, the Lib Dems offer the best polices for addressing both problems.

We would not ban cars from the city centre as many businesses would collapse because people would probably drive to surrounding big cities or Meadowhall to spend their money instead. However, we would look at areas in and around the new Retail Quarter to make them pedestrianised where appropriate.

We would start from the basis that congestion is getting worse (unlike Labour who have claimed that congestion is at the same level as 1993!) and something needs to be done. We would carry out a full review of the roads to correct annoying anomalies such as unnecessary no right/left turns and one-way streets that add to congestion problems. We would also ensure that the design of new junctions did not add to congestion, as can be seen in so-called 'improvements' at places like Woodseats.

But we also need to improve public transport to try and encourage people to leave their cars at home, something which is nigh on impossible when we have a second class system with first class prices. We would push for the regulation of the buses so that local authorities have a degree of control over services and prices, as can be seen in operation in London.

Local people are also fed up with potholes that blight our roads. Time after time Sheffield is branded 'pothole city' due to the lack of investment over the years. We will support the Council going to Government to provide funding to address the issue, making sure Sheffield gets the best possible deal.

I feel nothing is being done to stop my area turning into a 'no go' area. Facilities were provided to get the youths off the streets but they smashed them up! How can Sheffield tackle anti-social behaviour such as this?

I believe that we need a different approach to tackling anti-social behaviour. Whilst Labour are tough on the rhetoric on crime, they are short on effective policies which actually improve things for local communities.

We have put forward plans to invest less in management costs and more in front-line officers so that facilities such as the one referred to in this question would be better protected. Whilst getting more officers patrolling the streets would be welcomed by local people it's only part of the solution, all be it a very important part.

Rather than just handing out ASBO's like confetti, which are breached on a regular basis, we would look at other measures which have more support attached to them, such as Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABC's). We would also want to take measures that would ensure community orders fit the crime, so graffiti vandals would actually have to clean up their own mess and repay the community in which they have committed the crime.

We would also try to engage with young people. By introducing a youth council to be elected from each school across Sheffield, we can get a better understanding young peoples issues and how to best deal with them.

What does your party consider as the biggest threat to the continued rejuvenation of Sheffield and how would you go about overcoming it?

The biggest threat to Sheffield's continued rejuvenation is the Council's lack of ambition. The Council needs to aim for higher quality in everything including the standard of job attracted and new developments. Sheffield needs to place itself at the forefront of business innovation and support its small to medium sized businesses properly.

We would tackle the lack of ambition by raising the bar. We would concentrate on attracting high quality jobs from the private sector. We would support the expansion of small and medium sized businesses through a 'one stop shop' advice facility. We would also set new requirements for developments to reach top quality standards making use of architect competitions for major sites.

What is your perception of the quality of Secondary Schooling in Sheffield, and what steps could be made to improve the standing of the City's schools in national assessments and league tables?

This is an issue that local Liberal Democrats feel passionate about. It has been the subject of numerous Council debates over the last few months and some significant differences between the Labour and the Lib Dem Groups have been obvious to see.

Young people are the future of Sheffield. It is vital that the Council does all it can to provide the opportunities for our children to reach their full potential. Therefore, the fact that the gap between Sheffield and the national average for pupil attainment is increasing at nearly every level is unacceptable.

It's also worth noting that Labour are encouraging local schools to become academies and trusts so that they are run by big business and not under control of the Council or accountable to local people. This would mean that the private trusts would control admissions and the curriculum being taught. Local schools would be competing with each other rather than working together. It's little more than the privatisation of our local schools by the back door. We believe that this would damage education in Sheffield and therefore are opposed to the plans.

A Liberal Democrat Council would aim to ensure local education provision is delivered by a family of schools working together, not big businesses. We would also engage with local parents, teachers and others to come up with a new plan to improve education results. The plan would include how to make both academic and vocational education more appealing

It's also worth noting that we are in favour of local community schools therefore we are opposed to Labour's plan to close Wisewood and Myers Grove Secondary Schools. We believe in local schools, and have listened to the local community. We are committed to exploring all available alternative options to closure.