Improved SEND services is a priority, says new Hertfordshire County Council leader
The newly-appointed Liberal Democrat Leader has set out a series of steps to be made in his first 100 days in office
Steve Jarvis has spoken to Greatest Hits Radio for the first time since been appointed as the new Leader of Hertfordshire County Council this week.
It follows the recent local elections in which the Liberal Democrats secured the largest number of seats.
The appointment marks the beginning of a minority Liberal Democrat administration, supported by councillors from other groups.
Mr Jarvis said: "I’m obviously very pleased to be appointed and I’m very proud to become the leader of the County Council in a county where I’ve lived most of my life.
“We have a programme that we presented before the election that we will now be starting to implement."
The new administration has set out an ambitious plan for its first 100 days, focusing on key local issues including road maintenance, SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) services, and environmental initiatives.
"We think it's important that we make some some clear steps. This is an opportunity to change the way in which the Council works to deliver more for local people and we need to make some rapid progress in some areas, particularly in terms of special educational needs and disabilities where there's a need to do better in terms of of meeting parents and children's needs and expectations," he said.
"There are some real challenges with doing that, but we think we need to work with parents and teachers and schools to make progress in that direction and we've set out a programme to make a start on that."
On road maintenance, Mr Jarvis highlighted frustrations expressed by residents with the previous council fixing one pothole at a time, delaying the reliability of roads, and said: "In a very short time we're going to launch a trial of changing the way that things like that are dealt with."
He also outlined proposals for reviewing speed limits, improving access to recycling centres, and better use of Council-owned properties.
"There’s just too many bits of property that the Council owns and doesn’t use, which could be put to better use either to generate income or for use by the community," he added.
Looking ahead, Mr Jarvis also noted the importance of working with MPs to address challenges that require national attention, particularly around SEND.
He said: "I've certainly had discussions with the two Liberal Democrat MPs in Hertfordshire about how we can do that, and as leader of the Council I am keen to engage with all Hertfordshire MPs to press the government to make the changes that we need, to make it possible to deal with children's needs in in a way that that meets them properly."