Foreword by Liberal Democrat Council Group Leader Steve Galloway

Perhaps for the first time since the Second World War, there is a real chance that Liberal Democracy could provide the basis for local government policy at York’s Guildhall for the next few years.

We have increased our number of Councillors over the last decade from 18 to 24 and stand now on a par with our Labour opponents.

The present Council leadership has lost its way. It has failed on at least 4 out of the 5 “pledges” that it made to residents in 1999.

They now offer nothing new.

Residents do not want to read about the latest internal party bust up nor are they impressed by superficial spin publicity. Too often, in the last couple of years, the York Council has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

A Liberal Democrat Council will be judged by what it achieves not what it claims. We have carefully analysed the views contained in over 11,000 survey forms that you have returned to us over the last 10 months. We are clear about your priorities. They will be also be our priorities.

I have, therefore, launched a new initiative which we are calling York Pride.

We want to give the highest priority to the quality of the local environment in which we all live and work.

This means being intolerant of poor cleansing standards, dangerous roads, graffiti, anti social behaviour and the like.

We see local residents taking ownership of their neighbourhoods and, through a combination of self help and Council support, raising standards to a level that all can all be proud of again.

The elections on 1^st May 2003 provide the residents of our great City with an historic opportunity.

We do not promise revolution. Our City has been most successful over the years when it has built gradually on its strengths and we would expect to maintain that philosophy.

There are no reckless promises in this document. Our proposals were well researched and were thoroughly costed during the Council’s budget debate in January.

What you see is what you will get.

We do promise renewed respect for the people of York and the City’s environment.

It is time for a change.

Steve Galloway

Free, Green, Fair and Honest

So, what's it for?

This manifesto sets out the Liberal Democrat approach to local government and community representation in York. It details some of the initiatives that Liberal Democrats will be putting into action, based on our principles of freedom, environmental sustainability, social justice and honesty. These policies aim both to improve people's lives and to enable people to take control of their lives themselves.

Liberal Democrats have an outstanding record of growth in local government over the past two decades. In York we now have 24 Councillors – the same as Labour. We are the only party to have made gains in the City over the last 8 years.

This booklet sets out broad principles underpinned by detailed policy suggestions for local action. Of course, resource implications and continuing limits on council spending mean many policies here cannot all be introduced at once, but in line with local priorities and how far different councils already address the same issues.

Introduction

Why Local Government Matters

Many people today see politics as irrelevant, and local government as more irrelevant than most. With turnout even for the 2001 General Election falling below 60%, with a turnout of 50% seen as near-miraculous in most local elections and a normal turnout of under 30% in some wards, all politicians have cause for concern. But now is no time to give up. Despite the steady erosion of its ability to make its own decisions, local government still matters.

If someone asks you why they should bother to vote at the next local election, we know how to answer. The election affects them if they care about education for themselves or their children, if they use a library or want their bins emptied, if they use any transport, are worried about crime, if they're a pensioner or care about their future. As Liberal Democrats, how we handle power and influence in local government is vital to the people we involve and represent, and has a direct effect on their lives.

Today, the need for local control over local services and local decision-making is greater than ever. For many communities, particularly the run down estates and the isolated villages in the countryside, services that were once seen as local are now often contracted out to large organisations who employ a pool of staff from outside the area to come in and do the work. Communities that once displayed self-sufficiency are now increasingly dependent on outside support. As poverty, poor housing and unemployment increases so do the number of Government programmes, initiatives and action zones. Nearly all have failed because they are almost always top-down solutions provided by people with little or no local knowledge. Worse still, they often seep from the community what skills and talents it has as the community becomes over-reliant on others.

Local authorities have a key role to play in reversing this trend; in providing community leadership and giving local communities a voice. They should aim to bring various public agencies together with the aim of re-connecting them with the public and giving a sense of influence and control to local people.

Of course, local authorities are central to the provision of education and to making local environments good places in which to live. Even more importantly, local government is closer to the people it serves.

The Liberal Democrats believe that the best way to guarantee rights and opportunities for individuals to run their own lives and influence their surroundings is through power at local level. People should be able to feel proud of and participate in their local communities - the schools in which their children are taught, the streets they travel every day, the local environment in which they live. Local councils have a vital role to play in fostering revitalised communities, dispersing power so that decisions are taken at the lowest practical level, not dictated from above. For many actions, the lowest appropriate level to make choices must remain the individual. Where power must be exercised by communities, individuals must be able to make a full contribution to the decisions which affect their lives. Local government is important because it is the level of government at which the most individuals can make the most impact.

How the Labour Government has Failed

In Government, Labour has failed local people and local services.

They've spent even less of our national wealth than the Tories did on schools, hospitals, pensions and transport.

They've let our children down. There are the highest secondary school class sizes for 20 years, and Labour's tuition fees put people off university.

They've let our pensioners down. The pension rise was miserable, and many older people lose their homes to pay for long-term care.

Police numbers continued to fall - down by over 2,000 since Labour came to power. It will be years before any new recruits are fully effective yet the Police precept has more than doubled in the last 2 years.

They've ignored the urgent need for action on the environment, and public transport by rail in particular has been an unmitigated failure.

They've chipped away at more of our civil liberties than even the Tories dared, from the right to jury trial onward. They just can't resist telling everyone what to do.

Labour's failure and the attitudes behind it are at their plainest in local government. Where the problem is underspending, they merely introduce hit-squads, central Inspectorates and privatisations. Where the problem is a lack of openness and involvement, they prescribe from Whitehall what every local council must do. Labour regards local government as little more than an administrative arm of central government, and are imposing centralised new structures that will make accountability even less likely - except to Whitehall. Despite limited devolution to Scotland, Wales and London, Labour remains highly sceptical about any new freedoms for local government. Labour believe in devolution as a mechanical process, not in letting power go. They still want to hold control, while Liberal Democrats want to involve people in taking power over their own lives. Executive Cabinets and mayors are Labour gimmicks to centralise local power which can do nothing to turn around the feeling that many councils are inaccessible. For Liberal Democrats, independent local government is as much a democratic right as an independent Parliament.

Liberal Democrats believe in the importance of local government in principle, and we recognise its benefits in practice. We reject the view that Whitehall knows best and that the best way to deliver efficiency is to create large, standard units - often unaccountable, inaccessible Quangos. The evidence of the last two decades is that Whitehall is both out of touch and incompetent, as central bureaucracy takes local decisions and messes them up. Local government now has control of just a tiny fraction of its own finances, with most of its cash doled out from above and ordered into particular areas by central government diktat. Powers formerly exercised by accountable local government were not taken from monoliths to give to local people, but to undemocratic Quangos and direct rule from Westminster.

The last Conservative Government almost make Labour look good in some ways. They starved schools and hospitals of cash, disastrously privatised the railways - but still put taxes up after promising to cut them. During the 1980s, the Conservatives developed a distrust of local government bordering on hatred. The arrogance and waste of Labour councils unchallenged in power for far too long helped discredit local government enough to enable attacks on local democracy such as capping, the poll tax and even the abolition of councils that disagreed with the government to go ahead. The Conservative rump of the 21^st Century is no better. They seem nastier and more extreme every day. The old One-Nation Tories were never like this. And now they're so divided they fight each other all the time.

Labour and Tories are much the same these days. They don't care about public services. They ignore poor and elderly people. They promise tax cuts, then bring in stealth taxes. They're addicted to bossing people about and telling people how to live their lives. You can hardly spot the difference between them.

Our vision for York

· Any strategy should start out by looking at local peoples aspirations and how the City’s current strengths and weaknesses fulfil them (or otherwise).

· It follows that any strategy will only be accepted if the majority of individuals in the local society feel that they have a stake in it.

· Therefore consultation and consent is vital, as is the willingness to adapt and modify to meet residents wishes.

· Any approach must be both practical and achievable. It must be complementary to existing plans and programmes.

· Any effective strategy will be as much about the future of the City’s suburbs and villages as it is about the City Centre, University, Minster or other major developments.

· York has traditional strengths. The strategy must build on those strengths. To that extent we do not have a blank sheet of paper.

· York people have traditionally been proud of their City and their heritage.

· A sound strategy will reinforce that pride. It will be the fundamental cornerstone for the rest of the plan.

· The image of the City is important. The City Walls are a symbol of an enduring solidity. They say to the world “We’re here to stay”, “We’ve stood the test of time”. They breed confidence in the future.

· Because people feel a pride in their City and environment, a strategy for the future will be intolerant of poor quality standards. The litter, the graffiti, the poorly maintained buildings & amenities and the anti social behaviour must go.

· York lends itself to a centre of excellence approach (for many diverse activities)

· Conservation of the City’s built and natural heritage will continue to be of major importance.

· Pride comes from “ownership”. If people feel responsible for a community, street or amenity they are more likely to protect and enhance it.

· York has traditionally been the capital of the north of England. It is well placed geographically, culturally and in communication infrastructure terms, to seek to enhance that role at regional if not European level.

· York welcomes visitors and recognises the economic benefits that visitors bring to the City. The Community continues to learn from its visitors. It makes us more outward looking. Tourism will be a continuing major driver in the City’s future.

· In welcoming visitors, the York community is also increasingly tolerant of diversity. Any vision of York’s future will see the elimination of discrimination.

· To allow all residents to participate and take pride in York, any strategy must aim to reduce crime & the fear of crime and to ensure that all have an adequate income.

· The setting of the City is as important as the built environment. The strategy should oppose urban sprawl and building on green spaces. Better, innovative, use should be made of existing buildings and brownfield land.

· Scale is important. We have one dominant piece of architecture. This generation’s ongoing contribution to York should be based on quality not size.

· Transport visions should not be hampered by existing infrastructure or technological constraints. The day of zero emission personal transport is not far away. The City must be ready to seize the opportunities that this will bring.

· The York community in 25 years time should be more self supporting. Sustainability should be a predominant part of any strategy as should biodiversity.

· Local residents will take pride in, protect and expand green areas and woodland if they share ownership and responsibility for them.

· Local manufacturing industry in York is vulnerable to competition. Rail is under pressure from lower cost foreign competitors. Confectionary may be in future. Looking 25 years ahead, a diverse economy emphasising the technology, service and administration sectors would both minimise land use and environmental impact.

· Skilled jobs in the future will provide better incomes for York residents. The Education system needs to develop if it is to supply the skilled labour required.

· There is limited room for landmark building development. These sites should be used to support long term economic and social objectives.

· Choice for residents is important. The City’s retail, restaurant and cultural base are more diverse than they were 25 years ago. A continuing trend towards small, specialist and diverse facilities would be a welcome feature of any strategy.

· York has the potential in some locations to become a genuine 24 hour City to the benefit of transport systems and leisure opportunities. York must not become a dormitory City

· Residents have a right to good health. A strategy which encourages healthy lifestyles is welcome, as are initiatives which provide world class health care facilities in the City.

· A changing population profile will mean that there are more elderly people in the City. This will mean a major change in the provision of accommodation and a realisation that differing lifestyles might mean, by choice, less localised integration of age groups.

· Housing design will reflect the growing trend towards smaller households.

· Teenagers have been badly served in York’s leisure provision over the last few years. A vision for the City will recognise this and plan to improve local leisure provision.

· Generally York is well placed to be a specialist cultural centre.

· York has been most successful in the past when it has been pre-eminent in a particular function. Its role in military matters endured for centuries while more recently entrepreneurs spotted the opportunities presented by rail transport, confectionary, education, tourism and, most recently, science. It is not easy, in a rapidly changing world, to forecast what the next opportunity will be. Any strategy should ensure that a flexible infrastructure is in place backed by a motivated and confident population.

Our objectives

We will create in York a confident, progressive premier European City of Culture at the heart of a prosperous and confident region. Our City will be attractive for businesses and tourists and a place where our citizens can live free from ignorance, poverty or conformity; a City which embraces new technology as an enabler and accelerator in this vision.

Our City will respect both its built and living heritage.

We will do this in partnership with others by continuing to develop:

A business friendly city that is integrated, and responsive, with non-bureaucratic services which will not only sustain inward investment and growth in the local economy but also promote and encourage the development of social and other not for profit businesses.
Neighbourhoods and villages that are demographically balanced, contain all necessary basic services and are socially, environmentally and economically sustainable.
An education service that first, develops the self esteem and self reliance, essential for our citizens to live in the modern world and secondly, raises attainment and delivers to our citizens the skills, knowledge and qualifications that they need to find work and which will encourage businesses to come to the City to employ them.
Healthy environments for those who live, work or visit our city with effective transportation systems, high levels of environmental sustainability and low levels of pollution of land, water and air.
Wherever possible, decentralised services and power devolved over service delivery to local communities and groups.

In the work that we do, the Council will be open, transparent and honest. It will respect the ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds of all it works with. It will strive to develop effective partnerships with all stakeholders but especially with the people of York.

The Liberal Democrat Approach: Free, Green, Fair and Honest

The Liberal Democrats stand for freedom from poverty, ignorance and conformity. We begin with freedom for every individual. Everyone should have the opportunity to live their lives as they choose, without trampling other people's rights. For freedom to be real for everyone, it needs fairness. We want to see social justice, with equality before the law and public services which are funded properly and honestly. Freedom comes from good education, so people can make their own choices and realise their potential. Freedom needs good health, which must be safeguarded by a decent environment both for people today and for future generations. A free democracy needs decisions to be made openly, with as many people as possible having a say. To build freedom, fairness and a green future, people must work together - locally, nationally and internationally.

Local government is vital to that free, green, fair and honest approach. The Liberal Democrat approach to local government rests on our belief in every individual. We aim to encourage people to take and use power within their own communities, as well as to represent them within political structures. We believe that if people contribute to their own communities, they’ll be run better than by a remote state. Where difficult choices must be made, it makes sense to involve the people affected in making those decisions, with bottom-up solutions more readily put into practice than enforced bossiness. This belief has informed the Liberal Democrat philosophy and strategy of local government through the last three decades, Community Politics.

We believe that each and every individual should be encouraged to fulfill their own potential, yet local and central government and bureaucracy too often stifles individual initiative or rides rough shod over local people and the communities they live in. The attention of community politics to local issues raised by local people and its techniques of informing people have been highly successful both in winning the support of voters and in changing the way in which Liberal Democrat-led councils do business. Public participation on a doorstep basis, decentralised ward committees, local referenda and bottom-up activity such as recycling are all signs of how a Liberal Democrat council would do things differently. Liberal Democrat councils work in partnership with the local community to bring together public, private and voluntary groups rather than trying to direct everything from the town hall.

That open, honest, practical way of doing things does not mean that Liberal Democrat councils move in opposite directions everywhere - far from it. It means that our principles can be put into effect with much stronger support and in ways tailored to be effective for the area concerned, as local people have been involved and informed throughout, and costs are more likely to be accepted when people know what they are there to deliver.

Freedom for local people to make their own decisions means that issues like education, which matters to every parent, is more likely to get the attention it deserves. Liberal Democrat councils have an excellent record on improving education, which is also seen as the party's highest priority at a national level. The reason is simple. Education is the key to personal freedom, the essential investment for every individual to make their own decisions about their own lives and develop skills to make the most of themselves.

As well as positively promoting freedom, councils have power to help remove barriers to it. One of the worst fetters on people's freedom today is crime, and the fear of crime. Working with the police, other agencies and residents themselves to prevent crime, Liberal Democrat local councils can have a powerful liberating effect.

Ill health also constrains the freedom of many, and often that ill health is due to problems the council can help tackle in the local environment. Pollution, poor housing and poor air quality doesn't just store up problems for the future, it affects health today in conditions like the asthma suffered by one in seven children. Green action for our health is a key part of the Liberal Democrat commitment to environmental sustainability, joining our concern for the future of the local area and of the world, and we make that commitment real by enabling local people and local businesses to adjust to more sustainable forms of activity.

Tackling environmental issues that undermine people's freedom such as fuel poverty feed into another Liberal Democrat principle, social justice. Liberal Democrat councils treat everyone fairly and equally, fighting discrimination and directing services to look after people when they need it, again with the underlying aim that people should be free to live their own lives. As employers, educators, enablers and a major local economic force, councils can have a great positive impact on local employment and the freedom and self-esteem it can bring.

Putting our principles into practice, Liberal Democrat councillors will use their powers and influence to:

· Increase freedom and opportunity in people's lives by giving them the best education and tackling the threat of crime.

· Promote environmental sustainability by involving the community in action to protect the local environment and boost public health.

· Build fairness and social justice by tackling disadvantage, providing good care and championing local employment.

· Make the council open and honest, providing good quality services which are value for money and giving power to the people.

Freedom to Live Your Own Life

The Liberal Democrats' reason to exist is to give everyone the freedom to live their own lives. We value the contribution of every individual in our society. We want to open up new opportunities for people to gain the knowledge, skills and experience they need to unlock their potential and make the most of their lives.

Freedom from ignorance is our priority. Education is the essential investment for our future, our economy and the ability to live our own lives. Good schools need money, and the Liberal Democrats have a strong record in delivering that spending. Nationally, the Liberal Democrats' best-known policy is our unique willingness to raise income tax by 1p in the pound to invest in education, and education has long been our top priority for extra investment. To Central Government, we have pressed for action such as reducing all primary classes to an average of 25, recruiting 5,000 more secondary teachers and scrapping Labour's unfair tuition fees.

We have also pledged to increase income tax for those earning over £100,000 a year and using the proceeds to offset Council tax increases. This would knock around £100 of each households Council Tax bill in York.

Facilities like libraries are also important to people's personal development and enjoyment of life. Both public and school libraries have suffered severe cuts to their funding for over a decade. In local government, Liberal Democrats have delivered.

Action is needed to push back barriers to freedom too, and few are as pervasive as crime and the fear of crime. Nationally, the Liberal Democrats have pressed for 6,000 extra police and the creation of a new type of part-time retained police officers, while the record of other parties is dismal.

Investing in Education

Education is the key to unlocking people’s potential. It is the most important means by which we enable people to develop their skills and talents and do things for themselves and their communities. The freedom to live your own life, the freedom to make your own choices and the opportunity to find fulfilling work are all based on good education. Our aim is to offer everyone a high quality education, as the essential investment for individuals and for society.

Under the last Conservative Government, massive powers were removed from local control and centralised to Whitehall or Whitehall-controlled Quangos. For the first time ever, Government Ministers decided what each child would learn with the establishment of an inflexible national curriculum, and a national ‘Funding Agency for Schools’ allocated resources to schools encouraged to opt out of local co-ordination. The present Labour Government has continued this fascination with central control, with schools required to provide still more bureaucratic paperwork for DfEE officials to mull over and creeping privatisation of education as part of Labour's new-found suspicion of public service.

Despite this, local authorities still have an important role in developing educational opportunities for local people. Liberal Democrats believe that the best way to improve education is to enable those at the chalk face of education - teachers, governors, parents and pupils - to get on with the job of teaching and learning rather than form-filling and squashing all schools into league tables and an identical curriculum. We would like to see greater freedoms at school and local level.

A major plank of the Government’s proposals for schools is the growing role of the private sector. Council’s such as Islington and Bradford are already involving private sector companies in the running on their education services. Liberal Democrats do not believe that either public or private sector running of services is intrinsically good. However, where public services are concerned, how they are done is just as important as how well they are done. The involvement of the private sector in local government and providing public services is not an impressive one so far – as many council’s who have outsourced their Housing Benefit services would testify. Accessing private sector money via the Private Finance Initiative is also a highly expensive way of raising capital for projects.

Liberal Democrats would like to see much greater freedoms for local authorities so that councils could have access to more orthodox ways of financing capital projects by borrowing against assets or future incomes. For the time being however the Government’s restrictive agenda means that PFI and other government approved schemes are the only show in town. If a Liberal Democrat council feels that the private sector is the only route then they will ensure that services are still:

Transparent

It should be clear who is running the service and information about who is taking decisions concerning the service and when is open to public scrutiny.

Accountable

There are proper mechanisms for holding those responsible for the service to account if there are any failures – it is not good enough for councillors only to be able to wring their hands while standing impotently on the sidelines.

Democratic

There should be structures in place so that those who use or are concerned about a service can have their input to how it is being run – after all it is taxpayers money that is being spent.

Working in partnership with other service providers, the voluntary sector and the wider community, Liberal Democrat councils will develop services that widen opportunities for all. We will:

= Campaign for more resources for education.

· We will press the government for increased funding for education and give priority to front-line budgets in schools.

· We will seek to protect and increase funding for schools.

· We aim to give all schools as much control over their own budgets as possible, leaving them free to ‘buy in’ specialist services as they choose and reducing the levels of central administration, while protecting local strategic direction so that schools do not have to organise all provision themselves.

= Increase the opportunities for nursery and pre-school education.

· Working imaginatively with the voluntary sector, we will seek to extend existing facilities and develop new ones, protecting and enhancing the diversity of pre-school provision.

= Reduce class sizes.

· We will work in partnership with local schools, governors, teachers, parents and the wider community in implementing the Government’s statutory duty for authorities and schools to reduce class sizes for 5-7 year olds to no more than 30.

· We are committed to go beyond the Government’s limited plans believing class sizes should be reduced for all primary school pupils, recognising that the concentration on the 5-7 age group alone without sufficiently increased resources has pushed up class sizes for many other children.

= Support schools to raise educational standards.

· We will use inspection and testing arrangements to identify the opportunities for improving standards in every school, and help them to achieve those standards.

· We believe that the aim of the inspection process should be to help schools identify weakness and support them to develop policies to improve, and criticise the current OFSTED process, which prevents inspectors from providing advice on improvement.

= Encourage the development of ‘Community Schools.’

· We want local educational resources such as buildings, IT suites and sports facilities to be opened up to the wider community at evenings and weekends.

· We will seek to retain small schools wherever possible, expanding the role in the community of small rural schools in particular to secure their futures.

= Involve teachers, staff, governors, parents and students in decisions about the local education service.

· We will involve parents in the day-to-day activity of schools and encourage participation in the development of the schools’ policy, for instance by active promotion of Parent/Governor meetings, surveys and other forms of consultation.

· We will provide training for governors.

· We will encourage student and pupil involvement in the running of schools by, for example, encouraging the establishment of school councils and pupil representation on secondary school governing bodies.

= Ensure that high quality teaching and care is available for all children with special educational needs.

· We will seek to ensure that all children are assessed (‘statemented’) within six months of a request from the child’s parents or carers, and that the assistance they require is provided.

· We will consult with the child and the parents at all stages during this assessment, and discuss the most appropriate education fully with them and with the proposed school. In most cases, this will be by specialist support within a mainstream school, to enable children to integrate fully with their local community. However, support will be geared towards the needs of the individual child.

= Tackle bullying and truancy and the causes of bullying and truancy and improve 'pupil morale' in schools.

· We will develop council wide anti-bullying and anti-truancy strategies and monitor their effectiveness.

· We will make it clear that bullying on grounds of discrimination is unacceptable, for example by ensuring that homophobic bullying, like racist bullying, must not be tolerated as 'a normal part of growing up'.

· We will address issues that matter to children in order to boost their security, dignity and enthusiasm at school, for example by introducing 'It's cool to be in school' packs for new starters, or initiatives like the 'Children's Manifesto' with such priorities as clean toilets that lock.

· We will aim to introduce free swimming for local schools at council pools, to encourage fitness, safety and fun.

= Promote safe routes to school.

· We will encourage safe walking and cycling routes and discourage car use, thereby promoting both the health benefits for pupils and the wider environmental benefits generally.

· We will strive to provide free school transport to schools or 6th form colleges for students over the age of 16.

= Promote lifelong learning.

· Adult education is a vital component of improving the country’s skills.

· We will promote an environment in which people are encouraged to learn throughout their lives.

· We will work in partnership with voluntary organisations, educational bodies, and TECs to ensure that the widest possible variety of educational and recreational opportunities are created.

· We will seek to ensure that no-one is excluded from learning due to ability to pay by subsidising basic educational courses.

York Key Policies – Education

Liberal Democrats aim to improve, as part of the York Pride initiative, the performance of all schools to achieve excellence everywhere. We recognise that this will mean investment in new school buildings fit for the 21^st century and in a focussed initiative to raise standards. We will:

· Employ sufficient properly trained support staff to undertake non-teaching duties in all schools

· Campaign for a reversal of the cuts suffered by Education

· Reduce class sizes at both primary and secondary level.

· Target support at schools facing difficult circumstances.

· Encourage innovation in curriculum provision to more closely match the needs and aspirations of all pupils.

· Ensure that children with special educational needs receive all the necessary support they require to access all educational opportunities

· Improve the standards of achievement in all primary schools

· Set understandable targets of education and care for Early Years Education.

· Tackle the £30 million backlog in school maintenance, improve the quality of school buildings and remove from use ageing temporary classrooms

· Promote safe walking and cycling routes to school and discourage the use of car for school transport.

· Encourage the uptake of Adult Education and promote life-long learning.

· Develop the concept of community schools to derive maximum benefit from expensive buildings for the benefit of all sections of the community.

For further information contact Cllr Chas Hall on York 760618

Libraries, Leisure, Recreation and the Arts

Wider opportunities for the creative use of leisure time are essential to stable, flourishing communities and to enable individuals to freely develop and express their skills or simply to have fun, available for professional and amateur use alike. These include the provision of facilities like parks, sports centres and playing fields, museums, display rooms for artists and craft workers, and properly stocked, widely accessible public libraries. Many of these opportunities have been reduced by a sustained lack of funding from central Government, both Conservative and Labour, and councils must explore imaginative ways to continue support.

Liberal Democrats will work in partnership with other agencies to:

= Provide a wide variety of cultural activities.

· We will provide grants to local amenity, artistic and cultural projects.

· We will encourage closer links between schools and the library and the museums trust.

= Develop leisure and sporting opportunities to local residents.

· We will seek to ensure that the fullest possible use is made of sports and recreational facilities, try to avoid the loss of surplus recreational land; and encourage the widest possible access to school recreation, sport and arts facilities. We will consider options to protect playing fields such as handing over parks to community trusts run by local people.

· We will seek to introduce ‘Passport to Leisure’ schemes to give discounts to people on benefits or low incomes.

= Develop the library service.

· We will campaign for central government to provide more funding to support libraries, and for changes to National Lottery rules to allow applications for grants for library buildings.

· We aim to improve the library service by developing and increasing a comprehensive and varied book stock, new IT facilities and extending opening times to attract more users - such as Sunday opening where appropriate. We will involve existing library users, new users and front line staff in decisions about how to improve libraries.

· We will seek to make the service more accessible by extending housebound library services and exploring options such as library use or 'taster' collections such locations as work places, supermarkets and pubs.

· We will seek to re-invent our libraries into popular centres for community activity for leisure, information, learning and ideas. We will pursue funding from the DfES and businesses to explore new designs that change the look from the 'traditional library' and to explore extensions to library use such as learning centres (in concert with colleges and the Learning and Skills Council), eating, exercise, Internet access, recycling and council services.

· We will initiate a “Donate a Book” scheme where people give libraries a copy of their favourite book and create special areas to display books pledge materials.

· We will seek to increase funding for professional librarians, especially children's librarians, reversing the trend of full-time, qualified librarians being replaced by part-time, semi-skilled library assistants.

York key policies - Leisure & Heritage

Leisure and Heritage directly affects the cultural life and appearance of our beautiful City.

· Our top priority will be the provision of improved leisure opportunities for teenagers including establishing local “drop in” centres. We will seek to establish more informal facilities alongside organised activities.

· As part of "York Pride" we will make a clear and demonstrable difference to the standard of our parks and open spaces.

· We will ensure that the consultation on the future of the Barbican and Edmund Wilson swimming pools is taken fully into account in selecting improvement options.

· Yearsley pool users have clearly told us why they want to keep the 50 yard pool. We will bring forward proposals to keep the existing pool and refurbish it in a manner which maintains its "period" feel whilst giving fitness swimmers the facility they cherish.

· York lacks sufficient sports facilities for a City of 175,000 people. Through the City Sport and Active Leisure Partnership we will be seeking the provision of extra facilities

· We recognise the importance of spectator sport in the City. We want to see our football club, rugby club and other institutions develop and succeed. We will continue to support them.

· The rivers through the City are a great untapped resource. When we receive the results of the Scrutiny Review which is currently underway, we will set up a project to implement as many ideas as possible.

For further information contact Cllr Quentin Macdonald on York 794868

Action on Crime

The growth in crime, and the fear of crime, is a major limit on the freedom of many people today, preventing them from playing a full part in the life of their community. Liberal Democrats believe that local councils can play a major part in limiting the opportunities for crime, reducing the fear of crime, and making communities safer in order that more individuals can live their lives freely.

The Liberal Democrats welcomed a number of the proposals in the Government’s Crime and Disorder Act, but are concerned at the aspects that undermine civil liberties. We supported proposals for councils to develop Community Safety Strategies in partnership with the Police and the wider community, as already established in York in the form of the Safer York Partnership, but the Government has given few additional funds for such strategies and police and local authority budgets are already overstretched.

We support schemes such as the extension of anti social behaviour orders and – in exceptional cases – curfews on younger unaccompanied children. We would taker firmer action to enforce tenancy conditions and would get local communities more influence over the type of tenant housed in individual blocks of flats on any problem estates. However, housing tenure is not necessarily a good guide to the source of anti social behaviour problems.

We aim to set people free, to stop them being pushed around and bullied by criminals who make their lives a misery.

A Liberal Democrat council will:

= Take a lead in crime prevention.

· We will work with in partnership with other agencies and carry out crime audits to help identify priorities for action.

· We will provide 'Safe Front Doors For All' to tackle the problem of many people living in housing blocks who suffer unacceptable crime levels on their own doorsteps because there is no secure front door to their building.

· We will use the youth service imaginatively to provide a range of challenging and involving activities for young people.

· We will use intermediate treatment such as restorative justice where victims can confront offenders and other community-based activities for young offenders, not as a soft option, but because it is more effective to avoid institutionalising offenders and to bring them directly into contact with the consequences of crime.

· We will support the use of concierge and warden schemes, along with properly-monitored CCTV security systems where appropriate, with safeguards on how the footage can be used.

· We will ensure that all new council developments ‘design out crime’ in consultation with local people.

· We will seek to set up graffiti and vandalism hot-line and an instant response squad to repair vandalism and remove graffiti within 24 hours.

· We will explore implementation of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts for young people involved in criminal or other serious 'anti-social' activity (developed by Islington's Liberal Democrat Council as an alternative to ASBOs).

= Promote community policing.

· We will consider 'renting' extra police officers from the local police authority under the Police Act 1996, to patrol priority areas for the council. Given the recent increase in Police precept we do not expect to have to use this power at present in York.

· We favour having identified local police officers, and their support workers, specialising in, and becoming known to, local communities. We see their work being more fully integrated with Community Ranger patrols and the Council’s emerging Street Environment Officers with the Ward Committee providing one opportunity for public access.

· We will promote a range of community initiatives, such as Neighbourhood Watch, Shop Watch, School Watch, Farm Watch and Pub Watch schemes, to encourage groups and communities to work with the police to tackle specific types of crime. We would reverse the present Councils cut in funding to Safer York and the Neighbourhood Watch organisations.

· We will encourage direct liaison between the police and minority groups including both ethnic minorities and the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities.

· We will encourage police initiatives to tackle hate crimes including hate-based bullying in schools.

· We will support the widest possible use of civilians in administration and management, freeing police time for direct and visible work within the community; and to target police resources in the light of the local crime problems and local community concerns to improve clear-up rates and rebuild the confidence of local people in local policing.

· We will encourage combining council local ward committees and police forums (CAP groups) on an occasional basis - for example, once a quarter - to end unnecessary duplication of meetings, allow better answers to the public and enable the police to gain a better understanding of the problems faced by local government and local residents.

= Support victims and witnesses of crime.

· We will give support to Victim and Witness Support Schemes, and will take practical action to help the victims of crime and witnesses, for example by targeting crime prevention measures where there is a history of repeated crimes.

· We will work with the police, the probation service and local courts to try to speed up the criminal justice process.

Community Health, Community Safety

Councils have other roles to play in promoting a safer community, through ensuring high standards of fire cover, an effective environmental health service, and effective trading standards and consumer protection services. Liberal Democrats recognise the role that good health and reliable standards and information play in the freedom for individuals to live their own lives and make their own choices. In particular, we will seek to:

= Develop a range of specialist consumer affairs, environmental standards and noise and planning enforcement services.

· We will aim to introduce a 24 hour environmental nuisance call out service. We will encourage consumer awareness with events like “Consumer Week”.

= Take a more positive role in promoting good health.

· We will develop a council-wide strategy for health promotion in consultation with the local Health agencies and other users and voluntary groups.

· We will work to develop an inter-agency approach to tackling alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse.

· We will encourage community-based health projects and safer sex education.

= Improve Food Safety

· We will maintain strict controls over animal feed to control such diseases as BSE and foot and mouth.

· We will strictly enforce regulations on labelling to ensure that the public knows whether foods contain Genetically Modified foodstuffs.

· While testing continues, we will include a 'No GM' clause in all food contracts for school meals and meals for elderly people.

= Maintain a high-quality Fire Service.

· A Liberal Democrat-run Fire Authority would introduce a vigorous programme of Community Fire Safety Education in co-operation with all local government departments, to reduce death and injury by fire.

· Nationally, we will challenge the spending priorities of the new government to include the fire service, and will press for a fundamental review of fire pensions, conditions of service and the Inspectorate to achieve a modern, efficient public service and a fair deal for fire fighters.

York key policies - Community Safety

Improve funding for crime prevention measures via Ward committees
Greater involvement with the Safer York Partnership to promote crime prevention measures especially in the estates, villages and sub-urban areas of York
Improve and promote effective working partnerships between Ward Committees, Parish Councils and other stakeholders
Fewer restrictions on Ward committees (the restrictions on expenditure on parking provision would be removed) who would be enabled to plan their local community in line with the wishes of residents and where in existence Parish councils.
Support more extensive leisure facilities for youngsters to help reduce anti social behaviour
To promote a more joined up approach to delivering council services

· To promote the management of more council services at a community level

For further information contact Irene Waudby Tel. 652556

Green Action for Our Health

Environmental problems are worsening today at all levels - global, national and local. Global warming and the associated local pollution and poor air quality require urgent action. Half the energy currently used in the UK is wasted, and could be saved by using it more efficiently, in homes, businesses and transport. The burning of fossil fuels is a major contributor to climate change, and also causes acid rain and local air pollution. Even the CBI protests that congestion costs business over £15 billion every year, while respiratory problems like asthma are soaring, along with flooding and food crises. The Liberal Democrats are committed to environmental sustainability for the future of our world, but also to tackle the immediate health threats that are diminishing people's freedoms today.

Only the Liberal Democrats put the environment at the heart of all levels of government, including green thinking in every aspect of our policies. We must tackle climate change, making deep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions and big increases in renewable energy. We must end the injustice of fuel poverty, which will improve health as well as the environment. With a programme for green action, not just grey promises, only the Liberal Democrats offer a real chance for a sustainable and green future.

Nationally, the Liberal Democrats have pressed for action such as more support for renewable energy and better home insulation to simultaneously reduce CO2 emissions, improve health, cut fuel bills and provide substantial new employment opportunities. In local government, we have delivered. Liberal Democrats are the only practical green party that gets things done around Britain. We wish to make all areas in which Liberal Democrats have power or influence good places in which to live. Liberal Democrat councils such as Sutton and Eastleigh have already exceeded recycling targets set by the Government for 2005. Both councils have won national awards for their work on recycling and are now recycling up to 50% of their waste. Liberal Democrats controlled half of the councils in Britain that have won the EU's Eco-Management and Audit Scheme Registration (given only to the most environmentally sound councils).

Other environmental issues such as transport and housing have also been failed by other parties. Liberal Democrats nationally have pressed for more investment in public transport and would give local councils greater freedom to invest in housing by ending 'capping', allowing councils to raise money directly for long-term investment. We would also strengthen existing powers to insist that developers include affordable housing for local people, and end the discriminatory rules limiting housing benefit for under-25-year-olds.

Protecting the local environment

After two decades of UK Government reluctance to act on global environmental problems, their hand has been forced. The Rio Earth Summit of 1992 produced many international agreements, amongst them “Agenda 21”, which aims to promote sustainable development, with many ideas requiring action by local government - thinking globally, acting locally. The more recent Kyoto agreement on carbon emissions is forcing the UK to take tough action to meet new legal environmental targets - a 12% reduction of CO₂ emissions below the 1990 level by the year 2010. The Government has set a stiffer target of 20% reductions, and the Liberal Democrats nationally have set a still tougher programme of sustained cuts over the long term.

Local authorities still have to cope with serious financial constraints - but that is no excuse for inaction. Low-tech, low-cost solutions that use existing resources differently can achieve much and are the first steps to a more sustainable approach. Greening local communities does not mean only tackling issues such as traffic and pollution. Low crime levels, good health and access to decent housing are also crucial issues and play a significant impact on the quality of people’s lives. Liberal Democrats understand that the environment is not just about doom and gloom, but about how people live.

We want residents to take and feel pride in their local environment. We want smarter streets, smarter buildings, smarter parks and smarter shopping areas.

The protection of the environment presents many challenges for local authorities in areas such as air pollution and traffic, waste recovery and reduction. Liberal Democrat councils have been in the forefront in protecting and enhancing the environment and making sustainability a priority.

Liberal Democrat councils will seek to:

= Ensure that environmental considerations and sustainability are central to all the council’s work.

· We will actively participate in the Agenda 21 process, and adopt and act on a sustainable development strategy.

· We will aim to conduct independent environmental audits on each separate council unit and on the council as a whole on a regular basis, to make sure the council’s environmental objectives are being met.

· We will publish the Environmental Implications of all recommendations that come before council and committee meetings and carry out Environmental Impact Assessments on planning schemes.

· We will seek to give all council staff some degree of training around environmental objectives, and in particular promote awareness among elected members and all senior managers.

= Involve the community in developing a sustainable action programme.

· We will involve local people in developing new environmental policies by, for example, establishing an Ecology Forum made up of interested groups, establishing focus groups or consulting with existing parish or neighbourhood councils.

· We recognise that local businesses, schools, voluntary organisations and residents' groups as well as environmental campaign groups are all essential in improving the local environment and creating a sustainable community.

= Promote the economic benefits of businesses 'going green'.

· We will encourage local businesses to adopt an environmentally sustainable approach, for example by providing environmental advice in packages of support for business start-ups, establishing 'Green Business Clubs' promoting new ideas within the business community and giving practical advice and assistance to businesses on managing their environmental impact in a way which increases their competitiveness.

· We will consider pooling resources with local businesses in, for example, bulk purchasing of environmentally sound products to reduce costs, and in identifying alternative solutions for minimising waste.

· We will require larger significant suppliers to the council to have environmental management systems in place, and encourage smaller suppliers to adopt environmental impact policies.

· We will enable and encourage residents and businesses in the Borough by, for example, presenting annual awards for local firms. We will give coverage to local companies who have made achievements in this area, sharing their good practice to others in the Borough through council magazines and websites.

· We will develop strategies to integrate farm support policies with those aimed at landscape conservation, biodiversity and sustainable tourism.

· We will seek to provide assistance to farmers to enable them more effectively to manage and promote their products, for example by promoting 'farmers' markets' to enable local producers to sell direct to local residents.

= Raise environmental awareness.

· We will publicise links between pollution and other environmental problems and ill health, for example in air quality and in fuel poverty and poor housing.

· We will organise events which raise environmental awareness among council staff and the wider community.

· We will publish materials for the public and seek their widespread distribution - for example, by including a leaflet with Council Tax bills to ensure that most households will receive information at no extra cost to the council and minimal extra resource use, and through Council websites.

· We will encourage and provide support for schools to incorporate environmental education into the school curriculum.

· We will consider establishing a telephone hotline to enable the public to obtain information and advice on sustainability and local environmental projects, as well as access through council web pages.

= Tackle pollution.

· We will seek to ensure council vehicles emit the lowest practicable level of pollutants, converting council vehicles to Liquid Propane Gas wherever appropriate, and publicise how the public can reduce pollution for their own vehicles. We will be at the forefront in the use of zero harmful emission vehicles (e.g. fuel cell units) as they become available.

· We will seek to reduce car usage by council staff and members by encouraging car-sharing, the use of public transport, alternative fuel/economical small vehicles, mopeds and cycles with loan schemes and facilities such as showers.

· We will seek to introduce air quality monitoring and produce and publish an enforcement policy on air pollution control.

· We will oppose proposals to build incinerators, aiming instead to tackle rubbish levels with strategies for reducing, recycling and reusing waste.

= Minimise waste and maximise recovery, re-use and recycling, bringing doorstep recycling to every household.

· We will campaign against unnecessary packaging, and use minimal packaging and reusable containers in council facilities.

· We will introduce a rain harvesting programme in council premises (for metered premises, this gives a very short pay back period).

· We will support measures that recycle bottles, paper, textiles, scrap metal, wood, oil, and plastic, harnessing commercial sponsorship and community action.

· We will promote home composting by, for example, distributing ‘Green Cones’, providing wormeries and establishing 'Community Composting' sites on open spaces..

· We will develop a progressive Waste Disposal Plan which maximises recovery, re-use and recycling, employing pilot schemes and full consultation with residents and businesses to win local support. For example, we will examine 'segregating' waste through the provision of different, smaller bins collected at different times for recyclable and non-recyclable waste; expanding 'bring' recycling schemes such as bottle banks, textile and battery drop-off points; and collection services for bulky household waste from houses which will repair and recycle the goods, then supply cheap furniture to new social housing tenants.

· We will consider establishing an e-mail/internet alert system to let people know when their waste will be collected in weeks where bank holidays or emergencies disrupt the normal schedule.

= Promote energy efficiency.

· We will develop a council-wide energy efficiency policy, aiming to cut emissions from council buildings and providing advice to the public and other organisations.

· We will work with the Energy Saving Trust on 'Community Energy', gathering information on home energy efficiency and promoting energy conservation. We will seek funding under the Home Energy Conservation Act in meeting the 30% HECA targets, to relieve poverty and energy use. We will consider pilot schemes, work with outside agencies, and explore the widest possible advertising in order to maximise both participation by residents and the scheme's ability to cope with demand.

· We will ensure there is an insulation and heating programme aiming to bring council buildings up to at least the current new-build standard of energy efficiency and with a preference for Combined Heat and Power (CHP). This will aid in eliminating ‘fuel poverty’, maintain the efficient use of energy to help both tenants and homeowners, and help achieve the UK’s ‘Kyoto Target’ of CO₂ reductions, each of which are major jobs for all councils.

· We will include environmental assessment of buildings and promote the use of better insulation, double-glazing and solar panels where possible when repairing council-owned properties such as schools, again with a preference for Combined Heat and Power (CHP) when changing heating systems to provide low-cost, low-environmental impact heat and electricity.

· We will increase public awareness of the benefits of energy efficiency in their homes through exhibitions, events and the Internet, and campaign for more information at point of sale on the energy efficiency of domestic appliances.

= Protect the local environment.

· Working with the community and other public agencies, we will promote local environmental improvements such as tree planting and reclaiming derelict land such as bringing footpaths and bridleways back into use.

· We will seek to shorten the time it takes to remove abandoned cars from the streets, and will push for tough penalties for those that dump these cars in increasing numbers (due to the crashing price of scrap metal) and leave residents through their council tax to pay.

· We will seek by laws to help in sustaining the local economy – for example in enforcing of street parking regulations to discourage damage to grass verges. The provision of dropped kerbs/verge crossovers to parking spaces with the gardens of suitable homes would be encouraged though Ward Committees.

· We will seek to employ dog wardens and encourage poop-scoop schemes and bye-laws to reduce the problems of dog fouling and stray dogs.

· We will strive to enhance open green spaces in association with local communities and would support allotments where residents require them.

· We will all seek for all new contracts for maintenance of streets, housing, parks and so on to include pesticide elimination clauses.

· We will seek to protect local wildlife as far as permitted under current legislation.

York key policies - Environment

· A clean and pleasant city through improved street sweeping in all areas, not just the city centre, quickly clearing away litter, fly tipping, and dumped cars. A thorough blitz of leaf mould, and litter in our gutters and tougher enforcement on litter hotspots through full use of the council's legal powers.

· Collection & Recycling facilities for all residents: York has one of the poorest recycling rates in the country - and to provide easy recycling for plastics, batteries and other items that are recycled every day on the continent.

· Helping to stimulate local use of recycled materials and re-usable materials.

· Putting sustainability and the environment at the heart of our policies - we will ensure that the council has a green purchasing policy for all products and services so that it can help take the lead with the Agenda 21 programme. Labour has failed to do anything about this.

For further information contact Cllr Andrew Waller Tel. 337757

Planning for the Future

Protecting the environment, preserving and improving the well-being of local communities, and creating productive jobs can lead to many conflicts of interest. Liberal Democrats recognise that councils have a duty to set policies and standards reflecting the balance of needs of different communities, locally and over the long term. They also have a duty to represent those local communities vigorously to other bodies, who may themselves be charged to consider wider regional or national interests.

After a decade when Government policies have favoured developers, there has been a welcome shift towards allowing the community more control over future development. We hope this will continue. Nevertheless, there remain serious issues that local authorities face, the most controversial being the Labour Government’s plan to build 4.4 million new houses between now and 2016, 40% on greenfield sites.

In York this would mean over 5000 homes being built in the Greenbelt. We have particularly opposed developments near Chapelfields, Rawcliffe, Haxby and Huntington.

Liberal Democrats will seek to:

= Safeguard the environment from housing overdevelopment.

· We will campaign for the Labour Government to increase the proportion of development on brownfield sites and create tax disincentives against greenfield building.

· We will introduce an empty homes strategy to bring houses that stand empty back into use as possible.

· We will use local planning powers to encourage mixed developments.

= Protect our Green Spaces.

· We will use the present enforcement powers to promote a strong conservation policy, including preservation of Green Belt areas, recreation spaces, and significant trees and hedgerows, as well as effective urban conservation.

· We will establish local plans that fully recognise the importance of the environment for all parts of the community.

= Use strategic planning positively to promote environmental concerns and safer communities.

· We believe that the planning process must be used to help create sustainability with imaginative policies that reduce the need to travel, particularly by car.

· We will take a more pro-active role in the planning process by identifying potential sites for renewable energy projects in council structural plans, allowing projects to be planned around specific sites with realistic possibilities of planning consent.

· We will devise sustainability tests to assess all planning applications, measuring a range of indicators such as use of recyclable materials in construction, use of renewable energy, impact on the number of car journeys, energy efficiency and water efficiency. We will require new applications to provide safe and accessible cycle storage and to supply details of rain harvesting proposals. Developers will be encouraged to ensure that all new roofs are designed or aligned to take advantage of new solar technology as it becomes economical, as well as current passive solar design principles.

· We will give high priority to planning enforcement, and the setting up and monitoring of conservation areas, tree preservation orders, and environmental improvement plans.

· Where appropriate, we will employ consultants to challenge Planning Appeals vigorously.

= Open up the planning process to local people.

· We will go beyond the statutory requirements for consultation to ensure that the views and wishes of the local community shape development plans. Plans should be dominated not by traditional planning concerns, but by a shared vision of how the community needs to develop. The “Planning for Real” approach offers exciting opportunities to involve local communities in shaping their future.

· We will open up the development control process to make it understandable and responsive to local people, and will continue the public, Parish Councils and applicants right to speak at planning committee meetings and at site visits.

· We will seek to support projects such as ‘Planning Aid’, which is an independent service where planning officers volunteer to give free advice to communities and to individuals - to try and redress the balance between them and the experts.

· We continue to devolve powers to area planning committees and involve parish councils in the planning process.

York key policies - Planning

The draft Green Belt proposals do not meet the needs of the residents of York. We would recast the proposals by:

· Ensuring that full use is made of “brownfield” sites.

· Supporting higher buildings on appropriate sites (3 or 4 storeys)

· Fully integrating the potential of York Central into the Local Plan before taking into account residents views on the use of ANY green fields for development.

· Ensuring that there are robust policies which will promote the provision of affordable and sustainable homes.

For further information telephone Cllr Ann Reid on York 701727

Transport

Liberal Democrats are firmly committed to public transport, not only for its social and economic benefits within the local community, but also for its environmental benefits compared to private powered transport.

The Labour Government has, in part, made some welcome changes in direction from the previous Conservative Government’s sole reliance on the car, but it still fails to propose the radical steps that are required. The Labour Government's proposals largely remain either too timid or, where more radical, will not be implemented for many years. Public transport continues to be massively underfunded, despite big-sounding announcements of the usual double counting.

In York, Labour’s Strategic Rail Authority has effectively shelved plans to provide additional railway stations in the area (Strensall and Haxby)and work is only now beginning on light rail alternatives (e.g. Park and Rail).

Little use is made of the potential of the river to ease traffic problems (Park and Float!)

The so called “bus partnership” has produced a two class bus service with some parts of the City now well served while others lack essential links to – for example – the Hospital, the railway station of out of town shopping centers. Progress in introducing real time service information has been painfully slow.

However, many key factors in bus quality partnerships - such as frequency, reliability of bus services and fare levels - are not included. Key reliability information is kept from customers. In York some services are erratic as a result of staff shortages and congestion issues. Liberal Democrats nationally will campaign to change this.

Transport Authorities are now required to produce a Local Transport Plan.

We do not believe that York can afford to continue to spend half of its transport investment budget on Park and Ride (the principle of which we continue to support). Other, particularly safety related, issues must have a higher priority.

Within these constraints, Liberal Democrat priorities will include:

= Integrating the Transport plan into the Council's wider strategy

· We will regard transport as an "enabler" service which provides access to the other services essential to civilised living.

· We will link together Council strategies - particularly economic regeneration, community safety, sustainability and health.

= Providing services for those most in need.

· We will encourage operators to use vehicles suitable for elderly and infirm passengers; using such schemes as dial-a-ride, and ensure a fair system of concessionary fares and cross-ticketing arrangements for residents using both rail and road-based public transport.

= Encouraging car users to switch to more environmentally friendly forms of transport where this is practical.

· We will achieve this by including bus priority and Park and Ride schemes to give preference to public transport within urban areas, and supporting social car/bus schemes in rural areas. We will consider subsidies to bus services for purposes such as evening and late bus routes through towns, local community buses where there is no current bus service and improved display of passenger information at bus stops.

· Where possible, we will seek to increase access to the rail network by encouraging the opening of new local stations (Copmanthorpe, Poppleton park, Hospital etc).

· We will move ahead with plan to provide a light rail alternative for York residents. We see this as being funded principally as part of major new developments such as the York Central project.

· We will promote ‘walking to school’ initiatives that encourage school pupils to walk to school during the summer months.

· We will promote the use of electric and other low/zero emission cars, for example in council fleets, and provide street-based recharging facilities where there is demand.

· The use of smaller vehicles – such as the SMART car – will be encouraged as these use less road space, can be parked in smaller spaces and are economical and have low emissions.

Our Roads and Pavements

Liberal Democrats recognise that a properly maintained and updated network of roads, pavements and cycle tracks is essential to the safety, welfare and economic prosperity of the community.

However, we do not accept that large-scale, environmentally damaging investments in new roads are the main or automatic way of meeting the country’s strategic transport needs. We will seek to channel available investment into more appropriate developments at local level, encouraging the introduction of integrated and sustainable transport plans and paying greater attention to safety.

Within the Government’s spending restraints, Liberal Democrat councils will seek to:

= Increase emphasis on the repair and upkeep of residential roads and pavements and make our streets safer.

· We will seek to introduce speed cameras and minor road safety improvements, and schemes designed to keep traffic speeds and volumes low in residential areas.

· Introduce a programme of adoption of unadopted roads (which would involve a contribution from frontagers)

· We will consult with police, other agencies, and the local community to identify accident and environmental black-spots on the road network and within residential communities, and seek solutions which retain or enhance the human scale, as well as improving safety and accessibility.

· We will plan developments to keep HGVs out of residential areas and rigorously monitor any traffic in 44 tonne vehicles through the area, to ensure the ‘rail need’ rules are observed.

· We will seek to make it safer for children to play in residential areas by slowing down traffic.

· We will institute a programme of 'dropped kerbs' and produce a council-wide map of dropped kerbs, to make life easier and safer for people with disabilities.

= Develop facilities for cyclists and pedestrians.

· We will give increased priority to pedestrians and cyclists, developing cycle and pedestrian routes and seeking to extend City Centre traffic-free areas where these can be adequately serviced to avoid excluding people with mobility problems.

· We will develop safe, well-lit cycle and footpath routes and aim to increase the number of secure cycle racks. All new transport infrastructure and refurbishment will be required to take cycling into account.

= Improve street lighting.

· We will seek to use fuel-efficient street lights at a standard that provides the best security for local communities whilst minimising light pollution of the night sky.

York Key Policies - Transport

· Provide a larger share of resources for safety improvements in local areas including fully funding the “village accident reduction strategy”

· Improve the Northern Ring Road by duelling some sections and/or enlarging roundabouts or building grade separated junctions. (40% of traffic on Gillygate is cross-city journeys that could be avoided if the ring road was less congested. Peak hour traffic on the ORR has increased by 31% over 11 years.)

· Continue to work towards new rail stations at Haxby & Strensall in the first instance followed by the District Hospital, York Business Park, Copmanthorpe & Askham Bar.

· Press ahead with the feasibility study for the “light rail” system.

· Provide more secure parking facilities for powered 2 wheelers and by allowing mopeds to use bus lanes.

· Encourage the use of smaller cars, for example, by designating special spaces at car parks.

· Increase the incentives for using alternative fuels such as LPG or electric cars by, for example, offering concessions on car park charges.

· Encourage cycling and walking by upgrading facilities and improving the maintenance of footpaths, snickets, back lanes and roads.

· Encourage the provision of “smart” road signs which can be used to measure vehicles speeds, divert traffic away from congestion/pollution black-spots and identify available parking spaces.

For further information contact Ann Reid on York 701727

Housing

Housing is a critical issue in York.

The Council must fulfill its key statutory responsibility as the ‘strategic housing authority’ for the area - not just its own stock - but by supporting those in housing need and regulating the private sector. For too long, many councils have seen housing associations as the opposition, private landlords as the devil in disguise and owner-occupiers as the responsibility of the planners.

In running their own stock, Liberal Democrats will seek to maximise tenant involvement, promote environmentally friendly refurbishment to minimise pollution, reduce living costs and provide secure, quality neighbourhood.

Liberal Democrats regret that the present Council wasted many months and thousands of pounds in staging a doctrinal consultation exercise on stock transfer. This raised unnecessary fears amongst staff and tenants and was spectacularly unsuccessful when tenants rejected overwhelmingly the New Labour options of Arms Length Companies or a transfer to a Housing Association. The resources used in this exercise would have been better invested in home modernisation.

Liberal Democrats believe that it is important for councils to act strategically and take responsibility for promoting of effective housing policies which will look at the needs of all sectors of the community. We seek to maximise the use of scarce resources and minimise friction for all key housing players in partnership, and develop improved design quality for all sectors of housing, including through our wider plans to increase energy efficiency and tackle fuel poverty. Councils must promote communities with an effective interaction of different age groups, earnings levels and backgrounds, rather than the development of ghetto estates based on income or tenure.

We recognise though that different age groups have different lifestyles and we therefore support the designation of “quiet” blocks of flats and small estates where older residents can enjoy higher standards of security, accessibility and support.

Shortage of affordable housing continues to be a major social problem. Around two million households live in unsuitable accommodation, with over a million households on council waiting lists. In York around 4000 people are on the waiting list for social accommodation. Homeless families take up many of the new allocations leaving some residents “trapped” in inadequate accommodation or in unsuitable locations.

Reductions in funding for existing social housing have led to rapidly increasing rents and tenants dependent on housing benefit as a result, creating unbalanced estates and new social problems. We oppose Government policies that force local authorities to give up their role as social landlords.

The Council missed a golden opportunity to add to the stock of rented accommodation, by buying empty homes on the open market, before the recent escalation in local house prices.

Liberal Democrats will seek to:

= Invest in new social housing where legislation allows.

· We will encourage affordable housing (including shared ownership schemes) and housing to rent in new private developments.

· We will work closely with registered social landlords, developing a shared planning process to link their plans with the Councils’ views of housing need.

· We will use short-life housing imaginatively for occupation by those in housing need (particularly young people) but with high levels of support and security as we recognise that this type of letting can adversely impact on neighbours.

= Take steps to reduce the level of homelessness and provide support for homeless people.

· We will draw up a council-wide “Empty Homes Strategy” to bring suitable unused accommodation in the public and the private sectors back into residential use, including shortening the period in which vacated council housing can be re-let as much as possible.

· We will seek to end the use of bed and breakfast accommodation for families.

· We will ensure the housing allocations system is based on need and takes into account wider factors such as the disruption re-housing can bring to a child’s education. It will be widely publicised among tenants and applicants.

· We will sustain a 24-hour, seven-day contact point for homeless people.

· Tenants of under used properties would be given incentives to either take in lodgers or to move to smaller accommodation.

· We will seek to provide well-signposted sites with toilet and cleaning facilities for the use of travellers, and press central government to fund such sites.

= Improve the housing service.

· We will improve access to the service, providing localised contact points and Internet contact for repairs and problems.

· We will regularly monitor repair services, and check private contractors for customer satisfaction with work standards.

· Tenancy inspections will be re-introduced with estate managers visiting each property every year to discuss matters of mutual interest with tenants.

· We aim to meet targets for processing and payment of Housing Benefit within fourteen days, ensuring that it is administered promptly, efficiently and sensitively and will encourage the take up of benefits.

· We will recognise the rights of same sex couples to joint tenancies and rights of succession.

· We will ensure there is an insulation and heating programme aiming to bring council housing up to at least the current new-build standard of energy efficiency.

= Involve tenants and leaseholders in the management of their own properties, estates and neighbourhoods.

· We will consult tenants over rent levels and maintenance programmes, and sustain options such as giving tenants the right to get repairs done and send the bill to the council if the council fails to get the job done on time.

· We will help tenants’ associations and encourage them to get involved – together with Ward Committees – in running their own estates, and ensure they have decent independent advice and a variety of options from which to decide.

· We will explore ways to give tenants rent incentives in return for them taking responsibility for their own repairs and maintenance.

· We would give local communities opportunities to influence the Council’s lettings policy

· The cuts in the estate improvement programme will be restored and there will be greater integration with the, Ward Committee driven, community plan for the area.

· Tenant liaison arrangements will be integrated with the work of the Citizens Unit.

= Develop specialist housing services.

· We will work together with registered social landlords, social services, health services and the voluntary sector to ensure that appropriate housing is made available for all those in housing need including homeless people, older people, people with disabilities, people with learning difficulties and people who are HIV antibody positive.

· We will look to provide services to enable people with special needs to remain in their own homes.

· We will ensure the adequate provision of secure refuges for abused women.

· We will seek to provide affordable housing for teachers, nurses and other public service 'key workers'.

= Improve standards in the private sector.

· We will work with landlords to ensure that their housing is of an acceptable standard, including promotion of existing grants as far as we are able, accepting councils' responsibilities in monitoring and improving the condition of private housing. We support the registration of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs).

· We will encourage, through partnership with the voluntary sector and the business community, “care and repair” schemes to help elderly people and people with disabilities keep their homes in good repair.

· Develop minimum standards tenant agreements with Housing Associations to ensure that their tenants are no less well treated than those living in Council accommodation.

York Key Policies - Housing

Our priority – A sense of pride in York and security for all York’s tenants

To keep up York’s appearance: To cut grass, remove weeds, do repairs/repainting, maintain communal areas, deal with anti social behaviour

Estate Management – A integrated approach with area based teams working with other council departments to provide a quick effective response to problems:

1. Create a ‘one stop shop’ for tenants’ complaints and enquiries

2. Smarten up estates with security measures for flats and better supervision of common areas

3. Speed up re-letting

4. Offer vacating tenants incentives to leave their property in good condition

5. Tackle communal repairs more quickly.

6. Speed up housing transfer, making it more transparent

7. If a repair is not done within 5 weeks, tenants can get it done and send the Council the bill

Liberal Democrats will:

· Encourage affordable housing

· Work to reduce homelessness and support homeless people.

· Use empty properties to ease the housing crisis.

· Speed up Housing Benefit

· Lobby the Government for the same rights to invest in council house repairs as are given to Housing Associations and ALMO’s and respect the wishes of York’s tenants on the future of our council housing

For further information contact Cllr David Livesley on York 702631

Fairness and Social Justice

Social justice is central to making freedom for everyone a reality. For people to have the fullness of freedom, everyone must be treated fairly and on an equal basis, while discrimination and bullying must be fought. Freedom from poverty is also vital to living life as you choose. People must be given the tools to lift themselves out of poverty and improve their own circumstances and self-esteem.

Nationally, while Labour famously tried to get away with giving pensioners just 75p a year ago, the Liberal Democrats have said how they would pay £5 more on the basic pension, with £10 for over-75s and £15 for over-80s. In local government, we have delivered on reducing poverty through council-led boosts to employment.

Equal Voices, Different Choices

Liberal Democrats welcome the strength, variety and creativity that comes from living in a multicultural society, where people are free to express their own cultural, sexual, religious, political and other personal preferences. The strength of a community is built on the diversity of the individuals who make it up. Liberal Democrats believe every individual is too important to be bullied, and will fight discrimination and enable individuals to make their own decisions about their own lives, without trampling the freedoms of others.

Liberal Democrat councils will:

= Seek to ensure that all council services are provided without unfair discrimination on whatever grounds, including race, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity or religion.

· We believe that councils should tailor the services they provide to the communities and individuals they serve.

· We will assist self-help and support groups.

· We will seek to ensure that council information is available in the language of any major ethnic minority within the area and that all council communications are in plain and understandable language.

· We will make adequate provision for English as a Second Language classes with appropriate support for pupils at schools.

· We will review provision of services and information for people with hearing and visual difficulties and seek to provide information in large print and on tapes.

= Develop effective council wide social inclusion and anti-poverty strategies.

· We will target resources to those most in need. In transport, for example, getting to training and job opportunities and access to services can be a problem for many people, particularly in rural areas. We will develop innovative transport policies and improve access to advice and services such as using mobile Benefit buses and new technology.

· We will support the local credit union which can provide support to local businesses

· We will support Community Development Trusts which can channel resources from the private sector - usually deriving from planning gain, but also from other sources - into particular localities. The local community is then fully in control of the ways in which the money is used to invest in local facilities and projects, ranging from workshops and renovation schemes to nurseries and play centres.

= Promote equal opportunities.

· We will take a clear and firm stand against prejudice, bigotry and intolerance.

· We will tackle discrimination, both direct and indirect, will develop anti-harassment strategies, and will not hesitate to deal robustly with racial and any other discrimination or harassment.

· We will review the Council’s employment and recruitment policies to ensure that it is not discriminating on grounds of race, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity or religion, and regularly monitor its performance to ensure the effective achievement of equal opportunities policies.

· We will introduce registers for civil partnerships, so that two unmarried adults can have their relationship recognised by the authority.

· We will seek to make grants available to small independent shops, business premises, hotels and entertainment or leisure facilities in order to help with the costs of measures such as widening doorways and corridors, installing wheelchair-accessible lifts and communication aids for people with hearing impairments.

· We will base fostering and adoption practice on the suitability of individual fosterers and the needs of the child.

Employment and Training

Unemployment is a depressing and disempowering state. It undermines people, families, communities and leads to social isolation and poverty. Persistent high levels of unemployment have changed people’s expectations of working life. Most people feel more uncertainty about their employment prospects than ever before. Some younger people have had little or no experience of continued, regular or reliable employment.

Although local councils cannot directly influence the national economic climate, they have a significant role to play in addressing local employment, and in helping to create the climate for a sustainable local economy and for businesses locally to thrive and grow. As with many other responsibilities over recent years, both Conservative and Labour central Governments have ignored local authorities, establishing new Quangos to lead regeneration initiatives and attempting to separate regeneration issues from wider social and economic issues. Policies such as City Challenge and the Single Regeneration Budget have targeted funding to particular areas through a 'beauty contest' bidding process rather than on the basis of need. This arbitrary ‘sticking plaster’ approach to regeneration has failed.

Liberal Democrats believe that local government should play a key co-ordinating role in bringing public, private and voluntary agencies together to develop regeneration strategies. Liberal Democrat councils, as large local employers and as community representatives, will seek partnership with other employers, training institutions and others to promote and develop opportunities for local residents, including our wider plans for environmental sustainability and the potential for 'green jobs' in areas such as energy efficiency.

We will target resources carefully on areas where it can make a difference. Our priorities will be to:

= Support local small businesses.

· We will survey smaller businesses to ensure that they have access to the premises and support services they need. Local authorities can help by identifying local skill shortages and working with colleges and the TEC to ensure they are met; providing loan guarantees for growing companies; making greater use of local small businesses as suppliers of goods and services to the council and ensuring that the council pays its bills promptly.

· We will support community workshops and provide advice and packages of support to help local businesses start, as well as supporting local credit unions, in order to retain money in the community and make the local economy more sustainable.

= Work in partnership with the community to gain funding from outside sources.

· We will promote employment by mobilising resources from regional development funds and the EU, acting primarily as an enabler and facilitator. Local authorities can play a pivotal role in co-ordinating National Lottery bids, business sponsorship and the securing of funds from charitable trusts.

= Support local shops.

· We aim to enhance local shopping centres and will encourage policies that facilitate easy access to and enhance local shops. The Council now, in partnership with retailers, jointly funds a City Centre Manager to promote initiatives to improve the City centres and encourage traders to maintain a vigorous and attractive presence.

· We will support shops and pubs in rural communities, including granting UBR relief where appropriate.

· We will ensure that clean and well-kept public toilet facilities are available in town centres and shopping areas without excessive charging rates. We will explore public-private partnership options, for example by encouraging private providers such as shops, pubs or garages to allow the public to use their facilities in return for a small grant for extra cleaning or better access.

= Promote sustainable tourism.

· Liberal Democrats recognise that tourism is one of the UK’s most important industries - both for its revenue generating potential and as an industry that employs large numbers of people. In some areas like York, tourism is one of the largest industries. In partnership with other public and private agencies, we will develop tourism strategies that balance employment and wealth creation against the potential environmental and social consequences of increased tourist activity.

· We are particularly keen to develop projects which are tourist assets but which are of benefit to the local community all year round, including such simple, practical features as cycle ways.

Caring for Children and Young People

As more women return to paid work and men become involved with raising families, so support for children and childcare must adapt. Britain needs a co-ordinated and well resourced national strategy for childcare. Liberal Democrats welcome the Government’s aim of developing a National Childcare strategy and the publication of their proposals for the first such national strategy, which has also been a Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment.

Local councils have important duties in helping families and children. The Children Act has created considerable new burdens that the Government has failed to resource properly. Liberal Democrats will develop closer links between the work carried out by social services with young children and educational provision. We will work closely with families, providing support and help to keep children within the community in a family environment.

Liberal Democrats will:

= Provide an integrated service for children at risk.

· We will ensure that education and social services departments work together, drawing on voluntary, private, self help and other public resources.

· We will seek to ensure that all staff working with children are aware of the dangers, while guarding against a climate of fear and suspicion.

· Where abuse is suspected, we will aim to ensure that investigations are prompt and fair; that information is shared with the parents; and that disruption to the life of the child is kept to a minimum.

= Consult children in care on all aspects of their development, living standards and financial provision.

· We will provide independent inspection and a separate Children’s Rights service to protect the interests of children in care.

· We will ensure that young people leaving care have adequate financial and emotional support.

· We will develop strategies to supportively address the particular needs of lesbian, gay or bisexual young people in care, who make up a disproportionate number of the 'in care' population.

= Increase the availability and variety of childcare facilities.

· We will support the development of family centres for parents with young children.

· We will work with local employers, voluntary groups and other public agencies in providing a range of childcare services such as after-schools clubs, childminders, nurseries, holiday schemes and out-of-school care, aiming to provide opportunities for learning and meet the wishes of parents and the interests of children.

= Develop policies for children’s play.

· We will support play groups and provide an appropriate range of facilities tailored to the needs and abilities of different age groups, with supervised play opportunities where necessary.

· A key objective in planning and highways policies will be to provide a safe environment for children.

= Develop youth services.

· We will endeavour to enhance the role of the youth service (working in partnership with the voluntary sector) in introducing young people to active citizenship.

· We will give particular recognition to the problems and dangers of drug and solvent abuse, providing education and advice through schools and the youth service and developing specific projects to help those affected.

Dignity, Independence and Social Services

Liberal Democrats will provide effective support for people in particular need, such as older people, people with disabilities and people with special needs. We aim to ensure that all people are treated with dignity and respect, rather than being stigmatised and devalued. Providing appropriate help and care through social services and other council activity is an important part of enabling people to lead the fullest possible lives.

Liberal Democrats welcomed the introduction of the principle of Care in the Community, but believe it was seriously under-funded by the Government. The previous Conservative Government also placed an over-emphasis on the private residential sector, undermining existing and valued local authority services, and missed the opportunity to develop innovative new services in co-operation with the 'not for profit' voluntary sector.

The Labour Government has continued to fail to establish a strategic framework to deal with health and social care responsibilities. The result of which is a crisis in elderly care places, resulting in bed blocking in hospitals made worse by a chronic shortage of care assistants for operating “at home”.

Too many government agencies have been established, all working independently from one another. We aim to break down the ‘Berlin Wall’ that exists between health and social services. Liberal Democrats nationally and locally will continue to fight for local authorities to be given clear lead responsibility for purchasing community and health care, with the necessary resources to carry out such policies to meet locally determined needs.

In the meantime, Liberal Democrats will seek to:

= Give elderly residents more choice, flexibility and independence.

· We will seek to gradually improve concessionary bus fare arrangements.

· We will offer elderly residents the option to switch to a meals on wheels service which delivers frozen meals for example every fortnight, with microwave ovens provided free to users, if they so desire.

· We will seek to create – in conjunction with organisations such as Age Concern - handyperson schemes, offering basic repairs for older homeowners (who often don't have the confidence to engage their own tradespeople) done by the council's Commercial Services organisation, and examine volunteer schemes to aid with gardening.

· We will consider a "freefall" campaign, seeking part-funding from the local PCT, to send people round to older people's homes to check for trip hazards such as trailing wires and carry out simple repairs in order to prevent broken hips. We will offer free electric blanket checks, run in conjunction with trading standards.

· We will explore seated exercise initiatives for older people in residential homes and sheltered housing, and offer a range of concessions and special sessions for older people at council leisure centres.

· We will seek to greatly broaden the local facilities to which Internet access is provided, and examine volunteer and co-funded public training schemes for computer use, in order that older people in particular can benefit from new technology.

· We will give older people a high priority in our council house central heating and energy efficiency programmes.

= Improve standards in social care.

· We will continue to develop community-based services for all who require them, including home helps, care attendants, ‘lifeline’ communication systems and domestic repair and adaptation schemes, aiming to be flexible and innovative to meet people’s needs.

· We will ensure that residential care standards are raised by implementing ‘Home Life’ in all local authority residential homes as soon as possible, providing appropriate training opportunities for all residential care staff and requiring local authority homes to meet the same standards as those for the private sector, with fully transparent costings.

· We will guarantee that where transfers to the independent sector are considered, the rights of existing residents are protected, care standards are guaranteed, and as wide a choice of homes as possible is created.

= Work in partnership to develop effective local care services.

· We will involve users, carers, voluntary organisations, staff, professional groups and local health services in the development of community care plans.

· We will provide a range of support to voluntary organisations, so that they are able to act both as service providers and as campaigners and advocates.

· We will co-operate with Registered Social Landlords and developers to establish a wide range of specialist housing.

= Give users of social services more say about the care they receive and develop services that meet individuals' needs and aspirations.

· We will involve users in planning for services and extend advocacy and self-advocacy schemes.

· We will encourage greater control and choice to users, by establishing centres run by users themselves.

· We will extend independent living schemes to allow people to manage their own care and decide how their care is delivered.

· We will establish simple complaints procedures, with quick and informal systems for resolving problems.

· We will establish a Disability Forum, made up of people with disabilities, their representatives and carers, which will have direct access to Council officers and committees.

= Provide support to carers.

· We recognise the important role played by informal carers, and will introduce a Carers' Charter to give the carer a single access point, with respite care and other support services and the right to have their own needs and capacity to provide care separately assessed.

· We will encourage the development of carers’ self help groups, which can also involve carers in influencing and shaping services.

York Key Policies – Social Services & Health

* Strengthen support for carers to include entitlement to respite and training.

* To provide a network of “Community Helpers” through adequate funding to the voluntary sector.

* To work in partnership with others to raise the profile and esteem of those working in the caring professions.

* To work with others to identify and address specific needs of an area or group of people e.g. social isolation of the elderly.

* To increase support for preventative health measures e.g. “Walking your way to Health” and “Green Gyms”.

*To prevent the depletion in numbers of care home places, thus avoiding delayed discharges, and to provide greater choice for residents.

For further information contact Cllr Sue Galloway on York 794111

Honesty and Openness

People deserve and should demand honesty and openness from the levels of government that serve them - individuals pay, individuals live in the areas affected, and so individuals matter and are likely to know best. Liberal Democrat believe that decisions should be made as far as possible and as close as practical to the people they affect, yet too much local and central government is still obsessively centralised and secretive, or hived off to Quangos away from democracy altogether. That is no way to encourage participation, build free decisions or hold representatives to account.

For Liberal Democrats, public participation in the political process is a key goal and is one of the main reasons why we have spent the last 10 months calling at over 2/3 of York households while conducting our BIG SURVEY.

Liberal Democrat visions for local government is to value diversity. Local government should be given the power to experiment with many different ways of doing things and find the best local solutions to local problems, not be bullied by central government. Decentralisation and pluralism are key to controlling central government power and increasing individual freedom. Every local community should be able to find its own way to meet the minimum standards; Westminster's job should be to set these, not to dictate every detail.

Sadly, the Labour Government has a different view, and peculiar ideas on how to get people interested in local government. While they have some good ideas - we welcome changes to a 'rolling' electoral register and making postal votes more easily available (though rejecting universal postal voting in the absence of guarantees against wide-spread fraud) - their reorganisation of local government will simply make matters worse. We are no defenders of bureaucratic old council structures - but no enthusiasts for the Labour Government's blueprints either, which are too prescriptive, too top-down, too centralised and too plainly motivated by their wish to control 'Old Labour' town halls. Completely missing from Labour's local government plans are any signs of greater power for local government to act on behalf of local people, as opposed to enforcing on local people the prescribed policies of the Westminster bosses.

Nationally, Liberal Democrats would replace the Council Tax with local income tax, and give local authorities more discretion over spending. Our plans for regional government would take powers from Westminster, not local government. Perhaps most significantly, we would establish a power of general competence to enable local authorities to make the decisions they believe are best for their communities, unless specifically forbidden by law. We would for example provide the Council’s Commercial Services organisations with greater trading freedoms.

We believe that the ability to make decisions of real substance and see real action at local level would increase interest and involvement from local people. The public regard local government structural changes as extremely dull - to reinvigorate interest in local government, greater power to produce better service delivery so people know their vote means something would have been a far more useful step than fiddling about with members' ego trips on the Labour model. Greater power must also be balanced by greater accountability and freedom of information.

We would decentralise more power to neighbourhood government, introduce Citizens' Initiative referenda to ensure people have a say between elections, and introduce proportional representation by single transferable vote for local elections to prevent councils being controlled for decades by parties holding 'safe seats' without majority support in the community - even when the party in control is the Liberal Democrats..

In local government, we have delivered. Over the last three years the average Lib Dem council has increased council tax by only 5.6% a year, compared to 6.0% for Labour councils and 7.2% for Conservative authorities. Some Liberal Democrat groups taking over from wasteful and remote Labour councils in places such as Islington have even been able to make significant cuts to council taxes while still improving services.

Opening Up The York Council

Liberal Democrats believe there is much that local authorities can and should do to open up the structures of government and to give people a voice. The first thing that councils must do is reform themselves. Many people still see the local council as a faceless bureaucracy. Liberal Democrat councils will seek to:

= Ensure openness and honesty in serving the public.

· We will establish a public register of councillors’ and senior officers’ interests, going beyond the statutory requirements, to include disclosure of membership of all social organisations.

· We will appoint an Internal Ombudsman to deal with complaints against the council and examine establishing User Forums to monitor performance and complaints.

· We will strive to achieve proportional nominations to outside bodies and seek to introduce a proportional voting system for any elections held to bodies within the Council’s influence, such as school governors.

= Use the Internet and other ICT to make the council more accessible, and increase Internet availability to residents:

· We will seek to maximise access to the Internet, for example by making use of existing community facilities such as pubs, post offices, surgeries, train stations and libraries, as well as schools when not in use by pupils.

· We will explore the possibility of setting set up IT Kiosks in main shopping areas to provide 24 hour information on Council services and allow e-mails to be sent free either to anyone or at least to councillors and council officers at any time of the day or night, seeking ways to make them self-funding.

· We will explore ways of using ICT to involve and inform the public, such as developing an interactive website so that residents have a method of detailed online contact and participation rather than just for basic information and transactions, putting weekly lists of planning applications received up on council web pages, or the Council Leader taking part in online chats with members of the public.

· We will explore ways to use e-mail to keep residents better informed, for example by sending out e-mail notifications for area committees, setting up e-mail bulletins on changes to council activities (such as disruption to waste collection), and making available regular e-mail versions of the council publications which are delivered door-to-door.

· We will explore the possibility of special telephone hotlines or IT terminals being installed in council premises such as libraries, sports centres and housing and social services offices giving residents free telephone or e-mail access to the council.

= Open up the council’s structures to the public.

· We will seek to introduce a ‘Duty of Openness’ by going beyond legal requirements in opening up the Council, making meetings and documents accessible to the public and giving all people over 16 access to their personal files.

· We will seek to improve the accessibility of council services for all, including the access to council buildings for people with disabilities.

· We will ensure that the Council Executive meets in public with proper advance warning of agenda items and a clear opportunity for the community to input before decisions are taken.

= Involve people in the decision making process.

· We will listen to the views of local people through surveys, opinion polls and mechanisms such as Citizen’s Juries, using the information to help develop council priorities and those of other bodies such as Health Authorities and those concerned with community safety. We will seek to build the action and habit of participation among young people by asking local schools for their ideas on issues for council debate.

· We will aim to consult widely on setting the council budgets, rents and charges, and explore options such as local referenda on budget levels.

· Local people (particularly service users and/or their advocates) will continue to have the right to speak at or present petitions to council and committee meetings, especially those concerned with planning applications.

· We believe that decisions should be taken closer to the people by holding meetings in local communities rather than in the Guildhall.

· We will devolve, where possible, services to Ward Committees and/or parish councils by transferring functions or land or through agency agreements recognising that lower tiers of government can often provide targeted services at a lower cost and in a more responsive way. In non-parished areas, we would seek to establish new parish councils if the majority of local residents wanted one.

= Encourage people to make decisions for themselves.

· We will support community development projects which enable local people to play a more active role within their community.

· We will encourage the use of the voluntary sector to provide local services with the aim of pump-priming innovative community action.

· We will help to establish tenants’ and residents’ associations and encourage them to manage and run their own estates in conjunction with the Ward Committees and Parish Councils where appropriate.

· We will seek to establish Youth Councils to involve young people in the decision making process and encourage them to run their own projects.

· We will examine ways for councils to run 'shadow' programmes to encourage local people to become councillors.

= Be an effective voice for the community.

· Local councillors have been elected to act as ‘representatives’ in the fullest sense of the word. Local authorities should be advocates for the local community and work with outside organisations to improve the quality of life and services within the community as a whole.

· We believe that local authorities should take on the role of community leadership, to defend local people and to promote community action.

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