The Liberal Democrat Vision for Chelmsford

A Safer, Greener, Fairer Chelmsford in 2007

Our key proposals for Chelmsford Borough in 2005 would have meant a lower council tax than the Conservatives, better services for local residents and less money on central bureaucracy. The Conservatives voted these down, and Labour councillors did not even bother to turn up.

Read the Lib Dem 2005 Budget proposals in full: http://www.chelmsford-libdems.org.uk/news/32.html

Our manifesto for the County Council elections 2005 is here: www.chelmsford-libdems.org.uk/news/39.html

Our manifesto for the 2003 Borough Elections had the following priorities.

* Continued value for money (recognised by external audit)

* A Community Safety Strategy with proposals that work not the soundbites from our opponents

* Further enhancement of sport and leisure facilities and public open spaces

* Sustainable, high quality development for the houses forced on us by on government, protecting green spaces and preventing urban sprawl

* Continuing to attract new investment and business to the Borough

* Better and more integrated transport; improved cycle and pedestrian routes

* Continued expansion of recycling programme

See below for details.

Introduction

When we first took control of the Council in 1983 after 30 years of Tory misrule, Chelmsford was in decline. Since then we have had four periods of control 1983-87, 1987-91, 1995-99 and 1999-2003.

During those periods Chelmsford has been transformed into a thriving, prosperous and lively Borough where people want to live, work and enjoy life. Much has been done but we are not complacent. Our sound financial strategy has enabled the Council to become debt free. This releases capital sums for projects that benefit all our residents and allows us to keep the Borough Council Tax amongst the lowest in Essex.

We recognise that we need to keep working hard to maintain and enhance Chelmsford's premier position in the East of England. We want to give our residents the ever-improving lifestyle they deserve.

As Liberal Democrats we have and will continue to work more closely with the community: listening to what you have to say; taking greater care of our environment; working with our partners including the Town and Parish Councils, the Health Service, the Police, the County Council, the voluntary sector and above all our residents, striving to improve your Borough.

That is why the Liberal Democrats have adopted Building on Success - Making our Borough even Better as our theme. This is reflected throughout this manifesto and we have set out an ambitious programme to achieve it.

Your Liberal Democrat councillors have been making the difference in all aspects of the Council's work and in their local communities. In the following pages we have set out our plans for the next four years.

The Liberal Democrat Guarantee

Why a Guarantee?

This manifesto is a programme for the next four years for the Council, our many partners and for all the residents of this Borough. It is a four year programme because on 1st May 2003 you will elect the fifty-seven councillors to serve for the next four years.

It is an ambitious programme. It will further enhance the quality of public service the Council delivers, the way it delivers them and the way the Council engages with the community of Chelmsford Borough.

As before, this programme includes pledges against which you will be able to measure our performance in key areas.

As Liberal Democrats we now want to take this further and offer you some guarantees about the style and direction that the Liberal Democrats bring to the Council and the way it is run for each of the principal service areas.

What does this mean for me?

Only the Liberal Democrats with their experienced team of Executive Members and Councillors, backed up by a proven track record, can deliver this ambitious programme. We will continue the improvement in the quality of services the Council delivers, the way it delivers them and the way the Council engages with the people of Chelmsford.

We set out what you have a right to expect from us as a Council, as individual Councillors and the eight pledges we make to you, our residents.

Our pledges to You

In 1999 we said we would make our communities more vibrant, prosperous, safer, greener, caring, involved and with a future. This we have achieved and will maintain.

Now, again we make you eight pledges:

Putting People First

Liberal Democrats believe that the Council should put the people first, and not "the system". We put a high value on consultation and listening to what people tell us. Which is why we seek your views through our bi-annual MORI surveys and regular consultations via our six-weekly Borough Life free newspaper. We shall continue to work with our established residents' Focus Groups. This then helps us to draw up policies, which take account of those views.

Over the next four years we will take forward and develop our plans for a single point of access at the Civic Centre to give a greater customer focus and we will empower our staff to provide customers with the information they need, when they need it, in the form they need it.

We have made achieving our pledges a priority. Now we want to tell you more about our programme for the next four years.

What kind of Council can you expect?

Campaigning for a Better Chelmsford Borough

Your Liberal Democrat Council will:

We also, as a group of individual candidates, want to offer some guarantees that every individual Liberal Democrat councillor will give.

Your Liberal Democrat councillors will:

The story so far

For sixteen of the last twenty years the Liberal Democrats have led the administration on Chelmsford Borough Council. On taking control in 1983 we immediately put in place policies which reversed the years of Tory neglect and decline and halted the wholesale destruction of Chelmsford town centre. We now see the transformation of the Chelmsford Borough into a thriving, diverse and vibrant community. We have a shopping centre acknowledged to be one of the premier retail centres in the whole of the East of England. The expanding Anglia Polytechnic University is now firmly established and the Business School is nearing completion. The Broomfield Hospital has chosen to consolidate and expand on its present site offering a comprehensive health service to the area.

Last year the Council achieved debt free status having paid off its Public Works Loan Board borrowings. This was an integral part of the Liberal Democrat financial strategy, which will help us keep Chelmsford Borough Council Tax rates amongst the lowest in Essex. This has enabled the Council to continue to undertake long awaited capital projects, which will benefit every resident in the Borough. Additionally we can facilitate a major increase in affordable homes to rent.

Now is the time for businesses to come to Chelmsford Borough. Confidence is high and significant investment is taking place in the leisure, retail, health, transport, education, housing and business sectors. The diverse local economy provides numerous opportunities for employment and business.

All these achievements have only happened because of the sound management and vision of the Liberal Democrat administrations.

For more details of Liberal Democrat achievements in the past four years see below.

Partnership Working

We believe that the Council cannot be the sole provider of local services, nor is it necessarily the best provider. Essex County Council, Town and Parish Councils, the Police, local voluntary, community, church, and other groups have important roles to play, in partnership with the Council. They make up an important part of community provision of services and provide a forum for the development of new ideas and innovation.

Local groups identify and articulate issues on behalf of the people they support, and provide a useful campaigning and pressure base. We brought these groups together to form the Local Strategic Partnership, which worked well when producing the Borough's, Community Plan. This went out to public consultation and was favourably received. The Plan, which was published early this year, sets out our strategic plans and those of our partners for the next five years.

We are fully committed to work with the health service to provide better local care. To achieve this we will:

Making our Borough even better [Environment, Planning, Sound Finance].

In general life is good in Chelmsford. It is a safe and comfortable place to live. It is prosperous and relatively crime-free with unemployment well below the national average.

The Liberal Democrats intend to respond to the challenge of making Chelmsford an even better place to live by building on our successes with imaginative policies and these are described below.

The environment is at the heart of all our work

We will ensure environmental concerns underpin everything the Council does. We have invested heavily in recycling and vastly extended our door-to-door collection. We are on course to better the Governments target of 40% recycling by 2004 and 60% in 2007. In addition to our normal street cleaning we have introduced a 'Hit Squad' to deal with fly tipping and a 'Gateway Route Squad' to collect litter on the main routes in and out of the Chelmsford Borough.

But we are extending our environmental action far beyond this. Our Borough Plan, which will guide development for the next ten years, is based upon the principles of sustainability. The current Community Plan has also been based on environmental sustainability, and we want to make sure that the Council's action plans for all areas of its responsibility reflect this too. We will:

Meeting the challenge of planning

The Liberal Democrats when faced with very difficult decisions to be made, especially being forced to find room for over 6000 additional homes, have shown resolution and vision, especially in our commitment to sustainability, which is integral to the new Borough Plan.

Our decision to plan for over 2000 dwellings on 'brownfield' sites in town centre developments will bring about dramatic improvements in the local economies and social life.

A beginning can be seen in the ongoing reconstruction of the Chelmsford Canal Basin with its new apartments and restaurant. This means there will be:

In order to achieve a higher standard of design everywhere we have taken a positive approach to the control of development. This will not only make clear to developers what the Boroughs requirements are before any planning applications are dealt with, but will also enable local people to be involved in producing this guidance.

This has been recognised by Planning Services being awarded Beacon Council Status for its work in achieving Quality in the Built Environment.

We will continue to:

The implementation of this strategy will be a major challenge over the next four years.

Responsible Finance and prudent use of resources

The transfer of our housing stock and repaying our long term loans, to become debt free, has released capital to improve the former council houses, build new affordable housing for rent and to fund many worthwhile capital projects.

This astute financial management has enabled us to initiate many new programmes whilst keeping our council tax below the Essex average and maintaining yearly increases amongst the lowest in Essex.

We will:

Making our Borough even better. Culture, Sport & Leisure

Your Borough already has many rich cultural assets catering for all tastes and needs. Yet we still have aspirations and cultural needs that remain unfulfilled. Our residents' needs and expectations develop constantly and we must respond.

After extensive public consultation we have produced our cultural strategy document, Celebrate Chelmsford, which maps out our plans for the next five years.

We will:

Employment and economic development

There are more jobs provided in the Chelmsford Borough than in any other District in Essex. Whilst about 15,000 people commute daily into London 21,500 people travel into the Borough to work.

Chelmsford has more occupied office space than any other town in Essex and is second only to Lakeside in Essex in the retail floor space available.

Our objectives and priorities are to:

Local Transport and getting around

Your Council has developed an Integrated Transport Strategy, which aims to maximise the opportunities to use bus and rail and to provide for safer and more convenient walking and cycling. Appropriate use of the private car is provided for, including Park and Ride but measures to reduce car dependency are encouraged.

In order to achieve these objectives we will:

4. Making our Borough even better.

Housing and Community development

In March 2002 our housing tenants voted to transfer the ownership of their dwellings to Chelmer Housing Partnership. This has enabled CHP to embark on an ambitious programme to improve and modernise the stock.

In addition the Council received our largest ever grant allocation from the Government for social housing. The Council does however retain its Strategic Housing role and we will:

Creating Safer Neighbourhoods

The safety and security of Chelmsford residents is of great importance to us. The Council has a key role in helping the police to fight crime.

We have invested heavily to provide extensive closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) This has paid off with reduced levels of crime and the award of Charter Mark status.

Together with our partners we:

Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour

We have introduced 'no alcohol' street drinking zones in the Town Centre, which has helped the Police to reduce anti-social behaviour. We will:

However anti-social behaviour isn't just about youth crime. We will:

5. Don't just take it from us!

There have been many compliments about the Council's work. Principally:

6. The Liberal Democrats' record of Action

Our principle achievements over the past four years are as follows: