Today the Manchester Liberal Democrats released a manifesto of what a Lib Dem run Manchester City Council would do.
Manchester Liberal Democrats are making 5 key promises for the 2010 local elections:
1) Cut Council Tax by £51 for a Band D property.
2) Cut waste, including ending the Council Leader’s Chauffeur-driven car and claiming back £421,000 owed by other councils.
3) Lobby for the return of £82million GMP Funding, which would pay for over 500 more police on our streets.
4) Spend over £1million extra on gritting and improving our roads.
5) Reverse plans to close Ewing school; and cut truancy levels.
We want to change Manchester for the better, making it safer, greener, cleaner and more local. We will play our full part in the future of Manchester’s City Region. We’ll stand up for the people of Manchester, and give power back to the people.
I particularly liked the commitment to provide at least 5 new grit bins for each ward. During the recent Cold Spell this measure would have made a huge difference in Chorlton. The Manifesto also promises to spend an extra £420,000 improving the city’s drainage and roads. When Chorlton has the second worst drains in the City and numerous potholes and poor road surfaces - this investment would be hugely beneficial. I also really like the idea of increasing local community grants (CASH grants) to £66,000 per ward and devolving more decisions to communities.
The Manifesto shows how committed the Lib Dems are to green and environmental issues. Unlike Labour we would include Manchester Airport and aviation in the City's climate change plan. We would concentrate on improving recycling and reducing waste. Manchester's Lib Dems are committed to protecting our green open spaces from developers. I'm really pleased the Manifesto has encompassed one of the suggestions from the What Next? event to create a Smart Meter loan scheme from libraries.
The full Manifesto is available to view online at http://bit.ly/ahrqJL
£1M on gritting? You are having a laugh, how often would this have been used in the last decade? A one off event like the snow in January will still render travel dangeous and will still consume all the extra grit, not much use in June and July though is it?
ReplyDeleteJust where is the £1M coming from anyway?