Elections Parties set out plans in bid to persuade voters

WHILE Bristol City Council will not host elections until 2024, political parties on its borders are currently fighting for votes ahead of May 4.

North Somerset and South Gloucestershire will be heading to the polls in what could be a game-changing election for how the wider area is run.

In South Gloucestershire the Conservatives are defending a narrow overall majority on the council of two seats from the Liberal Democrats and Labour. Each of the main political parties have now set out their plans for South Gloucestershire, in a bid to persuade voters to pick them on their ballot papers.

The Conservatives said they were “fielding the most diverse range of candidates ever”, with one in five coming from ethnic minority backgrounds. Their pledges include free parking in all council-owned car parks, boosting school attainment levels, keeping the district among the top-performing councils in the country for recycling, and investing in the local road network.

The party, which has run the council since 2007, has also promised to fight for several local issues across South Gloucestershire. These include making permanent a noise camera trial tackling anti-social drivers; campaigning for a new secondary school in Lyde Green; and improving pedestrian safety at Damsons Bridge in Winterbourne.

Council leader Toby Savage, right, is stepping down after this election, but said his administration has “delivered real improvements” since the last election in 2019, including building new schools, new park and ride provision and MetroBus extensions, and campaigning against “unsustainable housing targets” proposed by the West of England Combined Authority.

Labour pledged to work with landlords to make rental homes warmer, cutting heating bills for tenants; campaign for a minor injuries unit at Cossham Hospital and extra care community beds at Frenchay Hospital; improve access to free childcare; and increase a transport levy paid to the West of England Combined Authority, which is used to subsidise rural bus routes.

The party said it would work with “a future Labour government” to bring back Sure Start children’s centres, if it won the upcoming local election. A Labour-run council would also work with the West of England on training up bus drivers to fix the shortage in the region. And they would urge developers to make a third of all new-build homes affordable.

Cllr Pat Rooney, left, leader of the Labour group, is also not standing for re-election. She is retiring after three decades as a South Gloucestershire councillor, and nine years leading her group. She said: “Our Labour manifesto highlights our concerns and commitments and we believe our communities care deeply about them too. We’ve been ambitious on things like housing, climate change and transport, while making sure we’re responsible with taxpayers’ money. We keep hearing on the doorstep that people want a change. May is your opportunity to vote for one and end this Conservative-controlled council.” Greens said if they were elected they would address the “challenges of houses with multiple occupants”; reverse bus service cuts and push for a franchising model; and oppose any new giant roundabouts on the ring road. The party doesn’t currently have any councillors, but is standing 16 candidates out of a total of 61 seats.

» Further details on North Somerset’s election will be published in future editions.