Who will get your vote on May 6?
CONTENDERS PUBLISH THEIR MANFESTOS
IT is just over three weeks until people in Derby go to the polls - a year later than originally planned because of the coronavirus pandemic.
When the local election takes place on Thursday, May 6, 18 seats will be at stake on Derby City Council - one for each ward in the city plus one more in Darley following the resignation last month of Lisa Eldret.
Derby operates a thirds system which means a third of the 51 council seats come up for election each year and then in the fourth year there are no elections – such as in 2017.
The 82 candidates are standing for the Conservative, Green, Labour, Labour and Co-operative Party, Liberal Democrat, Reform Derby and Reform UK and Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition parties, together with two independents and one Link Party nominee.
Votes cast in person on polling day and in the post over the next few weeks will be counted overnight on May 6 into May 7, when results will be announced.
These votes will decide who makes decisions on our behalf on key matters such as adult and children’s social care, road repairs, libraries, public health and much more.
The Conservative group is currently in control of the authority, and has been since 2018 with support from the Lib Dems and Reform Derby.
Overall, the situation on the Conservative-led 51-seat city council is Conservatives 17 seats, Labour 14, Liberal Democrats nine, Reform Derby five and five independent councillors, with one vacant seat.
Each of the major parties contesting the upcoming council election has now released their pledges to voters, the reasons they are asking residents to vote for them – wrapped up in manifestos.
Here is what each of the political parties, listed in alphabetical order, are pledging in their manifestos:
Conservatives
The Derby Conservative group has published a 12-page manifesto entitled Today, Tomorrow, Together with a sub-title of: Delivering a strong recovery from Covid-19.
It has five main themes
■ A Derby for Everyone - investment in your neighbourhood, supporting your community
■ Recovery and Regeneration - a £200 million commitment for Derby in a post Covid-19 world
■ Derby Connected - investment in local infrastructure and better travel options for all
■ A strong city centre - investment, transformation and revitalisation
■ Green Derby - green spaces, clean air and decarbonisation
Group leader Councillor Chris Poulter said: “Since March 2020, Derby has faced unprecedented challenges and we are asking for the continued support of the residents that we serve to allow us to deliver our recovery plan – working hard today whilst planning for tomorrow, together as a community.
“Our plan will ensure that Derby emerges stronger than ever as a thriving, attractive and well-maintained city.
“Back in 2018 we formed a council administration and worked hard to repair the damage the former Labour council had done to our city. More recently our efforts have been to restructure many aspects of the council to support Derby through the massive health, financial and social impact of Covid-19.
“We rose to that challenge and ensured that council services were protected, and budgets balanced alongside supporting our many communities and businesses through the health crisis. Not only that, but with your support in this election, we are promising historic levels of investment in future years. “There is once again a clear choice at this election - quite simply, Derby cannot afford a return to a wasteful and dysfunctional Labour-led council because all of the hard work of the last three years may well be reversed and many of our important plans for the future scrapped.” Pledges include: deploying CCTV to fly-tipping hotspots; opening creativity hubs for children and young people; first class entertainment facilities in Becketwell; more affordable homes; pavement resurfacing; sprinkler systems in schools where possible; programme of city centre events; repair of Guildhall Theatre; regeneration of the Market Place; carbon neutral by 2035; invest in local parks; increase floral displays and improve cycle lanes; tackle poverty and inequality; ensure taxis and licensed vehicles meet very high standards; explore provision of free wi-fi across the city; continued free brown bin collection; create wildflower nature areas on grass verges; expand the rapid electric vehicle charge point network and promote a sense of pride by keeping the city clean and safe.
Labour
The Derby Labour group has published a 12-page manifesto which aims to define a new future for Derby - one of prosperity, inspiration, respect, community, collaboration and nurturing. It has five main themes:
■ Delivering - We pledge to give Derby an identity and a city centre to be proud of
■ Determined - we pledge to be bold and bring everyone along on the journey with us
■ Decent - we pledge to treat everyone equally, with compassion and respect
■ Decarbonisation - we pledge to care for your future, putting the environment at the forefront of everything we do
■ Dependable - we pledge to invest in our neighbourhoods, putting you first. Our services will be reliable and easily accessible Group leader Baggy Shanker said: “The Labour group has learned a great deal since we were last in charge in 2018. We have new leadership, we have taken stock of the past, we are reviewing the fast-paced changing scenery of our pandemic present, we are listening and allowing those lessons to inform us; to define a new future for Derby - one of prosperity, inspiration, respect, community, collaboration, and nurturing. “Our manifesto centres around us developing Derby’s identity and celebrating the pride we have for our city. For too long Derby has struggled with its identity, living in the shadows of our East Midlands neighbours. It’s time to develop our self-confidence and celebrate our unique character. We need to be loud and proud about who we are, where we began and where are we going.
“We are a collaborative city, built on innovation, a place where as partners, all of us; businesses, residents and students, creatives, engineers, scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs can celebrate our past, live in the present and drive our future, proud of who we were,
where we are and where we are going; proud of our identity.
“Derby is a city of industry. We have the Silk Mill, Rolls Royce, Alstom, Toyota and Royal Crown Derby, yet do we really celebrate it? By promising a face and a personality for our city we can help our residents embrace it instead of being embarrassed by it.
“We want every resident to come along on the journey with us, for you to be fully involved, so that you feel the sense of place and value that defines us. This won’t happen overnight, but we can start now. We invite you to see the Derby that we see, believe in it and work with us to achieve it.
Pledges include: creating a city centre upcycling industry; developing a city heritage trail; ensuring Derby remains a festival city; embracing community-led housing projects; supporting Becketwell Arena; holding public meetings to discuss major issues; using local supply chains; ensuring Moorways Leisure Centre is council-run; bring services back in-house; fighting for four-yearly elections in the city; delivering the Derby Promise for every child; restoring Derby Racial Equality Council; achieving carbon neutrality for the city by 2031; initiating a waste review; help community groups to green the city; supporting pedal and pedestrian travel; return
of free bulky waste collections; review Raynesway tip booking system; introducing 20mph limits in key hotspots and invest in neighbourhood teams to fight anti-social behaviour and fly-tipping.
Liberal Democrats
The Derby Liberal Democrats have published a nine-page manifesto entitled A Fairer, Cleaner Greener Derby. It has eight main themes:
■ Action on climate change
■ Street scene and communities
■ Roads and transport
■ Children’s services
■ Social care
■ Accountable democracy
■ Building back better
■ Leisure and culture
Group leader Councillor Ruth Skelton said: “This year’s elections are the ones postponed from May 2020, which couldn’t take place due to the COVID 19 outbreak and lockdown. The past year has been like no other. The loss of life on such a scale was not inevitable and should be a source of shame to the Government.
“The problems and issues that were present before the pandemic are still there. Some of them have got worse such as poverty and child hunger and mental health and wellbeing.
“Another urgent challenge is the climate emergency. Derby Liberal Democrat councillors have been demanding action on this way before the council declared a climate emergency in May 2019. An action plan should have been developed by the end of 2019, but this didn’t happen. In January 2020, Lib Dem councillors successfully put forward a motion to get specifications and a timescale for work the council should be doing to combat climate change. The Conservative council cabinet should have presented these plans last May, but this still hasn’t been done. “We need to start seeing some real action now. Not only from the Council, but also from other public sector organisations and businesses. We need major investment in housing, transport and other infrastructure.
“Local Liberal Democrats have been working hard all year round, to serve their communities and Derby. Lib Dems in Derby have been sewing PPE, providing meals to school children, delivering food, prescriptions and other essentials to residents who are self-isolating and more.
“Every Liberal Democrat councillor you elect this May will work flat out to serve you, your area and our city. I hope you will put your trust in us as we rebuild from the pandemic.
Pledges include: working to decarbonise and mitigate the effects of climate change; increase recycling; dealing with fly-tipping; building more council housing; tackling homelessness; reducing crime levels; increase number of 20mph zones; improve bus services; improve accuracy of education, health and care plans for children; expanding special educational needs provision; improving social care; creating more extra care housing in Derby; changing from council cabinet to committee system; retain thirds voting system; converting empty office space to flats above retail premises; tackle poverty, reinstate the twin city Osnabruck envoy to Derby; establish a Covid memorial in the city centre; retention of successful libraries and identify a suitable use for the Assembly Rooms site.
Reform Derby
The Reform Derby group has published a 12-page document entitled Time for Change -a 2021 contract for Derby - insisting it is a contract and not a manifesto. It has nine key themes:
■ Bolder Derby
■ Infrastructure and enterprise
■ A new dawn Care and community spirit
■ Leisure and services
■ Education children future
■ Environment
■ Political reform
■ Common Sense Policies
Group leader Councillor Alan Graves said: “We are the true voice for all the people in Derby. People before party. A party without a whip, allowing our elected members to freely represent their residents.
“We want to give power back to the people. Eight councillors currently make over 90% of council decisions, Reform Derby believes that we should have a committee System where all 51 councillors have a say in the running of Derby.
“Many people had written off us off in previous local elections. However, like a great British underdog that we are, we stuck it out and showed the people of Alvaston and Boulton wards that we were the only alternative party to vote for. After a lot of hard work and commitment, the people of Alvaston and Boulton voted us in.
“Due to the political make-up of the council, no party has overall control. Therefore, our group have the power to influence the direction of the council on a case-by-case basis bringing common sense back into the Council. For example we voted for the reintroduction of the free brown bin and we voted against the Sinfin Incinerator. This is what you, and we, achieved with five councillors, and if you, the people of Derby want more common sense and forward thinking policies then keep voting for us. We will always put the people first rather than party politics.
“Our aims include driving down council tax, stamping out waste, corruption and giving power back to the people.
“We are offering a grassroots change for Derby. One that fights for the residents of Derby, businesses and enabling Derby to be more efficient.
“We are telling residents that there is a different way. We will cut waste, we will be more democratic and we will be more transparent. We want a political revolution: We want fundamental democratic reforms to fix our broken political system.
“We are not afraid to push boundaries to ensure we have a working Derby for you! We want to cut the council’s advertising and self-promotion budgets, build partnerships to reduce costs, abolish non-essential and politically-correct jobs and red tape.
“The old mainstream parties have made ‘manifesto’ a dirty word. Everybody knows that a manifesto is little more than a set of vague promises that its authors have no intention of keeping. Just like when the Derby Conservatives promised to move to a committee system in their 2018 manifesto, then voted against it in 2020. We have issued a contract not a manifesto and all our 17 candidates have signed the contract. They will fight for all the policies inside this document at every opportunity.”
Pledges include: keeping council tax as low as possible; livestream full council meetings; size-up the Derby Christmas market; new salary scaling for new council staff; use Derby Arena for jobs fairs; cheaper weekend parking in city with first 45 minutes free; helping increased spending on pothole repairs, more one-way systems in narrow streets, more bike-friendly city, providing a safety net for those in need; action on taxis; push for Derby city’s boundary to increase; bringing back community spirit; supporting Derby in Bloom; caring for armed forces veterans; working to provide public toilets; extra support special educational needs children; increased cycle routes; planting trees; measures to combat fly-tipping; replace council cabinet system with committee system and major decisions should be put to public vote or referendum.