From school places to the environment
With the local elections now just two weeks away, the Advertiser is featuring the main pledges by the parties as they compete for your vote at the ballot box. This week, we will be focusing on the Conservatives (p7), Labour (p7), the Liberal Democrats (p8), The Borough First Independents (p10) and the Green Party (p10). We are also aiming to focus on smaller groups and independent candidates next week.
Keeping council tax low, cracking down on crime and anti-social behaviour, tackling congestion and climate change are among the pledges in the Royal Borough Conservative manifesto, writes Jade Kidd.
In its 10-point plan ‘to deliver a Royal Borough of opportunity’, the Tory party states that it will ‘keep council tax low and deliver effective value for money services’, in a range of ways including ‘effective contract management and bringing services back inhouse’. It also pledges to do this by paying off a ‘significant proportion of the council’s borrowing’.
The party is also looking to crack down on anti-social behaviour and crime by increasing the ‘number of additional neighbourhood police officers paid for by the council from four to eight’, creating a new environmental crime enforcement team, and establishing a new ‘enforcement hit squad’, consisting of officials including the expanded neighbourhood police team.
Promoting schools of choice in a range of ways including increasing the number of school places across the borough, delivering a ‘new primary school and secondary school for Maidenhead’, and opening a ‘new special educational needs free school in Windsor’ also feature in the plans.
The party said it is also planning to ‘create housing opportunity’ through a range of ways including delivering ‘hundreds of new socially rented homes across the borough’ and giving ‘local people on RBWM’s housing register first right of refusal on new affordable housing’ in their area.
Tackling climate change, enhancing the environment, and promoting sustainability and promoting ‘a vibrant and prosperous local economy and thriving town centres’, also appear in the plans.
The Tories are also pledging to enhance the ‘cultural, heritage, leisure and civic offer and facilities’, and want to provide ‘continued funding’ of Norden Farm and The Old Court.
Protecting the ‘vulnerable and securing the health provision’ needed is another pledge, which would feature the introduction of a ‘new model of care for looked after children’ called Family First.
The party is pledging to ‘hold developers to account, resist unwanted and inappropriate development’, and protect the greenbelt, in a range of ways including increasing the amount that developers have to pay to ‘provide the infrastructure needed’, ‘expand the number of school places’ across the borough and ‘promote enhanced medical facilities’, particularly primary care clinics and GP surgery space.
Lastly, the party plans to tackle congestion, investing in highways and ‘promoting sustainable transport’ and is looking to ‘fix more potholes’ and ‘promote walking and cycling to improve air quality’.