Warwick District Manifesto Launched

6.33.56pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 24th Apr 2007

Alan Boad

Alan Boad, the leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Warwick District Council, today launched the group's manifesto for the local elections on Thursday 3rd May.

The summary of the manifesto is set out below. To read the full document, follow the navigation link on the left hand side of this web site.

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The Administration successes 2003- 2007

The Liberal Democrats have been part of the administration of Warwick District Council since 2003. The Council achieved an Excellent rating in its Comprehensive Performance Assessment.

What the Audit Commission said, "The administration provides the Council with a clear sense of political direction, …is well managed, provides effective, value for money services, … while service performance is better than average".

The District Council has the 63rd lowest council tax of all the 238 District Councils in the country.

The Council has been high achieving over the past 4 years and has had a vision of where the District needs to be to face the challenges of the 21st century.

It has delivered 'The best urban park in the country' with its restoration of the Jephson Gardens, building on the success of the Pump Rooms, the first phase of the Cultural Quarter; Old Town regeneration in Leamington; St Mary's Lands and the Market Square in Warwick and the refurbishment of Abbey End in Kenilworth. Booming inward investment such as Livery Street and economic development attracting the Wolseley Headquarters relocation, to name just a few of the administrations achievements.

The Legacy

This vision and looking to the future has levered in significant external resources which will come to fruition over the next few years. The hoped for extension of the Cultural Quarter and the proposed relocation of the Loft Theatre to Spencer Street Church will create a thriving Cultural Quarter. It will include business incubator units specifically targeted at the Creative Industries to provide work opportunities in new growth sectors to replace the older shrinking manufacturing base of the District. Advantage West Midlands funding is also helping to develop an enterprise zone in Althorpe Street, again for start up businesses.

Maintaining Leamington as a regional shopping centre has led to plans for the development of a shopping centre on Chandos Street Car Park to complement Royal Priors and add to Leamington's retail offering. Kenilworth town centre is being regenerated spurred on by Waitrose being attracted to locate in the town. Kenilworth also has a one off opportunity for a public service centre linking all of the public services in the town and new community meeting rooms, something the town has sadly missed over the years. The WiMax trial will open up all kinds of business opportunities with high speed broadband being available across the whole district, including the rural areas.

2007-2011

Building on the Legacy of the last administration the Liberal Democrats are carrying on the vision, we will look for opportunities to move the District forward to create a place that is prosperous, maintains employment opportunities for all, is a place where people feel safe and choose to live.

Our main manifesto commitments can be summarised under the following headings: Cleaner, Greener, Safer, Stronger, with the overarching priority the shortage of affordable homes.

One of the big challenges facing us is the shortage of homes for local people that are affordable, either to rent or to buy. We believe that a decent secure home is the bedrock for the development of a thriving community, good health and educational achievement cannot be achieved in overcrowded or poor housing conditions. We have proposals that are designed to maximise the number of affordable houses that can be achieved in what is a very expensive and difficult housing area.