Campaign/2009

Conservative Group

2009 Election Manifesto

'With You For You - making the most of West Sussex'

2. Restoring Local Government.

3. Keeping Council Tax low.

4. Through the Credit Crunch!

5. Public Transport Improvements.

6. Safety on our Roads.

7. To ensure you feel safe.

8. Care for our Elderly and Families.

9. Better Health arrangements.

10. To invest in our Children.

11. To protect our Environment.

12. To dispose of waste in a 'greener' way.

13. To improve communication with people.

14. Develop Business opportunity.

1. Your County Council

We provide 80% of local government services to the 760,000 people living in West Sussex.

Conservatives are the biggest Party in Local Government, throughout the Land. It is a fact that the electorate prefer Conservative led councils. We are ‘greener,’ helping to improve the local environment and protecting green spaces in our towns and villages, our strategic gaps for example; we are safer, determined to fight crime and anti-social behaviour; we offer better value for money; we believe strongly in local democracy, a Conservative principle.

Officials in Whitehall make too many decisions that affect local communities. During the past 12 years of Labour Government, Britain has increasingly become one of the most centralised countries in the developed world “With one-size-fits-all solutions passed down from the centre, it is not surprising they so often fail local communities.” (David Cameron – Feb 2009)

Over the past 12 years, too much Government regulation and centralisation of decision-making has frustrated and impeded the way in which your Conservative led County Council were able to do what you wanted us to do; too little money given to West Sussex from central government, in comparison with other Local Authorities, has meant that the people in West Sussex, you, have been treated unfairly; too many unfunded regulations imposed on us from Whitehall. We want to change all that, we must change all that! In spite of these inhibitors, we have given, and will continue to give, strong Conservative leadership to the community of West Sussex

'To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the gem as it were) of public affection. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed towards a love of our country and to mankind' (Edmund Burke – 1790)

We will continue to seek the abolition of all undemocratic, unnecessary and irrelevant bodies empowered by Whitehall, which take powers away from locally elected councils. We will, for example, continue to resist suggestion to take our Fire & Rescue Services away from local control, control that ensures safety; local knowledge and response times, come first.

Our aim over the next four years will be to work to restore Local Government so that the people we represent, you, can truly help us to prioritise what we do and how we do it. We pledge to continue to press government, any government, to decentralise, devolve, and properly empower local government, and we will work with South East England councils to restore democratic control on decisions that affect the people of West Sussex.

3. Our PLEDGE TO YOU -

To keep council tax low, service quality high, and seek greater efficiencies.

Over the past 12 years West Sussex Conservatives have had a strong record of introducing better ways of working to keep tax low through reorganisation and efficiencies all without help from central government. We will continue with our review of service provison to transform the County Council into a modern and more efficient organisation. Quality, value for money and choice are our clear commitments to you.

West Sussex has received the worst financial settlement from central Government out of any county in the entire nation. See the comparison tables of grant allocations at Annex A and Annex B. Our core grant from government is £124 per resident compared with a county average of £194. If we received grant at the same funding level as the average county, it would provide an extra £55 million per annum, or enough to be able to make a 15% reduction in council tax. We will continue our campaign for a fair share of Government funding for the people of West Sussex.

Over the past 5 years, West Sussex Conservatives have delivered the lowest increases in council tax since it was introduced, whilst achieving the highest efficiencies, again without help from central government.

Despite many more unfunded regulations imposed upon us by Government, the present Conservative led County Council employs no more people than it did 10 years ago.

We aim to freeze council tax!– yes, freeze it,in the first two years of a Conservative Government and assist them, during that time, to determine a new and fairer formula for local authority funding that we will insist must be fair to the people of West Sussex

We will dispose of, at the appropriate time, county council owned land and property that we no longer need, so that we can reduce our borrowing for new investment.

4. We will help you through the Credit Crunch.

We will work with other partners to support people, businesses and communities through the economic downturn, and beyond.

We have developed with partners, and will maintain, a package of measures and joint action plan to ‘Keep West Sussex Working’’ that includes:

• Support to the Citizens Advice Bureaux to help manage the demand for debt advice.

• Support to people to avoid unemployment or to move back into employment.

• Working closely with employers to improve the skill levels and employability of young people leaving education and training.

• Paying our bills to companies faster to improve their cash flow.

• Providing better support for businesses to engage with West Sussex local authority procurement.

See the full ‘Keep West Sussex Working’ Action Plan at:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=Keep+West+Sussex+Working&meta

5. We will continue the drive for Public Transport improvements.

We want more Government investment in public transport; both bus and rail, to provide an alternative quality service to the travelling public and take every opportunity to encourage restoration of the Gatwick Express to the previous service standard.

We will increase the numbers using our comprehensive travel to school 3 in 1 Card, which brings quarter and half fare concessions to our 5 to 19 year olds, including evening and weekend leisure journeys.

We will work with other councils and bus operators to ensure that government reimbursement of the concessionary fare scheme for the elderly is set at a level that promotes service improvements, not service reductions, and reduces the very high level of council subsidy.

We will coordinate the provision of community transport with our partners to ensure a more even, cost effective service.

We will pursue the development of a coastal expressway bus service that will be an aid to south coast regeneration encouraging inward investment and job opportunities.

6. We will take ACTION -

to improve safety on our roads and significantly invest in additional Highway maintenance.

Over the next four years, a Conservative administration will make an additional £4m available, across the county to upgrade our roads, improve our pavements, increase our dedicated cycling facilities and continue the roll out of our School Safety Zones at school gates.

We will continue to develop improvements to the way we deal with seasonal potholes that appear in our roads following heavy rain and severe cold.

We will prioritise road safety and casualty reduction measures on our highways and seek to introduce lower speed limits to more villages across the county. Operation Crackdown is a recent joint Sussex Police and Sussex Safer Roads Partnership (led by WSCC) initiative to combat anti-social driving and riding. Any member of the public can make reports at:

http://www.operationcrackdown.org/

We will work closely with the police and other agencies to limit HGV traffic on unsuitable routes in our county through our influence on development of satellite navigation systems and Ordnance Survey mapping, and raising awareness of our Advisory Lorry Route Map which is available at:

http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/stream/asset/?asset_id=2622236.

We will work to increase the numbers using our comprehensive travel to school 3 in 1 Card concessionary fares system, which will free up our roads at rush hour, provide secure transport to school for our children, help our environment, improve safety at our school gates; and we will continue to develop improvement in the way we transport our children to and from school.

Conservatives will press for bus and rail improvements that provide an alternative quality service to the travelling public and a modal switch taking cars off our busy roads.

We will continue our campaign to get improvements to the A27 at Chichester, Arundel, and Worthing so that communication along our south coast encourages use of an improved route and reduces or eliminates rat running through our villages, towns, and areas of outstanding natural beauty.

to ensure you feel safe.

We will work with Sussex Police to ensure we have quality policing for our county and that our residents, and those passing through, feel safe. We will also want to ensure that local democratic accountability of our policing service remains.

We will ensure that our Fire and Rescue Service effectively manages resources to improve public safety and respond rapidly to emergency calls for assistance.

We will replace our aging street lighting over the next 5 years and ensure that light pollution is properly controlled.

We will bring together young and old to address anti-social behaviour and tackle the perceptions that can cause people to be afraid of being out and about in their community.

We will expand the services we provide that address the harm caused by domestic violence.

8. ACTION - to care for our elderly and families.

The 85+ age group is the fastest rising age group. This is a major challenge to health and social care services and carers within the community.

We will make provision to support those in need, and their carers so that vulnerable people will have more choice about the services they receive.

We will continue to raise awareness to ensure vulnerable adults in West Sussex can safeguard themselves from abuse or neglect, or are safeguarded by others. For more information about the Adult Safeguarding Unit go to:

http://intranet.westsussex.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/stream/asset/?asset_id=776577

We will continue our programme of Supporting People (SP) so that vulnerable people can maintain their independence and find their own solutions. The aim will be to help people live independently in their own home. It focuses on the support that vulnerable people need to maintain their independence.

The County Council provides Day Services across West Sussex for people with varying needs. We intend to modernise our Day Services, across the whole of West Sussex, to make them more personalised for residents and offer people greater choice and flexibility. Services for older people, people with learning difficulties and people with physical disabilities will be considered in the wide-ranging review that we have already put in train. You can find out more about the review at:

http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/social-care-and-health/adults/day-services/day-services-review/

9. ACTION - to seek better Health arrangements.

We will continue to press government to allow local communities to have more say in how our health services are organised and managed, so we can have hospitals, doctors and other health services that work in the best interests of all the people of West Sussex.

To enable us to make the most of the London 2012 Olympic Games, we have introduced our ‘West Sussex – Ahead of the Game’ programme, a countywide initiative that hopes to see: more people taking part in physical activity and sport. We will take the opportunity of the Olympics and Paralympics to improve access to sport for people with disabilities.

To find out more, visit the West Sussex – Ahead of the Game website at:

http://www.westsusseaheadofthegame.com/

10. ACTION - to invest in our children, who are our future.

Conservative West Sussex is a national leader with an established Children’s Trust, set up to focus on the individual needs of our children in the county and especially to protect the most vulnerable. Over the last 12 years the Conservative County Council has built 19 new schools and we will rebuild or refurbish 10 more schools in the next 4 years.

• We will continue to invest in new facilities, quality staff, and higher standards in the classroom and bring services together more for the benefit of local communities.

• We will improve education for vulnerable and challenging pupils and help every young person to progress in their own way.

• We will continue to take advantage of opportunities to introduce more Academies across the county so we can raise standards even higher.

• We will work with business to provide more opportunity for Apprenticeships and develop a fuller programme of work experience.

• We will make sure every young person can remain in learning up to the age of 17 (by 2013), and ensure that all young people up to the age of 19 can continue their education.

• We will provide greater opportunity for music learning across West Sussex.

• We will provide more opportunity for after school and Youth Clubs.

• We will continue our programme to install School Safety Zones at all of our schools in the county and give added incentives to the recruitment of School Crossing Patrols.

• We will continue our programme to introduce hot school meals into our primary schools by 2010 and develop kitchens at our special and secondary schools.

Through our West Sussex – Ahead of the Game programme:

· We will build on the inspiration of the 2012 Olympic Games to encourage increased participation of our young people in sport, physical and cultural activities.

· We will develop a Disability Sports Legacy for all.

· We will give young people the opportunity to become more internationally aware through the engagement with young people from other countries.

· We will develop learning and skills for sports and cultural activities.

For more about ‘West Sussex – Ahead of the Game’ see

http://www.westsusseaheadofthegame.com/

11. Conservative councils are greener and will always take ACTION to protect our Environment.

Climate change is the most significant challenge faced by society today. Conservatives in West Sussex County Council have long been committed to protecting the environment and one important aspect of the climate change challenge is to reduce our emissions of carbon dioxide.

We will continue to explore local opportunities for sustainable renewable energy and work with partners to help businesses and communities to make more efficient use of resources such as water, gas and electricity, through our Greening Campaign.

We will show leadership by reducing our CO2 emissions by 10% as part of our Sustainability Action Plan. We will improve and increase our cycleways to encourage sustainable and healthier travel. We will collaborate with others to manage water resources in the county, to meet the challenge of rising demand.

We will work with schools and colleges to ensure children and young people understand the importance of sustainability.

We pledge to continue to resist the Government’s unsustainable house building pressures which would see green fields and our strategic gaps disappear with our urban environment crammed. We believe in a sensible level of new homes construction, particularly affordable housing for our young families to stay in their communities, and for key workers and those starting out in life. Proper infrastructure investment such as roads, health services and schools, developed at the same time, remains our demand to Government.

West Sussex County Council supports the greatest protection possible, in law and in practice for the unique environment of the entire South Downs. If there is to be a National Park it must provide such protection as its highest priority, and be fully democratically accountable, for decisions on planning, transport, and management, to the residents of the South Downs. We will defend every acre of the South Downs and Western Weald that is designated as either National Park or Area of Outstanding Beauty (AONB) nowand in the future, and will fight any government plans to take decision-making away from local people regarding their future management.

At Gatwick Airport, we will want a dialogue with any new owners with a view to securing the most economically and environmentally sustainable long-term solution for West Sussex communities, which might also include forms of community partnership and participation. We do though stand by the legal agreement preventing a second runway before 2019, and we will continue our support for a thriving one-runway two-terminal airport.

Our Highway Rangers initiative across the county is proving very successful in improving the street scene and demand is rising fast. Therefore, we will seek to increase the service. We will remove graffiti quickly and take down unnecessary signs.

On coastal defence we will continue to work with Partners to provide a coastal defence strategy that will provide the protection necessary around our coastline.

We will oppose any suggestion that our 22 strategic gaps, the green spaces that separate and enhance our towns and settlements, should not be a primary consideration in the protection of our environment.

We have built the reputation of having probably the best-maintained public rights of way in England and we pledge to continue the highest standards on our network of footpaths, bridleways, Restricted Byways and Byways, and work to minimise misuse by motorised vehicles. Sussex Pathwatch is a joint inattentive between WSCC, the police, and the South Downs Joint Committee, formed to combat motorised vehicles using public rights of way illegally. It encourages public reporting of incidents via the South Downs website at:

www.southdownsonline.org/pathwatch

12. ACTION _ to dispose of Waste in an efficient 'green' way.

Over the next four years a Conservative administration at County Hall will reduce the volume of waste produced, and increase re-cycling, composting and reuse in West Sussex to 40%, with a commitment to increase this further still in later years.

We will develop ways to use the waste that cannot be recycled.

We will continue to resist proposals that we should have to set up landfill sites to take London waste.

13. ACTION - to improve Communication with the people of West Sussex.

A Conservative administration will continue to develop a culture that will put residents at the heart of everything we do. ‘With You ….For You’ is more than a slogan, it underpins our pledge to residents.

We will improve the ways we engage with the whole range of customers and communities in West Sussex and make sure we provide excellent services available to all – services that deliver what people want, when and where they want and need them. We will work together with local councils to understand the needs and expectations of local communities and reflect them in the decisions we make and the services we provide.

We will continue the development of our County Local Committees providing even greater opportunity for our public and partners to ‘Talk with us,’ their local County Councillors.

We will develop our Public Information Strategy further and use all forms of media effectively to communicate with the people of West Sussex and in particular improve the way we keep in touch with those who have contacted us for whatever reason. We will give front line staff the authority and ability to deal with your queries there and then in our effort to speed up response and action.

We will press partners and utility companies to improve the quality of Broadband provision in West Sussex and work in collaboration with our European neighbours. The objective will be to develop opportunities for business in our county, particularly in rural areas, enabling more people to work and study at home reducing the need for travel

Where other local authorities are closing libraries, in West Sussex a Conservative administration is opening new ones and improving others. We will open our libraries at times that suit public convenience and continue to develop the variety and quality of the library service in response to public demand and technological advances.

We will make as many of our services as possible available to residents through the internet and our own contact centre, at the same time ensuring that those that require one-to-one services will continue to receive them,

14. ACTION - to develop Business Opportunity working with partners.

We will press government for improvements to the east-west road and rail link along the south coast in West Sussex to aid regeneration and attract inward investment.

We will work closely with businesses in West Sussex to improve economic conditions and financial inclusion and will continue to support economic regeneration in our coastal towns, rural West Sussex, and the Gatwick Diamond. We will continue to promote the importance of enhancing and rejuvenating the rural and coastal economies by promoting local food, products and the arts.

We will work with partners to increase skill levels and encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly among our young people. We will explore with businesses greater opportunities for work experience and Apprenticeships.

We will work with business and other local authorities to attract new employers, create jobs in West Sussex and provide the incentive for skilled young people to remain in the County.

We will seek to assist business in their search for adequate existing and new premises, something that is a major constraint on business growth in West Sussex.

We will support local businesses to benefit from the economic opportunities from the 2012 Olympic Games.

We will maintain a close working relationship with our European colleagues in the other 26 Member states so that we can influence, at an early stage, the drafting of European thinking, the outcomes of which are most likely to benefit the people of West Sussex We will also ensure we remain aware and take advantage of the availability of European grants that will benefit our community and businesses.

Issued by the Conservative Group

West Sussex County Council

28^th March 2009

'With You For You - making the most of West Sussex'