Manifesto

9.39.14am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 3rd Apr 2006

Tower Hamlets Liberal Democrats

Working for You All Year Round

Reinventing Neighbourhood Government

MANIFESTO

London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Council Elections 2006

Further information

John Griffiths

134 Old Ford Road

London E2 9PW

M. 07887 643980

E. johngriffiths@tinyonline.co.uk

Tower Hamlets Liberal Democrats

Working for You All Year Round

It's time for a change . . .

A Lib Dem Council in Tower Hamlets is not wishful thinking! Tower Hamlets was a Liberal-run Borough back in the early 1990s, and many of you tell us "things were so much better when the Liberals were in charge, running our Neighbourhoods."

Today, the Liberal Democrats run Councils in major cities across Britain, including Liverpool, Newcastle and Bristol, as well as the London Boroughs of Islington, Lambeth, Southwark and Sutton. We also hold the balance of power in London (in the Greater London Assembly), and Scotland (in the Scottish Parliament) where we introduced free personal care for the elderly and abolished tuition fees in higher education.

Our Manifesto for the 2006 Tower Hamlets Council Elections uses examples from Lib Dem-run Councils to show you how our policies have made a real difference to people's lives in those areas. Unlike the other political parties, we recognise that every area is different which is why vibrant and effective local and neighbourhood-level government is so important.

This manifesto is our commitment to the people of Tower Hamlets; to bring to this Borough a fresh approach and new ideas, as well as the levels of quality, efficiency and honesty that typify Liberal Democrat administrations around the UK.

New Labour, whether in Whitehall or Tower Hamlets Townhall, has repeatedly let us down. These are just some of the things Labour has done in your name:

• waged an illegal war - New Labour went to war in Iraq against the wishes of the majority, on the flimsiest of evidence (remember the "dodgy dossier"?) and without a proper mandate from the United Nations. Liberal Democrats opposed the war in Iraq.

• closed or wrongly privatised vital public services - despite claiming to want excellent public services, New Labour is cutting social services for the elderly and the vulnerable, and has recently closed several of the Borough's public libraries.

• wasted taxpayers' money - £900m in tax breaks and extra funding for regeneration have been spent in Tower Hamlets and the Docklands since 1994, but to what effect? Meanwhile 2 Labour Councillors are on trial charged with fraudulent use of grants for regeneration projects.

• increased poverty - since 1997, Tower Hamlets has risen from 6th to 1st in the list of most-deprived boroughs in the country, with the worst levels of overcrowding and the longest council house waiting lists in Britain. The gap between rich and poor has widened! Unemployment rates among residents of the Borough are among the highest in the UK, yet the wages of those who work here have soared to an average of £61,000 per annum!

• failed to tackle the crisis in the NHS - in spite of vast increases in public spending on the health service, the NHS is nearly £800m in debt! Local GP surgeries are full; the new Royal London Hospital at Whitechapel has now been given over to a private company to build at a cost to the taxpayer of over £1billion.

• mismanaged investment in schools - saddling Tower Hamlets with the disastrous Grouped Schools Private Finance Initiative, requiring Heads and Governors to spend more time on managing the bureaucracy, and less on educating our children. Local schools are improving, but not sufficiently in the key skills of literacy and numeracy.

Tower Hamlets Liberal Democrats

Working for You All Year Round

Our pledges to you . . .

Liberal Democrats have a proud record of achievement in local government, particularly in the inner-city where we have had to overturn years of arrogance and misrule by the Labour party. Given the opportunity in Tower Hamlets, we promise to focus on four core areas for action:

We promise to:

(1) Reinvigorate neighbourhood and local government

(2) Create a cleaner and safer environment

(3) Care for the elderly and the young

(4) Promote community-led regeneration and affordable housing

Liberal Democrat Principles:

We will deliver our promises whilst also adhering to the following fundamental principles. Services under a Liberal Democrat Council would be:

• Accessible - provided by the most appropriate agency and as close as is efficiently possible to the users of the service;

• High quality - designed to give users input to, as well as choice and value from local services with clear performance targets and procedures for fair redress where levels of service fall short of users' expectations;

• Inclusive - intended to meet the diverse needs of all sections of the community without disadvantaging or discriminating against any particular area or social group;

• Value for money - provided in consultation with local people ensuring the best use of council taxpayers' money.

A record of effective opposition in Tower Hamlets . . .

Liberal Democrats' record as an effective opposition to, and scrutiniser of, the Labour-run Council gives you an indication of what we could achieve if we were in control of the Borough. We:

• Challenged the Labour Council's decision to award the Borough's 10-year cleansing contract to a new company, saving millions for local Council taxpayers in the process.

• Campaigned to prevent the Council from closing York Hall, putting forward an alternative investment package which has lead to a £7m refurbishment of the leisure centre and pool.

• Lobbied to prevent the compulsory purchase of business premises on Fish Island in order to make way for a car park for the 2012 Olympic Games, resulting in the saving of 1200 jobs.

• Persuaded the Council to divert monies it had earmarked to pay in land-fill taxes into investing in more kerb-side and residential recycling facilities, thereby reducing the amount going into landfill.

• Supported and led campaigns to preserve our open and green spaces, including opposition to the development on Weavers Fields and the likely disruption of Crossrail to the Brick Lane area.

• Chaired and led what are widely perceived to have been the most effective Local Area Partnerships in the Borough - LAPs 1 (Bethnal Green) and LAP 5 (Bow).

• Questioned the value of £25m of public money going on a single arts project in Bethnal Green. The Rich Mix Centre is still not open, 10 years after the Council first dreamt up the idea. . .

Tower Hamlets Liberal Democrats

Working for You All Year Round

Our Vision

This Manifesto sets out our vision for the Borough of Tower Hamlets in the four key areas of local government. A theme running throughout the manifesto, and something that sets us apart from the other political parties, is our commitment to decentralisation. Liberal Democrats believe in devolving more powers and greater responsibilities away from central and local government to the very communities in which we live. We do not just talk about it; we have a track record of doing it. We call it neighbourhood government.

So what difference would a Liberal Democrat Council make to services in Tower Hamlets?

We will start from the bottom up, not from the top down. We will make sure that, wherever appropriate, public services in the Borough, be they health, housing, law and order, transport, or education are designed and delivered from a local perspective. The people who receive and use services will influence how they are provided and monitor their quality.

We will cut bureaucracy at the centre to make sure resources are directed to front-line services. Working in partnership with the other main statutory agencies in the Borough (the health service, the police, schools and housing associations), we will set out a clear vision for the community that encourages different services to find ways to work more effectively together at a local level. Liberal Democrats don't mind whether services are delivered by the public sector, voluntary organisations or private enterprise, as long as they meet our high standards, are accountable to local people and remain cost effective.

By integrating services, not duplicating efforts and wasting resources, we will provide a seamless model of service delivery that allows people easier access to what is on offer. We will make sure the "One Stop Shops" are just that; somewhere you can renew your parking permit, whilst enquiring about childcare or sorting out your council tax.

Everything we do will be scrutinised to minimise its environmental impact. We will look to developers to produce buildings that comply with sustainable development standards expected of the 21st Century. We will prioritise our streets and buildings, getting rid of clutter, rubbish and graffiti, bringing back some pride in our community. We will protect our parks and open spaces, making Tower Hamlets once again a place where people are proud to say they live.

Last and most important, we will make sure everybody is valued for what they have to offer and what they can give to the community. We will value our older people for the experience they have and our young people for their energy and potential. We will make sure education is for life, and that a healthy quality of life is achievable by all.

In each of the following 4 areas of local government we make 6 pledges or promises. Given the chance to act on these, we could make a significant difference to the quality of life in the area. I hope you will give us the chance to make this happen. We won't let you down.

Cllr. Janet Ludlow

Leader of Tower Hamlets Liberal Democrats

(1) Reinvigorating neighbourhood and local government

Liberal Democrat priorities for reinvigorating neighbourhood and local government require:

• Ensuring both national and local government recognise neighbourhood governance, creating the right structures so that decisions can be taken and actions implemented at as local a level as possible.

• Delivering closer public scrutiny of services, including at a more local level, in order to drive up efficiency and ensure that services are shaped and informed by local users.

• Scrapping the Council Tax and introducing a local income tax to shift tax-raising power from the national to the local level so that local government has more control over both its income and expenditure.

• Restoring people's faith in politics by ensuring that Council's decision making is fully open to scrutiny and accessible to all.

Our Pledges. In Tower Hamlets, a Liberal Democrat administration would:

1. Extend the degree to which the responsibility for planning and overseeing local services are passed down to local neighbourhoods, increasing the devolved budgets and powers of Local Area Partnerships to commission and scrutinise services.

2. Formalise structures at a local area level by bringing together all the key agencies - including housing associations, schools, council services, the police, faith groups and the voluntary sector - in order to give greater identity and meaning to neighbourhood government.

3. Engage more of the public, and professionals outside the Council, in the scrutiny of public services in Tower Hamlets, both those provided by the Local Authority as well as services delivered in the name of the Tower Hamlets Partnership under the Local Area Agreement.

4. Review and reform the Council's constitution in order to apply the principles of open government and freedom of information to the Authority's decision making and provide greater opportunity to engage the public more fully in the processes of local democracy.

5. Consult you on an annual basis about the levels of Council Tax which you think are fair in return for the services we provide.

6. Publish annually a set of commitments and targets to let you know the quality of services you can expect from the Council, and what to do if something goes wrong. We aim to increase the level of the targets year-on-year to ensure continuous improvement to services across the Borough

LIB DEM POLICIES IN ACTION

• Councils such as Newcastle, Liverpool, Southwark and Islington have all seen their Comprehensive Performance Assessments (CPA) improve having switched from Labour to Liberal Democrat control. Liberal Democrat run Newcastle has saved over £9 million in the last financial year through steps such as instituting careful procurement policies and savings in office accommodation.

• Lib Dem run Liverpool, by making efficiency savings, have managed to deliver real benefits for local people. Under Labour, the city's Council Tax was the highest in the country. Under the Lib Dems, it was frozen in 1998/9, 1999/00 and 2000/01, reduced by 3% in 2002/03 and increased by the rate of inflation in 2003/04 and in 2004/05. It has plummeted from being the highest to being in 58th position. £150 million of long term debt has been paid off, saving millions of pounds in interest repayments.

(2) Creating a cleaner and safer environment

Liberal Democrat priorities for creating cleaner and safer local communities include:

• Reducing the amount of waste generated by setting challenging targets for reducing both residential and business waste, through reuse and recycling; promoting kerbside and estate-based collections as well as the recycling of plastics and green waste.

• Considering all alternatives to incinerators, including new technologies such as anaerobic digestion to recover energy.

• Improving our parks, the streetscape and protecting green and open spaces.

• Setting challenging targets for maximising new development on brown-field sites and reflecting this target in our community strategies and local development frameworks.

• Encouraging energy efficiency in buildings.

• Improving air quality, by creating 'low emission zones' and introducing environmentally friendly buses and council vehicles.

• Supporting bio-diversity and protecting natural habitats.

• Tackling traffic congestion, extending and enforcing "home zones" and encouraging more use of and investment in public transport, including the East London Line and Crossrail.

• Promoting walking and cycling through the development of cycle-paths and safer, well-lit pavements and sign posting.

Our Pledges. In Tower Hamlets, a Liberal Democrat administration would:

7. Make environmental sustainability, recycling and waste minimisation an integral part of every decision we make be it in housing, education or planning. We will encourage more businesses to recycle by introducing a free service and only charging for waste that has to go to landfill.

8. Undertake a major review of public transportation in the Borough to identify those areas currently not well served and lobby for more accessible transport especially for people with disabilities and young children. Aim to reduce the volume of cars on the school run year-on-year.

9. Ensure the Council's contract for the maintenance of parks and community buildings deliver higher standards, providing more resources for this, and promote the future management of local assets by community-based organisations.

10. Use our legal powers to minimise the disruption and environmental impact of developments like the East London Line, Crossrail and the Olympics.

11. Audit, repair and refurbish street furniture across the Borough and come down hard on unnecessary urban clutter, graffiti, illegal fly-tipping, dumping, littering and dog fouling.

12. Protect and maintain local nature reserves and habitats including those in Victoria Park, Mile End Park, our waterways and canals, and open spaces like Tower Hamlets Cemetery.

LIB DEM POLICIES IN ACTION

• Lib Dem run Newcastle, in conjunction with Your Homes Newcastle (ALMO), has proposed to make the Cruddas Park estate (12 tower blocks) a beacon project for energy efficiency, as part of a major regeneration of the estate. The blocks are being fitted with solar panels and potentially micro generation turbines, in order that 90% of the energy needs of the residents will be met by renewable sources.

• Lib Dem led Bristol City Council began a cleaner vehicles initiative, with funding for conversion to LPG given to residents and businesses in June 2005. The Lib Dem administration also raised recycling by half to 18% by collecting recycling and residual waste on the same day.

• From 1st September 2005 the public of Newcastle upon Tyne were able to use over 130 outlets across the city to make face-to-face payments for Council Tax and rent at the Post Office and Paypoint outlets - many of which are open outside office hours, reducing the need to travel to council offices.

• In Islington, green spaces are at a premium so there has been more planting, more trees and bird boxes and the development of a successful Ecology Centre.

(3) Caring for the elderly and the young

Liberal Democrat priorities for older and younger people focus on:

• Campaigning for a local income tax, as the council tax discriminates unfairly against pensioners on low incomes.

• Enabling older people to receive free long-term personal care - as introduced in Scotland by Liberal Democrats in Government - working with the local Primary Care Trust to support people coming out of hospital and further encourage independent living by involving service users in how they run and operate their services.

• Expanding opportunities for vocational and skills training. We will invest in a 'Colleges for the Future' programme - a new partnership between colleges, business, local authorities and the government to ensure modern, high quality college facilities in every community.

• Activity-led funding. We will seek to phase out the disparity in funding between schools, colleges and work-based training by ensuring that the funds follow the student.

• Improving services by working with others (e.g. schools, the police and parents) to increase attainment, tackle truancy and promote healthier diets in schools

• Targeting the most vulnerable and "hardest to reach" children, as preventative services provided now can more than offset the cost of remedial services later in life

• Involving young people in the planning and running of youth services, to hear their views and address their needs.

Our Pledges. In Tower Hamlets, a Liberal Democrat administration would:

13. Increase funding for local children's services including playgroups and One O'Clock Clubs; ensuring parents have an affordable nursery place for every 3-4 year old in the Borough.

14. Invest extra education/regeneration funding in primary schools to target literacy, numeracy and basic skills, and in secondary schools to target young people's progression into employment.

15. Ensure that spending on the Youth Service provides well-balanced provision across the Borough, putting young people in the driving seat to decide how additional resources should be given to those areas currently missing out.

16. Provide a wide range of leisure facilities for all age groups, priced so as to appeal particularly to local residents, schools and community groups and subsidised for those on income support.

17. Work more closely with the Primary Care Trust and local Hospital Trusts to ensure more people are aware of and take preventative action to improve public health; develop stronger partnerships across health and social services to restore patients' independence after hospital treatment.

18. Engage more local voluntary and community organisations in the provision of complementary health and social care working alongside the NHS and other statutory services.

LIB DEM POLICIES IN ACTION

• The London Borough of Southwark successfully put in a joint £.185 million bid with the local Primary Care Trust, hospitals and voluntary organisations to help people remain healthy and safe in their own homes rather than having to go into residential care or stay in hospital. The grant is aimed at meeting the specific needs of older people, those with or at risk of mental health problems, and black and ethnic minority groups.

• Bridgend County Borough Council's sport and recreation service receives GP and hospital referrals who take part in a 12 week programme of exercises, including swimming, walking, gym and keep fit. Working in partnership with the local NHS Trust, the service provides the fitness element for those on incapacity benefit who are aiming to find a route back to work.

• The London Borough of Lambeth is due to open the country's first parent-run state school in September 2007. The new school will be non-selective and non-denominational.

• In Scotland, the LibDems made it a condition of their joining a Labour/Lib Dem coalition government that the Scotland would maintain free personal care for the elderly and free tuition for students in Higher Education.

(4) Promoting community-led regeneration and affordable housing

Liberal Democrat priorities for regenerating run-down areas, creating mixed and sustainable communities with adequate levels of affordable housing means include:

• Enabling local businesses to start up and grow, free from unnecessary interference, regulation and red-tape; developing sustainable retail plans to support small shops and market traders in particular neighbourhoods.

• Investing in skills development and training opportunities for local people to reduce the borough's levels of economic inactivity and benefit dependency.

• Promoting local culture through providing a diverse range of libraries and places for learning.

• Working in partnership with the public, private and voluntary sectors to bring the borough's housing stock up to the national decent homes standard and engaging tenants and leaseholders fully and openly in that process.

• Increasing the stock of new, affordable and social housing being built in the borough by working closely with developers, ensuring that new housing matches current needs and future projections.

• Reducing homelessness, overcrowding and the waiting times for people looking to secure a home, using the power to impose empty homes management orders on properties left vacant for over a year, providing a safe and speedy means of swapping Council/Housing Association flats.

Our Pledges. In Tower Hamlets, a Liberal Democrat administration would:

19. Partner the Housing Corporation, regional housing bodies and local Housing Associations to develop a neighbourhood housing and management strategy, along with practical measures to build mixed and sustainable communities, valuing the family and neighbourliness as key elements of a cohesive community.

20. Work closely with Leaseholders and the Tower Hamlets Leaseholders Association to ensure that future service charges are both fair and transparent, and that leaseholders have access to an independent and trustworthy Alternative Dispute Resolution Scheme.

21. Ensure that the Borough is served by a network of well-resourced community centres and libraries that provide learning and training opportunities for all sections of the community.

22. Use the Borough's Local Area Agreement with the Government and the framework of the Tower Hamlets Partnership to pool and distribute government funding for area-based regeneration and renewal, allocating funds to Local Area Partnerships to manage in response to local needs.

23. Complete a detailed review of the third-sector (i.e. voluntary and community organisations as well as social enterprises) and in future only reward with service contracts, or public grants, those organisations that meet genuine needs and deliver quality services.

24. Work with local developers - e.g. at the Royal London Hospital, Canary Wharf, Docklands and the Olympic sites to ensure employment opportunities are made available to local people.

LIB DEM POLICIES IN ACTION

• The Lib Dem-run Council in Liverpool has supported one of the most successful reuse and recycling social enterprises, "Create", which now delivers major services under contract to the Council, employing former local unemployed people in the process.

• Liverpool City Council has also made sure there are more things for young people to do, by opening a network of "Kids' Gyms", building 5 new swimming pools and 4 new sports centres, setting up the biggest community arts programme in the country and installing 360 more computers in the city's libraries.

• Lib Dem led South Shropshire District Council set up an innovative scheme to deliver affordable housing for local people by retaining a 1% "golden share" in properties.

Tower Hamlets Liberal Democrats

Working for You All Year Round

This Manifesto for the elections to Tower Hamlets Council on 4th May 2006 sets out an agenda for change which is based on three premises:

• New Labour has let you and London down;

• Liberal Democrats have proved elsewhere that they can do far better; and

• Tower Hamlets deserves a Council that trusts and works with local people in their communities and neighbourhoods to bring about lasting improvements to the Borough.

Our proposals for change are realistic and achievable. They will make a real difference to the levels of service across all parts of the Borough, benefiting all sections of the community.

As Liberal Democrats we will give you back your voice and your right to be involved in the decisions that affect your area, your local services and your life on a day-to-day basis.

This will require our admitting mistakes from time to time, but also diligently pursuing solutions to problems in order to increase significantly the level of trust between the Council and the community.

Liberal Democrat Candidates for Tower Hamlets Council 2006

Bow West Janet Ludlow, Martin Rew, Stephen Clarke

Bow East Ray Gipson, Marian Williams, Andrew Sage

Mile End & Globe Town Barrie Duffey, Jainal Chowdhury, Partab Ali

Bethnal Green North John Griffiths, Azizur Khan, Stephanie Eaton

Bethnal Green South Akikur Rahman, Fazlul Hoque, Nanu Miah

Weavers Louise Alexander, Abdul Matin, Tim O'Flaherty

Mile End East Stewart Rayment, Misbahur Khan, Shamsul Syed

Bromley by Bow Brian Abson, Koyes Choudhury, Jalal Uddin

East India & Lansbury Rajib Ahmed, Iqbal Hussain, Caroline Whyberd

Millwall Ian Macdonald, Patsy Ramsay, Nigel Huxted

Blackwall & Cubit Town Barrie Blandford, Shofu Miah, Jahidul Hoque

Limehouse John Bevan, Hushara Begum, Iain Chambers

Spitalfields & Banglatown Guy Burton, Yousof Kamaly, Aminur Rahman

St. Katharine's & Wapping Ron Coverson, Margaret Man, Alan Mead

Shadwell Mohammed Ali, Kate Buttimer, Phyllis Sheehan

Stepney & St Dunstan's Farid Ahmed, Ahmed Mustaque, Habibur Rahman

Whitechapel Kate Grieve, Sultan Haydar Shamsuddin Ahmed