South Norfolk Council Liberal Democrat Manifesto

Manifesto 2007 -2011

The text of the current manifesto is availble here and can be read in Adobe portable document format (pdf) if you have the free Acrobat Reader. Click on the graphic to download the latest version of Acrobat Reader.

The Manifesto, greener cleaner fairer describes what Liberal Democrats have achieved in South Norfolk over the last four years, and details their plans for the District for 2007-2011. A summary of the manifesto is below.

greener cleaner fairer
Manifesto highlights for 2007 South Norfolk District Council Election

What's in the Lib Dem Manifesto?
In our fourth term of governing South Norfolk, we will:

• Maintain our record as a cost-effective and low taxation council by seeking further efficiency changes and minimising increases in council tax.
• With our residents, businesses and our officers, reduce our impact on climate change by moving towards a carbon neutral status in all our offices and buildings.
  
• Continue to provide appropriate, affordable housing as quickly as possible by working with partner councils and developers to secure land and funding from the Housing Corporation.
  
• Devolve powers to town and parish councils and develop neighbourhood structures by enhanced partnership working; e.g. by working with schools and the police to enable local needs to be locally driven.
  
• Encourage sustainability and self sufficiency in everything we do by increasing our recycling rate and decreasing the waste mountain overall. Taking our street cleaning in house to improve the service and ensure fly-tipping is reduced to a minimum.
  
• Work with all people in the community, including older, younger and vulnerable groups, to enhance their quality of life by working with our Local Strategic partnership - the South Norfolk Alliance and with bodies like South Norfolk Youth Action and our Older People's Forum.
  
• Deal with the causes and results of antisocial behaviour and reduce the fear of crime as well as crime itself by continuing our current close relationship with the police via our Crime Reduction Partnership and funding an officer to deal with anti-social behaviour.
• Develop our economy and improve the availability of good quality jobs and the ability of local people to get them by continuing to support community development partnerships and schemes like the Hethel Engineering Centre.
  

What have we done over the last 4 years?
South Norfolk's Liberal Democrat Councillors have clocked up some impressive achievements. As the majority party on South Norfolk Council, they have been able to put Lib Dem ideas into practice.

• For the first time since 'right to buy' made an impact, the number of new affordable homes completed exceeded those sold or demolished. This will double next year.
• We have been awarded over £300,000 of regional funding to deliver broadband to help local business.
• In the last 2 years we helped 318 people with disability to stay in their own homes.
• In one year alone saved over £300,000 with efficiencies and staff reductions.
• We won a Beacon Award (one of only 8 councils in England & Wales to do so) with the County council for our work with young people in South Norfolk .
• Worked closely with our parish councils. The Leader of the Council has visited two-thirds of the parishes via their council meetings.
• Both our revenue and benefits and waste collection services have received charter marks for outstanding customer care and this has been endorsed by our residents who say 'they go the extra mile to help'.
• Beat the target set by government in waste recycling for "dry recyclables" (what we put in our green wheelie bins). With YOUR help, we are the 3rd highest performer in the country for those. See the story here