Kingston Borough
Liberal Democrat Manifesto 2006
Introduction: Cleaner Greener and Safer
1. Financially Responsible
2. A Partnership for Improvement; a Thriving Voluntary Sector
3. Continuing the Clean Sweep
4. A Fair Deal for Tenants
5. Caring for the Vulnerable
6. Options for Travel
7. Reduce, Re-use and Recycle
8. Better Schools and Services for Young People and Families
9. A Safer Borough
10. Neighbourhoods and Participation
Introduction: Cleaner Greener and Safer
Four years ago, at the last local elections in 2002, residents elected the Liberal Democrats to run Kingston Council. We inherited a borough suffering from Tory neglect. Our priorities then were the same as yours - urgent repair and renewal - 'A Clean Sweep'.
Four years on, despite government interference and lack of funding, we have turned the corner and our priorities can now look to the future. Today we are asking for your continued support to carry on the job. Together we can create a lasting partnership across all the communities and agencies of our borough - joined up thinking and joined up action - working in collaboration for the benefit of all of those who live, work, and visit our area.
With over 1,000 years of history, Kingston has proud traditions to advance. The Liberal Democrats are the Party best placed to build our town and our culture to face the next millennium. Our manifesto for 2006 sets out a record of action from 2002 and our pledge to continue and develop that work to secure Kingston's future - to make our borough cleaner, greener and safer.
The last four years have reversed the Tory decline. Finances are now better controlled, our local environment is improving, power has been returned to neighbourhoods, and our social services, education and children's services are consistently recognised as being among the very best in the country.
Local government constantly faces a tight balancing act between providing highly regarded services and lower Council Tax increases. Central government, which enjoys the benefit of hundreds of different tax incomes, has consistently left our residents with a poor settlement compounded by the unfairness of the Council Tax itself. Furthermore, they have stripped Kingston of its other revenue sources in order to reward inefficient, poorly run boroughs.
The centralising instincts of the current government have decimated the interests of local government and local people. The government has increased our targets, heavily dictated our budget, and offered us precious little investment.
To meet the rising expectations of our residents and for Kingston to be at its best we must work in partnership. Thankfully, in Kingston, we enjoy a thriving and diverse voluntary sector and other statutory partners whose work is invaluable to the success of the borough. As part of our leadership role we have to be more innovative, more efficient, and encourage and involve expertise and action from all our local communities.
We recognise the importance of these partnerships and the potential impact of still greater involvement from the organisations and groups that operate throughout our communities. Whatever the quality of life issue in our borough: safety; health; culture and the arts; education; the environment; the local economy; or transport; we have many opportunities to encourage and cultivate a renewed sense of community that can make the difference. Throughout our past four years of responsibility, and in this manifesto for the future, partnership remains a fundamental and absolutely necessary tenet for the success of Kingston.
Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives have a record of Kingston local government. The last eight years have been split between us and we invite Kingston's voters to judge us on those records.
Our manifesto is both a record of action and a clear and concise direction for the Royal Borough into the future. Kingston is getting better, and in ten key areas we list our policies to make it better still. Together - in partnership with residents, local business, voluntary groups, our health services, transport providers and the police - we can ensure that Kingston continues to be cleaner, greener, and safer - providing a secure future for generations to come.
1. Financially Responsible
Since the Conservatives introduced the Council Tax in 1993, bills have rocketed by over 100%. As a poor solution for local government funding, it has given residents an inequitable and unfair local taxation system. Nationally and locally, the Liberal Democrats have long campaigned to 'Axe the Tax'. However, the continued support of the other two parties for this unfair tax means the struggle remains an uphill one.
There is no doubt that Kingston has a higher Council Tax than anyone would like. However, if this borough received the London average in the government's yearly settlement, in just one year we could cut your Council Tax bills by almost 60%, a saving of over £700. In Kingston this year, we received just £208 per person compared to a London average of £480.
Yet we still have to comply with all the bureaucratic burdens enforced by central government, and always unfunded, among them; the Licensing Act 2003, the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Care Standards Act 2000, the Criminal Records Bureau, higher national insurance contributions, landfill tax, and the list goes on. In spending terms we remain in the lowest five in London, whilst still maintaining excellent services.
However, there are things we can do to save money and reduce the burden on local tax payers. After increases in Council Tax totalling 43% in just four years under the previous Conservative administration, the last two years have seen the lowest increases for ten years. The borough's finances are now stable, in stark contrast to the inherited disorder of 2002.
By making efficiency savings, we have been able to divert over £1 million a year into making improvements in line with residents' priorities - on cleaner streets, on removing graffiti and abandoned cars, and on rubbish collection. We have saved over half a million pounds by implementing new procedures for agency staff, and we have reduced the number of full time equivalent staff without affecting services.
We have also worked hard to restore the Council's reserves, which were left at perilously low levels by the previous administration in attempting to impose an illegal budget. By finding the savings to restore reserves, the Council once again has a stable base from which to provide our local services.
Over the next four years we will:
- Continue to minimise the impact of Council Tax increases through a mixture of efficiency savings, and robust budgeting
- Continue to ensure that the Council maintains a prudent level of reserves in order to cover any budget risk, without unnecessarily burdening local tax payers
- Continue to review staffing structures for further savings. Staff numbers have been reduced in the last two years, and we will continue to explore and maximise the labour potential of RBK
- Embed our new Procurement Framework, approved in 2006, to change the entire culture of how the Council does business. The changes will move the Council away from short-term input driven contracts to a longer-term contract system based on actual outcomes
2. A Partnership for Improvement and a Thriving Voluntary Sector
The borough of Kingston works best in partnership. Our residents have high expectations and by creating partnerships to interlace with all the areas of our community we can, together, provide more complete services. The council has limited resources, but it can have a huge role in the network of partnerships across the borough.
We have a thriving and diverse economy that supports a large business community. We have recently seen the creation of a Business Improvement District in Kingston, the first of its kind in the country. This sees businesses contributing an extra £600,000 per year to enhance the town centre's environment and economic development. Already we have seen improvements, including a steam clean of every street in the town centre, rubbish removed from alleyways, and the addition of more greenery. Further improvements will follow.
Our partnerships in the borough are present in every area of council life; whether it is working alongside the police to help combat anti-social behaviour, or co-ordinating efforts to reduce truancy in schools. We have introduced a Local Preventative Strategy that has created a partnership across all agencies to share information about vulnerable kids, flagging up concerns so that the appropriate service can be utilised.
A significant step was taken two years ago with the introduction of the borough's first Community Plan. Devised by the Community Leadership Forum, which we lead, the Community Plan brings together all the major statutory agencies, together with local businesses and the voluntary sector, to work in concert to deliver joined up services across the borough. We also work across the borough's boundaries with our neighbours achieving an economy of scale for services such as waste disposal.
Much of the important work that goes on within the borough is performed by voluntary groups. They are absolutely fundamental to the success of this borough and a valuable partner for the council. By introducing strategic three year funding for the voluntary sector we have allowed organisations to plan ahead, rather than reacting on a year-by-year basis. Voluntary action is at the very heart of our local communities and forms an important aspect of our vision for the future of Kingston. Partnerships are a natural way of working for Liberal Democrats and in order to develop our partnerships further, we will:
- Explore the possibilities for five year funding agreements, allowing voluntary organisations to plan strategically over longer periods, in order to sustain services at a higher level
- Assist the voluntary sector to plan and implement effective campaigns and fundraising for local groups
- Extend the involvement of the council's Grants Unit to help provide statutory advice and support for groups in the community in order to help with the effective running of services
- Continue to support the implementation of Safer Neighbourhood Teams across the borough, and assist in finding a suitable base from which they can work in each ward
- Continue to work with business in Kingston to make the town centre cleaner and safer and more environmentally sustainable. We will also look to further our partnerships with business across the borough to help reinvigorate our other town centres
- We will to set up a board for the Voluntary Sector unit to meet quarterly and to explore the grants process to avoid duplication and encourage groups in the same area to work together
- We also will introduce separate grants for environmental groups to help them and the council make further progress on climate change, recycling, waste minimisation and its implications
3. Continuing the Clean Sweep
Four years ago we placed your local environment at the very centre of our priorities. In 2002, we inherited a Council plagued by a record number of complaints: abandoned and burned-out cars littered our streets; graffiti on every blank wall and left for ages; failing street sweeping contracts; and a huge backlog of road repairs desperately requiring attention. Kingston was dirty and failing to cope under the Tories.
By contrast we have worked hard to improve the local environment. A ambitious programme of street resurfacing and maintenance has seen well over 300 hundred roads across the borough benefit from much needed works to pavements, roads and street lighting. Our anti-graffiti programme has been continually successful over the four year period and our close partnership with the police and other partners has seen a dramatic reduction of offences and quicker removal. Our abandoned vehicles team has dealt with over 3,500 queries in the last two years, meaning fast and efficient removal of this dangerous blight on our streets.
In addition a new street cleansing contract has improved the condition of our streets. There is now more street cleansing staff, late-night cleaning, and improved cleaning methods including the re-introduction of proper street sweeping. Independent inspections have consistently acknowledged that we have made huge improvements in line with residents' priorities.
We are, however, far from complacent. We are critically aware that all our improvements can be lost and our environment quickly deterioration if the Tories regain control. We do not want to return to the appalling state of four years ago so we recognise that we must continue and expand our services to meet the ever demanding requirements of the borough. Over the next four years, we will therefore:
- Continue with the renewal programme of works for our roads. We will continue to invest £2 million a year on improving the condition of our pavements, roads, and street cleaning
- Continue the extra investment in our street cleansing programme, to ensure that progressive improvements are made year on year.We will also aim to extend the current programme to include:
- More dedicated street sweeping in town centres to offset the litter created by the night time economy
- A 'Fast Clean Team' as a rapid response to areas particularly blighted
- Joint ventures with traders, and in particular those responsible for the impact of the late night economy
4. A Fair Deal for Tenants
The health and well being of many of our local residents is dependent on the quality of our housing stock. Huge progress has been made over the last four years, but there are massive challenges in the near future. By 2010 we must meet bring up our housing stock to the government's Decent Homes Standard, and this requires vast investment. We have now fully planned and costed the £46 million of investment needed to meet the requirements laid out by central government.
While the Audit Commission has acknowledged the improvements in our housing service, we must continue to progress. This year, we have approved a complete re-shaping of the housing service to make it more responsive to our tenants. This will ensure a housing service that offers better value for money, greater neighbourhood involvement, the establishment of a free-phone contact centre for tenants and leaseholders, and more proactive estate managers who are not stuck behind desks but out on their estates. Our revamped service will also start to address the key issues of overcrowding and homelessness.
As in all areas of our work over the last four years we have looked at ways of providing a more efficient service to help ease the burden on local tax payers. Four years ago there were over 150 maintenance contracts. Now we have just two partners streamline the Council's housing maintenance and saving money.
Each year the government removes £5 million from our rent payers to prop up other borough's housing stocks. The Housing Rent Subsidy - introduced by the Conservative in 1990 and kept by Labour - is a scandalous stealth tax on Kingston residents. We have actively campaigned on this issue and have received cross-party support on the council. We will continue to publicise this inequality and pressure the government into a full-scale review of this unfair tax.
Our housing service is crucial to the life of this borough. Over the next four years we will:
- Introduce a Tenants' Charter that encourages greater tenant and leaseholder involvement in the running and the management of their estates. We aim to decentralise the service so that residents have accountability on their estates, not centrally at the Guildhall
- Deliver a better value for money service, by reducing costs at the centre by the improved use of new systems and technologies
- We will work with neighbouring councils to address issues of overcrowding and affordable homes. We will invite them to campaign with us to convince the government to provide the necessary funding to make over 700,000 empty properties in the South-East habitable
- Maintain investment in the housing stock and increase accountability to Neighbourhood Committees without the need for a stock transfer
- Continue to work on strategies for reducing homelessness and build on the successful reduction of the social and financial burden of bed and breakfast
- Establish a contact centre with a free-phone number for tenants and leaseholders to get help and support to include the reporting of faults.
5. Caring for the Vulnerable
The council's role in helping to create a healthy borough concentrates, rightly, on the more vulnerable members of our community. It is our work with older people, young children, and the mentally ill that forms the cornerstone of our health and social care agenda and is a role that is performed not just by the council, but by hundreds of individuals and groups within the borough. As a council, we were the first in the country to implement an effective system of health scrutiny to enable us and residents in the community to engage in constructive communication with health providers.
Over the last four years our social services have continued to provide a high quality service that is independently judged to be among the best in the country. Through our Social Action Plans we have tackled specific issues such as elder adult abuse and introduced a Disabled Access Officer to focus particular attention on the problems faced by the disabled and the elderly in accessing services. We now have integrated Community Older People's Teams established in four areas across the borough comprising of district nursing, social work, and occupational therapy staff.
We have introduced a highly successful furniture re-use scheme alongside the Kings Fund that has diverted unwanted furniture from landfill to the homes of more vulnerable members of our community.
Within the last four years there has been huge debate over Domiciliary Care services and the introduction of a new charging system. While nationally and if given access to national taxation the Liberal Democrats would seek to abolish all charges for such care, at a local level and without further government funding to support an ageing population it is simply not sustainable. The new system has seen 40% of service users paying less and these are some of the most vulnerable people in our borough. A return to the old charging system, while promised by other parties locally as a cheap publicity stunt, is neither a sensible solution nor an equitable one.
We are committed to providing a comprehensive service for our elderly residents and in helping to promote and maintain healthy living across all age-groups. Over the next four years we will:
- Promote healthier living and the prevention of illness through our partnerships with health service providers in the borough, and through the use of our own communications to residents
- Promote Active Aging and compliment the work of Day Centres with a dedicated team to contact every older person across the borough to provide a comprehensive review of their needs; including a health and benefits check and advice about crime prevention and energy efficiency
- Work closely with our partners to dispel the myths about mental illness and to explore the possibility of using currently vacant allotment sites to set up a market garden for people with mental health problems
- Increase access to information on the facilities and activities available across the borough to the 20,000+ residents over the age of 65
- Set up a new portfolio area dedicated to community support and the related social aspects of vulnerable groups by offering advice and support to single parents, the homeless, drug and alcohol abuse
6. Options for Travel
The way in which each individual chooses to travel has implications, not least for the environment. The ways in which we get around covers a multitude of issues - it's about accessibility, congestion, our health, protecting open spaces, cleaner and safer roads, convenience, pollution and how we balance all those competing aspects.
Creating and implementing a balance of all these things should enable the borough to provide transport options that are equally accessible to drivers, cyclists and pedestrians as well as the users of all the forms of public transport. It is about making Kingston a sustainable borough where our options for how we undertake our everyday travel are balanced, varied, and help to sustain the environment.
Over the last four years we have been implementing a number of schemes to create a more even balance - improving bus routes and their accessibility, more cycling facilities, huge investment in highway improvements, and in campaigning locally and nationally for better public transport services for residents and visitors. We have campaigned with our Lib Dem MPs on the 'Battle for Waterloo' in order to secure more trains to our borough from Waterloo. We have overseen a successful and extended Christmas Park and Ride Scheme, and the opening up of the Hogsmill Bridge for cyclists.
As a council, we do not directly provide many of the services that local people use and we face the competing interests of residents, businesses, visitors, government, the Mayor of London, and our own vision for the future of travel in the borough. Over the last few years we have begun to implement schemes to help find the balance of competing interests. In order to sustain that progress over the next four years, we will:
- Develop safer walking and cycling options for all to help reduce the quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions caused by transport thereby improving the quality of our air
- Promote and ensure safe walking routes to our schools, through improved street-lighting, 20 mph zones, and working with schools to implement more 'walking buses', which will have a positive effect on congestion, pollution and the health of our children
- Create more cycle routes and ensure through the planning process that key services are more accessible by foot and bicycle
- Build on the success of the 'Battle for Waterloo' and numerous bus campaigns and seek to enhance all local transport links
- Increase investment on improving footpaths and pavements and encourage Transport for London to fund more work in residential roads, not just main carriageways
- Promote Green Travel plans within the community so that leading partners in the borough such as the University, the hospital, and our local schools can develop car-share schemes and greater use of public transport
- Campaign for an extension to the Oyster Card scheme available locally
7. Reduce, Re-use and Recycle
The future of our local environment and even the protection of our planet is perhaps our greatest challenge over the coming years. Minimising the waste we produce is vital to that challenge and important financially as it is costing us more and more to throw away our rubbish.
Kingston residents produce 80,000 tonnes of waste every year and it's increasing all the time. Mass consumerism has a profound effect on the earth's limited resources and the growth of convenient and disposable products has pushed up the level of waste production far beyond sustainable levels. This is not just a challenge for the future it effects each one of us, environmentally and financially, now.
Over the last four years Liberal Democrats have been introducing measures to increase the level of recycling in the borough. The amount of household waste now being recycled or composted annually has risen by over two thousand tonnes since 2002. During our administration we have introduced new recycling sites and upgraded others. We now have 30 sites across the borough where residents can take paper, cardboard, cans and tins, glass bottles and jars, and clothes and textiles.
We have successfully added glass to our door-to-door programme and launched a Street Recycling Project which has seen bins on pavements in 100 locations across the borough where residents and visitors can recycle newspapers, cans and plastic bottles. Last year a major project by Waste Watch visited 20,000 homes to see how residents want recycling to develop. We have encouraged more residents to compost their garden and kitchen waste by providing over 3,000 home composters and have provided training in partnership with Friends of the Earth.
However, in recent years, the amount of waste being produced has increased at a higher rate. It is now urgent that we increase the amount of waste being recycled and composted and also dramatically reduce and minimise the amount of waste being produced in the first place. There is absolutely no sense in allocating the vast sums of money needed for the cure, without also aiding the prevention. As a result, over the next four years we will:
- Introduce a new contract to expand our door-to-door service to include cardboard and collection of biodegradable material which could account for as much as 30% of household waste. We will also look to include items such as Yellow Pages, and car and house batteries
- Increase the recycling collection to a weekly service
- Having already introduced an orange sack recycling service to flats on the Cambridge Road and Gardens Estates, Kingsnympton and Cumberland House, we will extend this service to other estates and where possible introduce mini static recycling centres
- Explore the possibility of creating an environmental centre from which the council and environmental organisations within the borough can help to educate the public and investigate future initiatives
- The introduction of an annual 'Recycle, Re-Use, and Minimise Day' to help raise awareness, including an awards ceremony for innovative work taking place in the community
8. Better Schools and Services for Young People and Families
Our schools are consistently judged to be among the best in the country. Once again, in 2006, we have been given the highest possible rating from OFSTED for our schools and young people's services.
We have secured massive investment for our schools, with £23 million to redevelop Chessington Community College, and develop joint sixth form provision at Southborough Boys and Tolworth Girls.
A further £8 million was secured to support a ground-breaking federation between Coombe Girls and Beverley Boys (now renamed 'Coombe Boys') that will bring extra opportunities to young people in the two schools under one head and governing body and reverse the decline of falling pupil numbers at the former Beverley Boys.
Over the last four years, truancy rates have been consistently amongst the lowest in the country and have attracted national recognition for the innovative strategies developed to deal with families, schools, and young people.
The opportunities and excellence in education in this borough are being strengthened all the time. But our involvement in the lives of young people should not just end at the school gate and we wish to explore a number of initiatives to improve the lives of young people across the borough. Over the next four years, we will:
- Value and support all the skills needed in society and will reflect that in a wider range of educational options for young people from the age of 14, including new vocational courses and practical education in life skills
- Monitor the quality of meals offered in schools and will encourage all schools to achieve Healthy School status
- Ensure that all schools and nurseries provide sufficient opportunities for enjoyable exercise. We will increase participation in the Youth Games and encourage the sharing of training facilities. We will maximise the access to play, leisure and sporting facilities for children and parents by ensuring that young people have affordable access to a broad choice of leisure activities across the borough
- Ensure that school buildings are a resource for the whole community, young and old. We will build on the extended schools programme to provide activities, advice centres, classes, child-care and other services based on local needs. We will develop these services in partnership with the police, health services, local business and the voluntary sectors
- Develop six further children's centres to provide multi-agency support to children up to the age of 5 and their parents. These will be located within existing schools and will work with the extended schools programme to provide an integrated service for all families of young children
- Together with our health partners, provide an integrated service to children with disabilities and their carers. This will include a one-stop shop for the assessment of children's needs and to provide advice and support for parents. We will continue to campaign for affordable child-care for disabled children
9. A Safer Borough
Kingston is one of the safest boroughs in London and our partnership with the police has delivered some of the lowest crime figures in London including the lowest number of street crimes and the lowest number of burglaries. However, the fear of crime is still high in comparison to reality. Over the last four years we have been working with our partners in the community to help improve the quality of life for our residents, particularly with regard to anti-social behaviour.
Our well co-ordinated anti-graffiti strategy has been effective, in both dealing with many of the more prolific 'taggers' and also in ensuring quick and effective removal of incidents, helping to deter repeat attacks. Our success in dealing with abandoned cars and our programme of improvements to street lighting have made a real difference to our local communities by enhancing perceptions of personal safety amongst residents.
We now have Safer Neighbourhood Teams in most wards and the remaining few will each have their own team later this year. Furthermore, after years of lobbying and campaigning, we have seen a gradual increase in the number of police in Kingston that correctly reflected our level of need after previously having been told we had to many police. We continue to communicate effectively with the police and residents to isolate and combat specific problems.
Over the next four years, we will:
- Continue to develop the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership in order to target areas of most need, specifically anti-social behaviour stemming from drug and alcohol abuse
- Continue to seek early intervention to prevent anti-social behaviour, but press for ASBOs and Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) where appropriate
- Support the greater involvement of residents in communicating directly with the Council and their Safer Neighbourhood Teams to identify problem areas and potential crime
- Continuing to deal with incidents of graffiti, abandoned cars and other environmental crime quickly to improve our local environment and keep crime levels low
- Work with the police through Trading Standards to ensure any licensed premises selling alcohol to people under-age will be quickly and firmly prosecuted
- Enhance street based outreach work for young people and explore various aspects of youth provision and providers to find the right balance with youth club based activities
- Continue to campaign for adequate funding for CCTV in high crime areas, adding to the new CCTV and pedestrian improvements recently introduced to Tolworth
10. Neighbourhoods and Participation
Since Neighbourhoods were introduced by the Liberal Democrats 12 years ago they have proved to be very popular with residents, who value their enhanced opportunity to get involved with the things that directly affects them and also appreciate the greater accountability of their councillors. The neighbourhood system provides for the best opportunity both for individuals and for larger groups of residents to be involved in and to contribute to the decisions made about their local community. Council of all political persuasions from around the country have visited Kingston to study and adopt our system.
However, whilst neighbourhoods are embedded within the whole Council framework and there have been some positive developments in recent years there is still much more we want to do. We want to devolve more services and decisions to the neighbourhoods. Empowering residents by giving them a greater say over the services they receive. It's not just about roads and pavements - it's about all our services.
Over the past four years the Council, together with its major Kingston partners, has developed the first Community Plan on a Borough wide basis. The Liberal Democrats believe that partnership is essential for effective delivery of services and we also believe that our first partnership should be between the Council and its citizens. We now want to see neighbourhood versions of the community plan to bring together local people and local agencies and organisations to jointly devise and deliver services.
We will ensure Neighbourhoods continue to develop and span across all services. Over the next four years, we will:
- Refocus and re-energise the role and the function of Neighbourhoods with a view to devolving more power to the local level
- Ensure joined-up Neighbourhood service properly linked to borough-wide and other agencies' services
- Introduce a Neighbourhood Charter which will clearly set out what residents can expect in their area. This Charter will demonstrate clearly the commitment to empowering residents in the Neighbourhood in shaping the public services they receive and letting people know the opportunities open to them
- Help each Neighbourhood develop its own Charter as part of its Neighbourhood Community Plan in partnership with local people, local agencies and local organisations building on the borough's overarching Community Plan
- Work with the Council's Grounds Management Partner (Quadron) to introduce local management of parks, open spaces and other facilities. This will involve the users having a greater say in the way in which their parks are managed and developed
- Establish working groups of local residents, who will identify problems and issues within their area and propose practical solutions
|
