Priorities for West Devon Borough
The Liberal Democrats Manifesto for 2007
Liberal Democrats policy is greener and more locally focussed than that of
the other major parties. Liberal Democrats aim to be more in touch with local
needs and believe in local people having a real say in local matters. We will
work in close partnership with our colleagues at County and in our towns and
parishes, with other Districts, the police and the health services to achieve
our Priorities for West Devon Borough.
Housing
 Give priority to affordable housing to rent or buy for local people,
particularly first time buyers.
Campaign for all new houses to be sustainable at least at the 2020 energy use and carbon
emission target figure.
Support campaigns to reduce the unfair burden of water rates in the South-West.
Green Issues
Press for mobile phone masts to be kept at least 500 metres from schools and
residential areas.
Encourage the setting up of recycling centres, green waste and composting schemes.
Seek to ensure that environmental and ethical costs and benefits are reflected in
decisions.
Support and where possible extend the council’s kerbside collection of recyclable
materials.
Encourage repair and reuse and local enterprises which minimise waste.
Support local trade and services where the money stays in West Devon.
Seek to ban or charge for excessive and non-recyclable packaging.
Community
Listen
to young people and give them a voice through youth forums and projects run and
managed by them, including junior town and parish councils.
Create
more opportunities for local people to take part in decision making, generating
local solutions to local problems.
Support
initiatives that engage with the hard to reach and socially excluded to make
sure that everyone has the opportunity to take part in decision-making.
Transport
Campaign for
green taxes to be spent in improving local public transport, making it a real
alternative to the car.
Support school
and community buses and voluntary car schemes.
Work for
co-ordination of local bus and rail services to create a more integrated public
transport system; reopen stations including the Drake Line from Tavistock to
Plymouth.
Keep the level
of car parking charges stable and competitive with alternative shopping and
tourist centres.
Support
transport schemes which enable our elderly or disabled people to reach our
shops, banks and post offices.
Reduce
unnecessary travel to work by backing schemes such as green travel plans,
working from home and ‘hot desking’.
Rural
Tackle
the crisis in agriculture, supporting local farmers through community-supported
agriculture, farmers’ markets, local sourcing.
Improve
services to the deprived rural parts of our borough.
Taxation
Campaign
for the axing of the unfair Council Tax and its replacement by a system based on
the ability to pay.
Campaign
to shift the burden of paying for pollution control by taxing the polluter.
Other
Protect
our historic buildings, open spaces and beautiful countryside.
Encourage
cultural tourism which can benefit West Devon.
Back
all councils’ campaigns to reduce Whitehall interference, unrealistic targets
and underfunding of local services, particularly in rural areas where distance
adds so greatly to cost. |
