Front line services maintained and Council Tax frozen under the Conservatives
24 Feb
At the Council meeting (23 February 2012) the Conservatives passed a budget that maintains service delivery, with residents set to benefit from an unprecedented second year of Council Tax freezes.
The Conservative backed budget freezes Council Tax levels, which is at least £130 less than the average across Kent.
And once again Labour put forward no alternative budget proposals and voted against a budget that protects services, which they claim to support.
This comes after last week’s shock announcement on BBC Radio Kent that Labour would make the political choice to close Rochester Airport and Deangate Ridge – two cherished community assets.
Labour also opposed the Council Plan which sets out the Council’s priorities for the coming year such as continuing to provide value for money, giving children a better start in life and ensuring Medway is safe, clean and green.
The new budget honours the election commitments made by the Conservative Group last year to protect key front line services including libraries, weekly bin collection and green spaces, despite having to make savings of £14.3 million.
There are no cuts to Sure Start, with all 19 centres continuing to receive annual revenue as least as large as in 2011/12, with the service receiving an additional £322,000 for extended nursery provision.
Funding was also found to continue the popular free-swimming initiative, which has enabled nearly 60,000 under 11s and over 30,000 over 60s to swim for free since April.
In addition, £50,000 has been earmarked to fight the proposed Thames Estuary Airport.
Deputy Leader Alan Jarrett said:
“Its business as usual at the Council with service delivery and key front line services secured. Yet again we see that Labour has no ideas of their own and oppose everything including the Council tax freeze, funding for the stop estuary airport campaign, Sure Start and free swimming.
“Labour say they support services but its not words that count but actions and Labour’s only action is to oppose all the great services that the council provides. They even chose to oppose the Council Plan that outlines the priorities for the next year.”
Message from Joe Armitage
24 Nov
Conservative Party Chairman Baroness Sayeeda Warsi meets Joe Armitage during her recent visit
A message from Joe Armitage – local resident and Chairman of Medway Conservative Future
Labour failed our country and they failed the ordinary working person, the very people who they claim to represent and rely on to win elections. They made the poorest poorer, let youth unemployment increase to over 900,000, created greater inequality, left the UK with its biggest peacetime deficit ever, failed to deliver their promise of eradicating child poverty and let violent crime increase by 44%. They allowed all of this to happen despite an economic boom and an increase in public spending of 45% up until 2007.
The local Conservative party is not in the pockets of the rich or uncaring, we simply want to put Britain right and that’s why I joined. I’m not from a wealthy background, I have a single parent and live in a terraced house, but that doesn’t stop me sharing the values of the 21st century Conservative Party. We want to get people back into work by making work pay more than welfare. We want enterprise and business to return to the UK unlike Labour who watched its destruction. We also want growth in the economy, but not aided by debt. The UK economy is growing faster than the USA and the EU average, all thanks to the Conservative-led Government.
The misgivings of the Labour Party are showing and the Conservative Party are the only party to be trusted with the mighty task of putting Britain back on track. Join us on that journey!
Latest Rochester East Ward InTouch
23 Nov
You can download the latest Rochester East ward InTouch by clicking on the image or click here
Please do take the time to fill in our residents’ survey to ensure we can continue working to make Rochester East a better place to live.
Medway Elections 5th May 2011: Statement of Persons Nominated
6 Apr
A full list of candidates for the Medway Council elections on May 5th can be found here
