Your Lib Dem Pledges for Maidstone 2011

In these challenging economic times, the administration running Maidstone Council will have to make tough and difficult choices. Under the Liberal Democrats you will get a united team dedicated to the ruthless cutting of council waste, not just at budget time but 365 days a year.

Emphasis will always be placed on providing excellent frontline services; working in partnership with other agencies where there is joint responsibility; but eliminating from our budgets any service which should be wholly the responsibility of another organisation. We will not spend local residents' hard-earned council tax on vanity and pet projects.

We pledge old-fashioned, prudent housekeeping and will not plunge the council into debt, because the burden of repayment will fall on local taxpayers.

It is our intention to make Maidstone the greenest Borough in the country within a decade, because we passionately believe this makes good economic as well as environmental sense.

We have listened very carefully to what residents have told us and have produced a list of our promises upon which we can be held accountable.

Promise 1 - Putting the Pride back into our County Town

We must be ambitious in our vision for the future of Maidstone town centre by creating conditions to deliver an economically vibrant, environmentally excellent 21st century 'green' county town. We believe our first priority must be to tackle the chronic congestion and air pollution which currently blights the county town and the approaches to it.

* We will work closely with KCC, landowners, Government, the Environment Agency, health services and others to create a radical master-plan that will tackle the congestion, pollution and traffic danger which blights Maidstone for business and local residents alike.

* We will work to introduce a Low Emission Zone in the county town and, in partnership with business, achieve the installation of electric vehicle charging points within suitable developments.

* We will re-open the riverside public conveniences between March and October each year.

Promise 2 - Economic Development

The economy of Maidstone has too narrow a base with an emphasis on public services, retail and leisure industries. We value these businesses, however, we must achieve greater diversification of both our urban and rural economies if the borough is to thrive.

* We support the Maidstone Media Hub initiative and will work with business and other partners to ensure its continued success.

* We will seek to make Maidstone a leader in the development of cutting edge green and low carbon technology.

* We will facilitate regeneration and renewal of obsolete office / commercial districts within the county town.

* We will champion and, where environmentally acceptable, expand rural employment sites.

Promise 3 - Housing

The need for more affordable homes for our citizens is acute and many residents have told us that the current points system is unfair. We only have to look at our utility bills to realise how gas, electricity and water costs are rising.

* We will deliver affordable homes that are water and energy efficient.

* We will abolish the current points system of allocation and replace it with a new fair system that is accessible to all residents with housing need and empowers them with a greater choice in where they will live.

Promise 4 - Our environment

We must adapt to climate change and make better use of our natural resources. We believe it is possible to become both a carbon and waste neutral borough.

* We will ensure that Maidstone Borough Council leads by example making all our buildings and our work processes as energy efficient as possible and will actively work with business and partners to reduce energy wasted in unoccupied buildings.

* We will seek with partners and contractors to be a pilot for a waste to energy scheme for council vehicles.

* We will maintain the popular Weekend Freighter as a free service and seek to make it more environmentally friendly.

* We will champion environmental sustainability in the borough and seek to ensure that residential planning permissions achieve at least a score of 4 under Code for Sustainable homes, and commercial applications at least a "very good" under BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method)

* We will champion innovations to mitigate surface water and riparian (water course) flood risk to make Maidstone Borough a leader in sustainable urban drainage (SUDs) technology

Promise 5 - Safety and Cleanliness

As local residents you have the right to enjoy your local environment. We therefore believe in zero tolerance of litter, graffiti, fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour. We believe the current street cleaning regime is failing and that the new waste collection service is leading to more fly-tipping and litter 'hot spots' in our high density housing areas.

* We will urgently review the current waste collection and street cleaning services.

* We will resurrect the tough enforcement led campaigns, working with partners and utilising the latest technology, against fly-tipping and other enviro-crime.

* We will re-launch Maidstone's popular "Clean Sweep" campaign and involve individuals and communities in keeping their neighbourhoods clean.

* We will work through the Community Safety Partnership to target anti-social behaviour problems in a constructive and timely manner.

* We will terminate use of chemicals toxic to wildlife and the wider environment by Maidstone Council and their contractors.

Promise 6 - Recreational and Cultural Facilities

The health and well being of our citizens is paramount and we need to encourage healthy exercise and contact with the natural world in young and old alike.

* If elected we will reduce the rental on all our council playing fields by 20% to make them more affordable for local clubs and teams in the current challenging economic climate.

Our open spaces are increasingly under threat. We are losing once common wildlife at a frightening rate. We will be ambitious and tough in seeking to stem this tide of local extinction and loss. Our rivers and streams are in poor shape and urgently require multi-agency intervention to rescue them. We will ensure that MBC leads the way in bringing together relevant partners to achieve a real renaissance of our waterways.

* Maidstone council will adopt a tough target led local biodiversity action plan to make it a national leader in wildlife protection. We will ensure that policies to protect our endangered wildlife habitats, flora and fauna are observed by all council departments, their individual staff and partner agencies.

* We will ensure that ancient woodland in Maidstone Borough is protected from development.

* We will designate at least one new local nature reserve or deliver one native woodland extension project (utilising natural regeneration and / or local provenance seed and saplings) per year within the borough and will seek to plant a new Diamond Jubilee Woodland in 2012

Maidstone and the surrounding villages and hamlets have a long and rich history and strong cultural and literary identities. We will ensure that this history and culture is preserved and celebrated.

* Maidstone Council will work to re-establish pride in Maidstone by celebrating our indigenous culture and history with public events, art works, street and building names and through tapping the creativity of our young people.

Maidstone has a vibrant and richly diverse music scene and many dramatic and dance organisations but funding to support them is increasingly difficult to come by.

* We will seek to work closely with the Maidstone Area Arts Council with a view to forming a "working co-operative" with the 'in-house' expertise to seek sponsorship for cultural events from prominent commercial and other grant-giving organisations.

* We will continue the work we started, which the current Conservative administration has let slip, to make the Hazlitt Theatre and Corn Exchange complex a vibrant 'one stop shop' for information about cultural events within the Borough and support the outreach work which brings music and theatre to the wider community.