THE LIBERAL DEMOCRAT VISION FOR BRENTWOOD

The Liberal Democrat's vision for Brentwood is based around creating a community that values decent accessible local services, fairness, inclusiveness, openness, accountability, engagement and involvement in decision making. We will always put the needs of local people first before those of business and developers and will strive to reach out and involve all sections of the community in taking Brentwood forward.

Tackling Crime and keeping Brentwood safe

We will call for Essex Police to employ a Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator for Brentwood to help rebuild the Neighbourhood Watch schemes across the Borough. We will work with parents, schools, the police and other agencies to tackle the anti social behaviour and graffiti problems affecting our community. We support the introduction of Dispersal Orders and Alcohol banning orders to give the police more powers to tackle problems in specific areas.

Fairness on car parking charges

We are committed to reducing the cost of car parking in the borough and the cost of residents' parking permits.

The need for more affordable housing

Young people born and raised in Brentwood have serious difficulties getting onto the housing ladder. They are forced to live at home or move well away to afford a home. We will campaign for more homes to be built for young people and for "key" workers like police, nurses, fire fighters and teachers.

Opposing Brentwood town centre becoming another Romford

We are keen for a cinema to return to Brentwood but have serious concerns about the potential size and scale of what has been proposed so far for the site in William Hunter Way. Brentwood is under serious threat from developers who seem determined to put flats on any piece of land that becomes available. We will continue to oppose overdevelopment and fight to maintain the green belt around the Borough.

Campaigning for a fairer Council Tax

Liberal Democrats believe that a fairer Council tax system would take into account people's ability to pay, not the value of their property. The present system is particularly unfair on pensioners and those on low incomes.

Refuse collection and recycling

We will fight to keep the weekly black bag refuse collections, and will push for the recycling initiatives started under the Liberal Democrats to be expanded. We will continue to oppose any plans for incineration.

A more listening council

We believe that it is only when people feel that they are able to influence Council decisions that they feel involved in their local community. We will restore the popular Borough and Pensioner Forums that were scrapped under the Tories and we will ensure that residents are properly consulted on key issues such as the County Partnership and the new development in William Hunter Way

Fighting for better public transport

Many people in the Borough are dependent on public transport for work, shopping and recreation. We believe the Borough Council should be playing a much more proactive role in fighting for better services. We will continue to liaise directly with the bus and rail operators to ensure the voices and views of local passengers are heard and will do all we can to ensure services are improved

Campaigning to save our community halls

We will continue to fight the Tory plans to close The Old House in Shenfield Road and Keys Hall at Warley. We believe these facilities are still very much needed for use by local community groups.

Facilities for young people

Our young people need to feel they have a voice and that their views will be heard so we will re-introduce the Youth Forum and allocate funds for specific youth projects. We support the concept of "drop in" centres being introduced at key locations across the Borough. We would also like Brentwood to have its own all weather Athletics Track and would seriously look into bringing a Ten Pin Bowling Alley and an Ice Rink to the town.

The County Partnership

We opposed the County Partnership because we were very unhappy that there was no consultation with local residents or strategic partners before the decision was made. We also believe that Brentwood should have it's own Chief Executive and not share one with the County. The new Highways Localism initiative will bring some benefits to the borough but we still remain sceptical about the long term benefits of the partnership.