Newbury Labour Party publishes five key pledges ahead of elections

Party says it will reduce council tax and cut energy bills if elected on May 7

REDUCING council tax, cutting energy bills and delivering more affordable homes are three of the Newbury Labour Party’s pledges if elected on May 7.

The party is fielding its largest number of district council candidates in West Berkshire in decades as it looks to improve on the nine per cent share of the vote it received in 2011.

The party has opted not to publish a full manifesto – saying that it does not want to promise things it can’t deliver – and instead decided to focus on five “bold and ambitious” key aims.

Among them is the promise of a one-per-cent reduction in council tax, followed by a three-year freeze, which it says it will achieve by merging some services with other local councils, doubling the council tax on empty homes, reviewing council expenditure and improving council tax collection rates.

Another is to build a new university technical college or Studio School in the Newbury area that focuses on a specific skilled industry, which Labour says would expand the choice and opportunity for 14- to 19-year-olds to learn key skills such as engineering and computing.

It says it also wants to ensure that 10 per cent of all homes built in the district over the next four years are affordable and pledged to introduce a collective switching scheme to help save local people money on their energy bills.

Labour claims the scheme would allow residents to sign up and that the council could use that power to barter with energy companies and get a better deal.

The party has also said it would tap into Government funding for a local water-source heat pump network.

Another key aim is to pool the older people’s social care budget with the Newbury and District Clinical Commissioning Group to speed up integration of services and bring more care to people’s homes.

Labour is also promising to lobby for a new maternity ward at the West Berkshire Community Hospital.

Labour’s district council candidate for St John’s ward, Jonny Roberts, who is also standing as a parliamentary candidate for Newbury at the general elections, said: “These are five bold but achievable pledges designed to make life better for people in West Berkshire.

“We haven’t produced a fully-fledged manifesto, frankly because no-one reads them, so we’ve instead kept it simple and set out these five key priorities for a Labour administration in West Berkshire and hope people will back us so we can get on and deliver them.”

Speaking about Labour’s chances at the local elections, the 27-year-old added: “Of course we would love to win, but it’s about getting as many seats as possible.

“The more seats you get the more influence you can have to change things and things need to change.

“This election really is too close to call. There is going to be a lot of vote-swapping so every vote is going to count this year.”