What's The Hidden Agenda? Will The Tories Create A Stink?

10.34.49pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 2nd May 2007

Voters in Uttlesford should be asking themselves do the Conservatives have a hidden agenda for the Council.

Conservative leaflets during the election campaign have contained a lot of criticism of the Liberal Democrats but very little on what the Conservatives would do if they ran the council.

"Do the Conservatives really have so few ideas of their own, or is there a secret agenda they are not revealing?" asked Lib Dem Council Leader Mark Gayler.

The Tories have referred in their leaflets to making 'more cost effective use of wheelie bins.' Uttlesford's waste and recycling collections are already cheaper per head than neighbouring Conservative-controlled Braintree, and results in higher recycling.

"Does this mean the Conservatives propose to follow the example of some other councils by collecting kitchen waste only once a fortnight?" said Cllr Gayler. "When the Liberal Democrats introduced the new recycling system we deliberately made sure that kitchen waste would be collected every week, in order to alleviate people's concerns about the health risks of food waste sitting around for long periods before being collected."

The Conservatives have criticised the Lib Dem administration for reducing the level of capital reserves. Yet the reserves are higher now, than they were during the late 1990s. There was no talk of financial crisis then.

Cllr Gayler comments:

"The capital reserve was built up by the Council receiving £18 million over a four year period from the sale of council houses. We have used that windfall to invest in bringing our remaining council housing up to a high standard, and undertaking other projects, such as the new customer service centre, and improved IT systems to cut costs and keep Council Tax down."

The council has perfectly adequate reserves, but if the Conservatives are intent on increasing them to an over-inflated level, they have not said how they will do that.

"Does this mean that the Conservatives are planning to sell off the council's housing stock to a housing association?" said Cllr Gayler. "Liberal Democrats have ensured that the council provides a high standard of housing to our tenants. Selling the houses off to a housing association is likely to result in higher rents, and will result in a worse deal for our council tenants."

"We are confident that people will see through the Tory deception," said Cllr Gayler. "The response on the doorstep has been absolutely marvellous, as residents endorse Lib Dems successes such as keeping the council tax the lowest in Essex, standing firm against airport expansion and investing in improving services, and our recycling initiative - which has made Uttlesford one of the greenest councils in Britain."