This final local elections post is arguably the most important of all – a summary of what the main parties and groups standing in Bridgend are pledging to do if elected.
All of the following relate to Bridgend County Borough Council. There’s absolutely no way in hell I’m going to do anything like this for the 20 separate town and community councils.
I’ve selected up to 10 stand-out policies/pledges from the manifestos or policy statements published by the parties and main groups standing in the county council elections.
Postal votes will have already gone out, but if you’re living in one of the wards taking part in early voting pilots, you’ll be able to vote from tomorrow (3rd May). For everyone else, polling day is Thursday 5th May between 7 am – 10 pm.
As for the results, by the looks of things the count is taking place on Friday and the final results aren’t expected until late in the afternoon. I expect to have a post on the county council results out by Saturday afternoon and the community and town council results by Sunday afternoon or Monday morning.
Finally, I’d like to wish all candidates standing for the county council and/or the town and community councils the best of luck. It takes guts and commitment to stick your neck out and run for office regardless of whether you’re successful or not. Be proud that you’re doing your bit.
The Tories published a national manifesto, which you can read here (pdf). There hasn’t been a Bridgend-specific set of policies as far as I can tell, but individual Conservative candidates have been making ward-specific pledges.
- Lobby the Welsh Government at the Senedd level for additional funding to enable a council tax freeze.
- Enable communities to develop Local Neighbourhood Plans so they can steer where new housing/facilities should be built.
- Establish a Community Ownership Fund to support the local takeover of facilities that might otherwise be threatened with closure.
- Introduce free parking at weekends.
- Supports closer working with neighbouring councils where appropriate (presumably, this means supporting the Cardiff Captial/City Region).
- Supports closer working between social services and the NHS to aid older people.
- Support investment in roads and pavements to reduce potholes and pedestrian hazards.
- Opposes the introduction of a tourist tax.
The problem when you use a national manifesto for local election is that it ends up coming across as a bit vague as you need to make the same commitments everywhere. That’s the case here.
The big stand-out is the mention of a council tax freeze – but read the small print. They know it’s dependent on the Welsh Government and UK Government so would only “lobby for the additional funding to enable a freeze”, not commit to implementing one. As mentioned earlier, you can’t make pledges like that without knowing what the financial commitment might be beforehand.
The proposal for a Community Ownership Fund – seemingly as an alternative/complement to community asset transfer – may be popular, but it’s still a disguise for outsourcing and sell-offs.
The Conservatives join most of the other parties/groups in supporting free car parking – the difference being that it would be weekends only.
