Lib Dems cut council tax rise for fourth year running

8.32.01pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 15th Feb 2007

Bournemouth Lib Dems are proposing their lowest ever council tax rise - just 3.2 per cent. This means the council tax rise has been reduced every year the Lib Dems have been in power. Residents will remember how council tax rocketed under the Tories by 50 per cent. In the last two years the Tories were in power rises were a fraction below 15 per cent!

In 2003, the Tories set a whopping 14.6 per cent council tax rise. Angry residents voted them out of office. Since then the Lib Dem rises have been:

• 5.9 per cent in 2004

• 4.6 per cent in 2005

• 3.4 per cent in 2006

and now

• 3.2 per cent in 2007

Tory waste has been cut. The Lib Dems have made the Council more efficient to the tune of £6million.

And services have got better. The new recycling scheme means recycling rates are nearly double what they were when the Tories were in power. The town's CCTV is getting a much-needed modernisation, after years of neglect under the Tories. Millions of pounds are being invested in services for vulnerable older people and children.

Liberal Democrat group leader, Cllr Andrew Garratt, says:

"The Tories were a high tax, low service party. That's why they lost office in 2003. Since then the Lib Dems have cut waste, slashed council tax rises and invested in the services that matter to local people.

"It's no wonder more and more people are saying they won't risk having the Tories back."

The budget and Council Tax will be set at a meeting of all Councillors on 22nd February.