How the Conservatives are trying to mislead you

Contents

• Planning and over-development.

• The Green Belt.

• The Winter Gardens.

• Council Tax and the Council Budget.

• CCTV cameras.

• Car Parks.

• The Imax.

Planning and over-development

A local Tory MP has continued to blame Lib Dems on the Council for the flats being built in our town. But in Parliament this is what he says:

"...Bournemouth Council is now powerless to stop this and no longer allowed to make its own judgment as to the planning requirements needed for its area." - Tobias Ellwood MP (Hansard, 16 June 2005, col. 408).

Mr Ellwoods comments in full, from Hansard (opens in a new window)

Further comments on the same subject by Tobias Ellwood, 21/6/2006 - link to Hansard minutes (opens in a new window)

The Lib Dems say we need to balance the need for new homes - particularly as the children of local families grow up - with protecting the character of our area. That's why we're campaigning for the Council to have the final say, rather than central officials who don't know the area. That's why we've taken the following action:

• used the limited planning powers to turn down more applications

• been able to defeat more appeals by developers

• worked to win the battle to protect Bournemouth's green belt, against national & regional planners. This is despite the Tory shadow Chancellor's view who says we should build on the Green Belt, (The Times, Feb 06)

• working to revise local planning rules

• made planning applications and decisions more open and available through the web

• changed the local phone mast policy, to better respond to residents' concerns, within the very limited remit set by central government.

• launched a campaign to protect back gardens from being built on by developers

FACT: The Planning Department at the Town Hall is crucial in the fight against over-development. When the Conservatives were last in charge the Government declared it as "failing." It's taken the Lib Dems to turn this around and get action to protect our town.

Sign the petition to tackle overdevelopment (opens in a new window)

Made up numbers

Conservative election leaflets claimed that there had been massive increase in the number of homes in the last six years, saying 'Bournemouth: in 2001 there were 130,000 homes today there are 170,000'

We know from the Census that there were 72,212 households in 2001. There won't be another census until 2011, but we have the 'valuation list', which is key to determining the town's Council Tax, and must be accurate. The 18 September 2006 list says there are now 81,395 homes in Bournemouth.

It is plain to see that the Conservatives just made these numbers up.

Homes in Bournemouth - link to the 2001 figures (Adobe Acrobat / PDF file - 1.2MB). See page 45, fourth row down, three columns from the right.

Homes in Bournemouth - link to the 2006 figures (Adobe Acrobat / PDF file). See the top of page 6. .

The Green Belt

Tory claim: Lib Dem plans [would] see the end of our Greenbelt.

These are the plans which our MP admitted in Parliament weren't under the Council's control.

One might think you can trust our Greenbelt to the Conservatives. Not so.

It was the Lib Dem Councillors and officers of Lib Dem-run Bournemouth Council which over-turned plans by Government to make us build on our green belt.

Conservative national policy, on the other hand, is to build on the green belt.

'THE Conservatives abandoned their traditional defence of the green belt yesterday and promised a programme of house building'

Read the whole article in The Times:

The Times, February 9, 2006.

Can you believe anything the Conservatives say?

The Winter Gardens

The Tories say that the new Winter Gardens will cost you £16m. They don't spell out that their alternative is for several blocks of luxury flats, costing up to £1million each.

The facts are that the new Winter Gardens is fully funded, and will not cost any extra to Council Tax payers. The business case stacks up according to independent accountants who said it showed "a compelling vision". The plans bring together major organisations in the South West

The Lib Dems have listened to residents and visitors who say that they want real alternatives to pubs and nightclubs in the town centre. Our plans are ready to go - as long as the Tories don't regain power and stop them.

The community benefits include:

• A unique facility for the South West region housing music, dance and a Screen Academy under one roof.

• Facilities open seven days per week, daytime and evening.

• New public gardens, outside performance spaces and a purpose built play area for children and families.

• Providing the conurbation with an exciting range of small to medium scale programmes, performances, classes, courses, summer schools and festivals that are not currently available in the area.

• Supporting the voluntary sector, including arts, education, voluntary and charitable organisations - helping them to thrive. Organisations which will benefit include Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Dance South West, the Arts Institute, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth & Poole College, Bournemouth Chamber Music Society and Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy.

• Boosting the local economy by creating over 120 additional jobs, attracting 90 additional full-time students, around 500 part-time students and bringing in 110,000 arts attendances per year.

• Specialist courses for people of different ages from primary schools to adult education level. Opportunities for all Bournemouth school children to experience professional music and dance - at least 1,500 each year.

• Developing and retaining skills, particularly amongst artists and teachers in Bournemouth and providing a hub for artists and audiences to meet and network.

• Transforming a major town centre site, improving the area and acting as the catalyst for regeneration in and around Exeter Road.

• Improving public access and helping to link and unify other key sites in the town centre.

• Distinguishing Bournemouth from other shopping and tourist destinations, by providing an inspiring and attractive new facility.

• Creating a more balanced community and night-time economy within the town centre.

• Contributing to community safety through careful design and involvement in the Bournemouth Quality Nights Initiative.

Council Tax

The Tories are claiming that the council has overspent.

The accounts show that the Lib Dem Council has came in UNDER budget, by about £1 million. You can check this in the Council accounts. Money that is under spent is used to re-invest in local services.

The Lib Dems have been responsible for setting four budgets since 2003. Each year we have set a lower Council Tax rise:

• 2004: 5.9 per cent

• 2005: 4.6 per cent

• 2006: 3.4 per cent

• 2005: 3.2 per cent - just above the latest figure for inflation which is 3.1 per cent

When the Conservatives ran the Council from 1999 to 2003, Council Tax rose by 49 per cent over all. It was one of the reasons that residents voted them out of power.

This year the Conservatives forced the Council to vote for a proposal to slash money for disabled people. The Lib Dems outvoted the Conservatives, saying that this was unacceptable. Instead, we have invested more money into making council facilities more accessible to disabled people.

Tories say: 'Robbing money from frontline services'

Local Lib Dems have made the Council more efficient and freed up £10million that we've invested in services.

Independent inspectors have said that services are now better.

This is despite getting the lowest grant rise from the Labour government in the UK

CCTV cameras

In their leaflets the Tories say "CCTV is being cut".

The Lib Dem Council is investing over £2m modernising our CCTV cameras. Already 75 new cameras are in place and they are already helping the Police get prosecutions.

The Tories hide the fact that they slashed CCTV budgets when they were in charge.

Car Parks

The Tories have claimed 'Council Tax Reduced by Sale of Yellow Buses and Car Parks'

No one penny of these capital receipts has been used to reduce Council Tax.

Despite the Tory emphasis to the contrary, the council has only received money from the sale of two car parks:

• A deposit for Terrace Mount which is ring fenced for the Winter Gardens project .

• Boscombe Overstrand where £8.5 million is being reinvested in that area.

Conservatives voted for the sale of Boscombe car park to help pay for the regeneration scheme.

Senior Tory councillors have even told recent council meetings that they don't oppose car parks sales in principle..

The IMAX

Senior Tories voted for the IMAX: Councillors Chapman, MacLoughlin, Cutler, Baldwin, and Chappell. Twenty two Lib Dem Councillors also voted for the IMAX, but were a minority of the fifty-seven Councillors.

'The IMAX would not have been built without Conservative Support,' said Councillor David Clutterbuck in his election address during these local elections. Mr Clutterbuck used to be Conservative, but is standing as an independent.

One thing during an election, another after ...

Tobias Ellwood MPs main election promise during the 2005 General Election was to get rid of the building - yet it's still here.

Tobias Ellwood's website has 'A Vision for Bournemouth.' His number one topic under 'Improving Bournemouth' currently reads 'Turn the IMAX into an useful wet weather facility'. During his election it read 'Demolish the IMAX,' just like the pledges he made to local residents on leaflets.

See his original pledges here, via the Internet Archive (opens in a new window)

The current page on Tobias Ellwood's website (opens in a new window)

Can we beleive anything the Conservatives say during elections?