CONSERVATIVE ELECTION PROMISES SLAMMED

A leaflet from the Conservative group has started appearing through letterboxes in Rishton with five election promises printed which has led Labour Councillor Ken Moss to ask questions of his own.

He said, "I want to know how they are going to pay for all this. There are five fairly expensive carrots being dangled here, liberally seasoned with a few hypocritical contradictions of their past statements."

• 5% reduction in Council tax

"Nearly £1.2m is expected to be taken off our total annual spending budget by central government in the 2014/15 year and this 5% cut will further reduce the budget by around a quarter of a million pounds. The Conservatives put forward a 10% increase in 2004, 7% in 2009 and proposed 5% increases to the 2012 and 2013 tax bills when they were in control. If Labour are supposedly overcharging residents then why were these Conservative increases made only a few short years ago and before the austerity cuts started?"

• £1m to revitalise our towns

"One would assume that this money is to come from reserves but with all the capital streams drying up and £11m still left in debts from Peter Britcliffe's last tenure as Council Leader it doesn't leave much left in the pot for future capital investment when public buildings need patching up and there is no money from anywhere else except more bank loans."

• More visible policing

"How are we paying for this and who says that we have the power to tell the police what to do in any case? Cllr Britcliffe slammed the Police Commissioner for increasing the tax precept by 2% to protect front line officers but the simple fact is that if you want more officers you have to pay for it. Where is the money coming from?"

• New local area caretakers to keep your towns tidy

"The implication in the leaflet is that these will be funded through Area Councils but that would involve raising the Area Council budgets by around £20-30k per year to fund the new staff. With 16 wards in Hyndburn that is around another quarter of a million pounds if each one gets a new caretaker. Personally speaking, I have no problem with Tom, our regular street cleaner. Everyone says what a good job he does and he will happily address any problem areas simply by having a chat with him. It is a fairly savage kick in the teeth by Cllr Britcliffe to essentially say that the street cleaners aren't doing a good enough job."

• Improved dog fouling enforcement

"This comes hot on the heels of our new cash-for-info scheme whereby residents get a proportion of dog fouling fines if information they give leads to a prosecution. However, improved enforcement beyond this ultimately must mean more resources which is even more money. Where is it coming from?"

Leaflets are being posted from all political parties ahead of the local and European elections on Thursday 22nd May 2014.

Cllr Moss said, "This Conservative leaflet highlights everything that is wrong with elections and why politicians have such a bad name. It is filled with promises that I simply can't envisage being delivered with any certainty and is financial lunacy. For all Cllr Britcliffe's previous pantomime posturing about Labour spending beyond its means, this manifesto does exactly that at a local level. I hope that people can remember how things used to be when he was in charge and file this leaflet with all the other fairytales."

He added, "I have said before that I have no fancy election gimmicks or a magic wand to solve all Rishton's problems but I can promise to do what I have been doing for the past four years and work hard for my village and for the borough. That is the only real promise anyone can make."