Council Tax has been set at 3.25% for 2010/11. Why so high, yet again? All over the country Councils are delivering freezes and in some instances reducing their Council Tax. Sadly, unlike these Councils, Liberal Democrats in Stockport have chosen to waste this opportunity to cut Council bureaucracy, improve frontline services and to deliver a much lower Council Tax increase to hard pressed residents.

If a Conservative Government were elected in May, Stockport would be able to claim matched funding if the Council Tax increase is kept to 2.5% or less. This would really ease the burden on local people, resulting in no Council Tax increases for 2 years thereafter.

The Liberal Democrats know this plan is on the table, but so far refuse to work towards getting our Council Tax increase down to 2.5% so we can put £6.4 million back into the pockets of Stockport residents and the local economy.

Getting Council Tax down to 2.5% this year may not have been as hard as you might think – the Council spends well in excess of a million pounds every year on marketing and publicity and has spent many thousands adding the Council crest to street signs, relentlessly promoting itself on the side of buses and billboards and now plan to install £100K of unwanted steel “triffids” in the Market Place. Surely, saving its residents money in difficult times should have been nearer the top of the Liberal Democrats list?

To me, as a local Conservative Councillor, defending frontline services is an absolute priority. People must get a good service from the Council and it should also provide value for money and use its resources efficiently. We have had more than ten years of high Council Tax in Stockport - with the world changing around it the Liberal Democrats remain the same high tax and spend Council they have always been.

Cllr Syd Lloyd,
Bredbury Green & Romiley