Tories in pledge to lower taxes (From Gazette Series)

Tories in pledge to lower taxes

COUNTY Conservatives have pledged to lower taxes if they take control of Gloucestershire County Council at the May elections.

The pledge is part of their manifesto, which also includes promises to:

<sum> support schools - with commitment to reopening Alderman Knight and Belmont special schools, protecting grammar schools and trying to drop closure plans for Barnwood Park. <sum> <sum> support older people - plans to increase the number of older people looked after in their own homes. <sum> <sum> repair roads - plans to double spending on road repairs, triple spending on accident investigation and to discourage HGVs from inappropriate routes. <sum> <sum> put more police on the street - plans to have one extra police officer for each of the county's 63 electoral divisions to carry out patrol work. <sum> Other pledges include a ban on incinerators in Gloucestershire, plans to scrap free lunches for councillors and plans to test the use of environmentally friendly bio-diesel in council vehicles.

Conservative Opposition Leader Cllr Barry Dare said: "This is the most detailed manifesto Gloucestershire Conservatives have ever produced. We want to let people in Gloucestershire know exactly how we things in this county would be different under a Conservative council.

"We're promising more police on the beat, better roads and lower taxes - all things that would make a real difference to people in this county. It has been 20 years since Labour and the Liberals gained the majority on this council - we think their time is up."