These local elections are not about the Government. They are about what is happening here in our own Borough, in our own back yard, in our own communities.

Whoever wins on May 3rd it will not change the government.

The Liberal Democrats are the only party who take seriously the quality of the day to day environment of this Borough, things such as keeping the streets clean, keeping green spaces neat and tidy, investing in our roads and pavements, ensuring grids/gulleys are cleaned out regularly, and addressing anti social behaviour.

The last Lib Dem administration proved what we were about, despite inheriting an appalling financial position by the previous Labour administration in 2008:-

Youth anti social behaviour reduced by nearly 50% through the ‘GO Oldham’ initiative – now under threat because of Labour cuts to the youth service.

The Keep Britain Tidy Group officially recognised the streets of Oldham as the cleanest in Greater Manchester in 2010 – as everybody knows that is certainly not the case now!

We found the money to arrest the decay of Oldham Town Hall and stopped it from falling down – something which Labour vigorously opposed.

We found the money for the current refurbishment of the Coliseum Theatre.

These elections remember, are about local issues, local people and local decisions and, who you want to run Oldham Council.

There is a clear choice between Labour who promise expensive grand schemes which will put the Council back into serious debt versus the Liberal Democrats who have proven financial competence and look after your money responsibly.

However, we also ensure the things that matter day to day to people are sorted, like clean streets, anti social behaviour and bringing pride back to our communities.

The last 12 months has seen a litany of misleading information, half truths and undeliverable promises from Labour, so much so that the public are finding it hard to believe a single word they say.

Labour has said: “We will need to change, adapt and, most importantly listen.”

I suspect the residents of Shaw feel those words are very empty indeed – more than 700 of whom were ignored when the decision was made to build a new pool/ leisure complex in Royton Town Centre.
We showed in our alternative budget earlier this year there is enough money for new pools in both Royton and Shaw – it is all about choices and priorities. What was surprising was to see a majority of the five Conservative councillors supporting Labour in its budget plans.

In the last 12 months the streets have got dirtier, fly tipping has gone through the roof, hundreds and hundreds of people’s views dismissed as irrelevant and countless examples of Labour saying one thing and doing another.

Remember this is a local election and is about local communities, local people and local issues – the Liberal Democrats are the only alternative to Labour; the Conservatives can’t win here.

Please make sure your vote counts on 3rd May 2012.