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Introduction

Labour's achievements

Our promises to you for the next four years

Take action to limit & adapt to climate change

An inclusive economy that works for everyone

Secure homes for all

Working with residents, standing up for our communities

The Dangers to our Future Prosperity

 
 

During the last four years, Labour-run Lancaster City Council has worked hard to protect residents from the drastic cuts to our essential services being imposed by the Conservative Government. The scale of these cuts is staggering. Between 2010 and 2020 61p out of every pound of the city council’s government funding has been cut.

 

In spite of this huge reduction in the funds available, we have continued our work to build a fairer and more prosperous district. We have focussed on providing high-quality public services for all, coupled with doing all we can to protect our most vulnerable residents.

 

We have worked hard to be a catalyst for projects led by residents and local organisations, be that local park Friends groups, the growing number of community organisations tackling food poverty, or the many creative groups that bring thought-provoking entertainment to venues across the district. But we know much more is needed.

 

The vision we present in this manifesto comes not only from our councillors and candidates but has been shaped by the 16,000 doorstep conversations Labour Party members have held with local residents since the last General Election. No other party does anything like this scale of work, with volunteers speaking with residents week-in, week-out - not just at election time.

 

This is possible because across the district there are now more than 2,000 Labour Party members. We don’t all go around wearing red rosettes, but wherever you are, we are. We live in your neighbourhood, we drink together in the pub, we play sports, worship, and work together. The experiences of our members, and the concerns they have passed on from neighbours, colleagues and others have played an important role in developing this plan of action for the coming years.

 

This election will see significant renewal in our city council team. Some very long-standing councillors are retiring, and we pay tribute to their service. Our renewed team will combine decades of local government experience with expertise from the public, private, and charitable sectors. All are passionate about Labour’s social and environmental commitment to rebuilding Britain for the many, not the few.

 

As you will see in this manifesto, we are full of practical and deliverable ideas as to how we can make our district an even better place to live, work and visit. We hope it is a vision you wish to support at the ballot box to give us the opportunity to continue serving and strengthening our communities.

 

We have achieved a number of successes over the last four years. Here is a snapshot of the things our residents, local businesses and partners have worked with us to deliver.

 

These achievements would not have been possible without those partners, the vision and leadership of councillors and of course the hard work of the council’s tremendous staff.

 

Retained and developed Salt Ayre Leisure Centre, which the Tories wanted to sell for just £1. We invested £5 million and now it’s one of the best in the country.

 

Achieved Green Flag status for Williamson Park, Happy Mount Park & Ryelands Park.

 

Won Seaside Awards for Morecambe’s north and south beaches.

 

Helped the community save Heysham, Hornby and Carnforth swimming pools.

 

Submitted a Local Land Use Plan.

 

Successfully bid for funds to develop a garden village at Bailrigg.

 

Completed the Morecambe Wave Wall to help prevent flooding and invested in the Caton Road flood defences.

 

Worked with residents and parish councils to establish emergency response groups and shelters so communities are prepared to respond in future flooding emergencies.

 

Invested in The Storey, taken back the management of local museums from Lancashire County Council.

 

Enabled the repair of the Eric Morecambe sculpture after it was vandalised.

 

Declared a climate emergency – established a community liaison group on climate change, begun work to hold a citizen’s assembly.

 

Begun to introduce electric vehicles into the council’s vehicle fleet.

 

Begun installation of electric vehicle charging points in public car parks.

 

Through the Lancaster Canal Regeneration Partnership, worked to improve the canal towpath.

 

Installed water fountains and worked with local cafés, shops and pubs to roll out a refill scheme for water bottles.

 

Supported award-winning arts and culture events including Vintage by the Sea and Light Up Lancaster.

 

Achieved Heritage City status for Lancaster, alongside Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon and other great cities.

 

Signed the Armed Forces Covenant, promising that members of the armed forces community receive the support they deserve.

 

Won the Home Adaptations Service of the Year for work to help elderly and disabled residents stay in their own homes.

 

Opposed fracking in the district and called on the Government to reconsider its support for the industry.

 

Maintained council tax support for those on low incomes - the only council in Lancashire not to cut this help to low-income residents.

 

Prevented over 600 households from becoming homeless.

 

Introduced a scheme to tackle holiday hunger amongst school children.

 

Created a new public health co-ordinator role to work with local communities to tackle food and fuel poverty, and social isolation.

 

Updated and enhanced digital CCTV systems to keep residents safe & catch fly-tippers.

 

Invested £250,000 to support the development of the Eden Project North scheme in Morecambe

 

Supported the development of the Heysham Gateway Industrial site - a brownfield site being redeveloped to bring jobs to the district.

 

Worked towards introducing super-fast broadband.

 

Invested in the re-development of the Co-Op building in Morecambe as a community space.

 

Put additional resources into tackling dog poo, fly-tipping and other anti-social behaviour.

 

Secured funding for a Coastal Communities Team to help regenerate Morecambe.

 

Reduced the time council homes remain empty, getting tenants the home they need faster and saving money too.

 

Raised £150,000 from Arts Council England towards a feasibility study for an arts hub in the Canal Quarter development.

 

Invested in the Dukes, More Music, Ludus Dance and Lancaster Litfest.

 

Secured the future of Lancaster Music Co-op by funding major building repairs.

 

Supported other vital voluntary sector organisations such as the Citizens Advice and Age UK.

 

Worked with key institutions such as the universities, Lancaster and Morecambe College and business organisations like the Chamber of Commerce and the Morecambe and Lancaster BIDs, to develop economic initiatives such as the District Skills Forum, the Coastal Communities’ Team, the Place Board and the Lancaster and South Cumbria economic region.

 

Go carbon neutral by 2030 and take action to adapt to climate change. We will:

 

Increase access to, and production of, renewable energy.

 

Increase sustainable transport provision and reduce air pollution caused by vehicle emissions.

 

Reduce what we use, reuse and recycle more.

 

Support local emergency response and flood groups to support neighbourhoods to be prepared, respond to, and recover from flooding.

 

All communities need good jobs, and it’s best for communities if money earned locally is spent locally. We will:

 

Encourage community wealth-building.

 

Establish a Lancaster District Fair Work Charter.

 

Support our high streets, town and village centres.

 

Promote the district as a tourist destination.

 

Advocate for improved transport links and connectivity.

 

Everyone in our district has a right to a warm, safe home that they can afford to live in. We will:

 

Reduce homelessness.

 

Raise standards for landlords.

 

Reduce poverty, hunger, and loneliness.

 

Increase the number of good quality, affordable, and sustainable homes to rent and buy.

 

Defend our public services against national austerity.

 

Good governance, working with residents and sound financial management are key to ensuring your council delivers for you. We will:

 

Keep our neighbourhoods clean, green, safe and well-maintained.

 

Strengthen community voices in planning and local decision making.

 

Improve the accessibility and navigability of the council’s online presence, particularly on social media.

 

Celebrate, commemorate and stand up with our communities.

 

Protect neighbourhoods by ensuring regeneration responds to local needs.

 
 
 
 
 

Go carbon neutral by 2030 and take action to adapt to climate change.

 

Our district includes urban, rural and coastal areas and we know that climate change affects those areas and the people who live in them in different ways. Our coastal communities have been economically stripped and are particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels. Our urban communities are at higher risk of air pollution. Both rural and urban communities have repeatedly experienced flooding and have been cut off in times of emergency. Our farmers livelihoods are put at risk by climate change.

 

The people most vulnerable to climate change are those with the least capacity to meet the increasing costs and risks of it. Action on climate change cannot be seen in isolation. It needs to be paired with empowering communities, drawing on community strengths to protect and enhance the places in which we live, as well as strengthening the work the council, voluntary groups and social enterprises are doing to end poverty, hunger, homelessness, loneliness and educational inequality.

 

Transport is often key to both accessing economic opportunities and one of the ways in which we could see dramatic reductions in our carbon footprint. Labour is committed to returning public transport to public ownership and accountability. But until that policy change comes about, much of what Lancaster City Council can do about transport relies on working with Lancashire County Council as the local transport authority and advocating for service delivery changes and changes in policy.

 

In January 2019 Labour councillors brought a motion to the council to declare a climate emergency, coinciding with a petition of more than 1,500 residents. This motion committed Lancaster City Council to making its activities carbon neutral by 2030. The motion also recognised that in meeting the challenges of climate change and climate adaptation we will need to draw on the expertise of people and organisations across the district.

 
 

Building on the work already done, a future Labour city council would:

 

Go carbon neutral by 2030.

 

Draw on the skills and expertise within the district to develop a comprehensive plan to achieve our carbon target for inclusion in the 20/21 budget.

 

Increase access to, and production of, renewable energy.

 

Explore the establishment of a local energy company to offer fairer, 100% renewable, tariffs to local residents and businesses.

 

Support more local energy generating opportunities including solar and community energy projects.

 

Increase sustainable transport provision and reduce air pollution caused by vehicle emissions.

 

Advocate for increased investment in sustainable transport including safer walking and cycling routes, and electric buses.

 

Support the reconfiguration of junction 33 to divert traffic away from Galgate.

 

Replace city council vehicles with electric vehicles, wherever practicable.

 

Continue to build the electric vehicle charging network across the district.

 

Reduce what we use, reuse and recycle more.

 

Continue work on eliminating single-use plastic in partnership with residents & businesses.

 

Support local emergency response and flood groups to support neighbourhoods to be prepared, respond to, and recover from flooding.

 
 

All communities need good jobs, and it’s best for communities if money earned locally is spent locally.

 

For each £1 we spend with a national or international company only 40p remains in our local community. For each £1 we spend with a local small or medium sized business 63p stays in our local community. But this needs to be a partnership. For us all to spend more money with local businesses, we need to know that those businesses and institutions are meeting their obligations to our community - paying their tax and paying and treating their employees fairly.

 

Between our two universities, Lancaster and Morecambe College and the many local employers who offer apprenticeships, we train many workers, but we lose much of this talent to the big cities. We need to find ways to retain the knowledge and skills of graduates in our district. We need to create sustainable jobs for everyone in our district and we believe that a key strategy to achieve this is to encourage the development of local charities, co-ops, social enterprises and businesses of all sizes.

 

The creative arts and the digital industry are a huge potential area of growth for the district’s economy and as areas of the district are regenerated - provided public engagement supports this - we will support the expansion of flexible workspaces for high-tech, digital and creative businesses, especially in the West End of Morecambe and the Canal Quarter in Lancaster.

 

Lancaster district needs a co-ordinated vision for arts and cultural development that opens the arts up to local people and positions the district as a destination for visitors attracted by our flourishing cultural scene. This will be developed in true partnership with local arts, events and community organisations.

 

Live music has been integral to Lancaster’s cultural scene for decades. A Labour administration would continue to work with groups like the Musician’s Co-op, Lancaster Music Festival, More Music and its own team at The Platform to ensure that providing opportunities for all to make music remains at the heart of our cultural strategy, and that via our festivals and concerts we remain a visitor destination for music lovers. We want to attract more visitors to the district than ever before. To do this we need to retain our historical buildings and develop imaginative strategies for their future. The city council has taken back the management of the City Museum, an 18th century building, and the Maritime Museum on the quay has won many awards.

 
 

Building on the work already done, a future Labour city council would:

 

Encourage community wealth-building.

 

Spend more of the money we spend on your behalf locally with ethical and responsible businesses considering factors such as employment and environmental practices.

 

Encourage local businesses to purchase their supplies, raw materials and labour from other local businesses - keeping as much wealth as local as possible.

 

Work with other councils within Lancashire to explore the establishment of a regional bank.

 

Support our creative arts and the digital industry.

 

Develop a coordinated vision for cultural development and leisure facilities.

 

Establish a Lancaster District Fair Work Charter.

 

Require the council to be a good practice employer in all aspects.

 

Encourage businesses and organisations wanting to work with the council to join the scheme.

 

Work with large-scale projects, such as Eden Project North, to build local skills and expertise to deliver their work and retain those skills in the area.

 

Support our high streets, town and village centres.

 

Make it easier for unoccupied shops owned by the council to be accessed by local businesses.

 

Encourage commercial landlords to not let their properties lie empty.

 

Support schemes to provide spaces for ‘pop-ups’ run by local organisations and businesses.

 

Encourage the development of charities, co-ops, social enterprises and businesses of all sizes.

 

Support regeneration projects that deliver for the community, not just developers, like the Eden Project and the refurbishment of the Co-Op Building.

 

Promote the district as a tourist destination.

 

Work to develop visitor attraction packages linked across the district.

 

Continue to promote and market the many cultural opportunities the district has to offer, including public art, museums, festivals and music.

 

Work with Eden Project North to develop a world-class visitor attraction in Morecambe

 

Promote the development of water-based sports and leisure facilities.

 

Work with the Duchy to integrate Lancaster Castle into the district’s heritage offer.

 

Advocate for improved transport links and connectivity to Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Blackpool and Barrow, including building the Carnforth spur to improve interconnectivity from the Furness Line through to Leeds.

 

Ensure rail services connecting us to major cities are not cut as part of HS2.

 

Work with Lancashire County Council and local transport providers to improve public transport access to and from our villages.

 
 

Everyone in our district has a right to a warm, safe home that they can afford to live in.

 

Your home is only secure if you know you can afford the rent or mortgage, while being able to heat it and put food on the table. We know financial inequality is growing across our community: there is growing food bank use and the council worked with over 600 families last year to prevent homelessness. Most people struggling on Universal Credit are actually in low-paid work. Again and again, we see the Conservative Government’s failed policy of austerity making life harder for local residents. It is a core part of Labour values to eliminate poverty and we will find creative ways to address this as a council, and to support voluntary groups and social enterprises that are working to end poverty, hunger, homelessness, and loneliness.

 

Unlike many councils in the region, we continue to own and manage our own council houses. In recent years, we have focused on improving the energy efficiency of these homes. We have reduced the time a property remains empty between tenants by 42%, saving thousands in emergency housing costs and, most importantly, seeing hundreds of extra families housed. We know only too well that the district requires new housing, but developments that offer expensive housing which are out of the reach of ordinary people is not the answer. Our district has a fantastic example of community-led housing in Halton, and we would support similar projects in the district.

 

Our district has long and fruitful relationships with our two universities, but we must acknowledge that the recent boom in bespoke housing for students has left long-standing residents feeling that their housing needs are not being met. The growth of high-quality student-focused housing should mean that fewer students want to rent converted family houses, and therefore these homes should return to the local rental and property market. We also need to ensure that everyone in the private rented sector is better protected from unscrupulous landlords.

 

Building on the work already done, a future Labour city council would:

 

Reduce homelessness.

 

Provide more support and work with local homelessness and housing organisations to reduce homelessness.

 

Support Lancaster District Homeless Action Service and work more closely with Morecambe Homeless Action to support their work.

 

Work with the local shelter providers to support them to provide safe temporary accommodation.

 

Raise standards for landlords.

 

Develop a district-wide landlord licensing and rating scheme to ensure every rented home is properly maintained and fairly let.

 

Require landlords to only display To Let boards when they are genuinely looking for tenants.

 

Work to reduce poverty, hunger, and loneliness.

 

Work with local voluntary groups and social enterprises to help them achieve their goals.

 

Maintain our position as the last local authority in Lancashire that offers council tax benefit for low-income households.

 

Increase the number of good quality, affordable, and sustainable homes to rent and buy.

 

Develop a publicly-owned housing development organisation that would expand the amount of affordable and socially rented housing that the council can offer residents.

 

Work with other councils in Lancashire to explore how the establishment of a regional bank could support the refurbishment of the district’s older housing stock to improve energy efficiency.

 

Make developers wanting to back out of affordable housing commitments make their case in public.

 

Improve the environmental standards of new builds both in terms of building them and the ongoing running of the property.

 

Improve the long-term liveability of new housing through inbuilt accessibility and adaptability.

 

Defend our public services against national cuts.

 
 

Good governance, working with residents and sound financial management are key to ensuring your council delivers for you.

 

Despite swingeing Government cuts to the council’s funding (61p in the £1 from 2010 to 2020), we will continue to protect frontline services, help tackle inequality and fund ambitious plans for the future. We will spend taxpayers’ money wisely, seeking new sources of income, reviewing our spending priorities and pursuing efficiencies in the way the council operates.

 

We all want our neighbourhoods to be clean, green, safe and well-maintained. This is why the current Labour administration has consistently invested in anti-social behaviour management teams, in dog wardens to catch people who don’t pick up after their pets, in Operation Peregrine to track down the people who fly-tip, clean-up crews to deal with graffiti and other mess, as well as funding extra weeding, above and beyond what we are contracted to do by the county council.

 

Listening to our communities, we will invest in long term ambitious projects that generate inclusive economic growth. We will take action to combat climate change which maximises the economic, social and environmental impact of regeneration on our district. We will continue to invest in innovative initiatives that will deliver long-term benefit and save money for the Council and our communities. Building on the financial, social and health benefits created by the transformation of the Salt Ayre Leisure Centre, we will support further wellbeing initiatives across the district.

 

We will support community building initiatives that start by looking at where communities are already flourishing and where everybody is valued as someone with strengths and gifts to share. We believe that for too long we have concentrated on the deficits and problems within communities and now it is time for a different approach.

 

It’s time to engage with community members as equal partners, building on the strengths of individuals and assets within our community, and working together to explore new ways to address old problems. We want to change the way we engage with people and the way planners design places and services.

 

Local regeneration has to be steered by local needs. Damage is done to communities when buildings are left unused for long periods of time or developers land-bank rather than building. Embracing asset-based thinking and approaches, we will engage in real dialogue; benefiting from the wisdom and expertise within communities and championing community building across the district.

 

We need to work more smartly, making our services self-service and online wherever possible, while ensuring that we remain accessible to those without digital skills or access. Increasingly our residents expect to find the information they need online and to be able to meaningfully engage online. We need to make the most of our data to tailor and target services and not be afraid to share with groups like Digital Lancaster where partnerships might improve results.

 

The Labour Party has a proud history of campaigning for and making changes that support equality, diversity and community cohesion. Our district is a great place to live and we will continue to support the many local groups and organisations that work tirelessly to address exclusion and discrimination in our community. We also need to make sure that our council and community responds to what is increasingly recognised as good practice in making services and neighbourhoods inclusive and accessible.

 

Building on the work that has already been done, a future Labour city council would:

 

Keep our neighbourhoods clean, green, safe and well-maintained.

 

Invest in anti-social behaviour management teams and in dog wardens to catch people who don’t pick up after their pets.

 

Continue Operation Peregrine to track down the people who fly-tip.

 

Fund clean-up crews to deal with graffiti and other mess and extra weeding, above and beyond what we are contracted to do by the county council.

 

Strengthen community voices in planning and local decision making.

 

Hold our first citizens’ assembly on addressing the climate emergency.

 

Learn from our first citizens’ assembly and expand the model.

 

Increase opportunities for residents to meet with councillors, officers and partner agencies.

 

Protect our green spaces from opportunistic development.

 

Improve the accessibility and navigability of the council’s online presence, particularly on social media.

 

Celebrate, commemorate and stand up with our communities.

 

Work with faith and cultural groups to celebrate the traditions and diversity of our community.

 

Work with community and activist groups to celebrate and mark important events.

 

Ensure we are adopting good practice in making our neighbourhoods and services accessible for people with both visible and invisible disabilities.

 

Protect neighbourhoods by ensuring regeneration responds to local needs.

 

Secure a Compulsory Purchase Order to purchase the Frontierland site in Morecambe at the end of the current development window, to ensure that the current eyesore is removed, and a useful, attractive and appropriate development takes its place.

 

Work with Lancashire County Council to see Skerton High School returned to community and education use.

 
 

Many people still believe that their vote has little or no impact at national or local level, but nothing could be further from the truth when it concerns those local services that matter to so many people. Others are banking on residents sleepwalking into local privatisation of services. At each and every one of the budget council meetings over recent years that is exactly what local Tories have proposed. The outsourcing of your bin collections, selling off council housing and slashing funding to our local cultural and heritage offers.

 

But to get away with this local Tories and so-called Independents need to sell you three ideas: that your vote doesn’t count, which we all know isn’t true, that Labour has a secret plan to charge you for services or that it is Labour that is responsible for your decaying highways.

 

While the current Conservative Government continues to ignore the damage it is doing to local communities, Labour councils across the country are acknowledging that we need to step up where the Conservative Government has stepped back.

 

As the Government continues to withdraw from the regions we are working with communities, local businesses and institutions to secure our own local economy, food, housing, and environment, and in turn, the future of our district. While Conservatives locally will talk about caring for our community and being compassionate, it is Labour working at the heart of our communities and leading the fight against food and fuel poverty.

 

It’s been said even in council meetings that there are plans to charge you for your grey bin collections. Those saying this know it isn’t true and can’t be true as it would be illegal. A recent leaflet by a rival political group claimed that the city council was failing to repair the roads, which is unsurprising as it’s the Tory-run county council’s job to repair roads. All this is meant to give you a reason not to vote, or worse to vote for parties that would sell off vital local services.

 

So the message is clear. If you value it, vote for it.

 

 
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