An Efficient Council
Record low council tax

Our top priority is keeping council tax down by making the council work more efficiently. We've already given you the lowest council tax increases of any County Council in England - but we want to do better still. We promise, lower council tax increases in the next four years than in the previous four. If there is a Conservative Government, we will institute a two year council tax freeze. Thanks to Labour's recession, people in Gloucestershire just can't afford high council tax increases any more. Read more here.

Fighting the Recession
Backing Gloucestershire people and businesses

Labour's recession is hitting Gloucestershire hard. Many companies are struggling and some have already gone under. We are committed to doing everything we can to support Gloucestershire businesses and protect Gloucestershire jobs. Whilst the Government has pointless gimmicks, we've got sensible and affordable plans to make a real difference, including freezing the cost of on-street parking and faster payments for businesses. Read more here.

Community Safety
Safer streets, safer homes

We believe people in Gloucestershire have the right to be and to feel safe. That's why, under the Conservatives, the county council is the first to directly fund extra police on the beat. Right across Gloucestershire there are extra police on beat patrol, paid for with money saved by working more efficiently. We're also leading the fight against Labour's crazy scheme to close Gloucester's fire control centre. Read more here.

Children and Young People
Excellent schools, successful kids

Conservatives have already delivered their promise to save special schools, single sex schools and grammar schools from Labour and Liberal Democrat closure plans. Neither party have dropped their plans. Gloucestershire's schools are only safe with the Conservatives. We've also got big plans to fight illiteracy and improve youth facilities. Read more here.

Transport & the Environment
Greener, more efficient Gloucestershire

We've also got an exciting package of ideas to make Gloucestershire a greener place, with better transport. When Labour and the Liberal Democrats ran things, recycling was just 24%. We’ll up that to 70%. We'll also guarantee to fight any bin taxes for residual rubbish in the county. We want to try out car clubs, improve train services and give free parking to the greenest cars. At the same time, we want to spend £10m more on improving the quality of local roads. Read more here.

Social Care
Dignity for the elderly and people with disabilities

Older people and people with disabilities need good quality help and support, ideally to stay in their homes, rather than being forced into care homes. We've already increased the number of older people helped to stay in their own homes by 25%. In the next four years, we'll increase it by another 25%. At the same time, we've organised a £50m refurbishment for care homes across Gloucestershire. This will help ensure that those people who can't live at home anymore get the top quality services they deserve. More information here.

Previous manifesto
Gloucestershire County Council Conservatives 2005 manifesto is available in PDF format.

Click here to read our 2005 Manifesto

Available pages