Local political parties

For the May elections of 2008, we asked the Chester political parties the same set of five questions (drawn up by the National Office). Here are their responses.

The Liberal Democrats were the first to respond:

Question: What will you do to reduce traffic volume and create towns for people, not just cars?
Answer: Clearly P+R [Park and Ride] and better public transport are key here. Chester Tories have increased P+R costs by between 13% and 67%, to encourage people to use City centre car parks. We believe this strategy is plain wrong.

What will you do to make our streets safer for pedestrians?
We aim to strengthen the Community Safety Warden team - introduced by the previous Lib dem led administration.

What will you do to improve and maintain the quality of our public realm?
Cleanliness and maintenance are key, as is making the urban areas more attractive - these will be a priority for Lib Dems in the new authority, and of course under the previous administration Chester always got excellent reports from Britain in Bloom.

What will you do to provide more spaces where pedestrians have greater priority?
A programme needs to be developed, working with relevant stakeholders - including your organisation - to agree priorities and approaches.

What will you do to help pedestrians find their way around, using wayfinding and signage?
As above, after consulting to get feedback of where the biggest opportunities/problems exist.

Paul Roberts
Leader - Liberal Democrat Group
Member for Farndon Ward
22 April 2008

Responses from the other parties are awaited.