Borders Liberal Democrats

Serving Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk and Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale Constituencies
Working for
YOU

Manifesto for the Borders

Better for the Borders

Real improvements to local services and the way the Council works for you

Working hard for you

Liberal Democrat Councillors, MP and MSPs in the Borders make a difference in the Borders. The 10 LibDem Councillors have formed an Administration at the Scottish Borders Council with the Conservative Group and aligned Independents. Jeremy Purvis has been re-elected as the MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale and Jim Hume has been elected as the LibDem Regional MSP for the South of Scotland. These are the LibDem priorities for the Borders many of which have been incorporated into the agreed Priorities for the coalition Administration

These are just some of the examples that show it is the Liberal Democrats in the Borders that campaign for you.

Our MSPs: fighting and winning in the Borders

Regular meetings with farmers and delivered on getting responses from Minister

Roads - road safety improvements for the A7, A1, A68 and BGH junction

New Schools - £55 million secured for three new high schools

Free eye and dental checks

Recycling - £16 million funding boost enabling doorstep collections from each household

Buses - over £1million for new bus services with brand new buses

Dentistry - new funding of over £1million for new services in Berwickshire and new dental centre at Borders General Hospital

Further and Higher Education - saved School of Textiles and £30 million funding boost for new campus

Rail - secured funding for the railway

Lib Dem Policies for the Scottish Borders

Better for involving our communities

  • Devolve the delivery of Council services to Area Committees

  • Ensure public hearings on Council policies and much better consultation on local plan development

  • Better support for social enterprises and local development trusts to allow them to bid to deliver council services

  • Ensure that more council services can be delivered through rural sub-post offices

Better for safer communities and law and order

  • More enforceable "20's plenty" areas

  • Create Youth Panels to address youth disorder

  • Introduce a Borders-wide bottle marking initiative to reduce underage drinking such as that introduced in Peebles; tougher enforcement of licensing laws

  • Additional Community Police Officers in each ward because of Liberal Democrat policies in the Scottish Executive

  • Keep people up to date with police activity in their neighbourhood

Better for decent and available housing

  • More affordable homes to rent and further use of the Homestake programme for first time young local buyers

  • Ensure more land is available for affordable homes

  • 30% affordable housing policy across the Borders for new build developments

  • Ensure better and more sympathetic designs, including renewable energy requirements, for new builds

Better for the economy, tourism and sport

  • Ensure bids are in for public sector jobs relocation to the Borders

  • Dedicated support to local retailers and businesses

  • Create a Tourism Strategy for the Borders with a 60% increase in tourism spend

  • Create a Sport and Culture Strategy to include all local agencies and tourism bodies

  • Reduce red tape and council bureaucracy for small business

  • Actively promote more tourist accommodation and conference facilities

Better for educational opportunities, young and old

  • We will protect our rural schools

  • Reverse Tory cut in teaching assistants

  • Make sure every school is a community resource

  • Better vocational opportunities for teenagers at Borders College

  • Begin to roll out safer 'Yellow Bus' school transport

Better for caring and health

  • Improve on the joint working between NHS Borders and Scottish Borders Council to reduce bed blocking at the BGH

  • Secure long term core funding for community care voluntary bodies to deliver services

  • Invest more for social work services

  • Provide more respite care for those in need and their families

Better for young people

  • Up to £100,000 Borders wide per year for Borders Youth Committees to benefit other young people in their community

  • Free public transport in evenings and weekends

  • Encourage the involvement of school pupil councils in the decision making process of their own school and the council

Better for transport

  • Reverse Tory road cuts and reliance on patching

  • Prioritise safety measures on the A7 north of Galashiels, and campaign for more measures on A1, A68 and A7 trunk roads

  • Create a Disabled Bus Users Strategy

  • Taxi bus services in rural areas

  • Better connections for existing bus routes

  • Campaign for Railway to beyond Tweedbank

Better for the environment and farming

  • Contribute to Lib Dem policy of all electricity generated by renewable energy by 2050

  • Set up business waste recycling cooperatives

  • Generate energy locally for use in public sector buildings and for housing association tenants

  • Improve kerbside collection for recycling

  • 'War on Dog Fouling' with more wardens and bins

  • More regular kerbside and verge cleaning

  • Local Procurement Policy for Public Bodies for buying local food

  • Pressure on Supermarkets to give a percentage of shelf space for local products

  • Develop a genuine Borders Rural Development Strategy

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Published and promoted by Borders Liberal Democrats, 1 Cardrona Way, Cardrona, Peebles EH45 9LD.
The views expressed are those of the party, not of the service provider.