A pledge to invest £1 million in restoring lost bus services is at the heart of the Northamptonshire Labour group’s election promises.
The group revealed its manifesto for the elections on May 2 at a launch event at the Unite headquarters in Northampton.
Among its promises are an investment to make sure there are proper public transport links to areas of high emloyment outside of office hours and to restore some county bus routes that have been cut from timetables.
John McGhee (Lab, Kingswood), said: “We know some industrial estates have lost transport links and this makes it extremely difficult for shift workers.
“We want to subsidise public transport to make sure there are reliable services to get people to work in every town when they need to.”
Other ‘key pledges’ include investing in youth clubs, creating training opportunities and bringing social services back under the control of County Hall, rather the “arm’s length” organisation, Olympus Care.
PCSOs would be boosted and street lights also be turned back on, under proposals to address what the party believes to be two of the most controversial areas to be cut by the Conservative administration.
The manifesto says: “Even in Victorian times, public authorities invested in street lighting to reduce crime, but this Tory administration firstly wasted millions on arranging a public finance initiative deal to replace all the lighting columns in the county and then abandons that and turns off half the lights without even the merest consultation with the local community.”
Other measures include a promise to “make sure there is a full range of different and properly-funded children’s centres serving our communities”.
And it pledged to work with schools , and as a last resort, use statutory powers to ensure that children get a fair chance of being admitted to their local school.
Labour concillors said they would pay for investments by cutting management costs and consultants and closing the council’s controversial Brussels office, action they believe will alone save about £2 million.
Councillor Julie Brookfield (Lab, Corby) said: “This is a robust, costed and fair manifesto.
“We don’t leave behind the vulnerable or elderly or unemployed.”
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