East Yorkshire Political Parties Make Final Pitches Ahead of Thursday's Elections

The political parties standing for election to East Riding Of Yorkshire Council have made their cases to voters ahead of Thursday’s poll.

The leaders of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, as well as a leading Labour figure have set out their stances on the cost of living, council facilities, transport and more.

Each has explained why voters should back their party for seats on the council and give them a chance to govern the authority for the next four years.

Their pitches come as voters head to the polls on Thursday, May 4, for elections to the 67-seat authority, four years on from the last all-out vote in 2019.

The ruling Conservatives currently have 42 seats, with the opposition Liberal Democrats on 13, along with a seven-strong Independent group, three non-aligned members and two from the Yorkshire Party.

A total 227 candidates are standing in this year’s election.

Meanwhile, 16 sitting councillors are also standing down from office this year.

Conservatives

Conservative group leader Cllr Jonathan Owen said he found voters were largely satisfied with the work his party had done in the last four years.

He added his party wanted to build on their time in office including with more work to tackle the cost of living crisis and on health and social care.

The Conservative leader said:

“Our priorities are on the economy and attracting jobs and investment to the area. I also want us keep looking at issues around staffing in adult social care and access to health services which has been a big issue for people on the doorstep.

“People here recognise there is a difference between local and national Government and they’re broadly happy with the services they’re getting here.

“We had the Peer Challenge report which did say the council was too officer-led, but we’ve worked to turn that on its head and we’ve had excellent feedback on our progress to do that.

“Throughout the coronavirus pandemic we continued to deliver services and we’ve been working hard on our response to the cost of living crisis too.

“We’re planning to continue looking at how we can help the working poor who are increasingly struggling as mortgage rates and costs rise, we’ve already tried to target our support towards them.

“We’re amalgamating some of our leisure facilities but we’ve got no intention of closing library services.

“We also want to continue working with our partners in health to focus on preventing people having to rely on council support in the first place.

“There’s a capital programme for our roads and infrastructure which is currently underway that’s worth around £500m in total.

“All those projects are still going ahead but the costs are rising, so we’re consistently reviewing them.

“Developments like the Yorkshire Energy Park and the new tax sites including the Humber Freeport will help the area.

“Businesses want to invest in the East Riding and we’ve still got our devolution talks to have with Hull too.

“We’ve also got a house building programme underway with an aim to build 1,000 new affordable homes.

“But it is about making sure that development happens in places where people want it.

“With the environment it’ll be business as usual if we win, the East Riding doesn’t have a huge issue with fly tipping.

“We’ll work to make our waste sites as available as possible but we’ll have a strong response to fly tipping where it does happen.

“There’ll be work to continue to try to tackle antisocial behaviour in the hotspots where we get it, but again we don’t have as much of a problem with it compared to other areas.

“So if people are happy with the council’s services and the way things are going as they are, then vote Conservative on Thursday.”

Labour

Steve Gallant, chair of Labour’s Local Government Committee, said this year’s elections offered voters their first chance to get a different administration since 2019.

He added Labour felt the council had become too Beverley-focused.

The chair said:

“We feel that areas like Withernsea and Holderness haven’t gotten as much support from the council.

“We want to make sure the attention of the council is shifted so it’s looking right across the East Riding.

“Those coastal areas and the East Riding general also tend to be affected more by the climate crisis, but the council declared a climate emergency in 2021, produced a report a year ago and haven’t done much else.

“And with everything that’s going on with the cost of living both here and nationally, people are angry at the moment and they’re feeling it in their pockets.

“To help with the cost of living going forward we think the council should insist that all new homes built here are carbon neutral so we can keep bills down.

“We recognise that people are desperate now but we also need to start thinking about how we can help them in the long term too.

“On transport, we’d be looking at trying to restore some of the rural bus services which would help environmentally and with living costs by making it so people don’t have to rely on their cars.

“We’d also like to see more road developments especially since we’ve got a lot of industrial development coming our way, while the Conservatives have been in charge we’ve had a ring road built around Beverley but not much else.

“We want to attract well paid jobs but we’ve seen a lot of recent developments approved on green field sites and in the face of local opposition,  what’s the point of having these developments if they ride roughshod over the people living in an area?

“With council buildings,  we’ve got a lot of them and car parks too where we could have solar panels and renewable energy, we think the council should be looking into that to help keep costs down in future.

“Hubs can make sense in some cases but they shouldn’t just be done as a cost-cutting measure.

“The East Riding also doesn’t have much in the way of youth services, I get people telling me they’ve seen gangs wandering the streets but they’re more likely to be teenagers at a loose end.

“We’re a low crime area generally, so we’re more in need of places for young people to go to.

“We want to be part of a new administration after the elections, we think there’s an opportunity for a much more progressive council and if you want councillors who will focus on your priorities then vote Labour.”

Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr David Nolan said there was an urge for change in the East Riding this year.

He added his party wanted to bring council services and decision-making down to a local level if they take control.

Cllr Nolan said:

“The East Riding is a big place, we recognise that the issues are different in Beverley compared to in Bridlington or Goole say.

“But we also recognise the council would have to live within its means.

“We’ve had the Peer Challenge report which showed the council was officer led, we think there has to be a step change in the way the council’s run.

“The Conservatives have been either in the administration in the council or have had complete control of it since 1996, after all that time of one party running the show it’s become stale.

“Money is an issue for people at the moment, to tackle the cost of living we’d need big changes in central Government but locally we’d look to keep involving the voluntary sector in the response.

“There’s also been a big change since coronavirus here with the council stepping in more to support people locally, we don’t to see that slip back.

“We’d also like to see more monitoring of speeding on local roads, currently a road doesn’t tend to be deemed unsafe until someone gets killed or injured on it.

“So we’d want to work with parish council and the police to have more speed checks done on local roads.

“We also think the involvement of parish councils and police is key when it comes to tackling antisocial behaviour.

“There are reserves in those councils which could be used to improve CCTV systems and local services.

“But we’re worried that because of rising costs, other council services like our small local libraries might start disappearing.

“We’d want to prioritise library and leisure services, we’d be looking at ways to try and keep local services going rather than cutting back on hours.

“With fly tipping, if rubbish is dumped in a tenfoot or other communal areas the council will often not come out for it, the East Riding doesn’t have bring out your rubbish days like Hull does.

“On the economy, we want to attract high-skilled white collar jobs through our approach to development, rather than those brought by the Amazon warehouse in Melton for instance.

“The only people who can bring about change in the East Riding are the Liberal Democrats, if people want that we’re the best ones to deliver it.”