A Great Place to Live
People need homes and help and support to get a home, but we also need to get the balance right when it comes to development. We need encourage the right quality development along with the infrastructure that is needed.
We want to nurture our home-grown talent and celebrate our heritage. We must also not leave any community behind because it doesn’t matter where you live in the district, we want you to help us make a great place to live.
Encourage protection for renters, and support people aspiring to own their own home.
People who rent need the advice about their rights so they can feel secure in their own home. We will work with advice organisations and residents to make them aware of their rights. Affordable housing is the term used in planning, but many developers try to find ways around the number of such properties they are obliged to build. We will help our residents – and those who want to move here get the best support available to us.
Support development that meets the needs of local people.
We know we get no support from the district’s MPs over the amount of housing that is allocated to us and there is limited power over design of developments. We will learn from other authorities and best practice to seek to get the kind of development that fits local needs rather than speculative development – especially where the Green Belt is threatened.
Promote arts, culture and our rich and diverse heritage throughout the district.
Lichfield District is rich in cultural and industrial heritage. Of course, we have the Cathedral and the National Memorial Arboretum, but we also have our mining history. There are also forgotten stories like that of Britain’s first black school teacher Labour also believes we have a lot of cultural talent, whether music groups, singers, dancers, or visual artists that would benefit from support from the council.
We will work harder to involve the community to help us make better informed decisions.
Poor quality consultations leave people feeling ignored and prevent the council from acting on their concerns – like we’ve seen recently with City Centre pedestrianisation. We will make it clear what the purpose of consulting is and hold public meetings so that we can hear each other. To make better decisions for residents we need to know their aspirations, hopes – and complaints. Labour will listen to people.
Ensure schemes like discretionary housing payments and local council tax support reach the people that they need to.
The cost-of-living crisis is indeed a crisis for many of our vulnerable neighbours and the help that is available must be provided to the best our ability to ensure the most needed get the help they need. We will carry out a review of the current schemes to ensure that targeted support is there and all the help that can be provided is provided.
- Fairer and More Prosperous Economy
- A Greener Future
- A Safer Community
- A Healthier District
- A Great Place to Live