Simple and stark choice

REMEMBER May 5 is not a referendum on who runs the country. It is about who you want as your local councillor and who you want to run Oldham Council on your behalf.

The Lib-Dem administration, during the last three years, has demonstrated that the financial security of the council is “safe in their hands” — the budget crisis left by Labour in 2008 was sorted, bringing the council back from the brink of bankruptcy; also council tax increases have been nil or well below inflation, meaning Oldham no longer has the highest council tax in Greater Manchester.

On top of delivering financial stability, the last three years of the Lib-Dems running the council has brought about: the cleanest streets in Greater Manchester; gullies now cleaned out regularly and working properly; a major (£10 million) programme of highway improvements.

Also: funding to give the Coliseum theatre a future; new homes under construction; a state of the art Science Centre about to open; tackling decades of Labour neglect in respect of Oldham Town Hall; devolving real power and cash out to the districts; Metrolink under construction: £148 million of investment for council tenants, and, through “Go! Oldham” over 40 per cent reduction in anti-social behaviour.

And, unlike many Labour councils, we have kept open libraries, leisure facilities and Surestart centres, and we continue to invest in young people.

But we are still ambitious for more and to do it as quickly as possible.

A Lib-Dem future for the borough will capitalise on its opportunities, keep the citizen as our top priority by providing them with quality services at a price they can afford.

And we will strengthen the emphasis on a family-friendly Oldham town centre, seeing the delivery of a long-overdue cinema.

Oldham borough has a proud history at local election time of people voting on local issues which matter to them and their local communities.

The choice is simple and stark — move forward with the Lib-Dems or go back to the dark days of second worst council in the country under Labour. You decide!