We are delighted to present our manifesto for the 2022 Huntingdonshire District Council elections. Please do get in touch if you have any questions, would like to discuss the manifesto, or help us with our campaign.

This manifesto is also available to download as a PDF.

Contents

• Our three key pledges
• Foreword by Dr Nik Johnson
• Introduction by Cllr Sam Wakeford
• Housing
• Climate
• Community
• Community wealth building
• Planning
• Town centre regeneration
• Fairness and equality
• Leisure and community buildings
• Law and order
• Value for money
• What next?
• Get involved
• Register to vote

Our three key pledges

We have lots of ideas for improving Huntingdonshire - read on to find out more - centred around our three key pledges:

• Our Housing Pledge: Labour Party Councillors will make it a priority to increase the availability of good quality, safe and truly affordable homes. Labour believes that the basis of a successful and happy life is a sustainable, good quality home.
  
  
• Our Climate Pledge: Labour Party Councillors will put the climate emergency at the heart of all decision making. The Labour Party believes that Huntingdonshire District Council should declare a climate emergency, in order to focus priorities. It should assess the impact of all its policies on the climate. We will work with and support the ongoing initiative of the Labour group on the County Council to introduce a meaningful climate strategy.
  
  
• Our Community Pledge: Labour Party Councillors will work with local people and encourage their participation in discussions and decisions that affect their community. Labour believes we are Stronger Together. We are the party of the people, for all the people. We will use the good work of the Cambridgeshire Labour group in setting out an anti-poverty strategy to assist in supporting our communities.
  
  

Foreword by Dr Nik Johnson,, Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

I am delighted and honoured to be invited to write the foreword for this excellent manifesto.
 

It has been a whirlwind few months since becoming Cambridgeshire and Peterborough’s first Labour and Cooperative Party Mayor I’m enjoying the opportunity to put Labour values at the heart of everything the combined authority does. There are exciting, revolutionary changes taking place in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough all based around my commitment to the 3 Cs of Compassion, Cooperation and Community.
 

But, my fantastic journey, started in Huntingdonshire with the local Labour Party, and it has been brilliant to see it go from strength to strength. I’d like to pay tribute to the hard working, inspiring local members who helped me get where I am, and remain committed three Cs of Compassion, Cooperation and Community.
 

People like the hard working district and town councillor Patrick Kadawere, who has worked tirelessly for years, throughout the Covid pandemic, selflessly putting his community and residents first. Patrick is the very embodiment of the 3Cs …but I know there are many other candidates standing, who share his values and commitment. They are following in the footsteps of the late Jim Lomax who spent over 50 years doing his bit locally.
 

It’s been brilliant seeing the Labour party grow – not just in Huntingdon, but also in the likes of St Ives and St Neots – where I was the first Labour district councillor elected for 30 years. Before heading to my new office in Ely I was proud to be one of four Labour district councillors. It makes me proud reading this exciting manifesto and I look forward to it signalling even more success for Labour in the coming election.
 

Regards,
 

Dr Nik Johnson,

Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
 

Introduction by Cllr Sam Wakeford, Leader of the Labour Group on Huntingdonshire District Council

Dear Resident,
 

We’ve been through a hard time – austerity, recession, and Covid. We’ve got through it all by working together – delivering food and medicine to people self-isolating, joining in with friends to clean up after floods, checking on neighbours who haven’t been able to see their families.
 

The same spirit of cooperation that got us through Covid can help us deal with other challenges – like the lack of affordable housing in our area, and playing our part in fighting climate change and mitigating its effects. We our proud to present to you Labour’s policies for a compassionate, co-operative, community-minded Huntingdonshire. Our three priorities are housing, climate, and community.
 

From St Neots to Stilton, there is a lack of affordable housing in Huntingdonshire. The first section of this manifesto sets out how we would get more homes built that people can afford to buy and rent.
 

The global threat of climate change means we have to play our part in reducing emissions and get ready for more frequent flooding, changes in weather patterns, and more extreme weather events. We set out how we will do that in practice in the second part of this manifesto.
 

Lastly, we set out how we want to support all the communities in Huntingdonshire, large and small, and crucially, how we are going to listen to them. I believe these are the right ideas and the right policies for Huntingdonshire. I’d love to know what you think – sam@huntingdonlabourparty.org.uk.
 

Yours,
 

Sam Wakeford,
Leader of the Labour Group, Huntingdonshire District Council.
 

Housing

Our Housing Pledge: Labour Party Councillors will make it a priority to increase the availability of good quality, safe and truly affordable homes.
 

Labour believes that the basis of a successful and happy life is a sustainable, good quality home.
 

Lack of access to truly affordable homes whether for rent or for ownership, particularly for those with modest incomes, is a serious issue across Huntingdonshire. There are insufficient Housing Association affordable or social rental properties available, and the private rental market is often short term and too expensive. The Council is currently failing to meet its own targets for affordable housing across the whole District.
 

A Labour-led Council will:
 

• Undertake a review of housing need and update the Local Plans and other relevant plans and reports accordingly. This review should also include examining the suitability of locations compared with potential work locations and available public transport, liaising with other Authorities and providers as appropriate.
• Take the earliest opportunity to introduce a tiered system for including affordable housing in new developments as follows:
  • 3-9 units: 30%
  • 10-50 units: 40%
  • 51 units and over: 50%
• Work with neighbouring Authorities to maximise the financial support for new build affordable housing.
• Support innovative approaches to the housing crisis, such as co-housing projects and housing cooperatives and engage with smaller and local developers to encourage small developments of new build and/or renovation of existing properties.
• Encourage providers to retrofit existing social housing with high levels of insulation, to reduce carbon emissions and household energy bills and eradicate fuel poverty as fast as possible.
• Tighten inspection and enforce minimum standards of homes in the private rented sector to make sure landlords provide quality homes for their tenants. Encourage landlords to insulate homes to a higher EPC level.
• Help vulnerable and fuel-poor households in owner occupied homes be more energy efficient by supporting provision of insulation.
• Ensure sufficient new housing is accessible at the appropriate levels to people with disabilities.
• Enhance work to identify empty homes and bring them back into use.
• Seek to eliminate homelessness as was achieved during the early phase of the pandemic. Help homeless people into accommodation suitable for their needs

Climate

Our Climate Pledge: Labour Party Councillors will put the climate emergency at the heart of all decision making.
 

The Labour Party believes that Huntingdonshire District Council should declare a climate emergency, in order to focus priorities. It should assess the impact of all its policies on the climate. We will work with and support the ongoing initiative of the Labour group on the County Council to introduce a meaningful climate strategy.
 

We are already seeing the effects of climate change in the floods that get worse each year. The Independent Commission on Climate (ICC) has identified Cambridgeshire as particularly at risk from the effects of climate change. Its report of October 2021 shows risks to the area include floods, heat waves and drought, affecting homes and businesses in towns and in the countryside. We must both reduce our carbon emissions and make our towns and villages resilient to the effects of climate change.
 

A Labour-led Council will:
 

• Cut the Council’s own carbon emissions and become carbon neutral by 2030
• Work with Cambridgeshire County Council, town and parish Councils, other relevant authorities and local residents to make sure we are prepared for flooding.
• Look at every option to reduce waste sent to landfill or incineration and encourage more recycling of more products and require positive waste policies in contracts.
• Use every planning tool available to ensure that all new developments are truly sustainable and carbon neutral, including incorporation of renewable energy in the development, using low carbon materials and building to highest energy efficiency standards.
• Lead by example, to maximise sustainability of the Council’s own buildings and investigate the potential for great use of solar generation, heat pumps, and improving insulation.
• As Council-owned vehicles come up for replacement, move to other sustainable fuel vehicles wherever possible.
• Develop the electric vehicle charging network in car parks across the District and work with Cambridgeshire County Council to make charging available on residential streets.
• Work with taxi operators to speed the pace of transition to low emission vehicles.
• Reduce the use of herbicides on public land, support wild-flower meadows and verges to encourage pollinators especially bees.
• Support the development of renewable energy and energy storage, across the District, including by encouraging and incentivising skills-training for local workers.
• Develop and maintain good quality green spaces, especially in areas where people have less or no access to private gardens.
• Ensure that management of the council’s assets as well as our influence on pension investments, take account of environmental impact and sustainability.

Community

Our Community Pledge: Labour Party Councillors will work with local people and encourage their participation in discussions and decisions that affect their community.
 

Labour believes we are Stronger Together. We are the party of the people, for all the people. We will use the good work of the Cambridgeshire Labour group in setting out an anti-poverty strategy to assist in supporting our communities.
 

Labour Councillors will work towards the following.
 

Community Wealth Building

A Labour-led Council will:
 

• Work towards ensuring that the wealth created in our local communities stays in our local communities.
• Embrace a local-first approach to our spending, encourage and promote a variety of local community ownership and service delivery schemes.
• Support the development of social enterprises, co-ops and community interest companies and remove barriers to voluntary and community sector and local small and medium size enterprises winning contracts from the Council and/or being part of our supply chain.
• Whenever possible, consider the potential local social impact, as well as financial, when managing the council’s assets and exerting our influence on pension investments.

Planning

A Labour-led Council will:
 

• Ensure that planning decisions are made in proper consultation with local people and pressurise the government to reverse legal changes that undermine this principle.
• Take fullest account of local concerns regarding the infrastructure requirements of water, transport, flood prevention as well as local needs when considering all types of developments. In particular, we will take account of community concerns regarding car parking need and availability in residential communities in our towns and villages.
• Review existing Local and Neighbourhood Plans in the light of Covid and national planning policy changes and the changes in population since past reviews.

Town Centre Regeneration

A Labour-led Council will:
 

• Undertake an urgent review to provide incentives for renewal of the town centres.
• Review car parking charges, incentives to businesses and innovative ways of town centre improvements, consulting with local residents, council taxpayers and businesses.
• Work with bus companies, Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority and Cambridgeshire County Council, to provide bus timetables that allow shopping trips into our local town centres from smaller villages, facilitate journeys to nearby cities, especially for example, to hospitals and to match up with train times for easy commutes.
• Promote cycling through clearer signage, better cycle paths, and a greater number of more secure cycle parks in key areas of the town and villages.

Fairness & Equality

A Labour-led Council will:
 

• Support food banks and hubs with the ultimate aim of helping people out of poverty and need.
• Strengthen and support our vibrant voluntary organisations across the District and work with community organisations that promote community cohesion.
• Promote the Living Wage campaign and ensure the Council is and remains a Living Wage employer and that all contractors also pay the Living Wage as a minimum.
• Help local people to take action to improve their local area through “seed project” funding with community grants.
• Provide free sanitary products in all community buildings
• Support and encourage local schemes to train young people and older adults in green energy installation and maintenance.
• Leverage our influence as a landlord through the Council’s commercial investments strategy to support and encourage local schemes to create green jobs.

Leisure and Community Buildings

A Labour-led Council will:
 

• Work to ensure that all community buildings are properly resourced and available for use by all in society. We will support measures to ensure our leisure facilities are fully utilised and everyone is encouraged to participate, including reviewing and improving accessibility for people with disabilities. Getting young people into sport and leisure activities is vital.
• Work with Cambridgeshire County Council to actively promote and support Youth Development Activities, to engage with community and environmental issues
• Create more allotments in partnership with Town and Parish Councils.

Law and Order

A Labour-led Council will:
 

• Support efforts to recruit more Police Officers, bring back Community Support Officers, and restore resources cut by successive Tory governments.
• Ensure victims of crime and domestic abuse are supported and work with organisations that speak on their behalf.

Value for Money

A Labour-led Council will:

• Work to ensure residents of Huntingdonshire get good value and good services for their Council tax whilst also as a priority:
• Take account of the Social Value Act when tendering contracts and become a signatory to the Councils for Fair Tax Declaration, promoting greater social awareness and wellbeing when tendering and awarding contracts.
• Listen and act on the concerns of town and parish Councils.

What next?

We think that the community, compassion, and co-operation that got us through covid are also what will make sure that we rebuild from it.
 

There are opportunities ahead if we seize them – there will also be challenges along the way. We don’t claim to have all the answers, but this manifesto is the framework Labour councillors will use in Huntingdonshire to improve local services and to give ordinary citizens a voice and hope – for themselves, for their children and grandchildren, and for their community.
 

We’d love to hear what you think of our ideas and what your ideas are. We hope you’ll get involved in our campaign.

Get involved

We hope you will want to come and help us win for you in Huntingdonshire. If you’d like to help out – you don’t need to be a member! – send us an email at info@huntingdonlabourparty.org.uk or find us on Facebook and Twitter.

Register to vote

The quickest way to register to vote, to check if you’re already registered, or to get a postal vote is online at gov.uk/register-to-vote.
 

You can also contact Huntingdonshire District Council by email at elections@huntingdonshire.gov.uk, by telephone at 01480 388 017, or by writing to the Electoral Registration Officer, Huntingdonshire District Council, Pathfinder House, St Mary’s Street, Huntingdon PE29 3TN. You’ll receive a poll card through the post before the election telling you when to vote and how to vote. You don’t need to bring this with you to vote.
 

There’s more information at yourvotematters.co.uk/how-do-i-vote.