York's new leaders are no Cameron and Clegg

BANISH all thoughts of Cameron and Clegg. The relationship binding together York's new ruling Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition is entirely different.

The Tories' Chris Steward may be council leader, and the Liberal Democrats' Keith Aspden his deputy. But in reality, the two are very much equals.

Partly that is a matter of numbers. During the Cameron-Clegg years, Cameron always held the upper hand because his Conservatives had so many more seats in Parliament.

That simply isn't true of York's version of the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition.

Keith Aspden's Liberal Democrats ended up with 12 seats after the council elections on May 7 - just two fewer than the Tories' 14.

And the new Executive which is the real ruling power in York is split exactly down the middle: 4 Tories and 4 Lib Dems.

There is more to the relationship between the two men than simply a balance of numbers, however: they seem to have found a way of genuinely working together.

Both are young - Chris Steward 35, Keith Aspden 33 - and both single. But in other ways they're very different. Coun Steward is a partner in a firm of stockbrokers, Redmayne-Bentley, while Coun Aspden is a former history and citizenship teacher who now works part time in North Yorkshire schools, helping make the move of children from primary to secondary schools easier.

Keith Aspden, left, and Chris Steward outside the city council's West Offices

One - Coun Steward - is York born and bred. The other - Coun Aspden - grew up in Wimbledon, south west London, and came here 15 years ago to go to university.

What seems to unite them is a reluctance to work with Labour in York, and a determination to put the four years of the last Labour administration behind them.

Interviewed by The Press last week, the pair seemed genuinely relaxed together, chatting about who could attend which meeting, and each waiting for the other to finish speaking before making their own point.

So would they say they have a good working relationship?

"I think so, yes!" says Coun Steward.

Time will tell, of course. There seems to be the potential for some spectacular disagreements in that 4:4 split in the ruling Executive - although they both insist that won't happen.

"We don't want to be in a position where we have a vote that's 4:4," says Coun Aspden. The secret, he says, will be for the two parties to talk to each-other and engage.

"There will be common sense!" agrees Coun Steward. And anyway, he points out, each of the Executive members will have a portfolio on which they will lead. "And I think they will take a real lead."

Both men seem determined that the coalition will last for four years. So what kind of local government are we going to see in York over that time?

The two parties have already set out a 12 point plan. That will be fleshed out in more detail when they come to put forward their emergency budget in July - a budget that will supersede the budget put together under the last Labour administration.

"We want to change quite a few things," Coun Steward says.

They seem to want York council to go back to basics: putting more emphasis on frontline services at the expense of big, expensive projects; giving more money and power back to reformed ward committees; reducing estimates of the number of new houses the city needs; protecting the green belt; and ending the culture of employing expensive 'interim' senior council staff on large daily salaries.

Here is what they had to say on some of the key items in their 12-point plan...

The Local Plan

A key reason for his party forming a coalition with the Conservatives was that Labour wouldn't do a deal on the local plan, says Keith Aspden.

His Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives seem determined to do more to protect York's green belt - even if that means building fewer new houses in York than Labour had envisaged.

At one point in their draft local plan, Labour were talking about the need for approximately 1100 homes per year to meet demand, although that figure fell towards the end of the Labour administration.

Labour's draft local plan was never adopted, so the Tories and Lib Dems will be looking to pilot a plan through on their watch. They are choosing to take the lower end of Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) estimates of population growth for York, and say that will translate into about 800 new homes a year in the city under their local plan.

There will be more emphasis on developing brownfield sites, they say, and less on 'cheap and easy' green field and green belt development.

York Central: one of the largest brownfield sites in Europe

So does that mean there will be no Whinthorpe, the 6,000-home 'new town' between Heslington and Elvington envisaged by Labour? "It is difficult to be specific at the moment," says Coun Aspden. "It depends on us getting numbers and a baseline in place."

Not all of Labour's draft local plan will be scrapped by the new administration, however. "A lot of it is less controversial - employment sites and the like," says Coun Steward. "We will be revising what's there, with a different steer and remit."

Frontline services

The new coalition will aim to make providing essential frontline services - such as road repairs, streetlights, gulley cleaning and litter bins - more of a priority, even if that means halting 'some of the big schemes' which Labour were associated with.

There will also be a real effort to improve contact with residents, says Coun Steward - so that if someone calls the council to ask a question or make a complaint, they will get an answer more quickly.

"I'm concerned with the number of residents that say "I rang the council, and people didn't respond in the way they should'", he says.

'Vanity' projects

The coalition has pledged to bring forward a new plan for Guildhall, based on a 'firm business case', and has said all Labour's so-called 'vanity projects' will be reassessed.

The new leaders came in for some criticism for using the term 'vanity projects'. Do they regret it?

"I think you live and learn," Coun Steward concedes. Very few people would see their own project as a vanity project, he says. What is important is the 'tangibles' - by which he presumably means the measurable outcomes being aimed for. The fact that there is a photo opportunity isn't necessarily a good reason for the council supporting a project, he adds. "We need to think 'what do we get from this?'"

Transport

No more money will be spent on 20mph zones, Coun Steward and Coun Aspden say. Does that mean the 20mph zones put in place under Labour will be scrapped?

No. "There is little point throwing good money after bad," says Coun Aspden. "The city council has already spent £600,000."

A 20mph sign in York

But the zones will not now be rolled out in some of the outer villages, such as Copmanthorpe and Strensall, Coun Steward says. "There was quite strong opposition to them."

'Interim' council officers

Labour spent an 'extraordinary' amount of money on 'interim' or temporary senior staff earning £500 or £600 or £700 a day, says Coun Aspden. The new administration would prefer to see existing council staff 'acting up' in senior roles, at normal rates for that role.

It won't only be about saving money, but about ensuring continuity. "You want officers who are going to stay for a while," says Coun Steward.

Ward committees

The Tories and Lib Dems plan to reinstate ward committees, with 'very significant' funding increases. The aim, says Coun Aspden, will be to involve more people in decisions about how council money should be spent.

Each ward in the city will have a formal committee, headed by the ward councillors. They will be able to decide what to spend their budget on - whether it is grass cutting, or more resources to help older people who are lonely and isolated.

A council report in July will set out more detail on the proposal.

Children and youth services

One big pledge contained in the 12-point plan is that the Castlegate centre will continue to operate in the city centre. It won't necessarily be at Castlegate any more, but it certainly won't be at the city council's West Offices HQ either, promises Coun Aspden. It will be somewhere that young people will feel comfortable visiting. "And that is not a building with security guards on the main gate," Coun Steward says.

The Living Wage and economic development

The new administration has pledged to support the Living Wage. How? "By continuing to pay it!" says Coun Steward.

The authority will also aim to encourage local businesses - both big and small - to pay the local wage where they can. "Although we recognise that there is a big difference between a big business and a small business employing two or three members of staff," says Coun Aspden. "We will not be lecturing businesses to say you must do this, but encouraging them. "We're quite keen to work with the Federation of Small Business and the Chamber of Commerce."

The new administration plans to make it easier for small local businesses to bid for council contacts. And there will also be a 'red tape challenge' to make things easier for local businesses by reducing the number of hoops they have to jump through when dealing with the council. Coun Steward give an example. When his business moved to Bootham, someone told him it would be "better for us to pay £300 for a change of use (to the new building) than for us to convince the council that it was not a change of use," he says.