First year report

THE political landscape in York changed beyond recognition after the May 2003 landslide Liberal Democrat election victory. Labour, the group that had held power for more than two decades, was left stunned and demoralised. There was some surprise too among the Liberal Democrat ranks, perhaps not at the fact they had won, but certainly at the size of the group's 14-strong majority over Labour.

The challenge was on for the Liberal Democrats to quickly stamp their authority on York.

The council's new leader, Coun Steve Galloway, moved quickly to do this by launching the York Pride campaign the morning after the election win which he swiftly followed up by announcing his intention to crack down on anti-social behaviour in the city.

Significantly, he picks York Pride as one of the two highlights of the last year.

Coun Galloway says: "It has been more successful than we could ever have hoped, although there is still a long way to go.

"York Business Pride has been a towering success. It has been helped tremendously by Adam Sinclair (Business Pride chairman) and £150,000 of donations from the business sector."

Coun Galloway also rated the glowing Ofsted report for York local education authority, released this week, as a first-year highlight.

He says: "It is hugely important that we produce people with the skills to be able to be successful in the next few decades." But surely if there are few, if any, homes on York's market that young people can afford to buy, they will end up taking those skills elsewhere?

Coun Galloway agrees house prices have risen dramatically in York, and says buy-to-let schemes and future developments at the Barbican, Osbaldwick and York Central would provide more affordable rented homes.

He says the Science City initiative at the University of York is already encouraging graduates to stay in the city.

But he also offered a glimpse of how he sees York's workforce evolving in the future.

"I acknowledge there will be a greater element of commuting into York from places on the east coast main line such as Darlington and Doncaster."

After the initial glow of the election win, it did not take long for the backlash to start.

Coun Galloway's announcement of a budget blackhole had York residents quickly worrying about the topic that always galvanises them - how much would their council tax increase.

A massive drive for savings began, with York residents even invited to make their own suggestions.

But decisions were also taken about how more money could be made. One saw the Liberal Democrats target a traditionally touchy group - the motorist.

The announcement that the cost of a residents' parking permit would double to £84 went down like a badly punctured tyre.

Rises in the cost of car parking and the introduction of evening parking charges were just as unpopular. Coun Galloway hints that, with more advance information on the Government's cut-off point for council tax capping, a flat rate, rather than a variable evening parking charge, could have been introduced.

"Central Government was threatening to cap councils on a unilateral basis. It was necessary to balance the books.

"Arbitrary cuts could never be on the agenda for us, we had to find additional income and genuine economies."

But he made no apologies for the huge ResPark hike, saying that something had to be done to encourage people to have fewer cars per household and drive "greener" vehicles.

He denies there is any political element - most ResPark zones are in Labour wards - and claims Labour increasing off-street car park prices in the past could be seen as targeting traditional Liberal Democrat voters.

The council tax ended up rising by 8.5 per cent after careful manoeuvring and extra Government cash. The letters of complaint poured in, but the large Liberal Democrat majority meant the rise was pushed through.

Coun Galloway does not accept the council got the tough decisions out of the way in its first year, hoping York's voters have short political memories.

"There will be difficult decisions to take every year," he says.

So there will not be a headline grabbing council tax rise in 2007?

"I hope there won't be a council tax to rise. We have called repeatedly for a system based on people's ability to pay."

Congestion charging is a long-running issue that threatens to confuse the council.

While the Liberal Democrats have ruled it out for this term, roads chief Peter Evely this week said there were not enough public transport options to make a charge work.

Coun Galloway says the future could see some form of "road pricing," where vehicles are not kept out of a certain, usually central area, but instead tolls are put on rat-runs across the city.

Despite York having a low rate of serious crime, it does suffer from very real problems with anti-social behaviour and a fear of crime that seems to be unrelated to the reality.

Coun Galloway puts this partly down to York being a closely-knit city, with the word-of-mouth network playing a part.

But he realises people are uneasy about late-night noise, groups of youths hanging about and other petty crime.

He recently signalled how high a priority stopping the louts has become, by staking his council's reputation on it and appointing deputy chief executive Laura McGillivray as Safe City Champion.

Coun Galloway says Mrs McGillivray would get the resources she needs and all Government powers, such as parenting orders or curfews will be investigated.

Most young people can breathe a sigh of relief however, because he does not favour blanket curfews, but backs their use on people with an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) against their name.

The first year has seen Coun Galloway at the forefront of almost every main Liberal Democrat initiative.

There have been murmurs of a domineering, autocratic style, which he deflects with: "I have driven things forward and make no apology for that."

Asked how long he can sustain such a commitment, Coun Galloway says he would know when to slow down but the time was not now.

He declined to name any possible successors, but welcomed the number of young councillors within the Liberal Democrat ranks.

Asked how he sees his council's historical legacy, Coun Galloway says: "I should like this administration to be remembered as advancing the mood of the city and for there to be tangible progress.

"People can find themselves better off materially and in terms of the quality of services they enjoy.

"I want a proud, confident and welcoming city."

Voters feel let down by promises

Labour leader DAVE MERRETT gives his assessment of the new power brokers in the city.

A YEAR ago, when the Lib Dems were celebrating their victory in the City of York Council elections, who would have thought that in 12 short months they would have squandered so much of the public goodwill that brought them to power in the first place?

New administrations generally experience a "honeymoon" period, but in record time Coun Galloway and his party have proved themselves to be totally divorced from the people of York by not listening to their concerns, and letting them down. The Lib Dems are attempting to squeeze £1 million more out of the people of York through outrageous new parking charges which have been fiercely opposed right across the city.

City-centre residents suffer from a doubling of ResPark charges, and those in the suburbs have their evenings in town ruined by new night-time parking charges.

Meanwhile, small businesses across the city worry that on-street parking charges could force them out of business. The struggle to afford these new charges is made even harder by the massive 8.5 per cent rise in council tax, announced by the Lib Dems in February.

There are wider concerns that unpopular policies such as these are being arrogantly imposed with no consultation. Despite their promises, York people are discovering that the Lib Dems don't listen - so they rush through an inadequate Barbican consultation, rip up a local skatepark without speaking to local people and refuse to consult York residents before imposing unfair new parking charges.

The Lib Dems won a decisive victory last May, but it has quickly become clear that they did this by making promises and raising expectations that they had no intention of living up to.

A year on, the people of York are telling us they feel let down by the Lib Dems, and the honeymoon is most definitely over.

Updated: 10:01 Friday, April 30, 2004