LIB DEMS COUNTY MANIFESTO LAUNCHED

6.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 23rd Apr 2009

The Liberal Democrats launched their manifesto for the North Yorkshire County Council elections (to be held on 4 June) at Holy Trinity Church, Trinity Lane, Ripon on Saturday 18 April.

County Councillor Bill Hoult, Lib Dem Group Leader at County Hall, spoke, along with Stewart Arnold (a Lib Dem Euro election candidate) and Claire Kelley, prospective parliamentary candidate for Harrogate & Knaresborough.

The council is Conservative-run at present. Among the policies set out in the manifesto are:

● Investing extra money in the Youth Service, to tackle anti-social behaviour.

● A stop to above-inflation increases in the price of school meals

● Abolishing the County Council's North Yorkshire Times "so called" newspaper which costs over £500K a year of taxpayers money and is threatening the very existence of truly independent local newspapers.

● Directly elected Older and Younger People's "Champions" at the council, instead of these being political appointments.

● Reviewing the creation of huge council contracts that make it virtually impossible for small local firms to compete against national companies.

County Councillor Bill Hoult, Lib Dem Group Leader at County Hall, said:

"Coming against a background of economic crisis, our manifesto contains no extravagant promises, but a sound and cautious approach to the future." "The Conservatives have more than doubled Council Tax over the last 11 years, whilst inflation has been 25%. The people of North Yorkshire deserve better."