Buckinghamshire County Council is a four star top rated Council. It was the highest performing County Council last year, yet its Council Tax is less than in surrounding areas. It is the ONLY Council that CONSERVATIVES have run for over 120 years! Many of the policies the next Conservative Government intend to put forward are already in place at Buckinghamshire:
Localism Bucks is already devolving over £800,000 per year down to 19 Community Areas through its innovative programme of Getting Closer to Communities and is working with other public sector partners such as Fire, Police and Health to join up and deliver services locally.
Involvement of the Private Sector There are already a range of services provided on our behalf by the private sector, including Transport, Social Care and Recruitment.
Tackling Disadvantage Working with Ian Duncan Smith and the Centre for Social Justice we are piloting a distinctively Conservative approach to “repairing our broken society” in a disadvantaged area of High Wycombe.
Narrowing the Education Gap Bucks is renowned for the quality of its education, particularly its Grammar Schools but it has recently been praised for narrowing the education gap and for introducing alternative forms of schooling including Academies and National Challenge Schools.
Personalisation Already one of the largest providers of ‘Direct Payments’, Bucks aims to have all of its 5000 Social Care clients onto Self-Directed Support by 2011 and will be using this agenda to drive out even more efficiency savings.
Supporting Older People to live in their own homes Through a wide-ranging flagship service under the banner of bEAM (because Every Adult Matters), this provides a highly effective, low cost means of supporting vulnerable people.
Waste Already 43% of the County’s household waste is recycled, with a target of 60% by 2014.  The Council has just announced its preferred bidder for building an Energy from Waste plant.
Transport Rated “Transport Authority of the Year”, Bucks has achieved many accolades for its transport services from Walk-to-School, Cycling and increasing bus usage.
Cost SavingsBucks is part way through a major transformation project aimed to reduce the Council’s non-schools spending by some 10% without reducing either the range and quality of its front line services. This involves reducing back office costs, redesigning the Council and introducing new ways of working.
Working with Partners Bucks has a highly developed Strategic Partnership which enables public, private & voluntary organisations to work together to tackle some of the key issues facing our residents.
So, if you want to see what a Conservative Government means for local councils, take a look at Buckinghamshire.