Lib Dems Launch Local Manifesto for 2026 Local Elections
The Liberal Democrats are working for you.
We are committed to listening and caring about the things that matter to you, big or small. It’s time for change, it’s time for new thinking and an honest vision.
Milton Keynes is a proud, diverse community. We are ambitious for our city, so strive to keep improving our estates, towns and villages, offering a place for everyone.
Together we can continue to build a city that feels safe, welcoming and respectful. We want to build on the successes of the city, bringing together communities to create homes and jobs for local people, to secure support for those who feel vulnerable, for our carers and pensioners, and have prospects for our young people who feel left behind.
One People
One Community
One City
Our NHS is a mess, we can’t sit back and let it fail.
1 in 10 MK residents can’t get through to their GP. 1 in 4 people say the service is poor (much lower than the national average) many do not have an NHS dentist, and thousands are on waiting lists. This impacts upon our mental health and whilst we need the government to fix the NHS, we can help support our local mental health services by introducing a Mental Health Strategy to find local solutions for local people.
For example Cllr Dr Duncan Banks, has been supporting small local charities to help provide sessions to local young people in his ward. But we need a city wide Mental Health Strategy to build up local resources to support more charities such as DAFS, the Drug & Alcohol Family Support. Cllr Jane Carr is patron of DAFS, a charity started in Newport Pagnell.
Supporting our children, Getting SEND right.
We know families feel let down, as SEND services do not meet parental expectations. We want to work with the various agencies, and the Government, to bring about change that gives children choices that match their need. But councils across the country are struggling to meet the financial demand for SEND support and Milton Keynes is no different.
As the number of children needing services increases the Government must grasp the issue.
- We will help increase resources and shorten waiting times for assessments.
- We will work with schools to ensure those in the City Council’s control offer integration of our vulnerable students.
Support for all carers, adult and Children
We are pushing the government to give all carers a fairer deal. This includes those that care for an adult or children.
Homes for All
Having a home is a basic need. We will work with developers to push for a greater percentage of ‘affordable homes’, as well as homes to rent.
We will work with organisations such as Rent Plus and Prisoners Building Homes, plus private landlords to find more homes for local residents, so generations of families can stay local and put down roots.
We will work with:
- Landlords for fairer rents & better services,
- Developers for really affordable homes,
- Council tenants to help with repairs.
Help us get housing right, not just for today but for our children and grandchildren.
Protecting Our Environment
The Liberal Democrats are passionate about the environment, from protecting habitats to building in flood resilience. The climate is changing and therefore we must too. That’s why we continue to campaign for another balancing lake and good river management.
We expect developments to have constructive ways to hold water, and creative options to reuse water.
We are always looking for new and practical ways to protect our environment that builds resilience, such as supporting local flood groups and supporting initiatives such as Flood Week.
We have consistently supported increasing recycling and positive waste management. It was the Liberal Democrats that started road side collections and called for wheelie bins to significantly increase recycling rates.
Trees, Trees and More Trees
We support extending the tree canopy, but we also need to manage the complaints about overgrown trees and leaves blocking drains, which increase the risk of surface water flooding, so we campaigned for annual drain clearing in high risk areas.
Residents have the option to cut back a tree that overhangs their property, but the cost is often excessive. We want to set up a programme for apprentices to learn about tree surgery and whilst training offer a service at a cheaper rate for those on low incomes. This will provide an essential service whilst building local talent and local jobs.
Safer Night-time Economy
As a city our night-time economy needs boosting, but in a safe way. Not all taxis working in MK are as road worthy as they should be. Many are registered outside of MK where it’s cheaper, with less monitoring. We will work with the Government to change this law.
his would mean the City Council would have the authority to enforce local registration and better standards across all taxis working here.
We also want to improve the feeling of being safe on a night out. We believe that the White Ribbon Campaign, which raises awareness of the risks to vulnerable people and helps protect them, should be extended to include bar and door staff.
It was the Liberal Democrats that established that all taxis’ registered in MK must have training about the White Ribbon Campaign. The Taxi community is keen to be involved and want to support a safer city.
Working for you now & for the future
There is so much more we want to do, but Government funding has been slashed year on year. Councils across the country are all having to make cuts to services.
We continue to challenge the Government to offer a fair deal to councils, to keep council tax down.
We are committed to ensuring a balanced budget and keeping Council Tax as low as we can, but Council Tax only goes so far, helping to cover the cost of children’s and adults’ social care, so we have to raise income via grants and charges, to ensure we keep services running.
We will campaign on:
Waste Collection: The visibility of fly-tipping and the cost to residents of removing unwanted items from their land is an issue. We will reintroduce estate skip visits and also trial Euro Bin hire for domestic use, whilst retaining weekly black waste collections as an essential service.
Graffiti: Working with the community to keep MK looking clean, safe and welcoming for all is a priority. The city is getting to look scruffy again, with graffiti tags on council property and private land. We will take action to clean it up by maintaining the Graffiti Buster service and working with schools and the college to identify tags authors. Residents can also help by reporting to us any they see.
Small Land Purchase: We will set up a scheme for residents who want to buy small areas of land from the council. Where the council’s costs are more than the purchase price, we will set up a charge back system to enable the purchase to proceed.
Lorry Parking: Lorry drivers needs somewhere to park. We will agree plans to stop road and lay-by parking, by working to provide safe spaces to park.
Kerb and Pavement Parking: The rise in pavement parking is a safety risk to pedestrians and cyclists. We will work with communities to identify areas requiring additional restrictions, and more enforcement.
Public Hired Scooters and Electric bikes: too many hired scooters and electric bikes are being abandoned causing hazards. We will work with the companies to get identified areas where riders can park to end their trip. This reduces street clutter and pavement obstruction. We will also work with the Government to bring in safer rules for their use, and the Police regarding illegal scooters.
Children’s Placements: When children need to live away from home we will seek to establish more local purposed built homes, but only where the local resources offer good outcomes for our young people.
Central Events Arena: We want to establish a new music and events space to support local sports and attract music talent to further support our night time economy.
Join us today by clicking here.