 WELCOME MESSAGE
FROM COUNTY COUNCILLOR MICHAEL WELSH
LEADER OF THE CONSERVATIVE GROUP
ON LANCASHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
Thank you for visiting the Lancashire County Conservative Group website. This is a vehicle for information and discussion about our policies and political activities and a forum for exchanging views with supporters and critics alike. As Conservatives we are committed to vibrant and effective local government, reflecting the priorities of local residents and responding sympathetically to their individual concerns. If this is to work we have to reach out beyond conventional political structures making ourselves easily accessible and involving as many people as possible in what we do. This site is an effort to improve connections between local Conservative politicians and the people we aspire to serve. Please help us by visiting and using it as often as possible.
At the County Council election in May 2005 we increased our numbers to 31 Councillors, a net gain of 5. This compares with 44 Labour, 6 Liberal Democrats, a Green Councillor and 2 Independents. At the next election in 2009 we expect to go one better by taking control of the County Council. Every thing we do in opposition is designed to prepare us for power building up our credibility as an alternative administration with the policies, the experience and above all the will to govern in the interests of local people. The resurgence in support for our Party under its new Leader, David Cameron, has increased our optimism and sense of purpose; nationally and here in Lancashire we are on our way!
In the meantime we will prepare ourselves for power by improving and developing the policies on which we fought the last election and doing our best to influence the Labour administration to take up our ideas. We have already had some significant successes. The reform of the budget procedure, the devolution of decision making to mixed Committees of County and District Councillors and the re-organisation of Overview and Scrutiny all figured prominently in our manifesto, thanks to the hard work and commitment of our Councillors, Labour Lancashire increasingly dances to Conservative tunes. Constructive and principled opposition demonstrates that we are a credible and influential alternative to a tired and directionless Labour Party with no new ideas of its own.
Elsewhere on this site you will find details of our policies, news from our leading spokespeople and a discussion forum in which we set out our latest ideas. There are links to each Conservative Councillor’s personal web site in which they deal with local campaigns on issues that are of particular interest to their own constituents. We hope you will find your visit interesting and informative and above all we hope it will stimulate to engage and interact with us with your own concerns and priorities. Please use this new method of communication to help us develop and improve so that when the time comes we can offer you, your family and your neighbours throughout the County a better and brighter future in which every citizen can play a part.
If you have any comments then please feel free to e-mail us at office@lancashireconservatives.com or visit the contact us section.
Please visit a section above | 
