Our friend and colleague (not to mention long-time ALDC member!) Cllr Richard Kemp has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Liverpool’s 2016 Mayoral election.
It’s great to see him on the ballot and we will all be wishing him the best of luck and the greatest success. Here is the story from the Liverpool team:
Liverpool Liberal Democrats have chosen their Leader, Cllr Richard Kemp, as their candidate for the Mayoral election in Liverpool in May this year.
Kris Brown, the Chair of the Liverpool Lib Dems said, “We are delighted that Cllr Kemp has been chosen as our candidate. He is one of the most experienced and respected councillors not only in Liverpool but throughout the UK as a former Leader of the Lib Dems in local government. We know that is a considerable feeling against the current Mayor of Liverpool and we believe that Cllr Kemp will be able to unite our city and create the base from which we can together deal with the many problems which face so many of our citizens.
Alongside Richard’s campaign we will also be fielding candidates for every seat on Liverpool city council and a candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner”
Cllr Kemp has set out his five key priorities for Liverpool:
1. To protect the green cultural heritage of Liverpool by imposing an immediate freeze on development on public and community green spaces owned by the Council. To protect the built environment of Liverpool by improving the standard of development in the city especially in the City Centre.
2. To create in Liverpool an open, transparent and fully accountable system of government where the people and businesses of Liverpool are fully consulted about issues which will affect their lives and where the Mayor, councillors and senior officers can be questioned by councillors and the public on a regular basis.
3. To create high quality, high paying jobs in the City by working with the Government and the private sector in those sectors of industry and commerce where Liverpool has a competitive advantage by reasons of its businesses, history or location.
4. To improve the quantity and quality of housing by the redevelopment of brownfield land in the city which has room to create homes for more than 70,000 people.
5. To present Liverpool both nationally and internationally as an outward facing, confident city to encourage inward investment, two way trade and incoming city-break tourism.
Cllr Kemp says, “I will achieve these objectives by creating partnerships with the private sector, community sector, and all branches of the public sector.
In the first instance I will seek to create a partnership with our three universities and the Chamber of Commerce to look at ‘future proofing’ our City to look at the employment, environmental and cultural changes which will take place in society as a whole and from which our City can benefit.”
- To find out more about Richard’s campaign for Mayor of Liverpool visit www.richardkemp.org.uk
- You can like Richard’s campaign on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardKempforLiverpool and follow him on Twitter at @cllrkemp