The makeup of Preston City Council will change dramatically with lots of experienced councillors having left and with the reduction in numbers due to boundary changes.

Starting in the new political year as the first Female Leader of the Conservatives I am hoping to see more joined up thinking and cross party working together for Preston.

Whoever is in charge after the elections it is important that they are held to account and challenged to ensure that any decisions are not just made for political reasons but for the good of Preston and all our residents.

We want to make sure that we make the best planning decisions and that the right type of homes are built in the right places.

It is important that the correct infrastructure is put in place at the beginning of a development rather than after the houses have been built.
We want to ensure that developers comply with planning conditions and that enforcement is rigorously applied.

Protecting our green spaces is equally important, we want everyone to have access to them to promote a healthy community.

Our budget proposals focused on allocating money to defend planning appeals and to set up a Community Greener Spaces Fund to deal with fly-tipping issues which is a real problem in Preston.

We want to make sure we tackle the issues of homelessness and although the current City Council administration has received support from the Government to help with homelessness it is important that this continues.

There is always more that can be done to help people who find themselves without anywhere to live and we must play a role in supporting people at difficult times.

We recognise that there are serious issues such as poverty that affect all wards across our City and we need to make sure that people get the support they need as there are a number of fantastic organisations that are doing great work in our City and together, we are here to help.

We also need to have a vibrant City Centre and provide help for local businesses.

The award winning market is a good start but we need to make further improvements to attract more investment and support those businesses to be successful.

We also need to protect our assets such as the Harris and promote the use of these so they provide value for money.

In some areas we have little or no public transport we will work with the County Council and service providers to ensure that there is an available and efficient transport system.

We are here to listen to all residents and help when we can to express their views. These are important local elections and I ask people to vote Conservative on 2 May 2019.

This is a guest piece by Preston Conservative leader Sue Whittam. We’re giving each party a chance to outline their vision for the city and why you should vote for them.

Here’s what Preston Labour had to say.

Here’s what Preston Liberal Democrats had to say.

Here’s what UKIP Preston had to say.

You can see a full list of Preston local election candidates.