DESPITE traditionally being a Labour stronghold, the political upheaval in Westminster means nothing can be taken for granted in Allerdale.

Tomorrow voters will make their way to a polling station to choose who they’d like to represent them in their area. Allerdale Council is currently made up of 27 Labour councillors, 15 Conservatives, five independents, one UKIP and nine independents (five are part of the Independent Group).

The current leader of the council is Labour’s Alan Smith. He said: “We have provided excellent services for the past eight years, our satisfaction rates are above national averages, we are hoping for more of the same. We have the ambition for more projects in Allerdale. We’ve heard from people on the doorstep about the environment.”

The Labour councillor pointed to the recent changes to recycling, that he says will result in less collections and so less pollution created. A pledge of creating jobs has also been made.

“We are in west Cumbria, we aren’t going to get firms like JCB. We need to create 100 jobs here and 100 jobs there. One of our main aims is the new shared stadium, which also has office space for 500 workers. If we get them into the town centre it will bring more business into the town centre.”

Labour believe it is vital that a way of funding local government needs to be reviewed.

“One of the main issues is central government is going to cut back on grants they give to us to run our services, so we have to find better ways of producing our funds, so we can carry on with our excellent service for the people.”

Mr Smith also pointed to the success of Workington Leisure Centre.

“We have the best sports centre in the North West that has 600,000 visitors each year. As with the new stadium it would be used seven days a week for the whole community.” Speaking on behalf of Allerdale Conservatives was deputy leader of the group, Mark Jenkinson. He said: “We want to freeze council tax, we want to bring down the cost of living for hard-pressed Allerdale residents. We also want to get the basics right before we start looking at big and wonderful projects.

“Every day there are bins not collected. We want to increase recycling. We want to increase the number of visible and anti-social behaviour police officers, to make Allerdale safer. Those are key things that need to happen quickly. We then need to look at investing across the borough.”

Concerns were also raised by Tories about whether the proposed stadium on the grounds of Workington Reds would be ready in time to host the Rugby World Cup, with Mr Jenkinson emphasising the council needs a plan B to ensure Workington does not lose the chance to host the competition.

The Conservatives have also pledged to provide more affordable housing, spearhead growth in the borough, ensure that the planning system works for everyone, fight social exclusion, invest in community services and sports facilities, move towards a more transparent local government system, to work for the whole of Allerdale, to look at whether a move towards a unitary approach to local government is appropriate for people in Allerdale and to axe Allerdale Investment Partnership (AIP) land deals, which they say has left the borough short changed.

Independent councillor Marion Fitzgerald said: “What I have noticed when out canvassing is that there is a disillusionment with what is happening nationally. For me it is about making sure the interests of the community come in front of everything. We have no policies to hold us back, what people put forward to us we try and move forward with.”

Leader of Putting Cumbria First, Jonathan Davies, he said: “One of the key issues in Allerdale is the gas power station on the outskirts of Aspatria, that has raised quite a few concerns. There is a feeling Aspatria has been left out on a limb.

“We want to see a full review into the power station, there has not been a lot of public information available.”

The party also pledges to work with police and public to tackle speeding in the area, to fix the Heathfield Railway Bridge on the A596 and to exploit the opportunities presented by the new Prestwick Spaceport, for example the nuclear expertise held in the area.

Speaking for the Green Party was membership secretary Alan Dodds. He commented: “We want to push whoever is elected to declare a climate change emergency, we can’t have business as usual. Despite the release of various statements to say austerity is over, we would push Cumbria County Council to put more money into food banks in the area.”

The party also pledged to provide more affordable homes for rent and to buy and to push policy changes to accompany the climate change emergency.

Chairman of west Cumbria Liberal Democrats, Roger Putnam said: “There are pockets of serious poverty across Allerdale, with increasing use of food-banks. Liberal Democrats believe this is unacceptable in a wealthy society, and indicates unfairness in present tax arrangements and a strong and doctrinaire belief by government in austerity when this is no longer appropriate.

“There is much worry about the great pressures facing the NHS and the hospitals and health centres in west Cumbria. The shortage of staff in the West Cumberland Hospital and removal of beds in many local health centres leads to serious delays in diagnosis and treatment. There is dissatisfaction with both the funding and the provision of facilities for care for the elderly or infirm.

“Liberal Democrats argue for closer integration between the health and care sectors within an integrated management system for both. Liberal Democrats are especially concerned about the increasing youth mental health crisis in west Cumbria, where consultant-led services are in crisis.”

Mr Putnam says the party is also keen to improve the provision of long-term off-road parking in key areas to alleviate parking and congestion problems, they argue that the new stadium in Workington is “irrelevant to most people in Allerdale” and they call for a “much better system of welfare”.