COLCHESTER’S Conservatives claim they can offer the borough a new lease of life if supported at next month’s local elections.

The town’s Tories have unveiled a series of pledges in the run-up to May 3, when 20 of Colchester Council’s 60 seats will be up for grabs.

They are hoping to win back many of the seats lost four years ago, when a collapse saw the party lose five seats and control of the council.

Will Quince, due to take over as group leader in May, believes the Lib Dem, Labour and independent coalition administration has run out of ideas and lacks vision.

He said: “The biggest message I get on the doorstep is the current administration has lost any get up and go and vision, and people want a council that’s going to come up with some fresh ideas and use taxpayers’ money in a far more creative way.”

Independent think tank the Local Government Information Unit has chosen Colchester as one of 50 contests to watch nationwide.

It highlighted the precarious balance on the council, with the Lib Dems holding 26 seats and the Conservatives 24.

The remaining ten seats are held by Labour and the independent groups, which support the administration, meaning the Tories would have to gain seven seats to win overall control.

Mr Quince predicted both Labour and Lib Dem groups would lose seats next month.

He said a Conservative administration would immediately introduce food waste pick-ups across Colchester instead of trialling it, as the administration is doing. He also promised a clampdown to keep Colchester town centre clean.

Mr Quince wants to introduce one election where all 60 seats are contested every four years, rather than a third of seats being up for grabs three out of every four years.