PROTECTING the city's Green Belt, investing in young people and preserving front line services will be at the top of the Liberal Democrat's list of priorities if they are elected to run the council in May.

City of York Council hopefuls were joined by the party's ministerial candidates outside the Minster as they rallied voters and spoke to residents about their key targets over the next four years.

The Lib Dems revealed they will be contesting every seat in the authority during the local elections in a bid to wrestle power away from York's Labour Group and secure a majority of their own.

Candidates James Blanchard, for York Outer, and Nick Love, for York Central were both outside the cathedral and on-hand to answer questions and highlight the importance of May’s elections, both locally and nationally.

Cllr Keith Aspden, Liberal Democrat group leader, said: "I am delighted the Lib Dems will be contesting every single seat in May’s local elections. Our candidates bring a range of skills and experience, from small business owners to teachers to working mums.

"What they all have is a determination to fight for their local community. Councillors should always be the community’s voice in the council – not the council’s voice in the community."

As well as adopting a more green policy, and one aimed at helping students and young people, Cllr Aspden has announced his intention to put communities first and support jobs and apprentices.

"Under Labour, the council has become remote and out-of-touch as extravagant projects have been put above basic services like fixing roads, recycling and valued local facilities like community centres and Yearsley Pool," he added.

"I believe we have the policies and candidates to change this. Our budget amendment last week called for an extra £3million to be put into frontline services and our manifesto builds on this.

"The Lib Dems want to see the council commit to the environment and make York the Greenest City in the North. This would include scrapping the plans passed by Labour and Green councillors to charge residents for all Green Bin collections.

"We also want to see more support for small businesses, apprenticeships and vital youth services like the counselling and advice offered at Castlegate.”