BY IAN CROUCH and JESSICA ROUSE

With local government elections drawing nearer, the Maitland Liberals have settled on their team to contest the upcoming council elections.

The party is promising to get back to the basics of local government – roads, rates and rubbish – with a major focus on improving local roads and fixing traffic snarls.

Among the candidates is East Ward candidate Kanchan Ranadive who will become the first Indian National to stand for Maitland Council. The Central Ward candidate is Sally Halliday, Mitchell Griffin is the North Ward candidate and finally, the West Ward candidate is Ben Mitchell.

Mayoral candidate Bob Geoghegan says their East Ward candidate Kanchan Ranadive is particularly concerned about the recent spate of vandalism at local reserves and traffic congestion on Chisholm Drive.

“We’ve got a small new team, two women two men and interestingly for the first time that I can recall an Indian born candidate in the local government elections in the Maitland area anyway.”

Bob Geoghan says on a whole, the Liberal team want to get back to basics.

“Council always has to focus on the main functions of council which are roads, rates and rubbish with the roads in Maitland there are certainly issues with roads, with regards to rates I think we have to always be very conscious of keeping the cost of living down particularly in this era of high electricity prices.”