Oxfordshire Conservatives have pledged to build strong and confident communities if they retain power at County Hall next month.

Keith Mitchell, leader of Oxfordshire County Council, is urging voters to judge his party – which holds 44 of the council’s 74 seats – on its achievements over the past four years, when they go to the polls on June 4.

The Tories are contesting all 74 seats and Mr Mitchell has laid out key pledges in a manifesto, called Low Taxes, Real Choice, Value for Money.

The pledges include protecting the county’s environment and heritage, generating opportunities for young people and improving the transport network.

Mr Mitchell told voters: “Oxfordshire is a great place to live, work, learn and relax.

“We have the ability to lead the country out of recession with our high-tech, science-based, innovative economy together with a strong health sector, renowned car and motor sports industries and publishers.

“My ambition is to support strong growth in our economy without damaging the superb environment for which Oxford and the county are recognised.

“I want to ensure that all of our residents share in that economic recovery, that we build stronger communities, and that we break the cycle of deprivation in pockets around the county.

“We have transformed the council over the past four years, turning it from a poor-performing organisation with no strategic leadership to one that is low-spending, focused on providing good services, and passionate about providing leadership to the county.”

Mr Mitchell dismissed Liberal Democrat claims that the Tories had let the county down by choosing to spend money on spin instead of front-line services such as education and social care.

He admitted the county should be performing better at GCSEs but said his party was the best positioned to “drive up attainment”.

Mr Mitchell said his administration had ended the anomaly whereby children attending special schools in the county could not stay on beyond 16 and had overseen “the successful establishment of an academy to replace Peers School”.

Other manifesto pledges include pushing through plans to remove buses from Oxford’s Queen Street, and the pedestrianisation of George Street and Magdalen Street in Oxford.

Mr Mitchell added his administration had managed to reduce council tax rises year-on-year since being elected in 2005.

The Oxford Mail is looking at each parties’ election manifestos in the run up to June 4.