With less than two months until the local elections, Croydon's Labour group has unveiled its ambitious manifesto.

The party aims to ensure every three and four-year-old has a nursery or reception place as part of its ongoing education drive.

It also wants to oversee the arena and swimming pool development plan at the East Croydon Gateway site, regenerate a variety of district centres, cut urban crime, develop the science park at Coulsdon's Cane Hill site and keep council rents at an affordable level.

Council leader Valerie Shawcross said: "As well as implementing our positive projects for Croydon we have managed to keep the council tax in the lowest half of London's levels and below the London average.

"We see future teamwork between a Labour council and the Labour Government as the key to improving the quality of life for Croydon's residents."

But Tory leader Dudley Mean denounced the manifesto as "ridiculous" and said too many questions were unanswered.

He said: "If they can get the science park and the arena up and running in four years, they can walk on water. The arena idea doesn't stand up financially and many people are opposed to it.

"The centres up for a facelift are all Labour except Coulsdon, so yet again they plan to take money from the south and spend it in the north."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.