CONSERVATIVES on Kirklees Council are calling for more power to be given to area committees.

Party leaders want the committees to get more money and take control of services in their locality.

In the long-term, they should become mini-councils, said Tory leader Clr Robert Light.

Street cleaning, road repairs and park maintenance should be among the first services to be transferred, he said.

Tories are also calling for area managers for each area.

The Conservatives - who hold 16 of the 72 places on the council - said area committees had not been taken seriously.

Clr Robert Light, the group's leader, said: "The committees have become well-attended talking shops which have no real decision-making powers, provide no real services and have no real budget with which to work."

The first of the committees was set up three years ago and there are now 11 covering the council's area.

Tory deputy leader Clr Ken Sims said: "Our long-term plans will require the complete reorganisation of the council's senior management team and the creation of area managers who will have the authority to deliver for their areas.

"It is wrong that the people of Holme Valley South, who have voted for three Conservative councillors, should be dictated to by a Liberal Democrat administration."