WHAT YOUR UKIP COUNCILLORS WILL WORK FOR: Remember – UKIP councillors are expected to follow the best interests of their constituents, not just toe the party line as the other parties instruct theirs to do. Thats why we dont prescribe what they will do. But here is how UKIP approaches local government: Democracy: Introduce local referenda on major planning decisions, such as out of town or large scale supermarket developments, wind turbines, incinerators, solar farms, major housing developments and transport schemes like HS2. Economy & Enterprise: Reduce tax and business costs to stimulate the economy. Make it easier for smaller and local businesses to tender for local authority contracts. Let local authorities set and keep a large proportion of local business rates, rather than it being taken by central government so they can provide incentives to encourage growth. Give councils the power to reduce local business rates. Environment, Planning & Housing: Reduce the demand for housing by ending EU open door immigration. Prioritise and provide incentives to reuse Britains empty homes. Direct new housing and business developments to brown field sites and protect the green belt. Protect communities by giving a right to referenda and removing developers’ right to appeal against local planning decisions. Stop preferential treatment to ‘special’ groups such as travellers - rules should apply fairly and equally to all. We oppose the government’s ‘bedroom tax’ which will not release housing stock, it will just make people in them poorer. Education: Build more grammar schools, reinstate the student grant and educational maintenance allowance, encourage vocational apprenticeships, give parents the right to choose where their children go to school, protect rural schools, more support for home schooling and introduce elected county education boards. Public Health & Social Care: Put local communities at the heart of health care by introducing elected county health boards. Improve care for the elderly and oppose the government forcing people to give up their homes to pay for care. Oppose cuts to frontline doctors, surgeons, dentists and nurses but encourage the removal of failing managers and executives. Support the availability of specialist care as needed, to save lives now lost through delay. Transport & Roads: Improve road maintenance as a priority. Mending potholes should take priority over council vanity schemes. Upgrade public transport, especially maintaining and reinstating rural bus routes that many communities depend on and which feed town-centre businesses and markets. Re-open railway lines where needed. Increase provision of free parking to regenerate town centres and boost business. Encourage free parking at hospitals and protect free parking for blue badge holders. Oppose road tolling other than for foreign lorries. Culture & Heritage: Preserve our public libraries and develop a local buildings listings programme to allow communities to protect buildings of local importance. Safer Communities: Support the police to keep real police officers on the beat to protect local people from anti-social behaviour. Fight the scrapping of front line police jobs, have a zero tolerance approach to antisocial behaviour and crack down on nuisance neighbours. Children and Families: Develop and invest in youth services, facilities and youth clubs. Encourage young people to have a voice through empowerment schemes such as youth councils. Energise the voluntary sector: Devolve budgets to local communities. A community which owns its assets is one that will support and look after them, often through the use of volunteers at a cost saving that can not be achieved by the State, it is however important that budgets are devolved for looking after the asset, not just the costs of running the asset.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 19:30:38 +0000
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