CANDIDATES in the Worcestershire County Council elections have been busy campaigning ahead of the vote on Thursday (May 4).
Polling stations will open from 7am until 10pm with the count being done next Friday (May 5).
There will be 52 seats up for grabs across Worcestershire, including four in Droitwich.
Here are the pledges being made by the various parties and independents who will all hoping to get elected.
Conservatives
THE CONSERVATIVES have made six pledges to residents as part of their campaign under the slogan ‘delivering for you’.
They claim by 2025 they will grow the Worcestershire economy which they say is ‘one of the fastest growing local economies in the country’, creating new homes and better paid jobs with prosperity support local services and funding investment in schools, healthcare and infrastructure.
Another pledge is to improve the county’s infrastrcture – they say they have already delivered superfast broadband to more than 90 per cent of homes and businesses, along with Bromsgrove Station and are upgrading the A38 in Bromsgrove, along with improving other roads in the south of the county.
They say they will bring educational excellence and quality apprenticeships – nine out of ten local schools are good or outstanding and GCSE results have improved for the last four years.
The party says it will ensure more school places are provided to keep up with new developments, it will support schools to raise educational attainment and encourage the growth in apprenticeships.
An investment of an extra £12million to resurface more roads and an extra £6million on pavements has been pledged by the Tories who claim the county will have some of the best quality roads and pavements in the country by 2022.
The Conservatives say they will spend more than 60 per cent of their budget on vulnerable children and adults, investing an extra £9million in adult social care and £3.5million in safeguarding children, also helping older residents to live independently for longer and improving care for vulnerable children.
And finally, the Conservatives claim they will keep Worcestershire’s council tax rises, which were already one of the lowest county council increases, down, delivering value for money.
Labour
THE WORCESTERSHIRE Labour Group says it is confident of winning big in Thursday’s election and has a commitment to developing a co-operative council.
In its manifesto, it has made a number of pledges, including six which have been prioritised by members of the party.
Among them are ensuring Worcestershire has a fully-funded youth service, reinvesting in children’s centres to ensure those services are retained for everyone – not just a few in a ‘postcode lottery’ and promising to ensure when residents complain about potholes, they are fixed within 48 hours.
Also in the top six is investments in safe routes to schools, bringing in 20mph speed limits where necessary, renegotiating all contracts to ensure services revert to in-house provision or member owned co-operatives and making sport and physical activity a priority, with a special fund to provide equal access to sport.
Other claims from the Labour Group include supporting public transport, reintroducing free concessionary travel before 9.30am, reinstating the Worcester Park and Ride and investing in highway infrastructure, including a Bromsgrove Western By-Pass, along with the completion of the Worcester orbital road.
Overall the Labour Group said it wanted to work together with people to meet their common needs – introducing Social Charter for commissioning which guarantees local employment, living wage, training apprentices and within an ethical framework.
“We will work with employees and their unions to form co-operatives to deliver services without the overheads of chief officers’ salaries in the region of £190,000,” added leader Peter McDonald.
The group added it would find better ways of working for and with local people for the benefit of their local community and the emphasis would be on investing in services, not cutting them.”
Austerity is not a necessity but a political choice and we will not be choosing austerity.”
Liberal Democrats
THE LIBERAL Democrats say they are predicted to gain 100 county council seats nationally and are working hard to make sure there are gains in Worcestershire too.
The party says it will use the power and influence given by voters to bring a fresh and ambitious perspective to council business and will champion the changes local residents want to see.
The Lib Dems claim to be deeply committed to our local communities and are working hard to understand the issues and find the solutions.
“We don’t grandstand and play politics. We get on with the job and make a difference,” a spokesperson said.
They are committed to taking real action to tackle traffic congestion including campaigning for a western relief bypass in Bromsgrove, taking proper care of the most vulnerable with safeguarding children a top priority and making roads, pavements and alleyways fit and accessible for all to use.
The Lib Dems want to ensure a more rapid response to highways repairs, take action to tackle excessive levels of air pollution in towns through road improvements, offer better public transport services and provide better use of cycle routes.
All ‘outsourced’ contracts will be scrutinised to ensure the county council is getting value for money and they will be championing investment in local schools to help every school in Worcestershire score at least a ‘Good’ OFSTED rating.
And they will be campaigning for more investment in local social care services, be working with the NHS to get the best health services possible and engaging with local police to tackle illegal parking.
UKIP
UKIP in its local government manifesto have pledged to put communities back in charge, claiming the party’s councillors are already making a big difference.
They say they are listening to local people and their members are able to vote independently on issues without having to follow party lines and whips.
They also say when it comes to cleaning up dog mess, litter from the streets, removing graffiti, cleaning public toilets or gritting roads, UKIP councillors ‘roll up their sleeves and get on with the job’.
UKIP believes council tax should be as low as possible whilst protecting essential services, green spaces should be protected (it opposes HS2 and wind farms), local homes should be for local people, with veterans prioritised and it should be highly paid chief executives’ wages which are cut, not frontline services.
The party also believes real decision making should be given to local communities, over-development in the countryside should be stopped or prevented and developers should be stopped from building on known flood plains.
UKIP says it would give residents the power to over-ride planning authorities on unwanted planning approvals.
Green Party
THE GREEN Party wants to work for the common good, basing their campaign on ‘social equality and environmental sustainability’.
They say they would provide better ways of getting around, believing residents should have affordable, safe and accessible alternatives to single occupancy car use across the county.
They say they want to see an efficient public transport system which appealed to people – including safer walking and cycling routes and the Greens also pledged to work with business to create more car sharing, car clubs and home-working.
Budget-wise they say they would try and bring about fairer funding for everyone, looking at overall spending across the county council and making savings to prioritise the NHS so it works for local people, protecting children’s centres and developing more services for the most vulnerable.
Social enterprises and the voluntary sector could be engaged to help bring that about.
Believing a zero-waste society is possible, the Greens say there are opportunities to create businesses from re-use and recycling which should be taken up rather than relying on wasteful incineration.
The party claims it would help empower communities to become more part of a civil society, believing community voluntary groups have the potential to work to bring real change to people’s lives for the better.
The Greens want to see developers and planners supported to ensure new buildings and developments are as low carbon as possible and say they are imaginative about the possibility for community renewable and district heating schemes which would help the most vulnerable out of fuel poverty. “There are vast opportunities for Worcestershire businesses to plug into the low carbon economy.”
And they believe in listening to the concerns of local communities and working with them to find balanced and fair solutions.
