COVENTRY UKIP has launched its manifesto for council elections next month with a promise to prevent the closure of the Coundon Road and to fight for Brexit.
UKIP is set to field 14 candidates in Coventry and is hoping to get its first ever councillor in the city at polling day on May 2.
Local chairman Ian Rogers says he hopes the party can take votes away from the politicians in power and pave the way for a complete EU withdrawal.
The party has also outlined an ambitious 21-point plan to improve local services and review council cuts for libraries and school crossing patrols.
There are 54 seats on the council with 18 up for grabs this year.
UKIP is hoping to deliver on long-term promises of cutting the number of councillors in each ward and changing the election cycle to once every four years, saving a considerable amount of money, they say.
Mr Rogers says: “Our candidates are not only standing on local issues, but they are also standing for a complete withdrawal from the European Union.
“We know that taking votes away from the politicians in power is the only thing that has an effect and UKIP is still the only party committed to making Brexit happen.”
The party pledges to reduce the number of councillors in each ward from three to two and hold elections once every four years instead of every year for three years out of four.
It wants to scrap deputy cabinet positions and hold a referendum on membership of the West Midlands Combined Authority which it labels another needless and costly layer of government.
It would also reduce council executive salaries over £100,000 and oppose all developments on greenbelt land.
The party would also lobby to scrap the ‘vastly unpopular’ HS2 plans and propose alternatives.
An new policy would also see the Council House used as a postal address for homeless people and provide free birth certificates which will enable them to claim benefits and apply for jobs.
UKIP would also pursue a compulsory purchase order of the old Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital site to bring the buildings back into public use and seek funding to open a new health facility and bring in free parking for staff at the University Hospital.
Prospective council Glyn Davies is campaigning to stop the closure of Coundon Road and the party also wants to look at opening a new rail station.
* More to come in our ongoing election coverage next week.
