COVENTRY’S controlling Labour councillors have pledged to improve road safety, combat homelessness and create jobs in their election manifesto.
The ruling Labour group set out its five pledges for the city ahead of the council elections on Thursday, May 2.
The party has a firm majority on the council holding 40 of the city’s 54 seats – with 18 up for grabs this time round.
Labour has made a commitment to lobby government to end ‘austerity’ and cuts to council services.
It says it will continue to call for increased police numbers in the backdrop of a violent crime wave across the city.
One of its chief aims is to continue its push to end spiraling homelessness with a commitment to building affordable homes.
Leader of the council George Duggins said: “We believe that safety on our streets is paramount and that there is a causal link between a lack of police officers and crime.
“We will work with the Police and Crime Commissioner to protect police numbers and commit to supporting the Labour Party pledge to increase police numbers by 10,000 nationally.
“Coventry has suffered austerity plus. One figure in respect to the settlement funding assessment provided £1,642 for every household in Coventry in 2010-11, the figure for 2019-20 shows a drop of more than £950 to under £700 during the same period.
“We will look to prevent homelessness, bring empty homes back into use where possible, increase temporary accommodation for our homeless families and single people, build 348 affordable houses per year, aim to build 1,300 additional homes.
“All of this will be done in working in partnership with other housing providers.
“It is a must that roads are safe for pedestrians to cross. We will evaluate the contribution of the average speed cameras on the London Road and Ansty Road to reducing speeding traffic with a view to employing resources to extend average speed camera locations.
“We will seek to take the Friargate development forward especially with 2 Friargate and even at a difficult time for the retail sector look to find ways of progressing the Coventry South development and reconfirm our job creation target of 5000 jobs between 2018 and 2023.
“The Job Shop which is a major achievement of the Labour administration has seen over 42,000 people visit the Shop over the last seven years. Something we are justly proud of.”
