Our focus in Ealing offers the following policies:• UKIP will provide local council offices in each ward so that residents can meet council officials face-to-face when they need to, which has not been possible since the closure of Perceval House and the possible redevelopment of Ealing Town Hall. We will also upgrade the Council's telephone system to make it more user-friendly,• We will abolish fat-cat pay by introducing a recruitment protocol for senior council positions we call Cheapest Competent Candidate. This requires recruiters to put at least five names on their shortlists and then ask the candidates to bid for the job, thereby creating an open competitive market, appointing the lowest. Further increases will be kept in line with the average for all staff,• We will rip up all speed bumps, cycle lanes and other traffic restrictions to reduce pollution and frustration as well as increase local economic efficiency,• We will provide free off-street parking for borough residents throughout the borough,• We will support housing associations to provide new affordable housing using cheap loans from the City which we can guarantee,• We will set up a Landlords' Guarantees Agency to offer landlords direct on-time payment of their rent in return for an insurance premium deduction. The Agency will then collect the rent from the tenant using all the powers of the council. Likewise tenants can hold landlords to account through the Agency to ensure that maintenance and other obligations are properly met.• We will work with the DWP to review Universal Credits to iron out delays,• We will work with the DWP to introduce pre-vetting for benefits so that those who need them can receive them immediately on claiming. In particular this will benefit the self-employed who currently have to reclaim from scratch for every gap between contracts.
Julie Carter ● 1243d