BRENTWOOD will take to the polls on Thursday to elect councillors in 13 wards and contribute to selecting seven Euro MPs.

The leaders of each major party explain here why your all important vote should go to them, if it hasn’t already, by post.

 

BRENTWOOD FIRST

Brentwood Live:  William Lloyd, leader

For the first time in a decade Brentwood has a real chance to change the balance of power in our Town Hall. After ten years in control the Conservatives have run out of and now simply have a record of failure.

Brentwood First will provide the positive change for our borough, we will reverse the 117% hike in parking charges, create a new Housing and Social Housing strategy for our Town, increase funding for community groups, save Old House from demolition, be entrepreneurial with our council assets, oppose the development of 1,500 homes in the West Horndon greenbelt, provide funding for school crossing patrols and halt the axing of them.

There is a better way for our borough; there is a better party for our Town Hall. We will ensure that we are part of a Council which believes in fairness, provides opportunity and backs our community. Vote Brentwood FIRST!

 

CONSERVATIVE

Brentwood Live:  Louise McKinlay, leader

A Conservative vote means your council tax will continue to fall and good services will continue to be delivered. Brentwood is in the national top five for council tax reduction and since 2009, we have cut the Brentwood Council portion of Council Tax bills by 16% in real terms.

I'm proud of what we have achieved: The introduction of 30 minutes free parking, a reduction in parking charges, additional street cleaning, weekly collections of orange recycling bags, free food caddie bags, £300,000 investment in play areas, free family fun days, extra support for small businesses and funding for community projects. Lower taxes and good services mean better value for money for taxpayers. This is in stark contrast to the Liberal Democrats who when in control, raised Council Tax by an eye watering 19% in just one year.

Conservatives have also fought against irresponsible proposals from the opposition. We threw out Lib Dem plans to limit the grass verge cutting to just two per year, when we currently do them 8 to 12 times. We also voted against Lib Dem plans to increase Council Tax, to introduce a night time parking tax and we would NEVER support charging for rubbish collections, as mooted by a senior Lib Dem - that's what we already pay our taxes for!

Stories such as plans to build on allotments have also been circulated and are simply not true. Conservatives provide experience, a safe pair of hands and will continue to work with you to deliver what is best for Brentwood whilst also cutting your council tax.

 

LABOUR

Brentwood Live:  Mike Le-Surf, leader

The Brentwood Labour Party is the only political party in the borough to be fielding a full slate of legitimate candidates. We are proud of our achievements in the local community and expect to increase our representation on the borough council at the elections.

We have been the party that has consistently spoken up for our residents. We campaigned for five years for a toilet in the high street for people with additional needs and we organised the march on our town hall with local residents and other local politicians to save it from destruction at the hands of the current disgraceful Conservative administration.

Labour has called it right on the Town Hall, William Hunter Way and the Old House. We believe in public service and that it should be delivered locally by local public servants. Time for a change.

 

LIB DEMS

Brentwood Live:  Barry Aspinell, leader

The only party in Pilgrims Hatch that can challenge the Conservative administration is the Liberal Democrats. This year we have the opportunity of affecting a change of administration. The Conservatives need to lose just three seats and they then lose power.

I promise you that should we be in a position of influence in a new administration that total transparency of how Brentwood Council works would be uppermost on our agenda. The most vulnerable of our citizens would be considered more, and monies (our monies) would certainly all be accountable. Our local development plan will have to be completed very quickly as the Tories have badly dragged their heels on this.

We are in a dangerous situation where developers could challenge for any green belt site and if we haven’t a robust plan in place the Inspector could agree on the side of the builder.

We would challenge County Hall decisions and fight for youth provision, for street lights, for pothole repairs, pavement replacement and retain and increase our school crossing patrols, not roll over and accept it as our Tories currently do.

 

UKIP

Brentwood Live:  David Watt, Chairman of UKIP Brentwood and Ongar

Vote UKIP on local issues. Leafy Brentwood should stay leafy. We will strongly defend the green belt against over-development. Brentwood should make its own decisions – whether on new housing developments, street lighting at night or anything else. We will strongly resist having such decisions imposed on our town by outsiders. UKIP Councillors are free of the Party whip system and will always support their constituents.

Vote UKIP for the big things – restoring our democracy, making our own laws, controlling our own borders and trading freely, throughout the world. Achieve these aims fairly. Encourage immigration in numbers that can be absorbed within our culture and without damaging our amenities, using a points based system that rewards those who can support themselves financially and who will contribute most to our economy.

Watch out for imitations on the ballot paper. If you can’t see the £ sign, it is not UKIP!