NEW: LOCAL GOVERNMENT manifesto
Local Government is as important as National Government for our local services and everyday lives. The councillors we elect at local level make decisions affecting housing, planning, schools, social care, libraries and many more sectors.
The Heritage Party is the only challenger party to have a full and extensive manifesto for Local Government that will improve our lives if it is implemented.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Most of the everyday services which we rely on are delivered by local government rather than by Westminster. It is vital that local governments are both efficient and accountable to the people they serve.
Devolution and Local Democracy
Scotland and Wales have two tiers of local government, but England is inconsistent, with different areas having one, two, three, or sometimes four tiers of local government.
We will consolidate local government in England into just two tiers by abolishing Regional and Metro Mayors and continuing the process of establishing Unitary Authorities where there are currently both County and District Councils.
In general, we will roll the functions of County Councils into existing District Councils, thus enhancing democratic accountability by making local government closer to the people.
We shall also restore Parish Councils in all areas of England.
Council Tax and Financial Responsibility
We believe in keeping Council Tax as low as possible. We will seek to cut excessive allowances for councillors, executive pay and bonuses, keep advertising and promotion budgets to a minimum, build partnerships with neighbouring councils to reduce costs, and abolish non-essential jobs and red tape.
We will require that councils provide council tax payers with a full itemised breakdown of what services residents are paying for.
Local councils should be prohibited from borrowing or committing money to risky schemes that leave local taxpayers with bills of millions or billions of pounds.
Councils should not even consider wasting money on expensive vanity projects that are superfluous to their statutory duties.
Contracts must offer the best possible value without binding taxpayers to paying for lengthy and odious agreements. There should be a maximum contract length of 5 years for services that are outsourced to contractors.
Repealing Climate Emergencies
There is no Climate Emergency. We will repeal declarations of Climate Emergencies where they have been put in place by activist councillors.
We will remove councils from subversive globalist organisations that are covertly implementing Agenda 2030 at local level. These include UK100, C40 Cities and United Cities and Local Government (UCLG).
Road Maintenance and Traffic Management
It must be a priority to maintain road surfaces, including fixing potholes with pitch coating for long-lasting repairs.
The default speed limit on urban roads should be 30 mph. We will scrap 20 mph speed limits except around schools and hospitals at busy periods of the day.
We will remove obstacles and blockages to cars and other vehicles that have been installed due to adherence to net zero policies. We will scrap all Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), Clean Air Zones (CAZ), Low Emissions Zones (LEZ) and Ultra Low Emission Zones (ULEZ), 15-minute cities, SMART cities and the like.
Adequate parking must be provided for shoppers and visitors to town and city centres. Heritage Party councils will allow one hour of free parking in town centres, and low parking charges beyond one hour.
Street lighting should be restored from harsh LEDs to human-friendly orange/yellow sodium lamps. Dim or broken street lights must be fixed immediately.
Planning and Housing
In power, we will re-write Local Plans to protect farmland, natural habitats and historic buildings in our villages, towns and cities. We will not allow large housing developments to be given planning permission, which will not be necessary on reducing immigration to below zero.
We will create Renaissance Areas where we shall demolish ugly brutalist carbuncles and re-build town centres with beautiful buildings.
We will insist that all new homes and commercial buildings are built in the traditional and historical architectural style of the area.
We will refuse planning permission for wind turbines, solar panels or battery storage systems on agricultural land and green countryside.
We will halt the construction of 5G towers and suspend their operation in our council areas, until such time as they are proven not to cause any harm to humans or animals.
HMOs
We will preserve family homes, protecting them from redevelopment into blocks of flats or being turned into houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs) which brings all kinds of social problems. Heritage Party councils will refuse planning permission for HMOs.
Consultation and Transparency
All internal rules, codes of conduct, delegated powers, and decision-making procedures of local councils should be published in full and explained to the public, approved by residents through open consultation and reviewed every 4 years.
All major proposals concerning planning, development and governance should be subject to mandatory resident approval by consultation. Consultation Periods should be a minimum of 21 days, with plain-English summaries of each proposal, its legal basis and a summary of alternative options. Residents should be notified directly of consultations so they can participate, either by delivery of newsletters/flyers to every home, email updates, parish circulars and/or local media alerts.
Public Meetings on such major decisions should be mandatory, with open forums for residents to speak and remote attendance options for those unable to join in person. Councillors must respond to objections before proceeding.
Citizens should be allowed to overturn unpopular planning decisions made by local authorities: if a petition of 10% of voters in the relevant parish or town ward is collected, the council should stop implementation, conduct further consultation or hold a binding referendum of that area, which they must adhere to.
Banning Unelected Influence on Councils
The decision making in local government must belong to the councillors and residents alone. We will prohibit unelected officers, advisors, NGOs, and external consultants from having policy-making powers or influencing council votes.
Waste Collection and Recycling
Household waste should be collected at least once a week. It is appalling that some councils only collect it every two or three weeks which can lead to vermin and disease.
Recycling is largely useless but promoted by decades of behavioural psychology. In some cases, it is detrimental, using more energy and water to clean bits of plastic than if they were just thrown in the general waste, and requiring every home to have multiple unsightly dustbins outside their front doors. Moreover, much ‘recycling’ is not actually recycled but ends up in landfills or open tips in the third world.
We will collect general mixed household waste twice a week from a single dustbin per home and offer premium services for people who additionally want garden waste collected or glass, metal, plastic and paper recycled.
Additionally, it must be ensured that public areas including streets, parks and beaches are regularly cleaned and litter removed, fly-tipping is removed and the people responsible are caught and prosecuted, and leaves are swept up promptly in autumn.
Fire and Emergency
We will ensure that our Fire Brigades are equipped with the best and most efficient diesel fire engines and firefighting equipment for fighting fires and dealing with emergencies.
We will move climate road blockages that prevent emergency services from attending fires and emergencies.
Libraries
We will ensure that our libraries stay open and are friendly, welcoming and safe places. We will remove books and materials from libraries that promote LGBTQQIAAAP+ ideology or attempt to inculcate fear in children about a non-existent climate emergency.
We will not allow Drag Queens or activists that sexualise children to perform in our libraries.
Education Services
Schools that are under the control of Local Education Authorities will be focussed on excellence and helping each child to fulfil their own potential. We will remove the Cultural Marxist DEI (Diversity, Equality and Inclusion) agenda from the ethos of our schools, replacing it with an appreciation and gratitude for our nation, our heritage and our history.
Adequate Special Educational Needs and Disabilities support will be given in line with the statutory duties of local authorities.
We will support and encourage Home Education and we will not issue any School Attendance Orders for home educated children.
Adult Social Care
Adult social care is a statutory duty of local authorities. We will seek to provide the highest quality social care with preference given to independent care homes who employ local carers. We will terminate contracts with chain homes run by hedge funds that charge extortionate fees with employees that are indifferent or injurious to our senior citizens who deserve high-quality care.
We will monitor care homes with security cameras and immediately prosecute any workers or care homes where cruelty to residents is observed.
Children’s Services
Children’s social care and safeguarding is a statutory duty of local authorities. We will work with adoption agencies and foster care providers to ensure orphans and children from broken families are placed in stable, long-term homes, where their physical and emotional needs can be met and they can be helped to heal from any trauma they may have had, while also training them in good behaviour if it is lacking.
Children who cannot be placed with families and are in care homes must be protected and kept separate from grooming gangs, county lines gangs and other malign influences. We will immediately prosecute any person who attempts to exploit children in care.
Licensing
We will grant licences for pubs to stay open after 11 p.m. if requested and supported by residents, and for other nightlife, dancing and entertainment venues to remain open through the night in nightlife zones.
We will not grant any licences for gambling or adult entertainment venues.
Community Assets
We will provide adequate funding for the running and maintenance of our everyday community assets including parks, allotments, cemeteries, public toilets, museums, community centres, leisure centres, tennis courts, and play areas. We will not cause the closure of any of our precious community assets by diverting funding in favour of, for example, ugly pieces of modern art, half-baked renewable energy schemes or diversity festivals.