ALL seven of Worcester's parliamentary candidates have been asked to answer five key questions with the help of Worcester News readers.

Political Reporter Tom Edwards speaks to UKIP hopeful James Goad.

- How do we solve the city’s congestion problems?

Congestion affects people's quality of life and we need to invest heavily in our local road system to ease congestion through town and on the Southern Link Road.

We need to dual the link road along its entire length.

It was never built with increasing traffic capacity in mind.

Unfortunately, it seems this will require an expensive widening of the Carrington Bridge.

This will change traffic flow around the city but we will almost certainly still need an out-of-town route for the A449 traffic, logically requiring a third bridge over the River Severn.

The exact route and road capacity needs to be assessed, bearing in mind a fully-dualled link.

The road should be sufficient to handle future increases in traffic flows.

With the South Worcestershire Development Plan adding thousands of homes on the outskirts of our city, thereby adding to traffic, I can’t see the alternative.

- What is your biggest concern for Worcester?

The disenfranchisement of much of the electorate and the political apathy which feeds from it.

Central government has been way too overbearing in people’s lives and Ukip believes that power should be devolved down to the lowest possible levels.

For people to be re-engaged with politics, they need to have a direct influence over things that happen in their local communities. Big local issues could be subject to local referendums.

Voting for your local councillor should mean voting for a body that has much more influence over the local area than it does at present.

When power is closest to people, it becomes more meaningful and directly relevant to their lives.

- Is the answer to Worcestershire Royal Hospital’s challenges an upgrade of A&E?

In part, yes, but not only that.

The A&E was built with insufficient capacity (not unusual for a Labour-inspired PFI contract) and this needs to be increased, particularly if Alexandra Hospital in Redditch will be delivering a limited service.

We also need to retain trained NHS staff – currently there is far too high a turnover caused by pay and conditions.

These both need addressing to encourage staff to remain in the NHS for longer.

UKIP would also increase the amount of GPs by 8,000 in the UK and put one in every A&E.

The closure of walk-in centres has put intolerable strain on A&E as many cases from the former tend to end up in the latter.

A GP in A&E would help filter off many of these non-emergency cases and alleviate pressure on emergency staff.

- Is it worth campaigning over Worcester’s Northern Link Road?

Yes, it is. The size of Worcester’s population is set to increase, with a growing University and economy and the city being seen as an attractive place to live.

The congestion through town which accommodates north-bound traffic will have to be resolved. I dread to think what the air quality is in town during rush hours.

The traffic isn’t going to disappear when the Southern Link Road is dualled (if it’s ever dualled for its entire length).

We need a third bridge to take traffic away from the town centre.

In my opinion, this should circumvent town completely and pass north of Bevere to link in with the major island at Claines.

- Is there – and should there be – an alternative to the South Worcestershire Development Plan?

The alternative to the SWDP is local councils deciding their own housing needs with the input of the local population.

The SWDP is the sort of thing that is imposed by central government as part of an overall housing target and left to local councils to sort out the details. 

This is simply wrong. Local communities should decide their own housing needs first and foremost.

Large-scale developments like the SWDP are symptomatic of the consequences of a central government that has become remote from local communities. 

Local people should have the right to demand a local referendum on such matters. This is part of the direct-democracy ethos that underpins other UKIP policies.