Local elections this Thursday and also a referendum on the alternative vote (AV). If any candidates would like to write a bit about what they'd like to change in Burgess Hill, would love to hear from you...!

Hello, my name is Chris French and I have stood as the UKIP candidate in the Burgess Hill Meeds ward for the District Council elections 2011. I have previously stood as a UKIP candidate in the Burgess Hill Town ward for the County Council elections 2009 and in the General Election 2010. I am also the UKIP Mid Sussex Chairman.

My printed election manifesto distributed by UKIP members and myself to all the homes in the Burgess Hill Meeds ward, read as follows:

Cut Council tax and give rates relief to local businesses, this will boost the local economy and jobs

• Empower local people by giving you the right to call binding referenda on local issues e.g. the 4,000 extra houses planned for Burgess Hill or the additional school planned for the Oakmeeds & London Meed schools site. Council “consultations” merely pay lip service to democracy. Why not let the local people decide?

• Protect all front line services. The closure of Keymer Fire Station will prove to be a mistake

• Fight the closure of the only dementia ward in Mid Sussex at the Princess Royal Hospital; as petitioned against by the Mid Sussex Older People’s Council

• Introduce election for fully accountable county health, education and police boards

• Reinstate the 9am start for free bus travel in Mid Sussex for the elderly

• Maintain the roads properly

• Increase provision of free parking, particularly at hospitals

• Refurbish the Triangle leisure centre & cut admission prices

How to pay for it:

• Slash fat cat pay deals for senior council staff

• Cut the number of highly paid council employees

• Audit council’s performance externally

• Scrap council non-jobs

• Scrap council’s advertising and self promotion budgets

• Let councils control their own finances by keeping half of local business rates

• Leave the EU, it would save the UK, a membership fee of £48m a day, to spend locally

UKIP makes one pledge. The people come first.

For more info and/or to join:

http://tinyurl.com/6jru6mc
Freephone: 0800 781 0345
chrisfrench2@sky.com