We all know the frustration of feeling powerless and unable to influence the decisions that affect our lives. But things don’t have to be this way. We plan to give more say to local people on local issues through a series of measures designed to transfer power from central government to where it belongs – in our communities.

Conservatives believe in a fundamental shift of power that means driving decision-making down to the grass roots, acknowledging that people’s views count. Our plans include:

• Freezing council tax through additional funding to help councils achieve a 0% increase for two years, paid for by cutting central government spending on advertising and consultants
• Supporting local firms by giving local authorities a new discretionary power to help the local economy through business rate discounts
• Ending Ring-Fencing of local government budgets, giving councils the freedom and discretion to fund their local priorities – not Whitehall’s
• Giving councils a Power of Competence that will increase their freedom to act in the best interests of their communities. We will also encourage more joint working between councils across tiers, regions and counties
• Ending Regional Planning by abolishing all regional planning and housing powers exercised by regional government – saving the Green Belt that is currently under threat through unwanted regional plans
• Devolving Powers of Regional Development Agencies, enabling councils to establish their own local enterprise partnerships to handle economic development functions
• Allowing referenda to be instigated by local people on local issues
• Introducing a culture of openness by requiring councils to publish detailed information on expenditure. We will also put the power to judge the behaviour of councillors back in the hands of their electors and cut back on inspection red tape.

In Warwick and Leamington we have faced many challenges to keep things that are important to us – from our allotments, to local post offices and shops. We’ve proved that people power can win an argument. And with Conservative devolution policies in place, all that energy and willingness to get involved will be used to ensure the right decisions are made for the benefit of  local people.