WITH the help of Worcester News readers, we've put five key questions to the city's parliamentary candidates.

Conservative Robin Walker talks to Political Reporter Tom Edwards with his responses.

How do we solve the city’s congestion problems?

WE’VE debated how to improve Worcester’s roads for decades but the endless debate between the northwest option and the southern link led to no progress at all over nearly 30 years.

There is now a firm consensus between all the local councils and amongst local business groups that dualling the southern link makes sense.

We’ve started the work to get this done and I am marshalling support for Government to fund the dualling of the Carrington Bridge.

Once this is done we can consider the case for the hundreds of millions needed for the northwest link road, but that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

It’s vital we get on and do what we can to help get traffic moving out of and around the city.

It’s also good news that the Conservatives are committed to upgrade both our motorway junctions and spend more on road maintenance, cycling and walking.

What is your biggest concern for Worcester?

THE greatest challenge we face is keeping young people in the city by making sure there are quality jobs for them and a good quality of life.

Worcester has always been a great place to grow up and to retire to, but we need to fill the gap in the middle by creating more jobs for high achievers and more opportunities for graduates to work in the city.

We need to drive up wages by increasing productivity and support businesses to invest both in plant and in people.

We need to get more businesses headquartered here too.

That means attracting more inward investment, investing in skills and apprenticeships, upgrading our infrastructure and remaining ambitious in every aspect of what do while maintaining our beautiful countryside, green spaces and excellent public services.

Worcester is heading in the right direction but we need to keep going.

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

YES. I’ve campaigned hard to get upgrades to the hospital including the £25 million new oncology centre. If we spent the same amount on an upgrade to A&E it would give us a better unit, more capable of meeting demand.

Our A&E was built too small as a result of Labour’s disastrous PFI deal on the hospital so we need to try to get some money back from that to pay for the expansion.

We’ve already expanded the number of nurses and doctors, but getting a better A&E would make their job easier and along with investment in social care and longer GP opening hours, will help to meet demand.

Local clinicians have already backed upgrading Worcester’s A&E. I’ll give them and the acute trust my full support in securing the funds to do it.

I also want to see better parking facilities and lower parking charges at the hospital.

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

IN the long term it may be, but I don’t think it’s realistic to ask any Government, battling to reduce the deficit, to stump up the more than £120 million this is estimated to cost in the next five years.

The focus should be first on improving the southern link, which can be done more affordably and immediately.

When that’s done the northern link road would become the only game in town.

The only way it could be forced through sooner would be with huge enabling development that would change the face of Claines and St Clements beyond all recognition and bring its own extra traffic.

If, by some magic, the road was built tomorrow it would only add to the traffic jams at the Sixways junction, so we need to get the motorway junction upgrades done first.

Labour promised this road for 13 years. I will only promise what I can deliver.

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

NO, the South Worcestershire Development Plan has been drawn up and agreed by elected local councillors and is the best way of making sure we achieve delivery of both affordable homes and jobs, whilst safeguarding our vital green spaces and protecting the special nature of Worcester.

Labour’s regional plans would ride roughshod over local opinion and based on their previous record, fail to deliver either the jobs or homes we need.

Birmingham City Council objected to the plan on the basis that they think it creates too many jobs for our area so we must make sure they are not given control of planning in Worcestershire.

I want to see a real local plan implemented as soon as possible so we can secure our green spaces, deliver much needed housing and support more jobs and infrastructure for our local economy.