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

Green Louis Stephen talks to Political Reporter Tom Edwards with his responses.

How do we solve the city’s congestion problems?

TO reduce congestion we need to reduce the number of car journeys.

The Green Party would encourage young people to develop the ongoing habit of using public transport by giving all under 18 year olds a free bus pass.

We will reinvest in more bus services and reintroduce free bus usage to OAPs before 9.30am.

We will promote cycling and walking with proper investment in pavements and safe crossing points.

We would work with schools to develop safe walking routes to minimise the impact of the school run.

The Green Party have consistently promoted safer road crossings and makes no apologies for continuing the fight to get safe crossings on Bilford Road.

We would restrict access to the city centre for delivery vehicles at times of peak use by pedestrians.

What is your biggest concern for the future of Worcester?

AFFORDABLE housing. The current housing crisis clearly shows the fallacy of just relying on the private sector and market forces.

We should not be introducing gimmicky schemes to help people save for a deposit as this extra cash without more houses being built will just push up the cost of houses even higher.

We will build 500,000 homes, on mainly brownfield sites, for social renting over the next parliament, creating 35,000 new jobs.

We’ll also introduce rent controls to give longer tenancy agreements that start at a fair rent and can then only then go up at the rate of inflation.

We will empower local councils to bring empty houses back into public use.

We will reduce the VAT rate from 20 to five per cent on housing renovation and building work as well as work with local councils to actively get more “over shops” flats in the city centre.

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

MAYBE. However let’s look at really tackling the root causes of the high demand first.

We need joined up thinking between health and social care.

Some of the people in hospital could be released far earlier if there was a joined up process of fully funded social care.

We need to increase the funding for carers. The removal of the city walk in surgery was a mistake driving more people to A&E.

We also need to invest far more in doctors surgeries and smaller community health centres spread out over the city and wider region. These community health centres will reduce the demand on the “big” hospital at a far lower cost.

Community health centres should focus on preventive measures to manage our ageing populations on going chronic health problems.

Prevention is better and cheaper than cure.

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

JUST completing the Northern Link Road and building a new Northern river crossing without doing all the items mentioned in the congestion question will only give temporary relief to the city’s congestion problems.

We believe that the much quieter, empty roads will over time just fill up and within a few years the roads within the city will again be full to capacity.

Building the Link Road will eat into much green space and the inevitable infill housing will put further pressure on our city.

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

THERE should not be any top-down central government imposition of house building but clearly there needs to be cooperation between the city and other Worcestershire district councils to ensure appropriate distribution of housing with suitable investment in infrastructure, schools, police stations, health facilities, job and leisure opportunities.

House building should be on mainly brown field sites.

The Council For The Protection of Rural England estimates that there are more than 135sq miles of brown field sites in this country.

We would invest in 500,000 social rent houses in the UK, heavily promote flats over city centre shops and make extensive use of “Empty Property Use Orders” to bring unused houses back into use.

Our proposed changes to reduce VAT on building works would allow conversion of commercial and retail space to flats and apartments in the city centre.