The general election is fast approaching and we at News Shopper have asked our local candidates for their positions on key issues.

There are six candidates standing in Dartford, the incumbent Gareth Johnson, Conservative, Bachchu Kaini for Labour, Simon Beard for the Liberal Democrats, Andy Blatchford for the Greens, Ben Fryer for UKIP and Ola Adewunmi, an independent.

We asked them what they think the most important local priorities are and how they would deal with them ahead of the vote on June 8.

News Shopper:

Clockwise: Bachchu Kaini, Simon Beard, Andy Blatchford, Gareth Johnson 

Gareth Johnson

Local Infrastructure

“With all the new houses being built in the area we need local infrastructure to be improved to deal with the extra people. The expansion of the A&E at Darent Valley Hospital and the proposed increase in the size of their car park will help but more medical provision is needed so I am in the process of securing a new medical centre in the constituency. We are currently planning for four new primary schools and two new secondary schools with the first of these opening later this year. This will help with the extra school places that are needed. We also need improvements in our roads, particularly on the A2 at both the Bean and Ebbsfleet junctions.

Dartford Crossing

“In addition to the £10 million from the government has agreed for tackling congestion on the approach to the existing crossing, I have asked Highways England to look at radical ways of enabling local traffic to avoid being snarled up in the congestion often experienced in the area. HE have agreed and are doing just that at the moment.”

Town centre

“Recently I was able to secure £4.2 million from the government from the local growth fund which will enable the Local Authority to implement its visionary plans for the town centre. The sale of part of Lowfield Street and subsequent planning permission for a mixture of retail and residential buildings will help to lift a part of the town centre that has been an eyesore for too long.”

Bachchu Kaini

Traffic

“We need a real plan to get Dartford moving again. We need action on gridlock now, not in ten years when the new crossing opens. I’ll work with councils and the Department of Transport to introduce a new traffic and transport plan for Dartford.”

Affordable Housing

“Lack of affordable housing. People are telling me they have to move away from Dartford to get on the housing ladder or have a home to call their own. That can’t be right. Dartford will benefit from Labour’s promise to build over a million new homes by the end of parliament, including at least 100,000 council and housing association homes for genuinely affordable rent or sale.”

Crime

“Cutting Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour. Labour will invest in community policing - Labour will support the police and put an extra bobby on the beat in every ward in Dartford.”

Simon Beard

Pollution

“We need to take coordinated action to make our air fit to breath. I believe this includes using infrastructure funding to reduce the interaction between Dartford’s traffic and that of the Dartford crossing and to fix our crumbling roads. It also means investing in better, cleaner and cheaper public transport to meet the needs of our elderly, disabled, children and poor people and to provide a real choice to everyone else about how they get around.”

Child Poverty

“Child poverty affects more than 1 in 5 children in Dartford. Tackling it requires coordinated action to support both families, by allowing benefits to rise with inflation again, and children, for instance by giving all primary school children a free hot meal at lunchtime and increasing funding for early years education for children from the most vulnerable backgrounds.”

Housing

“Solving our housing crisis while protecting our communities means reinstating a planning process that is fit for purpose and investing in better housing, both through a government-backed Housing and Infrastructure Bank and also via direct commissioning of new homes. Most importantly, it means that every new development must be built with the infrastructure and services it needs and the room to grow.”

Andy Blatchford

Cleaner air

“We require a new clean air act expanding a mandatory clean air zone, it is absolutely crucial for Dartford.”

House prices

“Housing prices that are far out of the reach of young people. It would require a lot more social housing which should be given priority.”

Accessible public transport:

“Fares to be reduced, so we can get where we need to go, affordably and reliably.”

Ben Fryer and Ola Adewunmi have not responded to our questions but if they do we will update the article.