UKIP, which enjoyed unprecedented success at the Westcountry polls earlier this year, is targeting "clusters of councillors" to lay the foundations for winning parliamentary seats at future general elections.
The party made a major impact in May's local elections, securing six seats on Cornwall Council and four on Devon County Council.
Leader Nigel Farage believes that is the grassroots platform from which to build parliamentary success, following the lead set by Paddy Ashdown who built the Liberal Democrats presence at Westminster based on success in local elections.
UKIP is expecting another strong showing at next May's European elections which coincide with polls for some 5,000 council seats across the country.
"We have not just to win the European elections next year," Mr Farage said in an interview with The Guardian. "The clever thing is there are over 5,000 council seats up for grabs on the same day as the European elections.
"What UKIP needs to do is to win significant numbers of seats at local government level and then to follow the model that Paddy Ashdown set for the Lib Dems."
The party's aim, he said, was "a cluster of councillors that have won under first-past-the-post in a parliamentary constituency" demonstrating to local voters that "this isn't a wasted vote, these guys have got a chance".
Mr Farage said that could then be used to "ruthlessly target" seats in the 2015 General Election. He added: "We have got a long way to go. But, my goodness me, in this year we have made some progress."
Among the new generation of UKIP councillors in Cornwall is Steph McWilliam corrwho leads the party at County Hall.
"I think it is fair to say we didn't do the work we needed to for previous local government elections," she said.
"But we are making great efforts to catch up and we are starting to do that. We had a great result in the Cornwall Council elections. It was a very good start from nothing and we had a lot of very close second places as well.
"We are definitely catching up fast. The general organisation of the party is so much better. We have got some very good people in the party and we are now starting to make best use of them."
Coun McWilliam said establishing a "track record" in local government would give voters greater confidence to vote UKIP in elections for "all levels of government.
"We are here as a force in British politics," she added, "and we are not going away."
Support for UKIP has waned recently following its breakthrough in May's local elections when it won 23% of the vote. One poll put UKIP on 7%, less than half the 18% support it enjoyed soon after the local election results.
Mr Farage disputed the figures in the poll, quoting other recent polls which put the party on between 18 and 20%.
"Even if UKIP does soften a bit in the polls over the summer that would hardly be a surprise," Mr Farage said. "We are, after all, a campaigning party and we are in a bit of a lull at the moment."
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