My ideas for Wembury Parish Council

Four years ago I was elected to Wembury Parish Council and am running re-election and for election to South Hams District Council this year. I've always thought it was a pity to be elected unopposed- something that hopefully won't happen this time- because I wanted to see some real ideas come out.

Four years later on, what have I achieved? My manifesto covered only a few things: I wanted no rise at all in the Parish precept- the bit of the council tax we get-, to relocate the village hall, school and doctor's surgery onto one site and to sort out the state of the pavements and footpaths. That was about it.

What's happened? This year, I was very proud to propose at Finance Committee a zero rise in the precept which is a cut in real terms- and only couldn't cut spending because of the cost of training new councillors. The village hall/school moving plan is being investigated by the County Council- mainly because the school really needs to be sorted out, and real progress has been made with the pavements and footpaths. I'm not going to claim it's a brilliant record in office but I do think it's pretty good. I’m also not going to claim credit, but it is important that these things get bumped up the priority list. So, what now? The parish council needs to reassess it's priorities: this year, I will be pushing for a separate planning committee to give things the serious going over that residents deserve, as well as a broader restructuring of the council so that members hold portfolios related to each other: it's crazy that one person is the contact with the other councils on highways and one is the contact for footpaths. I'd also like to see the council focus more on promoting local businesses: we have some amazing businesses in Wembury and Brixton that have real potential to grow and help keep young people in the area: at the moment we're in danger of becoming God's waiting room and, perversely, the very thing that attracts so many people to live here is also killing the area. We need to couple this with affordable housing. On top of that, I will be pushing for an absolute cut in the precept and promise to vote for no increase under any circumstances.

Basically, this time my manifesto will be focussed on reforming the council, affordable housing- with house prices now nudging the 300k mark, we need to seriously get moving on this- and making sure we have a sustainable and decent economy here in Wembury and Brixton.