1. What assurance can you give that you will listen to, and respect,
the opinions expressed by members of your electorate ? If elected, do you
undertake to represent these views in any and all council discussions, whether
or not they may conflict with any ‘party’ view ?
I think it’s hugely important to listen to the views of residents. It has to
be the top priority. With previous experience in journalism, I’m confident I can
gauge opinion well and also represent it. Studying journalism develops your
ability to see both sides – something which I think will make me a good
councillor. If elected I would certainly do my best to ensure views are heard
and to challenge Labour on policies that won’t benefit local people.
2. How will you increase political engagement and communicate with
ward residents?
As well as the usual and traditional methods, I’m pretty proactive online
with my website, twitter etc and have already engaged in a few conversations
with residents online that possibly wouldn’t have happened otherwise. The two
Conservatives on the council have built solid reputations locally through
keeping in touch with their electorate – be it through a regular newsletter,
surgeries or surveys for starters. I’d look to combine all techniques in order
to get in touch with as many people as possible. It’s important people know
their Councillor is engaged with what’s going on locally, is sharing local
projects with people and is listening to the issues affecting their
residents.
3. Put the following in order of priority, and give reasons. The
list is in alphabetical order so as not to show
preference:
city – conscience – national interest – party –
ward
This is a bit like asking a baker what’s more important in a cake – the eggs,
flour, butter or sugar? The whole point of a councillor is to have the ability
to take all of those issues in hand when making decisions. But I think ward and
city should be dominating factors in any work a councillor does because local
residents are who a Councillor should represent.
4. Do you believe the spacious argument from the Council that £50+M
on a new HQ in Hanley is money well spent? If not, what do you believe would be
a better option?
I support the principle of helping businesses develop locally to grow jobs
but there have clearly been issues along the way which have caused concern for
people, including the funding and budgeting of the Central Business District.
The policy being pursued by Labour will only relocate jobs at a massive debt
cost to the people of the city. It should be local businesses leading the way in
creating jobs, with the Council creating policies to support that across the
city. My journalism took me all over Stoke-on-Trent and the character of the
other 5 towns is obvious and should not be deprioritised.
At the end of the day, the decisions have been made on this policy and
there’s little any individual candidate on this campaign can do to change
it.
But the Conservatives are best placed to challenge the current
administration on the approach towards the CBD, jobs and economic growth.
5. What would be your priorities for Baddeley Milton and Norton, and
your overall priority for the City as a whole?
Being the largest ward in the City, there are scores of issues within each
community. This means it is impossible to give just one single, or even just a
few priorities, as it will differ for different areas of the ward.
But I know Cllr Jack Brereton has been working hard to deal with a number of
road safety issues across the area, so this is certainly something I would like
to help him on.
Another issue which I think has been a problem from the Council’s perspective
is community engagement. The approach the Council has taken has not done much to
help build on what we have in our communities, particularly with Norton
Community Centre.
If there was another Councillor to help Jack build on what he has already
done locally, as well as challenging the Council to do more to build skills and
engage more volunteers, this would go a long way to enabling communities to do
more for themselves, developing much better places to live.
For the whole City, I think it’s got to be jobs. If there’s one thing I’d
like to do city-wide, it would be to help young people find work and
opportunities. I know from first-hand experience that it’s all possible in
Stoke-on-Trent, so if I can help others too, that’d be fantastic.
6. What redevelopment/improvement will you aim for in your ward given
such plans for the redevelopment of Hanley town centre?
I know that the sitting Conservative councillor already works hard for the
area and has been doing some great stuff to make the place look cleaner and
greener.
It’d be great to build on that and also see if I can find any great
ideas residents have to improve their area and see if they can work.
It’d be great to build on that and also see if I can find any great ideas
residents have to improve their area and see if they can work. A big issue
locally is the amount of Council owned sites we have that are just being left
abandoned. Across the ward we have a range of sites like the old High School
site in Ball Green, the Norton Activity Centre and the former Groundworks site
in Milton Park. These sites have just been abandoned by the Council. They’re not
only a real drain on Council resources for security and maintenance but they
could be either redeveloped into community use or sold on for development.
There’s loads of enthusiasm within our communities to have more facilities.
Having another Councillor to add to the efforts Jack has been putting in, to get
these sorted, will make it all the more easier to get the Council moving faster
to get these issues sorted.
7. Should you be elected, what would you like to be remembered for
come the Full Council Election in 2015, and will you be standing again in this
ward?
It would all be worthwhile if there are people who can hand on heart say that
I’ve helped them out – whether it’s getting their voice heard, their bin
collected or their relative a job. Over the next few years, it’s difficult to
predict what will happen in my life. I just know that I’m super keen to help
people.
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