Its a great privilege to have been re-elected on 4th May to continue representing the people of Highclere & Bourne ward, which includes Highclere, Penwood, Wash Water, Crux Easton, Ashmansworth, St Mary Bourne, Stoke, Binley and Egbury - one of the most beautiful parts of England (the world!) and a delightful place to live. My aim is to keep it that way and to help our parish councils and village communities to prosper - socially as well as economically.
Local residents, community groups, or people with businesses in our area are invited to contact me at any time if they have a problem they think I can help with. There's a form at the 'Contact Me' link to the left or you can use the contact details on the right of this page.
No area is without its problems, even ours. One issue is the availability of affordable local homes for our younger people, not all of whom are ready to explore the world of work in London and elsewhere, and some of whom - having started their career - might want to return to live nearer their roots. With two of my own four kids in just this position I'm well aware of the problem. Against this is the need to protect our countryside and to enhance rather than damage the nature of our villages, the reasons many of choose to live here. Of course many young people would rather live 'in town' than in our rural areas, but even a small flat in Newbury, Andover or Basingstoke is beyond the reach of many. All this makes development planning a critical matter for any local councillor. Do please look at my South East Plan pages - you'll find them under "Policy Matters".
Another issue for many of us is to do with traffic; the A343 carries too much through traffic and the B3048 also presents safety problems, while there are also issues on some of our minor roads, such as at Penwood cross roads and on the rural route from the A34 to the viaduct serving the Vitacress packing plant, not to mention through traffic along the Bourne Valley.
At the Borough level, a regular bone of contention is to do with the different perspectives of 'town' and 'rural'. In Basingstoke and Deane, this emerges - for example - in differing views on the balance between continuing growth and prosperity versus environmental protection and problems of traffic congestion, water consumption, inadequate parking and the like. All this makes for lively debate, which any Broadband user can observe through the Council's webcast facilities!