One vote for Commitment, Community & Creativity

Tomorrow is election day. Tomorrow you get to choose who will work for you at county hall. Tomorrow you get to vote for the people who will help you realise your dreams and ambitions - for yourself and all those you care about. Please vote. 

And I earnestly ask for one of your three votes. As an independent councillor, I can promise you:

• Hardworking Commitment
• Community Focus
• Creativity & Innovation

Commitment

• Very proactive and visible Mayor for two years, working hard to help Buckingham become an even healthier, wealthier and happier town
• Buckingham town councillor for ten years and Maids Moreton parish councillor for two, teamworking with fellow councillors and officers to improve our streets, parks and homes
• Establishing and co-moderating the biggest local social media discussion group: helping people connect, debate and build better lives for all for the last six years
• Solid contributor to several local charities concerned with young people, housing and health over several years

Community

• Deeply committed to developing public services that work in partnership with local people and associations, harnessing everyone's energy to create more health and wealth for all
• Always searching for ways in which the voices of our local communities can be heard through petitions (eg the skate park or the infamous roundabout), public meetings and social media
• Very concerned about how the public appears to be shut out from big planning decisions and denied transparency (eg Maids Moreton development) & will resolutely challenge this
• Looking for ways to make sure the public and parish/town councils have more of a say over s106 agreements to improve local infrastructure (eg street lights for people to walk home by)

Creativity

• Tapping into 'community ingenuity' and finding new ways to solve old problems (eg facilitating a local idea into community safety legislation in partnership with our MP)
• Coming up with fresh ideas and innovations to improve life in our towns (eg the first promenade to Stowe through the Corinthian arch since Queen Victoria, the Good Endings Fair, a warranty scheme for pothole repair, and - see below - an idea* to boost solar power investment)
• Importing innovation from elsewhere (eg the Happy Benches to help with mental health and tackle loneliness)
• Generally being free and unchained like the Buckingham Town swan, unshackled by petty party political game playing, able to forge creative partnerships with all who want to see things improve

*The idea I awoke with this morning!

We need solar panels on every public building (indeed every building!) to make the most of the free energy from our wonderful sun. (Which shines quite a lot on our town and nearby villages!) Moreover, we need these solar panels to be complimented by batteries inside the buildings because often the energy is needed when the sun is going down. And I know from my own experience, there is still energy to spare which gets pumped back into the national grid. 

But, and now here's the idea: why don't we connect up electric vehicle (EV) charging points to the solar panel / battery arrays in all of these public buildings? In this way, the public buildings can sell clean, green and excess solar electricity to EV owners thus boosting the income for the public services...? This will help pay off the investment in the kit in the first place as well as harness the resources of the public services (the sunny roofs!) And... it reduces our overall carbon footprint!

I have not heard of this happening anywhere else. Why shouldn't it happen here first?!

The more votes I get tomorrow, the louder will be my independent voice - to seek to persuade the people with the power to make this and lots of other changes happen. 

The montage below represents my commitment to

• adding the spice of creativity
• community safety through community action
• innovation to sort potholes and other 'old' problems
• our community life as evidenced by my time as Mayor (see my blog if you want to know more)
• new ways to address flooding (why aren't all new homes built with grey water recycling?)
• access and equality for all (let's design out disability and anything that holds people back)
• battery and solar power to help us get around with less carbon
• addressing the scourges of loneliness and poor mental health
• making our environment cleaner, greener and sustainable through working together!