I am standing as an independent candidate for Ridgeway West ward.

Full statement

I have lived in Buckinghamshire all of my life. I have a keen interest in protection of the environment, air and river quality monitoring and other areas of science.
I am one of the founders of a new environmental technology company who are collaborating with Kingston University to produce AI powered air quality monitoring solutions. Our company was recently featured in an ITV News bulletin for technology innovation.
Why I am standing for Councillor; I have experienced a dreadful service with the complaints department at Buckinghamshire Council, where I felt that I was misinformed and I was treated with contempt, due to my complaint. It transpired that there were a significant number of complainants who were apparently being treated in a similar way.
I have supported a number of constituents with legitimate complaints, who have received similar dismissive responses from the complaints department.
During the years there has been a significant degradation in public services and duty of care provided by Buckinghamshire Council. The same excuses are made every year, about lack of funding for critical services, whilst senior staff pay themselves huge salaries and fail to deliver improvement.
Party politics is not the solution, as elected Councillors and MP's often place party interests before the interests of the constituents who vote for them.
Buckinghamshire Council is broken and needs urgent repair. Within the last year some of the newspaper headlines include:
"Bucks Council spends £10m of taxpayers’ money on legal fees despite service cuts"
"Bucks Council spent £1.8m a year on one child’s care in unregistered home"
"Buckinghamshire Council has revealed the wages of its highest paid staff, with 29 earning above £100,000 in the last year."
"Bailiffs are increasingly being asked to recover unpaid council tax debts in Buckinghamshire even as families continue to struggle through the cost of living crisis"

What we are seeing on the ground is that Buckinghamshire Council are failing to deliver statutory services, and failing to address serious complaints, frustrating the process and fobbing off complainants with poor inadequate excuses. In some cases, the issues I have seen resemble the failings of the post office scandal.
Conservative Councillors struggle to address the serious issues of residents, due to their alignment and allegiance with their political party. The overwhelming concern for political parties appears to be how they present to members of the public, and not to expose failures that could show the party in a negative light, or cost them votes.
I would like to make a difference to the way complaints are handled in Buckinghamshire Council, as the current system is unable to adequately police itself or to provide the necessary duty of care to vulnerable adults and children.
As an independent candidate I pledge to do my best to support residents of the ward, and I can confirm that I have no conflicts of interest or involvement in any political party. My aims are to ensure that residents issues are listened to, documented, and properly considered by the Council and associated professionals.

A summary of the matters I am concerned about within the Ridgeway West ward:
-The Kings Hotel; Regular public updates required, the site has been an eyesore for the last 4 years.
-Road Quality; Repair timescales need to be improved.
-Social Care Internal Complaints Process; Serious improvements required, to ensure that professionals take responsibility for their failures.
-Maintenance of green areas; Contractual obligations with 3rd parties and housing associations, need to be honored.
-Local schools / academies; need ring-fenced investment from local government to improve and update education staff and facilities.

Vote David Wallace on 1st May 2025, and if elected, I will represent you.