Hello all.

Full statement

For those that don't already know me, I'd like to introduce myself.... I'm Paul Howey and I'm standing for election as county councillor for Rothbury ward. I'm supported by the Conservative Party.

I grew up on our hill farm at Fontburn, just South of Rothbury and went to school there my family coming from West Hepple, going back to at least the 1800s. I currently live near Knowesgate.

I'm a retired fire fighter and middle manager in Northumberland Fire & Rescue Service (NFRS). 1 was operational for nearly 20 years and a training officer for 6 - including being the lead officer for a number of those years of the retained recruit training programme - training firefighters across the whole of Northumberland, including from Rothbury fire station.

As a firefighter/officer I was part of NFRS's specialist Swift Water Rescue response and also one of 4 officers trained as part of government's National Resilience in Major Flood Incident Management so I'm ideally placed to understand the risks and community's emergency response needs during severe flooding events. I've also attended many wildfires as both a firefighter and as an incident manager.

I'm not a 'politician'. But I am someone who feels strongly about people having a voice. And to develop that further, I believe working with the local parish councils of Rothbury ward is hugely important to help voice local concerns, ideas and community project plans as part of healthy local democracy. And as an ex manager working within NCC (NF&RS), I have the experience working with partners and decision makers within NCC, and also outside agencies, to develop projects and business cases and to secure appropriate funding.

My initial Priorities would be -

Building a relationship with the parish councils in the ward to promote their community work and objectives.

Working with the local community, businesses and Place Partnership Group to develop it's 10 year plan and secure investment for Rothbury through the Borderlands funding initiative (potentially up to £3 million).

Farming and remote rural support - As someone from a farming background I understand the impact to farming from tax changes; the of suspension of SFI applications; winding down of the BPS; net zero - So working with farmers, NCC and other partners to work to develop, and also lobby for, additional support.

Remote rural broadband provision.

Rural crime - developing a case for additional 'Hawkeye' security funding and also promoting/supporting rural policing.

Swimming pool and leisure facilities - working to secure funding to maintain and develop current and additional facilities through existing or new funding mechanisms.

Hopefully I will have the opportunity to speak with many of you over the coming few weeks and answer any questions you might have.