Terry Mole Reform candidate for Ramsgate.

Full statement

I live in Ramsgate and I am keen to represent local residents in the forthcoming KCC election on the 1st of May.

I am a local businessman with my own company and have become increasingly frustrated at the poor state of local services offered by both KCC and TDC.

This is an election that nearly did not take place, putting at risk the democratic right of residents to vote. The Labour Party pushed through plans to form Unitary Authorities and the Conservative led Kent County Council acquiesced in the hope of not facing an election.

Council Tax has risen by 25% in 5 years while services have seriously declined. Roads are full of potholes and rarely swept, drains are frequently blocked. Volunteers are now stepping in to clear litter and maintain parks and gardens. This should not be.

The new Thanet Parkway Station cost £44 million to build, the surrounding land is now earmarked for more housing to add to the thousands already built. Farmland will soon be a distant memory.

The cost of all this house building is measured in the environmental damage of further congestion on our roads and the threat to our water supply and the continuing release of sewage into our rivers and seas.

Kent County Council is in debt to the tune of £740 million. The debt interest alone adds to £84,000 per day that residents are called on to pay.

Kent County Council need to take ownership of these problems. KCC needs new people with new ideas to turn it around.

If you want change The Reform Party offers that change. Vote Reform.