Stephen Bown - Reform UK Candidate - West Molesey Ward
I am Stephen Bown and am one of two Reform candidates, for West Molesey, in the East Surrey elections on May the 7th.

Full statement

I have lived in Elmbridge near the Esher Molesey border since 1989.

I am not a career politician but recently became involved with politics because I could no longer watch the three main parties continue to mismanage our country. Over the past 25 years, they have done severe damage to our constitution, to our economy, to our businesses, to our culture and to our pockets. I am determined to change that and be part of team and party that will fight to get the structural changes needed to re-float this great nation and protect its citizens and values.

I have had a long career in business and can see that we need real business experience in local government, as well as other skill sets, as it is no different to running a commercial business, however big or small. Serve your customers well and they will value your service (our residents and local businesses), with constant improvement and innovation, whilst controlling and continuing to reduce costs so you can afford the services (your local taxes, which remember you have to pay after tax!).

I always viewed local elections to be about voting for local planning decisions, amenities and services that we residents wanted and could control. That situation has now changed as central government has imposed its political will upon these services as well as demanding that we accommodate the failures of their immigration and economic policies. Specific consequences include building on our green belt to accommodate a 20% increase in population over the past 20 years that is unmanageable at this scale. We also have many decent hard working migrant families that contribute that feel the same pain. We are now also expected to accept large numbers of unregulated HMOs to accommodate illegal undocumented migrants, whilst the government claims success by closing hotels. The LibDems and Residents Association voted against a motion for more transparency on this issue. They have been spending tens of millions on migrant housing, whilst ignoring our own housing waiting list.

I have spent several weeks talking to our residents about their issues. So what do I see as the biggest issues impacting us locally?:

1. I will strongly oppose the use of HMOs to house illegal undocumented migrants within our community. We need to get control over HMOs including and not limited to the use of section 4 restrictions (today you don’t even need planning permission).
2. I will challenge the use of greenbelt and farming land for housing development, there are better alternatives for the houses our community needs.
3. We need to ensure that our West Molesey services meet the needs of the residents:
   a. Resolve the Inadequate school bus service at peak times. I strongly believe in helping young working families, who we desperately need for a successful healthy long-term society. Our kids are our future!
   b. We need to prioritise our social housing spend on our own housing waiting list rather than housing migrants as a priority. We have 2,500 on the Elmbridge housing wating list today.
   c. Better manage our community centres and pools so that the service is improved and not disrupted through poor management as is currently the case with the west Molesey community centre closure.
   d. Get to the bottom of the pothole crisis and maintain roads to first world standards. Understand the causes and issues and have sustainable identify, fix and replace strategies in place. The Conservatives in the last Surrey council elections promised the “earth” yet it is even worse today.
   e. Prudent use of 20mph zones NOT Blanket as the liberals propose (e.g. around schools and accident hot spots)
   f. Work closely with and be responsive to our local businesses who have been hit very hard by this government. We need to value and support them as a source of employment, much needed economic growth and as a key part of our community.
   g. Work closely with and actively support the Molesey Riverside action Group to resolve the ongoing challenge of illegal moorings and land encroachment.

Get a grip on the council tax bills and carefully manage our finances so they are focused on real needs & services and not political vanity projects and waste.

The amalgamation of local councils (Elmbridge) with half of Surrey council to become the East Surrey Authority will be a major change management project and cost, paid for by your council tax. We need councillors with real life business change management experience of similar projects, as there is a high risk that costs will spiral and services will be impacted. The East Surrey local government transition cannot afford mismanagement and neither can you.

Reform has many competent, experienced candidates across East Surrey who can bring their expert knowledge and experience to the council. We aim to demonstrate competent management of West Molesey and East Surrey, making a difference to our local communities and earn your trust through results. We cannot do that without your vote, as every vote counts and turnouts are usually very low. Remember you need to vote for two candidates.

Please Vote Reform on May the 7th

Stephen Bown - Reform UK Candidate for West Molesey