“I’m standing for Shaftesbury as an Independent.

Full statement

I don’t belong to any political party so, if elected, my job will be looking after the interests of our town - by speaking up for Shaftesbury.

I spent my school years here and then, after being in the police for 30 years and the NHS for another 10 serving the public, I came home.

Shaftesbury is a wonderful place to live. We are all here because we love our town and we care about it - its future as well as its past. And that is why I am standing to be one of your county councillors.

What does a Dorset councillor need to be able to do? Listen to you and know what is going on, to focus on local issues, to solve problems - which I have been doing for the past 5 years, as one of your town councillors and as your past Mayor.

But it is also having the ability to understand decision making at operational and strategic levels, to be able to navigate through corporate layers of decision making, to understand and work with large budgets. To present the facts to win the argument in the committee room.

I have done all that at executive levels in the police and ambulance service, and as a Care Group Manager in the NHS where I was responsible for a £60m budget, 25 operating theatres, 3 intensive care units and over 100 consultant anaesthetists. So I know how important it is that your tax is spent wisely and efficiently.

If you want an effective councillor for Shaftesbury who can deliver I have the skill set. But at the end of the day the choice is yours. You have to choose the two people who are going to represent you, who are going to get things done for you, day in, day out for the next 5 years - until May 2029.

Shaftesbury needs a councillor who is going to speak up for our town - to get better, more joined up services. To get things done. To serve the people of Shaftesbury. And as your Independent Councillor I will do that.



Short CV:

I was born in Poole in 1957, and was a Shaftesbury Grammar School boy for 7 years. I joined the police at 20 and worked in Bristol, Wiltshire, and Devon and Cornwall. As a senior police officer my jobs included inspecting police forces across the UK with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, and I was a qualified and experienced Gold level commander for Firearms, Major Sporting Events and Public Order management. I studied for and gained an M.B.A. at Bath University, and a Diploma in Police Management and Criminology from Cambridge University. I retired from the police in 2007 at the rank of chief superintendent, and in 2008 set up the Great Western Air Ambulance Charity, and then worked for two years as an Associate Director for the Great Western Ambulance Service, followed by four years at University Hospital Southampton as Care Group Manager for Anaesthetics, Operating Theatres and Critical Care. I moved back to Shaftesbury in 2015 and was then asked to join the Care Quality Commission to inspect hospitals. I finally retired from the public sector in December 2018 after 40 years service. Now I'm ready to work for the people of Shaftesbury.