I live and work locally, running my own business here, and my children attend the local School.

Full statement

A few years ago, I set up the local voluntary group Friends of Elmbridge to campaign for, and raise money to build, a new playground in Armscroft Park. I wanted to create a high quality outside space where our community could come together.

This experience made me want to do more to contribute to our community, and last year I helped set up the local street champions network and Friends of Elmbridge raised over £1,000 to support vulnerable children at our local schools through lockdown.

I love being part of this community and working with others to make it a great place to live. I have not been involved in politics before and have often thought that in-fighting between politicians can get in the way of progress. I am totally focused on getting things done.

Why I want to be your Local Councillor

After the budget cuts each part of Gloucester has had to fight for funding and I feel more money needs to be spent in our area.

I have spent a lot of time over the last two years talking to local residents and many are concerned about the impact the cuts have had on the quality of our roads and green spaces. We need permanent solutions to these problems especially as they can contribute to the flooding that some of our community have suffered recently.

We have been working hard on these issues but there is only so much that can be done in opposition-We could do so much more if we were elected.

Our priorities for Longlevens are:

1. Protecting local green spaces to be enjoyed by residents and wildlife
Residents have told us how important local green spaces have been during lockdown. We want to stop these precious parts of Longlevens from being sold for development and for residents to have a say in what happens to them.

2. The roads
Making them safer by introducing speed restrictions, replacing broken roads with quality materials, reducing traffic especially commercial vehicles and preventing parking on pavements where it causes an obstruction.

3. Adding more bins to stop all the litter
We will carry out an audit of where more dog and litter bins are needed and get more bins installed. We will also look at innovative ways to stop dog fouling.

4. Improving local play grounds
Our playgrounds have so much potential to be natural play spaces which are nicely landscaped and pleasant places to meet friends for play dates. We will work hard to make this happen.

5. Make cycling easier especially for families by installing safe cycle lanes

6. Be active approachable councillors
We work hard all year round. We have enjoyed meeting residents over the last couple of years and hearing what your issues are that we can help with and we promise to keep working hard to solve them.

Gloucester has so much potential and I believe the regeneration of the town centre is too slow and needs to be re-thought and re-prioritised for a post-Covid world. Our city is full of beautiful and historically important buildings that deserve to be celebrated but there are too many ugly ones. I believe we need to support local small businesses and enterprises and make our High Street unique rather than chasing big retailers when this is not the way high streets are going.

The vibrancy of our city can be improved also through the creation of cultural, social and community spaces.