I first put down roots in Smalley in 1998, attending two of the village’s schools and growing up alongside the very landscape that would later become the focus of my advocacy.

Full statement

It was during my teenage years, when UK Coal proposed an opencast site at Lodge House and later Banks lodged a similar plan for Carrington Farm, that I discovered how fragile our green‑belt can be.

I stood at the appeal hearings, voiced my objections, and learned that safeguarding our countryside requires more than sentiment, it demands relentless, informed challenge.

That lesson has guided every campaign I have taken on since, I have opposed the solar farm proposals at Smalley (EIA) and Denby, both of which would carve large swaths of protected land for a technology that, while renewable, threatens local wildlife and our green belt. I have fought and will continue to fight the National Grid’s “update” scheme, which would thrust 50‑ to 70‑metre pylons through our fields, marring the skyline for generations, and I have consistently rejected every plan to carve housing into the green belt, insisting instead that developers first exhaust brownfield sites.

Now, as an Amber Valley Borough Councillor, I bring that same tenacity to the council chamber, scrutinising planning applications and demanding that development be sustainable, sensible, and respectful of the environment that nurtured me.

Should I be elected to Derbyshire County Council, I will expand my focus to the areas where I have lived and worked most closely, Special Educational Needs, Adult Social Care, and Education, championing investment and improvement for the people who rely on these vital services.

My commitment is simple, protect our green belt, ensure responsible growth, and build a county that looks after its most vulnerable citizens.