Since my election to the County Council in November 2002 to represent the Meriden/Tudor division I have been able to make good use of the business skills which I have acquired over the many years of my working life. I started work in the printing industry in a small family concern of which I eventually became a Director. After suffering cancer I gave up paid employment for 6 years during which time I worked for the Printers’ Charitable Corporation arranging holidays for retired printers’ and widows at the Corporations two hotels in Eastbourne, but in 1980 I felt ready to return to my career and joined CASE which was then a flourishing local Data Communications company where I eventually became International Operations Manager. After various changes of ownership I left the company in 1992 to start my own successful Consultancy business working for clients such as Chiltern Radio, TeleAdapt and Siemens Network Systems. On election to the County Council I closed the business down to concentrate on Council work.

The work I do varies from dealing with day to day matters which residents bring to me, such as problems with trees, broken pavements, help with services such as Adult Care, children excluded from school, graffitti, street cleansing, provision of parking bays, yellow lines and so on, to the major issues which sometimes take months to resolve. For example the Meriden Way and the Balmoral Road Road Traffic Calming Schemes both took a lot of time and effort to conclude to satisfaction. Monitoring the activities of the Waste Transfer site on the A41 to ensure that regulations are not breached is an important part of my work, and this will apply when the Concrete Batching Plant opens in Orphanage Road shortly. The decision to close Meriden School was unpopular, but now that the expansion and refurbishment of the new school is underway I am looking forward to the opening in September 2005 of what I am sure will be a successful and dynamic school. The redevelopment of the Meriden site is a challenge, and I am determined that residents will be given an opportunity to have their say. Finally, the redevelopment of the Watford Junction site is likely to have a major impact on the division with a real opportunity for improving the traffic in our area. It is expected that Public Exhibitions will take place in the summer.

If re elected I and my Liberal Democrat colleagues will continue to press Herts Highways to address the problems with our roads, particularly in regard to major traffic congestion and badly timed traffic lights at the Dome Roundabout, the prioritisation of the re-signing around Watford to direct lorries on to the Link Road, and urgent attention to the re surfacing of badly damaged roads and pavements. I am also committed to supporting the Local Community Police in their fight against anti-social behaviour, and will campaign for provision of sensible facilities for local youngsters to keep them off the streets and out of mischief.