About Me
My background is in sports retail. I started my own business at 19 and was lucky enough to ’sell out’, aged 36, in 2003. I decided to take advantage of this new-found free time, building on my two years experience of the parish council at Shenstone where Cath and I live, by standing for the District Council elections in that year.
The free time idea’s gone out the window over the last couple of years and sadly commitments don’t allow me to play a formal part in the parish council any more. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and it was what really got me hooked on what I do now.
I’m pretty busy representing over 13,000 people who live and work in the Lichfield Rural East Division of Staffordshire County Council since May 2005 and at local level I’m Deputy Leader of Lichfield District Council with 3500 people in Shenstone and Wall to represent. As mentioned I was elected to LDC in 2003.
Quite frankly I absolutely love doing what I now do and I’ve met an amazingly wide and incredibly diverse range of interesting people.
I don’t ‘do’ bureaucracy! I find parts of Government, at all tiers including Central Government, frustrating. I cannot accept the can’t do attitude that I sometimes come across. Fortunately it doesn’t happen that often now……I’ve learned how to get around it when I’ve had to!
I am a Conservative but my fundamental beliefs are in common sense politics (both big P & small p) and a pragmatic straight forward approach to issues and problems. I don’t agree with everything the Conservative Party does but on the whole my basic make up sits comfortably with the principles of Conservatism as a political movement. One thing I am pleased with is an attempt, some of the time at least, to get away from the ping-pong, Punch and Judy, whatever you want to call it, Politics. It’s just silly and people can see through it. And by the way, when a politician gets something wrong……let’s say so. Ok, there’s ways of doing it but don’t try and blag it every time!
“We got it wrong, we know how we got it wrong and we’re putting it right…….we’ve learned, it won’t happen again……..let’s move on!”
That’s the approach I try and use on the very rare (ok, fairly rare….well hopefully not too often) occasions I make mistakes. Politicians, with a few exceptions on all sides, are human. We get it wrong.
Anyway off my soap box; I really do believe in the right of every citizen, whatever their Politics and whatever their situation (with perhaps some exceptions to the situation bit) to have a real say in deciding what happens in their local area, their County and Nationally.
To me, this is becoming more and more important and, if we’re honest about it, probably critical. The fancy name for it is democratic defacit. People don’t get involved with democracy like they used to. It’s in decline; voting is down and trust in politicians at all levels is disappearing. Some say we are on the slippery slope. I wouldn’t go quite that far. But it is bad and it’s up to everyone in elected public office and employed in government at all levels to try and make what government does more relevant to the people who pay for it all and benefit (or otherwise) from it.
You can see I’ve got a ‘thing’ about people power and democracy and that’s why I was, in August 2006, delighted to be appointed as Chairman of the International Centre of Excellence for Local eDemocracy (ICELE).
Anyway, all the above is what I spend, on average, 55 hours a week doing……and as I say I really enjoy most of it. I do have a little spare time and, although I thought I wouldn’t, I have stuck on the whole to my 2006 New Year resolution of going to the gym three times a week and I also play the occasional game of squash or racquetball. I also enjoy my time at home, try, and fail on the whole, to keep up with our garden and very very occasionally partake in what was a true hobby of mine up until a couple of years ago……helicopter flying. Add in my latest attempts at culinary exploration (cooking to most of us) and time with family and that just about completes the picture other than trying to get the odd week away when circumstances allow.
On a more serious note, this weblog is an attempt to try and do, in practice, what I preach. It’s to give you and others a chance, if you wish to use it, to see what I do and and what government in Staffordshire does on everyone’s behalf. I only started the site properly in August and I’m pleasantly surprised at the attention it has received. That said, it is new and being developed so if you’ve got any comments or, dare I say it, criticisms please let me know.
For the above or for any constituency and ward issues you can use the public comments at the bottom of each blog entry or to communicate privately see the Contact page for the various ways to get in touch with me.
