I appreciate the opportunity to talk about my desire to be re-elected as a councillor.
For 4 years I have thoroughly enjoyed my role as a councillor and have been proud to serve our community. Before I was elected I spent several Months taking the time to research the role and make sure it was right for me and I was right for it. Such has been my pleasure in representing where we live I am looking to be re-elected and continue my work alongside my councillor colleagues and friends Becky Senior and Malcolm Allan.
My priority has and always will be the welfare of our residents, coming from my work environment as a fire officer this may not come as a surprise. I am due to retire in July and my aim is to give more time to our area as I am committed to try and improve Marple North as I have been since my election. I genuinely feel we are very lucky where we live but like anywhere there are challenges which must be addressed.
Those challenges include a new leisure facility which I want as much as anyone, I have a young family and I want a facility we in Marple all deserve. I have not hidden my frustration in lengthy processes to obtain funding and will be pushing for this just as I do in our meetings with council officers every time we meet. I also want to see safer areas for where we can cross busy roads and have highlighted near Marple Rail Station and The Northumberland Arms as places that could benefit from such facilities. Looking into the future is our need for better public transport, improved walking and cycling infrastructure, school safety and a regeneration of our Town Centre which I feel is badly needed.
Over my period of councillor I have worked with many groups across the ward and will continue to do so, our local events are a very important part of our community calendar and something we should all be proud of. I feel it is worth pointing out that we have the largest amount of volunteer groups in the borough, the present administration tried to remove all local flexible funding which we fought successfully to keep and that money has helped so many local organisations. It has been a brilliant experience being part of what so many volunteer groups do and I am very much looking forward to continue this. I have met with school leaders and pupils regarding local matters many times, dealt with important local issues such as policing, our environment, safety issues and fought our corner whenever possible. Added to this are hundreds of local pieces of casework sent in from residents which we deal with individually or as a team. An example of fighting for our community: I was delighted when the 375 bus was not removed from service following a petition I created which gained over 3500 signatures that was presented to TfGM, I also spoke to decision making officers many times about the situation to demonstrate the need for such a service in our community. I am presently leading with efforts to increase our biodiversity in the area with wildflowers and grass verge growing. You may also see me on Stockport Road and in our Town Centre carrying out litter picking which I have done on a 6 week cycle from before being elected in 2018.
I was passionate and committed to where we live before I was elected and as a councillor I have become even more so. I am not campaigning/assisting in other areas, my sole priority is Marple North. The role I was elected to by residents I have done my best to show them they made the correct decision and I hope it will be the same on May 5th. My re-election campaign comes with support from residents, many businesses and local community champions who I work with and help whenever possible.
I would like to finish by wishing Annette, Claire and John well and I will look forward to seeing them on election night if not before.
Thank you for reading this. My contact details are always available should anyone wish to discuss anything.
Steve
