West End Resident With Family in Bisley

I have been your West End Parish Councillor for 16 years. My wife and I have lived in West End for the last 40 years. This has been a great place to live providing a quality of life that is typical of Villages. My background is mechanical engineering and fabrication in the energy sector, which has taken me far and wide experiencing many different cultures. It was always great to come home to England and West End. This country, its weather, heritage and culture is something to be proud of and protect. 

I am the chief dog walker in my family and I always welcome residents to stop and tell me about any concerns. I get to walk around the Villages every week helping identify blocked ditches, flytipping, and potholes, etc.

I am keen to hear from residents through this website or directly about what they think about West End, especially what they value and how they would like to see the Villages progress.

With 16 years of Local Government experience I have learnt so much about how the public sector operates, vastly different from the commercial world. I must say that in general both fellow councilors and council officers have been supportive with a can-do attitude. This makes it easier to address the concerns and desires of residents. The ethos I strive to promote is that Councils and Councillors are essentially service providers as opposed to governors of our lives. The decent, respectful, neighbourly, law-abiding community members get 100% commitment from me.

A good community doesn't just happen, it takes effort from residents to look after the place, be good neighbours, and volunteer in the Villages. I must take this opportunity to pay homage to the multitude of organisations in these Villages that make these Villages great places to live.

I will continue to preserve, protect and promote our Villages. The community spirit is the biggest asset to these Villages along with the natural environment. Residential amenity, village character, green belt, and nature sites are key to keeping the Villages desirable places to live. Excessive house building and commercial urbanisation is to be resisted which brings suburbia and the metropolis to the countryside villages.

Development must be appropriate in scale and character, and commerce sites subservient to residental amenity and character.

Each Village, Borough, and County faces massive challenges in Energy security, Food sustainability, and Environmental impacts. Our villages were well known for horticulture and farming which has been eroded by globalisation leaving the nation at the mercy of foreign powers. Ukraine is a good example that should incentivise the UK to utilise farms and nurseries to start producing quality food and energy as opposed to concreting over with houses.

Streets need to prioritise safer and more sustainable travel by reclaiming these spaces by making footpath surfaces decent, free from vehicles blocking them, and speed calming.

Most importantly I want to know your views on what can make things better in West End Ward. See the contact tab to write, call or meet in person anywhere in the Ward.