Category: District Ward

• Uttlesford District Thaxted and the Eastons Ward (Councillor)

Richard has lived in Thaxted for 30 years. He has impeccable credentials to work to protect the ward from over-development. He’s an Essex Trustee of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and former Chartered Surveyor who has worked for DEFRA, English Heritage and Historic England.

• Uttlesford District Saffron Walden Shire Ward (Councillor)

Saffron Walden resident and councillor Chloë worked as a Planning Officer at the Town Council and Climate Officer at UDC. She’s volunteered at the foodbank and is a trustee of Uttlesford Citizens Advice.

• Uttlesford District Takeley Ward (Councillor)

Mark is an experienced railway engineer with a passion for science, heritage, and innovation. He’s a STEM Ambassador, family orientated, community focused and an amateur beekeeper.

• Uttlesford District Saffron Walden Audley Ward (Councillor)
• Saffron Walden Town Council - Audley Ward (Councillor)

Saffron Walden resident Alex has been a primary and secondary teacher for over 20 years. He currently manages and teaches English at the Uttlesford Pop-up School for Ukrainian refugees. He’s a trustee of the town’s Youth Outreach Programme. He is a town and district councillor.

• Uttlesford District Saffron Walden Shire Ward (Councillor)
• Saffron Walden Town Council - Shire Ward (Councillor)

After 30 years in Saffton Walden with his family, many residents know and respect previous Town Councillor Melon (Jubeyuir) Ahmed. He’s the man behind a number of the town’s Indian restaurants, including The Spice on Rowntree Way.

• Uttlesford District Great Dunmow North Ward (Councillor)
• Great Dunmow Town Council - North Ward (Councillor)

Alex Armstrong is committed to creating successful business, and knows that a joined-up approach it the best way to take the district forward.  He is a Great Dunmow Town Councillor. He was Chair of the Dunmow Town Team for 2 years, has served on the Havering Chamber of Commerce and Industry for 10 years, where he was the chairman for 4 years.

In Havering he volunteered as a work experience mentor for the Borough, helping Havering College with apprenticeships. He also served on various committees including Safety and Community Partnerships, Town Centre Partnerships and Business forums and served for 10 years on the Havering Business Awards panel.

Professionally Alex has been Managing Director of both private and public companies in the printing industry. He now runs a local print consultancy.

Alex moved from the built up East End of London to Havering, which was then in Essex, only to see it become a London Borough and in his words a ‘concrete jungle’. He moved again to Great Dunmow and  fell in love with the town, the open spaces, and warm and friendly people. Alex says he doesn’t want Dunmow to become either a dormitory town or a concrete jungle itself, and so any development must be in tune with the desire of the local residents.

He has been married for over 40 years and has a son in Florida and daughter in Canada. His hobbies are golf, theatre, walking and Chelsea Football Club.

• Uttlesford District Newport Ward (Councillor)

Originally from Lancashire, Neil Hargreaves has lived in Newport for 30 years and his three children went to both Newport schools. He has used his accountancy skills to serve the community in various roles including Treasurer of the Friends of St Mary’s Church and Treasurer of the Newport Scouts. He is a regular contributor to the award winning Newport News village magazine, and is an administrator of the popular Newport Newsline Facebook group. He chaired the steering group for the successful Newport, Quendon & Rickling Neighbourhood Plan, and is now working on an updated version. He is active on planning and local community concerns.

After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, Neil moved with his wife to Kenya, where their son was born. After returning to London he worked for a large accountancy firm and then in the insurance industry. He managed a large accounts department, IT projects, and outsourcing contracts, and was Treasurer of a reinsurance broker. After moving to Chelmsford and then Newport, Neil commuted to London and to Norwich. During this time his wife worked as an Occupational Therapist and in a dispensary in Saffron Walden and Addenbrookes. Now retired, Neil’s final accountancy position was with a US balloon manufacturer in Bishops Stortford.

Neil is a keen photographer, is a member of CPRE, and is out every day walking his Beagle around the villages in the ward.

Where we live is rightly shown in surveys as being one of the best places in the country. He believes that development, both commercial and housing, can enhance the district if well planned and coordinated with good infrastructure and the services needed to support a larger population.

Being increasingly worried about the Westminster party politically driven system running the council and the small core of councillors who ran it, Neil stood for election as a district councillor for the Newport ward in 2015 and was elected. He immediately set to work to sort out issues raised on the doorstep and has been able to implement a new speed sign, a major road sign project to stop the frequent bridge strikes in Newport, and an extension to a 30mph limit to protect a new housing estate.

When R4u took charge of UDC in 2019, Neil became the portfolio holder for Finance and Budgets. He is also Deputy Council Leader.

Neil and fellow councillor Judy Emanuel hold weekly councillor surgeries in Dorringtons in Newport, is active on the local Facebook groups, and attends the parish council meetings in the three villages in the Ward.

• Uttlesford District Newport Ward (Councillor)
• Newport Parish (Councillor)

Judy Emanuel has a degree in Industrial Information Technology. Her career spans from IT start-ups, recruitment, IT consultancy to financial services – and she is also an event florist in her spare time. She lives with her family in Newport where she’s very involved in the community. She’s been an active member of the Friends of Newport Primary School for 10 years, and was previously chair of the charity. She’s also a member of the Newport Parents Association of Joyce Frankland Academy.

Judy serves on the Parish Council and Uttlesford District Council. She says she joined R4U and became a councillor because of a deep concern over the volume of speculative housing development in the area with no infrastructure to support it. Over the past five years on the council she’s tracked and documented the scale of development in the area and been responsible for drafting planning application responses.  She’s represented residents at planning appeals, where as part of a team she’s successfully prevented more than 200 unsustainable houses in Newport. She’s also lobbied to mitigate the impact of any development that has happened.

Judy has been a key member of the team responsible for the delivery of the Newport, Quendon and Rickling Neighbourhood Plan and has supported the parish council with online communications.

• Uttlesford District Saffron Walden Castle Ward (Councillor)
• Saffron Walden Town Council - Castle & Little Walden Ward (Councillor)

Richard Freeman has lived in Saffron Walden for over 20 years.  For most of that time, he has represented residents as a Castle Ward councillor.  He has twice served as Town Mayor. In 2014 he joined R4U from the Liberal Democrats, becoming a founder councillor  to better serve local residents.

Much of his professional life has been spent in the manufacturing industries, particularly pharmaceuticals and also foodstuffs.  Latterly, he has worked for large international consultancies, providing technical and project management expertise to multinationals and governments.

Much of Richard’s time as a councillor has been devoted to making developers deliver on their Section 106 obligations.  These are legal requirements, often in the form of infrastructure payments made to the council that are designed to mitigate the impact of new housing.  Frequently, developers under-deliver on these.  As a direct result of Richard’s efforts, the town will soon receive two excellent new playing fields off Little Walden Road completed to Sport England standard,  Likewise, after much hard work, the new development of Tudor Park now has a RoSPA-approved children’s playground

Richard says that he believes that “local government has a duty to ensure the supply of homes for ordinary people – not just mansions for the fortunate rich! The limited supply of so-called ‘affordable’ homes linked to housing developments is not enough.  We need new social housing as well; homes that people can rent at prices they can afford. “

He has a particular interest in architecture, and has modernized several listed buildings. This interest was amply expressed when he was involved in managing the repair and refurbishment of Saffron Walden’s listed Town Hall.  Left in a sorry state by previous Conservative administrations, he helped plan and monitor its repair and restoration.  Richard was also able to assist with the design and installation of a very efficient and modern heating system for the building, making this iconic building usable all year, and much cheaper to heat.