Category: Councillor

• Stebbing Parish (Councillor)

Sandi says:

I live in Stebbing with my husband, our two dogs and cat. We moved here nearly 29 years ago with our three children and have counted ourselves very lucky ever since to live in this Ward in Uttlesford and be part of this community.

I have served on Stebbing Parish Council for over 15 years including on most of its committees, chairing and member, the most recent Greener Stebbing which is a new committee. This has and continues to be a most rewarding and enlightening experience. Helping greatly with my understanding of the needs of residents. I was an Uttlesford District Councillor for 4 years, where I chaired the Planning Committee.

I coordinate the Poppy Appeal Collection annually in Stebbing and have been a member of the Stebbing Fete organising committee for many years Having had a career in Education in both secondary schools and colleges I became a governor at a local Nursery & Primary school.

I believe in listening and working with the community, fighting for the rights of residents, and aiming to find the balance between protecting our communities and enhancing our children’s future.

I have long believed that National party politics should not play a part in local democracy. Local issues need to be addressed by a locally focussed party that understands and supports local interests. I believe that R4U is, by reorganising how UDC is structured and using the best skills available. By working together with our communities, we will achieve this.

• Saffron Walden Town Council - Shire Ward (Councillor)

James de Vries has been an Uttlesford resident since 1985, and is an experienced district and town councillor, previously sitting on the UDC Investment Board, and scrutiny and governance committees.

For work he specialises in commercial IT and has a background in aviation working closely with Stansted Airport. In the local community he has spearheaded local business networking initiatives and runs a small sports club in his spare time.

James says “It is important that we retain the natural beauty and heritage of our communities. I’m concerned about the impacts of large housing developments, rural broadband, policing, traffic, and local school places. I’m also keen to tackle the smaller issues that affect quality of life, such as speeding, fly-tipping, travellers, potholes and recycling.“

• Saffron Walden Town Council - Audley Ward (Councillor)

Cllr Deryk Eke is a recently retired Chartered Civil Engineer with over 40 years’ experience of delivering major national infrastructure projects worldwide including in America, Europe, South East Asia and back home in the UK.

He was raised in Lower Sheering and schooled nearby in Sawbridgeworth and Harlow. He has been married for nearly 40 years and lived in and around the Saffron Walden area for more than 30 years.

In 1994 he and his wife returned from a major project in Hong Kong. Deryk says that they were “living in Great Bardfield at the time, but managed to secure places for our children at Saffron Walden County High, not something you could hope to do now!”

Since they moved into Saffron Walden town, Deryk says that the “explosion in house building, increase in traffic, deterioration in air quality, and lack of school and medical facilities” are all aspects that he and his children noticed more and more, and that is part of what has spurred him on to stand to represent other residents.

He says that “The district council must be prepared to stand up for the residents and demand developers give back to the community, and R4U is the best party to make that happen because it only answers to local people.”

Deryk belies that “with my experience and passion for delivering successful projects I can help improve our quality of life and better living environment across Uttlesford.”

• Uttlesford District Takeley Ward (Councillor)

Maggie Sutton is an experienced and active campaigner on local issues. She believes that to make a difference people have to get up and get involved.

Maggie knows the importance of community. She knows that Takeley has a strong active community, good schools and nursery, along with many clubs and associations at its heart. She served as a Governor at Takeley Roseacres School for during the period its move to the new site.

She is also passionate about the local area, its history, archaeology, and countryside.

Maggie has been a member of the executive committee of Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) since its inception in 2002, working out of the office at The Old School in Takeley for much of that time. She says that being part of SSE has “given me a massive opportunity to become familiar with every part Takeley where I have attended and helped organise many consultation, campaign, outreach and fundraising events. Through that I have association with many Parish council representatives and many, many people who live in the area.”

Of the airport, she says “I am very aware what being a neighbour to Stansted Airport means for Takeley residents. Clearly there are jobs, but also major concerns about noise, light and air pollution, and major traffic and parking issues.”

Maggie serves on the committee of campaign group Stop Easton Park. Easton Park is Uttlesford District Council’s proposed new town of 10,000 homes that will in-effect connect Dunmow and Takeley across the A120. She believes that the siting of the new town will be extremely detrimental to the area of historic area of Easton Park and beyond. She believes that strategic planning must be undertaken and proper controls put in place to protect the uniqueness of our countryside as our district expands.

Maggie realised she needed to take the next step to represent residents.

She said “As I attend UDC council meetings on matters such as housing and the airport I become very concerned and anxious. I saw that those elected to represent us here simply take their lead from the party they represent in parliament. It seems evident that local people do not matter to them. Putting my name forward as a Residents candidate to represent Takeley and the communities of Broxted, Chickney, and Little Canfield is not something I take lightly. I know I must give you a 100percent commitment. I truly believe, Residents for Uttlesford provide the ONLY platform we have to be properly represented at in the district council.”

Maggie Sutton has strong family and community ties to the Takeley ward. She lived in Boxted for many years while her children were growing up. She has five grown up children, all which live in Uttlesford. She currently lives in Lindsell with her family.

• Saffron Walden Town Council - Shire Ward (Councillor)

Dave McLellan has spent a career as a business analyst and project manager in financial services.

He and his family have lived in Saffron Walden for 22 years. His children have both been through local primary and secondary schools. He volunteers for the Saffron Screen and wildlife groups.

He says he stood for Saffron Walden Town Council because “I saw what a great job Residents for Uttlesford had done at the town council and want to help them continue to make Saffron Walden a great place to live.”

He is particularly interested in the R4U’s policies to reduce single-use plastic waste and increasing the use of sustainable transport.

Dave said he first wanted to stand for Residents for Uttlesford because “R4U seem to really care about what residents want and deliver on it. The work they have done around the Saffron Walden Common and the installation of drinking fountains are examples of ways to improve where we live. I think it’s important that local councils are run by the community not political parties, and R4U provides the means for that to happen.”

• Uttlesford District Takeley Ward (Councillor)

Geoff Bagnall moved to Takeley in 2009 and was been a long-serving parish councillor and now an Uttlesford District councillor.

He says “I am absolutely convinced that we need strong representation at a local level to ensure we are able to build the community in the right way. I believe we need it to be LOCAL representation at Uttlesford District Council rather than the mainstream political parties if we are to secure the proper future for our communities.”

Geoff has spent his career in the banking and finance sector. During that time he has held various roles, most of which have required him to look at making improvements to processes and implement organisational change.  He says “To help me achieve success in these roles, one of the key capabilities has been the ability to communicate and drive consensus across teams, as that’s the way you get things done.  To do that I have built up a large network of relationships, which you need to work through complex problems with a number of stakeholders.”

These core skills of communication and network building will stand Geoff in good stead to help resolve the many issues at Uttlesford District Council and Essex County Council.

Locally he is particularly keen to ensure that planning decisions are taken for the benefit of the district as a whole, and that they include all infrastructure provisioning at the same time, for example, schools, medical centres, roads and utilities. He said he remembers once asking a now former Conservative District Councillor about the lack of school places when planning decisions were made at Uttlesford District Council. Geoff said “The Councillor replied that schools are the responsibility of Essex not Uttlesford District Council”. Geoff says he disagrees and believes that responsibly cannot be shirked. He believes that things like school places should be “very much part of planning decision making and that deciding in isolation is to the detriment of existing communities.”