Tag: Councillor

• 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.

• Saffron Walden Town Council - Audley Ward (Councillor)
• Essex County Saffron Walden Division (Councillor)

Paul Gadd has been a Saffron Walden Town Councillor since 2015 and an Essex County Councillor for the Saffron Walden Division since 2021.

He is a retired lawyer, and former partner in a leading solicitors firm in London. He now works part time for an investment company.  He is one of the founder members of Residents for Uttlesford.

Paul is highly active in the community. He is a volunteer with Saffron Walden Cricket Club, the Fry Art Gallery and Bridge End Gardens as well as being heavily involved with the local branches of Friends of the Earth and Amnesty International.

• 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.

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

Cllr Heather Asker is a well respected and experienced Uttlesford District Councillor, Saffron Walden Town Councillor and has been town Mayor a number of times. She was first elected in 2007 for Saffron Walden Castle ward, where she has worked on numerous residents’ issues.

Whilst being a councillor she has worked on many local ward and town centre issues, including planning and development, parking, road safety and speed reduction programmes. She is particualry proud of the initiatives that she’s driven and supported in Saffron Walden including the refurbishment of the Town Hall, new Common paths and play equipment, the takeover of street cleaning from UDC, and the paving of the market square.

She says she’s “Passionate about the heart of the Town, our fabulous market, now known as one of the best in East Anglia which is regularly featured in the national press.”

She works closely with her other ward councillor, R4U’s Richard Freeman. Both have recently worked tirelessly to hold developer Persimmon to account to deliver a safe play area on Tudor Park and new sports fields on Line Avenue.

Professionally Heather has a career in sales. She has lived in Saffron Walden since 1984 where her daughter attended the County High School.

She joined Residents for Uttlesford as a founding councillor from the Conservatives in October 2014.

• Uttlesford District Debden and Wimbish Ward (Councillor)

Stewart is committed to Debden village and the local area having lived there for about 40 years. He has organised Debden fetes, barn dances and other events. He served as a councillor in his 40s and again now that he has retired for the last 6 years. He’s both a Debden parish and a district councillor. At UDC he serves on the scrutiny and governance committees, and is topic lead for aviation.

Stewart is a keen member of the Royal British Legion and until 2018 was a local Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal Coordinator. In 2018 he trained as a Standard Bearer and represented Debden on the Royal British Legion GP90 pilgrimage march to Ypres and the WW1 battlefields.

He has spent a career in aviation. Stewart remains a qualified flying instructor, air display organiser, display pilot, training captain, and Jumbo Jet pilot. With this expertise and local knowledge, he served on Stansted Airport Consultative Group with a particular interest in dealing with aircraft noise and overflight issues for the surrounding villages. This experience makes him the ideal candidate to support Council brief for Uttlesford’s biggest employer, Stansted Airport.

Stewart is particularly supportive of youth and education initiatives, where he seeks to combine his passion for flying with developing life skills in the next generation.  He started out as a member of the Air Cadets, an organisation for which Stewart says he has a high regard. He is a past chairman of 1824 Sqdn (Saffron Walden) ATC and past leader of Debden Youth Club and supports Scouts weekend aviation camps.

As an Executive Committee Member of the Light Aircraft Association Stewart championed flying for younger members. In 2003 he invented and sponsored the first UK Youth Build-a- Plane Project, which is now sponsored by Boeing and The Royal Aeronautical Society. On the back of Stewart’s initial endeavours over 30 kit planes have been built and/or flown by young people.

Stewart also volunteers as a STEM Ambassador visiting schools in Essex to inspire young people about life & career options, and has been a member of the General Aviation All Party Parliamentary Group for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

In his spare time Stewart enjoys family life, playing badminton, sailing & boating, flying in light aircraft and driving classic cars.

• Uttlesford District Elsenham and Henham Ward (Councillor)

Petrina Lees is a very active member of her community. She has lived in Elsenham for over 20 years with her husband, and their family. She cooks for the Lunch Club, runs the Elsenham Rainbow Guides and manages the village rounders team.

She is also well qualified as a councillor. She served on Elsenham parish council for 17 years including 3 years as chair. Petrina has been part of the leadership team of Save Our Villages for 9 years, helping secure last year’s planning rejection of ‘Hellsenham’ by the Secretary of State. She is also a member of the Joint Parishes Council Steering Group.

Outside of the home she enjoyed a career in nursing of more than 30 years, most recently caring for the terminally ill, but left the NHS a couple of years ago to concentrate on her family and community activities.

Petrina stood as an Independent in 2015 and was elected as an R4U councillor for the Uttlesford District Elsenham and Henham ward in 2017.

Petrina said “The first thing we addressed after being elected was the appalling state of the road outside the local shops in Elsenham.  For over 15 years there have been numerous complaints. As Parish Councillors we were always told by District Councillors that they were ‘unable to help or fix it because it was the responsibility of the county council’. That’s as may be, but it is shirking and rubbish, and that attitude holds no truck with me. People don’t care what council you are elected to. As a district councillors part of your job is to advocate for local people and hold those responsible to account, even at other authorities. Within 6 months of being elected we facilitated and contributed to the road being resurfaced. My motto is ‘never give up’ – there is always a way, you just have to think outside the box sometimes.”

• Uttlesford District Thaxted and the Eastons Ward (Councillor)
• Essex County Thaxted Division (Councillor)

Residents champion Martin is one of Uttlesford’s longest serving and most respected councillors. He’s represented the Thaxted and now Thaxted and the Eastons ward at UDC since 1995. He’s a strong and active local voice who campaigns for our environment, and against airport expansion, urban sprawl on our fields, and the closing of the local libraries.

Martin lives in Thaxted with his wife Claire.

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

Arthur Coote is a well-respected councillor for Saffron Walden. He was born in the town where he lives with his wife. Arthur is active in many aspects of town life including the Baptist Church. Key interest areas for him are community, equality, youth development and sports.

He’s is a family man who is committed to youth development. Arthur is a director and manager of the Bell Nursery in Saffron Walden and member of the charity Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY). Two of his children have followed him into education as both are head-teachers, and the third has followed a career in law.

Arthur is a lifelong member of Essex Cricket Club and a strong advocate for sports and healthy lifestyles. He’s been active in the funding and design of new playgrounds by Saffron Walden Town Council, and been working to provide more open spaces and sports facilities.

Nationally and locally Arthur has been a long-time supporter of the Labour Party. He was elected as a councillor to Saffron Walden Town Council in 2015 and serves as Mayor for the 2019/2020 year. Like a number of councillors from all the main national parties, he joined R4U in 2019 to create a difference locally.

Arthur Coote says “Over the last 50 years I have taken part in hundreds of campaigns for Labour candidates. I have stood for office to try to create a more equal society and have been a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party. Over the last 4 years it’s become clear that the best way to represent local residents and uphold the ideals I stand for at the district council is by joining R4U. R4U has shown they care about the community’s future and want to create a positive difference for local people. They’ve proven that they are the only party that has the skills and support to deliver for local people. In my mind it’s simple: I will continue to vote for Labour on national issues, but am standing for R4U to deliver local things for local residents. I urge others to vote local Resident for local matters.”