Biographical details
It will come as no surprise that I am deeply committed to the
area that I represent on the Council. I have strong family ties to
it. My great-great-grandfather was a businessman in the town. My
grandfather owned and ran a bakery in Bradford Street and lived in
Broad Road. I was myself brought up in Bocking and have lived there
all my life. I was educated locally at Bocking Church Street
School, Tabor School and Braintree, North East and Mid Essex
Technical Colleges.
My grown up children and their children also all live locally,
giving me another reason for interest in the well-being of the
District.
I started my working life at Marconis as a draughtsman and was a
project engineer for twenty years with Johnson Matthey before
working for myself.
Now semi-retired, I still run my own small business.
I have been involved in the local community for as long as I can
remember. Some of that involvement is chronicled below. I have a
strong interest in family, the arts, particularly theatre, music,
painting and design. A passion for motoring has included racing and
rallying. Sporting interests have included athletics (I still do
some running) and tennis, sailing my own boat, walking and camping.
I have recently learned to ski and skate. I am also very interested
in local history.
I hope to use my Council activity to keep Bocking a safe,
interesting and exciting place to live, with changes for the
better.
Council Membership
I returned to local government in 2003, having previously served
terms for Bocking on both the pre1974 Braintree and Bocking Urban
District Council and the post 1974 Braintree District Council.
Council Committees
Currently Planning Committee and Braintree Local
Committee
Previously Finance, Housing, Community and Leisure, Scrutiny
Council representative
Currently Bocking Windmill, Braintree Area Traffic Liaison,
Blackwater Housing Association, Braintree District Arts Council
Previously Braintree Indoor Swimming Pool Committee, Braintree
Twinning Association
Other Community involvement
Currently Braintree Carnival Association (Annual Walk
Co-organiser) John Bunyan Junior School Governing Body
(Vice-Chairman), St Mary's Church Bocking (Choir and Bell Ringer)
Bocking Theatre Club (Member and performer), Braintree and Bocking
Music Society (Member and performer), Braintree Choral Society
(Member and performer), Anglia Singers (Member and performer),
Bocking Sports Club Management Committee (Member), Agnes Day
Nursery (Trustee) Bocking United Services Club (Member)
Previously Bocking Church Street Primary Parents and Friends
Association, Bocking Church Street Primary School Governing Body,
Braintree Indoor Swimming Pool Project (Secretary), Braintree Auto
Club, Club 75 (Youth Club Co-organiser), Braintree Opera, Braintree
Twinning Association, Braintree Athletics Club
Constituency work
Over this term of my Council membership I have been consulted
and/or offered help and advice over the following issues within
Bocking North ward (not all of which are strictly the
responsibility of BDC!). Most of these have been addressed jointly
with my ward colleague and friend David Mann:
Abandoned vehicles (e.g. Glebe), allotments, special collections
(especially fridges), welfare benefits (often), recycling
(including miss-use of bottle banks at Bocking Village Hall and
Braintree Hockey Club), building control, food safety, civic
amenity sites, crematoriums, cemeteries (Bocking), car parking
problems (e.g. Fennes Road and Church Street, street name plates
(several replaced or mended), obscured road signs, charity street
collections, litter, luncheon clubs, play areas (Glebe, Swing Field
and Deanery Hill), travellers (Community Field and Deanery Hill),
planning enforcement (e.g. Bridge Motors site), right to buy,
tenants rights (in relation to transfer), housing repairs, tree
planting (Churchill Road and Glebe Avenue), youth services,
education (primary, secondary and tertiary), speeding (Broad Road,
Church Street and elsewhere), development control (Straits Mill,
Church Street, Broad Road, Bovington Road, Hockey Club and
elsewhere), car parks, council tax, hall hire, public hall
improvements (Glebe and Institute), concessionary bus fares, bus
shelter improvements (Church Street, College, Cemetery), bus park
facilities improvement (Victoria Street), licensing, listed
buildings, land use, housing options, health services, anti-social
behaviour (including alleged drug dealing), flooding (Church
Street, Mill site), airport expansion, phone masts (Hockey club),
cars for sale on highways, highways repairs (Convent Lane, Gauden
Road and others), roadwork problems (King's Bridge, Church Street),
road safety (Bocking Church Street school), homelessness, house
transfer, pest control, sewage problems (Church Street), sports
development (Bocking Sports Club), street cleaning , estate
environmental improvements (e.g. Staines Road flats) ,weed/grass
cutting (Church Street, Deanery, Glebe flats) and tree management
systems. We also jointly attend community police tasking sessions
(Braintree Police station) and health service briefings given by
Mid Essex Hospitals and Mental Health Trusts(Chelmsford). In the
company of Housing officers and sometimes tenants we have conducted
estate inspection in all three of our housing zones, Deanery and
Upper Glebe, Lower Glebe and Bocking village.
We also jointly attend community police tasking groups
(Braintree Police station) and health briefings given by Mid Essex
Hospital Trust and Mental Health Trust (Chelmsford). In the company
of Housing officers and sometimes tenants we have conducted estate
inspections in all three of our housing zones, Deanery and Upper
Glebe, Lower Glebe and Bocking village.