Hertford Kingsmead Ward (Two Candidates)

Mike Edwards

I was born in an East Herts village,and took up residence in Hertford nearly 20 years ago. I now live in the centre of the Kingsmead Ward, and am keen to represent the Ward on the District Council so that I can campaign on your behalf for the things that matter to us as residents in the Ward. I am a family man with two grown up children, and I enjoyed a successful International sporting career in offshore powerboat racing before establishing myself as a local businessman. I was British champion in both 1989 and 1990, World champion in 1989 and runner up in 1990. With a broad educational background and real life experiences, I feel that the time is now right to work towards enhancing the lives of local people.  I am a firm believer that party politics gets in the way of getting things done locally, which is why I am so keen to do it the hard way and stand as an Independent.   I care passionately about Kingsmead Ward and if elected will (1) make sure the voice of Kingsmead Ward and its residents is clearly heard, (2) Pursue the building of a skateboard park for Hertford along with promoting all sports and leisure facilities for the community, (3) Scrutinise any plans to alter the frequency or cost of waste collection from our homes whilst ensuring that recycling is available to all in an efficient and cost effective manner, (4) Promote the option of free parking in the Town Centre, get pay on exit schemes adopted elsewhere and ensure that parking permit schemes are fully researched and scrutinised after consultation with those affected, and (5) with my fellow candidate architect Steve Froud look closely at the whole Planning Process in East Herts, which I know is something that often causes concern to people in our Ward. So if you care about where you live, and want a passionate advocate and campaigner to protect your interests and improve your quality of life, then vote for me on 3 May 2007.  Please feel free to contact me on Mike.Edwards@EHPeople.org with your comments.

Steve Froud

I am 53, have lived in Hertford for 36 years. My family and I live, work, and play in the area, and we want our County Town to be something we can value.  Over the years things have changed, and our Town Centre and leisure facilities are in poor shape. The last time I wanted to play tennis at Hartham, finding a court with a net that was either up or not tangled was near impossible. If I want to shop, there are ridiculously high car parking rates, or I can have 30 minutes on a dashed yellow line if I can find a space. Many people just don't bother to come to Hertford any more. East Herts Council cannot be allowed to keep putting up our council tax way over the rate of inflation every year. We need more accountants and business people at the helm. My fellow candidate Mike Edwards is just the sort of person we need at the helm. East Herts Council is not any old business, it's a business that is financed by us, and answerable to us. When things go wrong, we get the excuses, or better still, a Link magazine that tells us how well 'we're' doing. I want to try and influence things from inside - I've had a go at influencing things from the 'outside' as an ordinary resident, but it doesn't work. What we need is local politics: we, the people, should decide the way our community is governed, what we would like, how our money is spent, and on what. We independents are not answerable to anyone except you, the community. We may not all share the same views but we have one thing in common: we all want to work solely for the people in 'our' ward, without having our strings pulled by some political party hierarchy. And we will support other independents when important issues arise in their areas. You need someone to speak up for you! Please feel free to contact me on Steve.Froud@EHPeople.org with your comments.

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