Mid Suffolk District Council Elections - May 7th 2015

Stradbroke and Laxfield Ward

Including Wilby

James Hargrave
James Hargrave
LOCAL ELECTION
candidate for Stradbroke This local election on May
the 7th will determine who
and Laxfield Ward
James Hargrave grew up in West
Yorkshire and has lived in Stradbroke
for 10 years with his three children
attending local schools.
James has been a proactive Parish
Councillor in Stradbroke for four years.
During this time, he has campaigned
successfully on a number of local
issues, including :

against the building of a Co-op store opposite the primary school, on

the grounds that it would be unsafe for children at the school and
would increase traffic through the village, as well as campaigning

for small, affordable housing developments but against large,

unsustainable housing developments that would change the rural
character of Stradbroke.
Furthermore, having being deeply involved in the campaign to save
libraries across Suffolk in 2011, he is now a Trustee as well as Vice Chairman
and Secretary of the Stradbroke Courthouse and Library Trust, the local
charity behind the recent refurbishment and re-opening of the villages
Court House building. The Court House now includes a library, a newly reopened Post Office, and a soon-to-open community caf. In the future, it
will also feature a studio space for a community radio station and storage
for the village archives.
For the past seven years, James served as Chair of Governors of Stradbroke
Primary School, and he is currently leading the process to create a
federation between Stradbrokes and Laxfields primary schools. He is also
part of Radio Stradbroke www.radiostradbroke.co.uk and helps to run the
village website www.stradbroke.org.uk.
A citizen blogger of some repute, James regularly reports on local
education, libraries, and other community news and politics on http://
blog.hargrave.org.uk.
To contact James :
07766 711553
01379 388405
james@hargrave.org.uk

runs your District Council.

The District Council looks after

local planning, your social
housing and environmental
health, it picks up your refuse
and recycling, and it also levies
and collects your council tax.
Since 2003 the Council has
been run by the Conservatives.
However, it is important that
there is a strong opposition
which ensures that they dont
take this position for granted.
For the last four years the
Green Party has led the
opposition.
We have challenged the ruling
groups position on areas such
as planning, where their lack
of an effective approach
means that developers can
now ignore the views of our
communities, transparency of
the budget and also plans to
allow the Council to borrow
25 million for activities which
they refuse to specify. We
have also pushed to ensure
more sustainable social
housing and to create better
cycle routes and
footpaths. Now is the time
you need strong local Green
councillors to fight your
corner.

www.greenparty.org.uk www.midsuffolk.greenparty.org.uk

General Election - Rhodri Griffiths - Green Party Candidate

Central Suffolk and North Ipswich constituency
Rhodri moved to Parham shortly after he retired as
deputy head of a primary school in Wales.
He is standing as a candidate for the Central
Suffolk and North Ipswich Constituency in the
General Election and also for the Hacheston
Ward for Suffolk Coastal District Council.
He was a school governor and community
councillor in the Gower village where he lived for
fifteen years and he played a prominent part in a
successful campaign to create 20mph zones in
residential areas around Swansea.
He is now actively campaigning to improve the
quality of life for all those who are fortunate
enough to live in this part of rural Suffolk.

To contact
Rhodri :
01728 768934
10 Willoughby
Close
Parham
Suffolk
IP13 9NA
Rhodri@suffolkgreenparty.org.uk

Where have all the buses gone?

"This is a question I get asked time and time again," says

Rhodri.
An almost total lack of public transport in much of rural
Suffolk is leaving many people, particularly the elderly,
isolated and at increased risk of suffering from loneliness and
depression. One lady in Hacheston told me that only six years
ago there was a decent, regular service with a bus stopping in
the village every two hours. Now the Conservative
government's bus deregulation policy has brought about the
decimation of public transport in the village.
Villages that were once happy, thriving communities are being
turned into isolated commuter dormitories where many
people have scarcely any reason to step beyond their own back
yard. Within a generation, my own village of Parham has lost
its school, pub, shop and youth club. As if all this wasn't bad
enough, now they've taken away the buses! It's a depressingly
familiar story throughout rural Suffolk.

www.greenparty.org.uk
If you would like more information about the

email john@suffolkgreenparty.org.uk

Green Party election campaign

message us on

Mid Suffolk Green Party

www.midsuffolk.greenparty.org.uk

follow us

MidSuffolkGreen

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