The candidates for the upcoming Cheshire East Council (CEC) & Wilmslow Town Council (WTC) Elections, representing the Wilmslow West & Chorley and Wilmslow West wards have been announced. Mark Goldsmith has decided to stand for election to both.
Residents in the Wilmslow West & Chorley Ward will have the choice of six candidates to fill two seats on CEC and residents in Wilmslow West will have the choice of nine candidates to fill five seats on WTC when they go to the polls on on Thursday, 4th May.
The candidates standing to represent Wilmslow West & Chorley Ward on CEC are:
- Anderson Michelle Louise - Green Party
- Estill Barry - Conservative Party Candidate
- Goldsmith Mark Andrew - Residents of Wilmslow *
- Gorman Michael David - Residents of Wilmslow
- Sarwar Hannan Amer - Conservative Party Candidate
- Wilson Gareth George - Liberal Democrats
The candidates standing to represent Wilmslow West on WTC are:
- Abdullah Faruq - Local Conservatives
- Mark Goldsmith * - Residents of Wilmslow
- Michael Gorman - Residents of Wilmslow
- Tim Higgins - Residents of Wilmslow
- Angela McPake * - Local Conservatives
- Julie Dawn Potts * - Local Conservatives
- Hannan Sarwar * - Local Conservatives
- Ed Sleath - Residents of Wilmslow
- Toby Tritschler - Residents of Wilmslow
I will publish brief interviews with each of the candidates, in the order in which I receive a response to my request. Use the tags below to locate the other candidate interviews published to date.
Please tell me about yourself - occupation, where you live, interests, family?
My career is in consumer marketing for global manufacturing companies and dealing with the world's largest retailers. I have an MBA from Manchester Business School and am now semi-retired, dividing my time between being a councillor, helping charities and some business consultation too.
My free time is spent walking, keeping fit and looking after elderly parents.
How long you have lived there?
I moved to Wilmslow about 25 years ago and am now live in Alma Lane with my wife and three cats.
Are you a member of any local groups or societies?
I am a member of the Fitism gym, U3A and The Ramblers.
Why have you decided to stand for re-election as a borough councillor?
Cheshire East was a mess when we took it over. Police raids on its offices with ongoing criminal investigations. Many senior staff were on garden leave pending
disciplinary action, with cripplingly expensive interim directors standing in for them. It all made it a dysfunctional place and was described by Grant Thornton (the councils independent auditors) as bad as a council can get.
Since then, we changed all the management team, (all recruited at lower wages) and changed how it is governed. Now all councillors play an active part in how it is administered. The council's performance has greatly improved, staff morale and retention has gone up and the level of transparency and communication has greatly improved too. Government inspectors are giving us glowing reports and for the first time in the council's history, it is not overspending. It now operates to balanced 4 year income and expenditure budgets based on inflation only Council Tax increases. And all done during a global pandemic and with inflation at a 50-year high.
We now want to improve how the Planning function operates and reduce the time it takes to make decisions. We also want to continue to improve how our Highways contractor performs to repair our roads. They were given a 15-year contract by the previous Conservatives, just before we were elected. We have had to work with them as they took over the role and improve how they operate for the council. Both these service areas have got much better, but there is still a way to go.
What do you consider to be the important issues facing Wilmslow?
We can't change the national problems it faces such as an aging population needing ever more care funding, getting less and less support from the government and a crumbling road network that has been under invested for decades. All we can do is highlight them.
However, the things we really can alter are those concerning Wilmslow and in particular, the regeneration of its town centre. Wilmslow is considered an upmarket
town, but its streets and retail areas don't match that perception. Decades of no-investment have left it looking tired and shabby. Both Cheshire East and the town
council can now really change this and start to make a very real difference.
With the town council, Cheshire East and the Business Improvement District working together, we can introduce quick, low-cost and short-term improvements like jet washing the streets, trimming the trees, removing weeds, repairing broken pavement bricks and painting / upgrading the street furniture.
Longer-term, it needs Cheshire East, central government and local landlords to fund the high-cost, long-term improvements we all want to see. One of my roles at
Cheshire East is to ensure the expertise is there to help town councils really drive these improvements, but as yet, Wilmslow Town Council has not really engaged with the process.
Therefore, if elected, I will change this and ensure our town centre gets improved, with a long-term plan to totally renovate it.
What do you hope to achieve and how in the next 4 years?
I want to improve the town centreas I've mentioned, create more events and a buzz around the town. We also need a long-term plan to fully revitalise our streets as Altrincham has done so successfully.
Finally, I will also install yellow lines in residential roads to make the street corners free of parked cars, so it is safe to exit these roads. The new ward budgets will also allow us to ensure road signs are all in place and lines are regularly repainted.
What experience and personal qualities will you bring to the role?
I have an MBA from Manchester Business School and a career in business, so can offer a strong background of theory and experience.
I've also been a councillor both at town and Cheshire East, so know how the public sector system works and how to get things done. The two environments are very different. Business is about risk, profit and reward, while councils are about risk avoidance and ensuring projects deliver value for money. I can take the best of both worlds to ensure things gets done.
I work co-operatively but will also voice my opinion. I think this helps the council make better decisions, while I also tell residents what is happening, why it is
happening and what can be done about it (or not). If Cheshire East is to blame, then I will tell them. If it is central government to blame (whoever runs it) then I will tell them that too. I don't have a political party to protect, so I will always reply to people and give them an honest answer, warts and all.
Why should Wilmslow residents vote for you?
I am responsible for the new playground on Little Lindow Park (by the police station) and for the new Wilmslow Business Improvement District, that will invest £1million in the town centre over the next 5 years. I instigated both these projects, got them funded and worked on bringing them to fruition. I think these two achievements alone are more than my previous ward councillors achieved in a decade.
My next goal is to ensure the town centre gets revamped. Again, it is long over-due and requires the town council to work with Cheshire East to make happen. This is why I am standing for both councils.
*current councillor.
