The candidates for the upcoming Wilmslow Town Council election, representing Wilmslow East Ward, have been announced.
Residents in the Wilmslow East Ward will have the choice of five candidates to fill three seats, when they go to the polls on Thursday, 4th May.
The candidates standing are:
- Sarah Firth - Residents of Wilmslow
- Chetan Katre * - Local Conservatives
- Jon Kelly * - Residents of Wilmslow
- James Richardson - Local Conservatives
- Neil Stelling - 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?
I'm an NHS doctor and have worked in the NHS for more than 25 years. I live in Wilmslow and have lived here for the last ten years. I've got a 27 year old daughter and my other interest includes visiting various nature reserves and enjoy long walks during my free time.
How long you have lived in there?
Ten years.
Are you a member of any local groups or societies?
No.
Why have you decided to re-stand for election as a town councillor?
During my previous tenure as Wilmslow town councillor I was an integral part of the TC and supported the decisions for the betterment of the local community.
Even during the pandemic and the significant NHS pressures, I made sure that local issues, brought to my residents were appropriately represented and addressed and did my utmost to support the local community.
What do you consider to be the important issues facing Wilmslow?
The issues, for me, continue to be parking- particularly all day parking outside people's homes and road safety. That is what, I am pleased that, as a team, all of our candidates have committed to support residents who want to adopt '20's plenty' in their areas. Reducing the speed of cars in areas where there are children and older residents just makes sense in terms of safety and reducing the risk of serious accidents.
What do you hope to achieve and how in the next 4 years?
I would like to work with the local community in order to address the mental health issues affecting the people and the work we want to do in terms of fostering communities around the community hub and continue to work towards the road safety.
What experience and personal qualities will you bring to the role?
As an NHS doctor I have to continually deal with situations requiring leadership, tolerance, making quick and correct decisions and being a caring and compassionate person. I'll bring all these personal qualities in my role if elected as a councillor.
Why should Wilmslow East ward residents vote for you?
I always have the best interest of the local community and will represent them to the best of my ability in the council.
Although my NHS job is quite demanding, I still wish to be able to work for my local community and people for the betterment of their lives and will strongly represent them and their issues in the council.
I am conscious that previously surgery commitments meant I wasn't able to attend meetings for a period of time and whilst I knew it would change, it wasn't as quickly as I was expected. That has now changed and I am able to attend and will be supporting residents as I have always done.
*current councillor.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
He mentions four times in his statement above that he works for the NHS and effectively was too busy to attend Council meetings; I'm sure we can all have some sympathy with that, the NHS has been massively under-funded by consecutive Conservative governments over many years and was really struggling during the Covid pandemic in 2020.
What he did not mention is that (according to Google) he also works, as a Dental surgeon, at two private hospitals; the Alexandra Hospital in Cheadle and the Highfield Hospital in Rochdale, he is also the sole Director of a private medical company; no doubt these activities call upon much of his time.
I'm not convinced, given his undoubtably heavy workload(s), that he will be able to give up the required time to the job that being an effective Councillor requires.
I have written to him in the past concerning local issues - road safety, about which he claims above to have a great interest - but NEVER had a reply.
So I don't see this person as suitable for representing the community in which he resides.
I agree with all of Pete Taylor's comments above.
I can only think it possible WTC might have wanted some sort of 'respectability' or 'credibility' by having a medical doctor amongst their brigade of representatives or it might look good on his CV?