A letter to my electorate.

Dear Elector,

Since you elected me four years ago to represent Dunchurch and Knightlow, I have done my very best to deserve the trust you placed in me, by working hard and reporting back to you regularly with newsletters. I have very much enjoyed doing battle on your behalf, whether in minor skirmishes: like fighting to retain post offices in Dunchurch and Stretton; pushing to have brownfield sites built on before Greenfield ones; developing an award scheme to honour the unsung heroes of our villages; or major campaigns like fighting to save services at St. Cross Hospital or the battle to stop a national change in the planning meaning a presumption in favour of development

None of these issues have been even remotely party political. In fact, as most of you know, party is an irrelevance in Local Government. You elect someone who takes the job seriously and can do it effectively and I can fairly claim to have dealt promptly and positively with every general and individual case brought to me. So I hope to have repaid the trust that many of you placed in me.

Being a Borough Councillor is not about waving a party flag. It carries serious responsibilities and requires sustained hard work, because the quality of the lives we lead in our beautiful villages depends on pro-active, determined representation. In addition, being your voice is impossible in practice, unless I tell you what I am doing and give you means to contact me. For that reason I  personally deliver every newsletter to over 2,500 homes in 8 villages.

Please note that there are three seats up for grabs in this election. You can exercise party preference whilst also electing an effective Independent Councillor who will ensure rural power and influence remains within the community.

Naturally, I should be very honoured and delighted if you chose to re-elect me, because I very much enjoy the job, but my chances are 50-50 and so it really boils down to a case of “Choose me or lose me” and on May 3rd that choice is yours.

Yours sincerely,

Howard Roberts

The election campaign so far...

It's been a hectic few weeks as I have written and produced my literature, delivered leaflets, knocked on doors and dealt with the inevitable casework that comes from a campaign.

The response has been very positive. Voters in this ward know me; again and again I have been told, "you're the only one who does anything around here" which is always great to hear.

The fact I am an Independent candidate has also gone down very well. There is an appetite for non-party representation in order to give the rural areas a strong voice at the Town Hall.

Whether I am successful on May 3rd depends on transferring the positive noises I am hearing into real votes. It's always difficult to guess an outcome at this stage, but I'll keep working hard and see what happens.

A CONTRACT WITH MY ELECTORATE

Trust in politics is often described as being at an all time low. In order to try and combat this "trust deficit" I am offering the people of Dunsmore a contract as a basis for my re-election. This contract sets out six promises that I will keep if the voters stand by me on May 3rd. If I do not keep to my promises then I invite the electorate to pass judgement at the next election.