I have lived in Bath with my husband since 2017. Originally from Harrogate in North Yorkshire, as the wife of an RAF Officer I have lived in many parts of the country and abroad. However, it was a long-held ambition to settle in the World Heritage city of Bath.
I studied French at the University of Durham and then later, as a mother with a young daughter, obtained an MA in Town Planning, before becoming a Conservation Officer for Cambridge City Council. A hidden life-affecting disability from which I developed complications made it difficult for me to continue in this role but I have learnt to live with my condition. As a result, I am very keen that people feel disability should not prevent them from being as fully engaged in their community as they wish.
I have volunteered as a Steward at Bath Abbey and is also involved in the organisation Bathscape, as a conservation volunteer, helping ensure Bath and its landscape setting are more recognised, better managed and actively enjoyed by all. Since May 2021, I have been leading weekly Wellbeing Walks in conjunction with BathMind, encouraging people to feel better connected to their local landscape whilst engaging in social interaction and improving mental wellbeing and health.
My priorities if chosen by you to be a Councillor:
Making Bath more accessible and welcoming to residents and visitors, especially those with disabilities, the elderly, and young mothers.
Protecting and enhancing our public green spaces.
Investing in and encouraging environmentally-sustainable public transport.
Entry Hill Golf Course
Do you want the former golf course on Entry Hill to remain a wonderful green space, accessible to all? I do. Sadly, this area will soon be criss-crossed by mountain bike trails if the Council goes ahead with plans to turn it into a commercial cycle park. Thousands of square feet will be turned into bare earth, concreted over, or covered with aggregate. The developers claim such changes will have no detrimental impact on biodiversity; this seems highly unlikely with so much proposed construction.
The Council are also ignoring the inevitable increase in traffic along a narrow residential road which is already congested; it would have to be used by hundreds of extra cars if the cycle park is ever to become a paying proposition.
And what of Bath’s status as a World Heritage city? Plans for the cycle park include adding bright yellow shipping containers to house a cafe and other facilities. These will be clearly visible from across the river, as will the network of bike trails, literally riding roughshod over Bath’s green setting. A clear majority of local residents oppose the scheme and I want the Council to listen to their concerns.
Local Bus Services
Several bus routes to Widcombe & Lyncombe are under threat as a result of a service review to be held in October 2022. This was mentioned in the BANES Council meeting on Thursday 21st July. Many residents rely on these services and if we are to reduce car journeys, more needs to be done to make public transport a viable alternative. E-scooters are not the answer for most journeys.
The Lib Dem-run Council is once again ignoring the needs of the community they are supposed to represent. We need more imagination and properly targeted investment.