THREE Stroud District Council hopefuls will go head-to-head to win the sole seat available in a slightly larger Kingswood ward.

Regardless of who wins, the ward will be represented by a new face with current Liberal Democrat councillor Paul Hemming not standing for election.

In his stead, the party will be hoping Oliver Mountjoy can assume the position and keep hold of the 182-vote majority won by Mr Hemming in 2012.

He will be up against the Conservative Party’s Richard Reeves and Alan Sage of the Green Party.

Ward boundaries have impacted the Kingswood ward with a section of what was the south west of the Wotton-under-Edge ward being merged into the northern boundary of Kingswood.

Gazette Series:

Oliver Mountjoy - Liberal Democrat

  • I believe a district councillor needs to be proactive in recognising and responding to potential issues in their community,
  •  be an accessible point of contact for residents who wish to discuss matters of importance to them.
  •  A councillor’s work needs to be visible in their local community, not just in the council office.

Gazette Series:

Mark Reeves - Conservative

I have lived in Kingswood with my wife and two children for the last 14 years while working as an aerospace engineer in Bristol.

My children attend the local secondary school and I think it important to support and improve the local community which is our home.

My particular interest is to encourage jobs and facilities in our community without compromising our rural environment.

To achieve this we need safe, well maintained roads and footpaths, fast broadband for business and home working plus a balanced, careful approach to development.

Building homes is necessary for local people however Kingswood has received more than its fair share of development in the last few years.

Building more houses should not be at the expense of the quality of village life that we all appreciate.

I get out and about in the area as often as possible and am keen to understand your concerns and represent them to Stroud District Council or indeed communicate and champion them to other levels of government.

Gazette Series:

Alan Sage - Green Party

Alan works for a major local engineering company as a scientific software engineer, having moved to the region two years ago.

He is a strong believer in the Green Party’s development policy of prioritising brown-field sites before building on green-fields and would be eager to encourage all development to be as environmentally friendly as possible, both in how and where new buildings are constructed.

He said: "Before joining the Green Party, I always had a strong interest in the environment and social matters, and have been consistently impressed by the real difference which our existing district councillors have made: helping to make Stroud District Council the first carbon neutral council in Europe, increasing recycling rates and protecting our green spaces.

"If elected, I would continue their good work, trying to shield core services from cuts to the district council budget and keeping our public services and spaces public."