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| Jonathan Edmunds photo copyright Gary Learmonth |
When
I moved
to Stroud 12 years ago, I was drawn by the beauty of the area,
but also the
sense of community and the inspiring, imaginative and creative
people that
lived here. I fell in love with the area and I finally found
home. As time has
moved on and my family and I have become established in the area
this love has
been heightened!
This is a community worth fighting for! I
am
passionate about improving people’s lives, protecting our
natural environment
and local services and giving people the tools to be the best
citizens they can
be. My day job as a sports development officer involves
developing sustainable
pathways to get people active. We use sport and physical
activity as a vehicle
to tackle wider social issues such as obesity, mental health
rehabilitation,
crime prevention, protecting the environment, integration of
local communities,
building self esteem in vulnerable communities and nurturing
the character and skills that will help young people to get on
and succeed in
life. Community is about people and I like to look for the
potential in people.
As
candidate
for Randwick, Whiteshill and Ruscombe, I will do everything I
can to build on
the great work conducted by Philip and other councillors. I will
listen and
engage with local people, community groups and the party to
formalise an agenda
of work, but am particularly keen to:
1) Continue defending
green field sites
like the Ruscombe Valleys from unwanted development and helping
to enforce the
Local Plan which the party has been instrumental in shaping.
2) Work to change the
culture of driving,
supporting the 20 mph limit in the ward to encourage more
walkers and cyclists.
3) Work with other
partners to find a
solution for the use of St Pauls Church in Whiteshill.
4) Encourage children and
adults to be
more connected to nature.
5) Continue the fight to
end fuel
poverty by building on Green gains to obtain funding for energy
efficiency and
encouraging use of renewable energy technologies e.g promoting
Stroud Target
2050 Loan Scheme
6) Encourage more people
to recycle/food
waste. Look at ways to encourage the 1/5 of the Stroud
population who don’t
recycle
7) Encourage employers to
pay a living
wage. I know too many people working 2 or3 jobs to get by.
Work-Life Balance is
important.
8) Follow Caroline Lucas
lead in an
attempt to adopt a more
compassionate
drugs policy.
9) Help protect local
Services such as
pubs/village shops
10) Promote local food
production and
community orchards.
I
feel there
has never been a better time to be part of the Green Party
Movement, whether it
is protecting the environment from climate change or fighting
other increasing
social injustices being inflicted from central government.
After
all :
“Fair is worth fighting for!”
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