On May 6 voters will choose their preferred candidates for Stroud District Council, Gloucestershire County Council, the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and parish councils (if contested). We asked each party fielding multiple candidates to write why residents should vote for them.

My criticism of the current Labour led Green and Liberal Democrat Coalition is not about what they have done but what they haven’t.

Despite boasting they are a Carbon Neutral Council, they conveniently forget to mention that this didn’t include their own housing stock. It is over 2 years since we all declared a Climate Emergency and yet there is no plan for addressing the Carbon impact of the 5,000 homes owned by the Council. The plan is not due until September and there is no budget identified to support this.

On Climate change we will tackle the issue of retro fitting the District Council housing stock. This is not easy and will be expensive. It will involve but if you believe that this is a Climate Emergency these decisions need to be taken, we will take them.

We will also introduce Electric Charging capabilities in all District Council Car Parks and look at how we can provide charging points in our own housing estates.

Next is the lack of action on affordable housing. Frequently they have issued press releases stating what they are going to do, but in the last 3 years they have only built 24 homes. They have underspent on their budget by £10m. Claims to have enabled 198 new homes, meant they gave them planning permission.

We will have a multi-faceted approach. We will work to find sites to build more homes, we will appoint a person within the Council to help Community Land Trusts to promote local homes for local needs and work with developers to ensure we get the right mix of houses in the existing housing developments.

On supporting local business, it is clear that the Covid Pandemic has had a devastating impact on some businesses, particularly the High Street which is why we will introduce 3 hours free parking to Stroud and protect free parking in all our Market Towns.

So what have the Labour led coalition been doing, they have passed motions advocating votes for 16 years olds, proportional representation and the introduction of Universal Income. Whatever you think of these ideas they are not the business of a District Council.

The Conservatives have put up Candidates in every seat as it is important that those who want to vote for us can. It is a shame that in some areas there is not the choice of all the major parties.