Watch Fair Oak & Horton Heath Ward candidates video

[1s] Who are you and why are standing in selection?

[14s] Hi, I'm Ben, Fair Oak resident community activist and charity fundraiser.

[32s] And I'm standing in this election to make sure that our community has a better, brighter and more sustainable future.

[40s] When I take my one year old niece out locally, I often wonder whether she'll be able to grow up in the same wonderful community that I live in now.

[48s] I am standing to ensure she and a whole generation of children like her can do exactly that.

[54s] Hi, i'm Ben Parry.

[56s] i've lived in Fairrock with my family for the last 15 years.

[59s] I was a teacher in local schools and sixth form colleges for 17 years, and now I'm a director of an easily based traffic data company.

[68s] I am standing in this election, as I have done in previous elections, because it's time for a change.

[73s] At present, a large demographic of voters do not feel that they have a voice at local level.

[79s] This was evident in a turnout of just 31% at the last election.

[84s] The war is disenfranchised and disengaged at a time when we should be galvanised as a community to come together to face the challenges ahead.

[92s] Our local council has the same faces from the party providing us with the narrative year after year.

[98s] We need a green in the room.

[108s] Is the council's £600 million of debt a good or a bad thing?

[115s] Of course this is a Bad Thing!

[116s] No resident of Fair Oak asked for this debt.

[119s] No Councillor campaigned on the promise to invest £ 600 million pounds of our money into risky investments.

[126s] The fact the council have done so shows just how out of touch they really are.

[130s] Even a tiny fraction of this money could have solved so many of the problems that the people of Fair Oak really care about.

[136s] Antisocial behaviour, potholes and bin collections.

[140s] If something isn't done, it will be the People of fair Oak that pay for the reckless gambling of council with their council tax.

[148s] The honest answer is that debt is a very real part of all our lives.

[152s] Government borrows, we all borrow.

[154s] If we are lucky enough to be able to buy a house, we have saddled with debt for 25 to 30 years.

[159s] So debt in itself isn't an issue when carefully managed and there's a clear pathway out of it.

[164s] The issue occurs, of course, when that debt becomes unserviceable.

[168s] And whilst I understand why the council may have accrued debt to the level that it has, I have huge concerns that there is no plan to reduce the debt outside

[177s] of selling off our green spaces to developers.

[179s] Is it a good thing or a bad thing Time will tell, but my great fear is the bad thing is solution to the debt.

[188s] How are you going to help make Fair Oak a better place to live?

[194s] I promise to work with Councillor Stephen Broomfield, who we all know is a great community activist, to deliver on the things that matter for the people

[201s] of Fair oak.

[202s] Protecting our green spaces, sustainable development and improving our roads by being visible and accessible.

[209s] reactive to constituents' daily needs, be they to do with concerns around rubbish collection, street hygiene, antisocial behaviour,

[218s] or health and safety around the ward, proactive in terms of protection and promotion of our valuable green spaces, providing assistance and advice to businesses

[226s] as they move toward carbon zero, to look close at ways that we can alleviate traffic on our roads, and to do all I can to influence the direction of the

[235s] One Horton Heath project for the better in terms of infrastructure, provision and environmental impact.

[240s] Why is getting a doctor's appointment so difficult?

[245s] Development without the necessary infrastructure.

[247s] Time and time again the local council have built houses far in excess of national targets with no thought to the necessary infrastructure and this is why

[255s] the good people of Faro cannot get the GP appointments they need.

[258s] The number of factors at play and ultimately all fall at the government's door.

[263s] Doctors pay has dropped year on year real terms and they're leaving the profession in droves.

[268s] Freedom of movement has ended because of Brexit and so we can't attract and retain doctors as we used to from abroad.

[275s] We're living longer and yet the funding isn't being matched by the government to meet those requirements.

[280s] So, Stokewood surgery is just a microcosm of the situation.

[285s] It's underfunded and understaffed to serve its populace.

[289s] We were promised a new doctor surgery for the One Horton Heath project.

[293s] That promise has been broken, and now the proposal is a small extension to Stoke wood surgery.

[298s] To serve thousands and thousands of new villagers.

[302s] So the reality is that as long as this government is in charge at national level, we at local level will continue to struggle.

[311s] Anything you'd like to say?

[313s] My life so far has been about doing the impossible.

[316s] Nine surgeries and a trail of confounded doctors later, I now spend my life helping people.

[322s] Be that teaching teenagers short on confidence but big on dreams, or mentoring young disabled people who like me don't know the meaning of the word can't,

[332s] Or cycling huge distances for charity that medical science says should be impossible for me.

[337s] This wide range of experiences has given me the skills and the attitude to make change happen.

[343s] Kant has never beaten me yet, and it won't if you elect me to be your representative for Fair Oak and Horton Heath.

[350s] No doubt you'll hear and read from other candidates and parties that nobody else can win here, but I'm delighted to say that isn't the case.

[357s] In the last two years, the Green Party has gained more local seats than any other party.

[363s] People up and down the UK are quickly realising that a green in the room makes a huge difference and that the Green Party is delivering for them in a way

[370s] that other parties haven't in past.

[373s] So let's put a Green in room in Eastley and let start making a difference both for Farooke and Haughton Heath and at Eastly Borough level.