8 April 2005
Labour announces county council candidates
The local Labour Party have announced their county council candidates. They are:
Judy Dixon
Judy Dixon has served on Pickering Town Council for 10 years. As an active councillor she was involved in producing a Town Guide book and map leaflet. Presently she is involved the North Ryedale Public Transport Project working to improve public transport in the area and working on the Renaissance Market Towns Initiative.
She is concerned that families get support from the community in bringing up their children. This could be after school clubs, play areas or good housing and schools. Reliable public transport would enable everyone to access skills training, leisure activities, health, jobs and other services.
If elected to represent Kirkbymoorside and the Dales, Judy will work to ensure that:
· the area benefits from Labour Government policies,
· improvements to public transport get priority
· more training and skilled jobs are brought into the area.
Jill Murkett
Jill Murkett has lived in Pickering for 17 years and has been a Pickering Town Councillor for 4. She is married with two children. She believes that being involved in community life is important and over the last 10 years has been involved with a number of local groups. She has been a governor at Lady Lumley’s, is a trustee of the Memorial Hall, and presently is a member of the Pickering 2020 team.
If elected to represent Pickering and the Dales, Jill will work to ensure that:
· the area benefits from Labour Government policies
· more affordable housing comes to the area,
· the environment and public transport are improved
· traffic issues are dealt with.
Karl Milner
Yorkshire born Karl Milner lives in the Wolds with his wife and two young children. He works in London, Leeds and Ryedale. He is involved in the parish council in his village and appreciates that small changes can make a difference in village life. He is keen that there should be more activities for young people. He is proud that under a Labour government spending on important services like education, police and health has increased and that these local services have consequently improved.
If elected to Norton and the Wolds his priorities would be:
· high visibility policing,
· school buses to take children where they need to go safely,
· affordable houses for local first time buyers
· to get to grips with the local traffic problems.
Linda Brittain
Linda Brittain has lived in Thornton Dale for 19 years. Her daughter attends Lady Lumley’s School in Pickering, where Linda also serves as school governor. Originally from Northumberland, Linda moved to London where she worked for a housing Association providing accommodation for the homeless. Since moving to the area she worked for 11 years as the manager of an advice agency in Scarborough and for the past 7 years as the constituency office manager/researcher for the Labour MP for Scarborough and Whitby. Linda also served for three years as a board member of Ryedale Housing Association at the time of the transfer of all council housing from Ryedale District Council.
If elected to represent Thornton Dale and the Wolds, Linda will work to ensure the area benefits from Labour Government policies, designed to improve the quality of life and economic growth in rural areas.
David Fearnhead
David is a retired schoolteacher and his wife a retired head teacher. They have two children and three grand children. He is a life long Labour supporter and socialist. He believes that all public services should be nationally or community owned. He is concerned about the lack of affordable housing in the area – the rise in house prices only benefits the well to do. He also concerned that public transport should be better run so more people can access services locally.
If elected to Hovingham and Sheriff Hutton, David would work to ensure that:
· the concerns of villages were raised on the County Council
· Labour governments rural policies benefit Ryedale
Betty Carrington
Elizabeth (known as Betty) Carrington, 65, of Airy Hill, Filey is standing for Filey Ward in the forthcoming North Yorkshire County Council elections. She is married with four grown-up children and a sixth grandchild is expected soon. Born in Scotland, she has lived most of her life in North Yorkshire, in Harrogate and Scarborough. For the last four years she has lived in Filey.
“I love living in Filey,” Elizabeth says, “and I will do anything I can to serve the community which has made me feel so welcome. If elected in Filey Ward, I will campaign to bring more skilled jobs to the area.”
Her hobbies are gardening, reading, playing bridge, and listening to light classical & organ music.
About the local campaign
Ryedale is one of the largest local authority areas with a very small population and is classed as remote rural. Transport is a big issue and imaginative ways of solving this must found to enable village people to access services. Traffic on the A64 is increasing and so it is time that the A64 upgrade was begun.
Policing too needs to be flexible to combat rural farm and machinery theft and antisocial behaviour in the market towns. Police numbers are now up to record levels with over 200 more police on the beat backed up by 500 new community police officers (North Yorkshire) to tackle low level crime and anti social behaviour. Ryedale is now one of the low crime areas in England.
Ryedale people rely on many voluntary services to support them – from community transport, support advice groups; to leisure activities which important for both old and young. The local authorities must ensure that these groups are supported and funded to continue their important role in keeping people active and healthy.
Education funding has increased by a third in North Yorkshire under a Labour government from £2,710 to £3,600 per pupil, but the Tory County Council and often has to be shamed by parents into running school transport.
