Jim Healey is a resident of Cross Houses. This village sits in the Severn Valley Ward – the ward he is looking to represent. He is a Chartered Civil Engineer and has spent the last 8 years working as a Civil Servant for the Welsh Government so he knows a bit about Government and he knows a bit about construction as well.
“Over the last couple of years I have seen the increase in the size of my village which has sparked two key issues and got me into all of this.
“Firstly, being both a builder and an administrator I am well aware of the monies that would be forthcoming from new housing developments. When Cross Houses was told it had to have a new 80 house development a few years ago I got involved in seeing how monies from this development could be used to help my village. Many people in Cross Houses are keen to see the development of a cycle track from the village into Shrewsbury. This eco-friendly idea works on loads of levels. So on inception of the plan to build the houses I promoted the idea of using the tax money that would come from this development to help fund the construction of this new piece of infrastructure. This proposal was consistently opposed by both the current Conservative County Councillor and subsequently the local Parish Council whose Chairperson as it turned out was and still is our current County Councillor. Why would this proposal be such a bad idea? Because our County Councillor wants to make sure that the £1m+ tax that the Council are taking from this development goes directly to the Shirehall and bypasses the local community for which these monies are supposed to be helping. This is local politics at its worst because local residents haven’t had any say in this huge issue. Should I be elected I will look to deliver local democracy to the Severn Valley and get people talking about what can be done to make their lives better not just for the present but well into the future.
“Secondly, as my interest has developed and expanded to cover all villages in the Severn Valley I have seen how the Shropshire Councils current proposed Local Plan is being used by Shropshire Council to indiscriminately allocate housing in an inappropriate way across the whole of the County – not just in Cross Houses. The Councils single aim seemingly being to raise tax. We shouldn’t be building houses in Shropshire for this reason and as such I want to make sure that the Local Plan that is currently under consultation is sent back to drawing board so that it can be developed in such a way that benefits everyone in Shropshire.
“To do this and lots more I need to get elected to Shropshire Council. Why? – so that we get rid of one more Tory vote on Shropshire Council and instead replace it with a vote for long term green policy issues that benefit not only local residents but help really fight the climate emergency that Shropshire Council currently sign up to but only pay lip service to.
“So help me and my colleagues take Shropshire to a place where everyone can grow – not just the lucky few that currently seem to benefit from this current administration’s existing policies.”
Email: jim.healey@shrewsburylabour.org.uk
Phone: 07720 462279