Welcome to my new Blog!

Welcome to my new Blog! Here I hope to keep you up to date on my activities as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for the St. Ives Constituency.

First, let me introduce myself!
I am local, I live in St Buryan in West Penwith. Before this my home was in Newlyn, Penzance.
My family home was on the outskirts of Helston in the heart of the South Kerrier area of this Constituency.
Having lived in this constituency all this time I know it well and have a good grasp of the issues that face us here in West Cornwall.
My work and voluntary activities have included leading children and youth projects in Porthleven, Helston and Penzance.
In the late 1990s I pioneered a programme for families on Treneere Estate, one of the most deprived rural areas in the UK.

I served as Chairman of Choughs Training Project for adults with severe learning disabilities, and I secured their existing premises within the Wharfside Shopping Centre. I am still working closely with the developers, Charville Estates and negotiated the use of another community space for Light & Life who now run the “Go Penzance” Motorbility Scheme.
I now work in Helston as a Development Manager for Mustard Seed, a busy charitable trust providing a range of community services enabling vulnerable people to increase their independence. Recent new developments include a Community cafe in Porthleven within the St Elvan’s Children’s Centre, a Supported Living Service for people with learning disabilities, a fairtrade shop and a fresh vegetables stall at St Keverne Producers Market stocking locally grown produce. In the new year (2009) we will be opening a third Community Cafe. This will be situated in the Children's Centre on the Nansloe Estate in Helston.

I am very active in my local community. The work my team and I have pioneered has featured regularly in the press in South Kerrier and has won Government recognition for the work we do with young people. The Supported Housing Service stated by Mustard Seed in the Spring of 2008 has recently been featured in a Cabinet Report as a model of best practise. I received recognition by Friends of the Earth for setting up a delivery service providing residents with boxed local fruit and vegetables.

I am a member of South Kerrier Alliance (a working group improving community well-being).

As a Penwith District Councillor for Penzance Central Ward I have worked hard to retain the role and responsibility local councillors currently have for local public services in terms of how they are prioritised and how they are delivered. I am chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at Penwith District Council.

I am a member of West Cornwall Healthwatch and have kept active and informed regarding the great challenges facing the delivery of health and social care in the west of our county.
In Penzance I lead a team of residents and business leaders in the bid to become a Fairtrade town.

I am committed to enabling people to have lives full of opportunity and purpose, I enjoy listening to people and bringing about solutions to their difficulties.

I will continue with passion, conviction and enthusiasm the fight to ensure our public services are delivered locally, are cost effective and serve all people in this constituency.

Furthering the Conservative cause is increasingly important to me as the core values of Conservatism sit most comfortably with my personal faith. Many new ideas and new values have been adopted by this nation in recent decades and I believe when traditional values are discarded, our communities decline. The Conservative Party's direction of travel and our core values provide a basis for leading the nation towards stronger, healthier, more caring communities.

I believe that Liberal Democrat County Councillors and Members of Parliament in Cornwall are causing untold damage to our County, and our key public services are at risk of failing. Our District Councils are soon to be abolished, fire stations downgraded, police personnel reduced, adult social care removed, council tax increased and other services compromised.

I believe that the County Council’s shift in the provision of Adult Social Care is causing considerable hardship for many vulnerable people who are not able to wholly participate in our electoral process. To me this is the worst kind of cut, a cut on the those without a voice. Elderly people and people with severe learning disabilities face greater social exclusion and their needs are likely to go unnoticed.

The way in which we care for our elderly reflects on the kind of society we are. If these funding cuts continue Cornwall will be a poorer county in term of social well-being. There is an expectation that the Voluntary Sector will ‘fill the gap’ but this sector is already stretched and under-resourced.

I believe that in key areas Andrew George has failed to represent the people of the St Ives Constituency. He wants Cornwall to be governed centrally and the UK governed by Europe. My approach in the St Ives Constituency is to defend first the interests of this Constituency, secondly, those of Cornwall and thirdly, the interests of the UK. People in our Constituency deserve leaders that offer constructive solutions to local, national and global challenges.

I believe that all people must be enabled to reach their full potential, tax payers' money must be spent wisely, people should be allowed greater ownership of their community, corporate responsibility must be taken regarding the environment and fairer trading locally and globally must be achieved.

I believe this nation needs fresh leaders who are able to demonstrate how we can improve the quality of life for all people simply by maintaining healthy and stable communities that are prosperous at home and generous towards the world's poorest communities.

I will continue to work hard as candidate for the St. Ives Constituency. I will work hard to defend our towns, our rural communities and our County. You can be sure that if elected to Parliament I will be a strong and persistent voice at Westminster for West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.