Thanks to the generosity and perspicacity of the voters in Storrington and Washington, the Green Party has three councillors on Horsham District Council. (The official result is here.)
Thus the Green group now has 6.25% of the political balance: a significant improvement on 4.2%! More to the point, we have gained a 3rd independent green mind to help us get the message across that we are running out of time and should be focussed on reducing energy use, not building more roads, expanding airports or subsidising fossil fuel extraction.
In addition, I'm sure that Joan will bring some fresh thinking to the council and use her experience as a Storrington resident to improve planning policy and decisions. A brief bio:
Before retiring I worked for 27 years as a civil servant in various areas of Information Technology including programming, systems analysis and design, project management and information assurance, including as Head of Information Assurance (IA) in the Ministry of Justice. After leaving the civil service I worked for 5 years for Hewlett Packard as IA consultant within their services operation providing IT systems to government. My professional background has therefore given me a wide breadth of experience and skills in areas such as management, planning, collaboration and problem solving.
I have lived in Storrington for nearly 14 years and I am a member of both the Sandgate and Storrington Conservation societies.
I have been on the trustee committee of Sandgate Conservation Society, as the Secretary, since 2016 and I have been involved in reviewing a number of planning applications and local development plans, and drafting and submitting responses, on behalf of the Society. These have included complex development plans and planning applications such as the local Neighbourhood Plan, the Joint Minerals Plan Soft Sands Review, and planning applications relating to all three local quarries - Sandgate Park Quarry, Washington Pit and Rock Common Quarry.
As a member of both of the conservation societies I am out helping to take care of Sullington Warren, Sandgate Park and various other locations in the area on most Saturday mornings. I love that I am helping to maintain and improve these sites for people and nature. I enjoy the teamwork and the sense of achievement from getting the job done.
Further Green Party gains were achieved on 5 May, with the number of GP councillors roughly doubling. Included in this was the election of Julian Shinn to St Nicolas ward in Adur - which now has both seats held by Greens :)
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