Another member of the Conservative Team with local family connections dating back generations. Iain lived in Tatworth, just over the border in Somerset until 1968 when his family moved to Axminster and he and his wife Eve have continued to live here and bring up their own family.
Iain has an understanding of the unique rural nature of the Whimple and Blackdown Division – a division that is all villages and no towns and says “that while we are fortunate in living in beautiful rural areas, it is often overlooked when it comes to funding and services filtering down to us”. Iain has a drive to support the area and the social issues that exist where social exclusion and loneliness are very real problems.
Iain is passionate about the area he covers as a County Councillor. Particularly its rural character and has been pleased to fund two tree planting schemes: In Dunkeswell funding towards the cost of installing a hedge to form boundary fencing on a newly acquired site to be used for the provision of a football pitch and an Air Ambulance Night Landing site. Funding at Whimple Primary School as part of a wider scheme to create outdoor learning and recreation facilities for the school children. Iain’s funding helped with the cost of new orchard trees and management of the existing orchard. “Projects similar to this are not only important to the communities but also the wider ecological benefits to the natural life prevalent in our rural villages” reports Iain.
“The lack of decent broadband disadvantages many of my constituents which is why I am supporting Neil Parish MP in his call for Connecting Devon & Somerset (CDS) to be brought to account for their abysmal lack of progress in bringing rural communities into the 21st Century” says Iain.
Rural Crime – Crime is crime and it doesn’t matter if it is in a remote village or a large town someone somewhere loses out to criminals. “At a recent meeting with Alison Hernandez, Devon & Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner I was pleased to hear that we will start to see a greater presence of police officers as the recruitment of extra police starts to take effect”.
Of particular concern to the communities are potholes Iain pledges that, if re-elected, he will press Highways Department to make sure the Division received its fair share of investment in improving our roads.
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