Helen Galley has been selected by Party members to be the Conservative candidate in the forthcoming Wealden District Council by-election in Maresfield Ward which also covers Duddleswell, Fairwarp, Herons Ghyll and Nutley.
Deputy Chairman, Membership of the Wealden Association and Chairman of the Association's Ashdown Forest Branch - Helen joined the Conservative party as a Young Conservative in Sheffield in 1974 and has campaigned at every general election since.
Helen and her husband, Roy Galley, a former Member of Parliament for Halifax and currently a District and County Councillor as well as Chairman of the Fire Authority, have lived in Nutley for over 27 years.
MARESFIELD BY-ELECTION - 22nd September
Already campaigning hard, Helen says: "I see it as my duty to ensure that future generations are able to enjoy living in such a lovely, and essentially rural area, as we do. That means further development must be limited.
"Nutley, Fairwarp, Cackle Street and Duddleswell are largely protected from development by their proximity to the Ashdown Forest. This has led to Maresfield receiving more than its fair share of development. If elected, I will fight to ensure that apart from those developments for which planning permission has already been granted there is no further development of any size in Maresfield.
"None of us want to see Maresfield joined up to Uckfield by streets of new build houses, or Uckfield joined up in the same way down to Halland. We do not have the infrastructure to cope with further development, and we do not want to change the character of our area.
Green Party myths
Contrary to what you are told by the Green Party members and others, the Conservative Group at Wealden District Council are not seeking to produce a local plan which will see 1,200 house per year built in Wealden.
That number is far too high.
The leadership of Wealden District Council is fighting to ensure that the target numbers are reduced substantially to take account of the amount of our area which is made up of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Areas of Special Scientific Interest. The Conservative council’s view is that all permissions granted should count towards the required five-year land supply, which is not the case at present. This would stop man speculative applications.
Fighting for you
If elected, I will fight as hard as I can to see that the reduction is achieved and, to be frank, as a member of the Conservative majority running Wealden District Council,
I have a much better chance of succeeding than any member of the Green Party.
The Green Party should not be confused with an environmental lobby. It is actually a far-left party which advocates withdrawal from NATO. Even on the environment its talk is not matched by its achievement. You only have to look at the environmental and planning problems in Brighton and in Lewes, where the Greens are in effective control. In Wealden, however, real environmentally-friendly policies are being put into effect with, for example, the rollout of electric car-charging points.
Services have to be paid for but your money should not be wasted. If elected, I will work hard to ensure you continue to get value for your council tax and that services are efficiently and fairly run. Only a Conservative council will keep you council tax as low as possible.
I know that traffic and traffic noise is also a major issue, as is road safety. Clearly we have schools in our villages in positions where, if we were building them today, we would not build them. We need to do what we can to ensure that our children can get to and from school safely at all times of year.
I am knocking on doors to hear what residents think, and discuss issues with you, but you can always contact me with your views. I will always listen and do what I can to help. Email: helen@wcca.uk
