As well as helping local people, Councillors also have to run the Council and make sure that services are the right ones for local people, which means a lot of meetings to discuss what we are doing and what we could do differently.  The sort of things we look at are ways of delivering the waste collection, how to improve the planning service, how to provide services at a lower cost.

Some of the issues in my ward are about planning applications and sometimes I help mediate over problems between people.  At the Council I attend meetings of Cabinet and also the Scrutiny committees to see what the Council is planning to do.

I usually spend quite a lot of time on the computer, either reading papers for meetings or reading up on issues and trying to find out how other Councils deal with them.  I also have to feed and walk the dogs and feed the sheep, chickens and cats.  If someone wants to talk to me about a problem, I’ll visit them to discuss what can be done.

Most days there are meetings at Coleford, sometimes at Shire Hall in Gloucester, and I also go to the Parish Council meetings so there is usually a bit of travelling and quite a lot of paperwork.

As well as all that, I have two small grandchildren and like to spend time with them.

I’d really like young people to be more involved in Local Government and to understand how it operates (yawn!) because we all have to live with it and it effects all our lives – from tax paying to schooling to Leisure services and young people’s housing.

If young people could be more involved in decision making we might make better decisions for the future – their future.  It would be great if anyone interested could attend Cabinet and/or Scrutiny meetings and see how we decide things.  Maybe even set up a young person’s Shadow Cabinet.  Or have people shadowing some of the Councillor positions, if that’s something they’d find interesting.

Where there are important decisions to make for the District, I would like to see young people given a voice and telling us their opinion.  For example, what do you think about recycling?  About transport?  About out of school activities (are there any?).  What would you like to see changed?  How can we help to improve on what there is now.  Do you think we can work together?