Long-Standing Councillor Stands Down - Julia Hirons Selected To Defend Seat (Saffron Walden Constituency Liberal Democrats)

Saffron Walden Constituency Liberal Democrats <info@saffronwaldenlibdems.org.uk>

Long-Standing Councillor Stands Down - Julia Hirons Selected To Defend Seat

April 27, 2008 9:45 AM

Julia Hirons has been chosen to contest the Dunmow North by-election in June.

Mark Gayler, longstanding District and Town Councillor for Dunmow North, stood down following the Full Council meeting on 23rd April. Mark is leaving the area, after 17 years on Uttlesford District Council, to move to Exmouth where his fiancé lives, and where he is to get married in September. He has secured a new job with Devon County Council.

Mark Gayler told his fellow councillors: "It has been a huge honour to have been elected on five successive occasions to represent the community in which I have lived all my life. I have also been honoured to lead this council at a time when we invested in the standard of our council housing, when we won awards for our environmental initiatives, when we brought in area panels to give local communities more say in what the council does, when we more than doubled the rate of recycling, and when we refused Stansted Airport permission to expand beyond 25 million passengers on the evidence placed before us. I have made mistakes, and not everything has gone the way I would have wanted it to, but I hope that people will recognise that I have always tried hard to work for my local community, and have been ambitious for the council to provide high quality local services for the people of Uttlesford. Moving away from the area, and stepping down from my role as a councillor, will be very difficult, but the time has come to move on to the next phase of my life. I have many happy memories of my time as a councillor and send best wishes to my many friends in Dunmow and around the district."

There will be a by election to elect a new councillor for Dunmow North at the beginning of June.

Dunmow Liberal Democrats have unanimously chosen Julia Hirons, 46, to stand in the forthcoming by-election. Julia lives in Dunmow, and was a member of Great Dunmow Town Council from 1999 - 2003. She was also a Director of Uttlesford Citizens Advice Bureau 1999 - 2003. She has a 25-year background in HR and Training both in the public and the private sectors, and has a particular interest in further education. She currently runs a HR and training Company, which is based in Dunmow. Julia is also getting married in Dunmow at St Mary's Church in June.

Julia said, "I love Dunmow as it has a good community spirit, low crime rate and above all is a superb place to live and a town to be proud of. However, I am concerned at the intense pressure, which Dunmow is under from the developers, particularly with the expansion of Stansted Airport and the possible Eco Town in Elsenham. If elected, I will fight against unnecessary and unwanted development.

She continued "On day-to-day issues, I am aware from our recent residents' survey that recycling needs to be improved further to include glass and garden waste and I will work to get these included as part of the domestic rubbish collection. With your help and support, I will stand up and fight for Dunmow and try to ensure that we do not get the short end of the stick, which so often seems to be the case."

In her leisure time Julia enjoys gardening, DIY, and spending time with her two border collies.