Carol Clifford writes:

I am a local resident, have lived in Midsomer Norton for the past 28 years and I work for a national charity.  I am standing for the Council election as an Independent Candidate and here is my story on why I decided to put my name forward.

I live in High Meadows, Midsomer Norton and my garden backs onto Underhill Woods and therefore by default my house is in B&NES and part of my garden is in Mendip, with the stream being the boundary between the two local authorities.

Underhill Woods is ancient woodland with a variety of wildlife, including protected species, with the trees all having a protection order on them.  At the edge of these woods, and surrounded by housing there is a field without vehicle access.

Mendip District Council decided that they would include this land in their five year housing plan which then resulted in Curo putting in a planning application.  To allow access to the site, the application included the demolition of two social houses owned by Curo and to build in total 60 houses.

Astounded by this, I reached out to local councillors who, unfortunately, were not the slightest bit interested with the exception of Cllr Hughes.  He arranged a meeting for local residents to discuss this and I came away armed with an ecological report.

It was quite clear that this report was not conducted by an independent source, but the ecologists were contracted by the developer, Curo.  It also became clear that this report contained inaccuracies and I contacted the Woodland Trust and Natural England who both then took an interest in the application.

I decided that I needed to make the local residents aware of the deadlines for the planning applications for both B&NES and Mendip District Council.  I approached Cllr Hughes who, not only designed a leaflet for me but also printed it.  Armed with 400 leaflets myself and my daughter delivered these by hand.

The response was amazing, not only did it include my own 'war and peace' objection but around 200 objections in total!  The seed was therefore set in me as to what could be achieved by actively getting involved and involving everyone in the local vicinity.

So, my reason for standing in the local election is that I know, without a shadow of doubt that this would not have been achieved without the help and support of my local councillor, the only one that was interested.  The site was in both Midsomer Norton wards so there should have been four councillors that should have been involved and offering to help.  

I believe that if you are an elected councillor then you should become involved in what's happening in your ward and want to help the local residents.  Unfortunately, the other three councillors, from various parties, clearly weren't interested.

This is why I have decided to stand as an independent councillor so that I can voice my own opinions rather than have to 'toe the party line'.