Parish Council election candidate Josh O’Nyons explains a little about himself and why he is standing for election.
“I am standing for the Parish Council in the upcoming by election on 20th September and I hope I will be able to count on your support. I shall be standing as an Independent Rate Payer candidate on behalf of the Local Residents Association who I have worked closely with the last three years.
Over that time I have worked with them to hold Solihull Borough Council to account, fighting abysmal planning applications while also supporting residents with other local problems. Together we have a proven track record here. Having successfully elected our first Independent Resident Association Borough Councillor in May – who now represents you! Being independent of conventional party control we have the freedom to speak up on behalf of our communities. I am a member of no political party!
By profession I am a researcher/advisor so I have many years of experience of assisting people and getting things done and through this I have an array of contacts directly to the people responsible to solve problems fast! The satisfaction of getting issues re-solved and sorting constituents problems for me is second to none. Dickens Heath needs a real voice to represent them.
In asking for your support I promise to put local residents first.
Parkridge Developments
Ruthlessly they need to finish the job or get out. The blight of unfinished construction here is totally unacceptable and unfair to local residents! if elected, I along with the Parish Council will press Solihull MBC to step-in to ensure that Parkridge Developments completes its work on the village as soon as possible or will campaign to get its assets sold to someone else who will finish the job.
The current situation means until outstanding works are completed SMC are not responsible for the upkeep of certain things like highways which is increasingly beginning to show (that no maintenance is taking place!) There is even confusion over which footpaths SMBC have adopted or not.
Overdevelopment
Blythe and Dickens Heath continues to be attacked by developers in a massive way and our greenbelt surrounding this village is now in their sights. The borough council recently voted through its Local Development Framework which sets out its vision of how and where the borough will develop to 2028. Local People were unhappy bout the consultation process, many telling me that they had felt excluded from the process and felt as if they had been presented with a fait accompli document proposing massive developments in the countryside on which they have had little real opportunity to influence (even the Parish Council’s comments on it, prepared with the help of planning professionals, were missing from SMBC’s published report) This isn’t acceptable!
I am personally, like many residents – as far as the LDF is concerned – against the Griffin Lane development until the developers hugely reduce the number of planned houses there and also until the village infrastructure is complete. Though I am completely against any development in Cleobury Lane which is in the Green Belt full stop! I will fight for stronger powers for local Parish Councils to be able to stop these developments.
I will always fight to protect our ‘Green Belt’ and WILL demand a stronger local policy on planning.
Garden Squares
The site and hoardings are looking very tired to say the least. residents should not have to feel they are living on a building site as they have felt for so many years. They need painting asap.
7 Things Josh O’Nyons will deliver if elected as your next Parish Councillor:
- Protect our green spaces and campaign against over development
- Keep Parish precept to an absolute minimum
- Continue to be vigilant with all planning and licensing applications
- Seek a significantly improved rate of repair and resurfacing to our roads and pavements by pushing SMBC to adopt our highways quicker!
- Work with the police to tackle antisocial behaviour and increase the size of the anti-graffiti team!
- Provide greater choice and opportunity to our elderly residents!
- Keep a close eye on the environment taking prompt action to deal with fly tipping and poor maintenance of public spaces etc.”
(Please note, there are further examples of wider borough issues on the rest of Josh’s leaflet which has been delivered through residents’ doors and a page detailing his recent campaigning and activities in and around Dickens Heath)
Josh, You said “to step-in to ensure that Parkridge Developments completes its work on the village as soon as possible or will campaign to get its assets sold to someone else who will finish the job.”Seriously?? How on earth are you going to achieve such a thing?
They do not exist for almost a year now! There are investors interested in further development and to buy out what remained after the Parkridge. It is already in negotiations and there is no campaign needed on this. I am just a resident and I know that. How possible that you don’t know? Please don’t do politics here. (I don’t know but I’m sure… please!) We don’t need talkers, we need to get things done, I think.
There’s very little information on what may or may not happen with the unfinished centre. It’s an eyesore and a blight. The expensive and very permanent looking foundations are already in place, so which developer will be brave enough to take on a development that bankrupted Parkridge ? There are still empty and unsold properties in the finished part of the Parkridge development, so it makes you wonder whether it is economically viable to continue the development in the current format. A “watchful eye” is required from our Councillors who should seek to liaise with the administrators on a monthly basis and publish the results in their minutes so residents can be kept up to date. I agree that candidates shouldn’t make promises they can’t deliver on but seek to ensure we are all better informed as to what’s going on.