I’m Rob Taylor and I’m standing as an Independent, non-party political candidate, on the Ross Town Council and Herefordshire County Council for the Ross West wards, wanting the best for Ross and Herefordshire.

I come from a municipal parks background and used to be a parks superintendent in central London, where I was responsible for maintaining the health of hundreds of large trees. I have been in Ross now for many years, am a town Councillor and love the town. As the Tree Warden for Ross, I organised the planting of the mile long Linear Arboretum along the riverbank. I am one of the small group maintaining the Blake Memorial Garden and have started the creation of an accessible Sensory Garden on the lower section. I have restarted our participation in Ross in Bloom. We have planted over 7000 daffodils in Long Acre and around the Bandstand. I have also initiated the installation of the buggy route allowing safer access along the river bank as far as Wilton Bridge.

I am standing for election for both Town and County as I am greatly concerned for the future of our environment and hope to be able to have some influence for us, our children and grandchildren. I’m particularly concerned about Our Rivers and the Climate Emergency. The previous Conservative administrations oversaw an enormous expansion of Intensive Poultry Units in the county without considering the cumulative impact of the waste created. Underfunded government agencies like the Environment Agency have failed to advise and enforce best practices across the sewerage and agriculture sectors, which has meant we have excess levels of phosphate in our rivers, which is killing plant life and affecting the whole ecology of the river. Even though the rivers are a government responsibility, we are going to have to step up as a Council to bring everyone together to address this problem, on both sides of the Welsh border – including big businesses like the supermarkets and Avara. Our precious Wye is too precious to us to let it suffer, I will be fighting hard on this.

Although I am passionate about our natural habitat I have many other passions and concerns and am determined to get things done as your Independent Councillor.

I promise : To work collaboratively with other Independents and Councillors of all persuasions to find practical and sensible solutions to Ross’s unique issues – leaving party politics where it belongs, at Westminster. To keep and improve the services we need in the town – support our schools, make sure we retain the Community Hospital, improve our bus services, To Investigate the feasibility of travel passes for school leavers attending college without means testing, To improve road safety for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists, To listen and be aware of the needs of the community and keep residents informed of decision making, To hold Hereford County Council contractors to greater account and look into how Hereford County Council allocate funding to the various towns and is it fair.

Above all, I am always here for you and would welcome you getting in touch to raise issues.
Rob

Email: robtaylor3456@gmail.com     Telephone: 01989 563670