Reasons to vote for Jo Magne as your town councillor

About my experience

I moved to Kendal over 10 years ago from London with the intention of retiring after 30 years at senior manager/director level in Human Resources. The decision of the then Tory government to further push back retirement ages for women with very little notice led to my working again – at one stage I had 3 zero hours contracts and took in dogs when their owners were away. A necessity turned into a benefit as the work took me across the county and I made new friends .

Now fully retired, I spent much of lockdown walking in the area. I believe that the Town Council rightly focuses on our buildings and spaces, how they are used and how we access them. One of my priorities would be to support further improvements to make it much easier to walk, run and cycle through our town and beyond.

About my interests

I became active in groups highlighting and explaining the dangers of climate change over a decade ago and continued doing so when I moved to Kendal, acting as Trustee and Chair of South Lakeland Action on Climate Change (SLACC) for some years. I know from experience the difficulty of reducing the carbon footprint of older, stone built houses. I welcome the Climate Jury and the debate that now needs to continue, and in particular the need to engage with people for whom other priorities understandably take up all their time.

Listening and engaging

I believe that the way to get things done is to have an overall vision, to work in collaboration with others, to identify and encourage new partnership projects and to challenge where necessary. We need to find ways to expand the council’s initiatives to let people know what is happening in this ward and the town. From tackling dog poo to highlighting paths where you can’t easily take a pushchair, from bringing more urgency to the need to find ways to encourage people to walk, cycle, and stay fit, to helping those on their own avoid isolation, my experience of listening, proposing action and working with people from all walks of life to get things done would enable me to be an effective Town Councillor. We need a new voice for Strickland ward.