Our twenty-first election candidate profile is from Stone Independents candidate Jill Hood. All Stone Independents responses have come centrally so are in a slightly different format but aim to answer our questions.
All candidate responses can be found linked on our candidate page
- Candidate Name: Jill Hood
- Party: Stone Independents
- Election: Stone Town Council / Stafford Borough Council
- Ward: Walton South / Walton
The candidate’s biographies should cover this set of questions:
- Tell our readers about yourself
- What’s your personal statement about why you’re standing and what you want to do over the next 4 years
- Do you live in Stone, if not what’s your link to Stone and your reason for standing as Stone candidate?
Jill is a dedicated Town, Borough and County Councillor, an active volunteer in many local charities and has a reputation for getting things done. Jill helped stop development on the Marlborough Rd open green space. She is chairman of the Neighbourhood Plan Working Group responsible for carrying out residents’ wishes in planning the future of the town and preventing open green spaces such as Tilling Drive being developed. She is part of the Stone Railhead Crisis group and campaigns hard against the HS2 Railhead proposed for Stone which threatens the vibrancy of the town.
She is a member of the Crown Wharf project which will provide a long awaited theatre and heritage centre and chair of the Town and Tourism group and has been involved in arranging free family events which boost the local economy, encouraging visitors to the independent shops and eateries in the town.
With 1,000 homes planned for Walton and most already built, Jill says Conservative-run Stafford Borough Council should have used the money from the development to improve the infrastructure; she will continue to fight for this. New homes bring new families without the facilities to support them. With this in mind, she has fought for new leisure and play facilities on Westbridge Park for teenagers and younger children.
Jill says: “I will continue to resist further development in Walton, it has to stop. I listen to residents and work for them whatever their politics. As an Independent I never need to toe a party political line but will use common sense on behalf of my residents.”
What’s been your history as a political councillor?
Serving councillor since 2007
What are the top 5 issues that you think affect the residents of Stone over the next 5 years?
Stone Independents operate as a team with a common set of objectives. These are set out in their manifesto which can be found on their website – https://stoneindependents.org/our-manifesto/
How will you keep in touch with your constituent’s concerns?
We are highly contactable through phone, email and social media including our website and FB pages. We welcome being approached to listen to residents’ concerns. Serving councillors are active in working with local residents and residents groups.
