Dear Resident,
My name is Ian Tysh. I’m standing for re-election to represent Maresfield ward on Wealden District Council and am writing to ask for your support on Thursday 4 May.
Here are some reasons why you may consider voting for me:
I am already working hard for the residents of Maresfield ward
There has been a lot to learn since I was elected in September 2022. I have been working hard to help residents who contact me – and to be able to respond to their questions and concerns. I have been able to help with problems like unemptied bins and complaints about planning applications and have assisted a disabled resident to secure a lower council tax rate. If you contact me, I won't just forward your email - I'll engage with the issues you bring and do my best to navigate the system with you to get a fair result.
My role is to represent you – so get in touch if you have any difficulties I can help you with.
I am using my legal training to give planning applications the scrutiny they need.
I am deeply concerned about the concrete spread across our beautiful countryside, often for unnecessary developments which don’t reflect local need. The planning system does not serve residents well.
Of major local concern at the moment is the Ashdown Business Park development. This proposal would result in extensive environmental damage and is of an excessive scale. In fact, this development on its own would exceed the whole allocation in the current 14-year plan for Wealden. Moreover, this development is in the wrong place: it’s on a greenfield site, and it would virtually double traffic on large parts of the A272. The developers say they will pay for a bus stop but no new buses – this application is a good example of development under Wealden’s Conservative-led district council, where developers are not being made to pay an appropriate community infrastructure levy.
We need a planning process that works for local people.
I want to help preserve our countryside, whilst ensuring we have the housing local residents need
I’m regularly out walking in our beautiful countryside with my family. Like a lot of people, that’s why I live here. I share local residents’ unhappiness in seeing field after field, view after view, swallowed up by large and expensive new properties. These homes are financially out of reach of most people, and are increasingly snapped up by overseas buyers as an investment.
At the same time, we have a serious shortage of smaller and more affordable houses, both to rent and to buy. These are the kind of homes which Wealden’s housing waiting list shows are needed. But smaller homes are not being built and the land they could have been built on is being swallowed up by the wrong kind of development.
I will push for the kind of development that local people need.
I am free to be an independent voice for Maresfield ward
In my role as a councillor, I can vote with my conscience – unlike the Conservatives who vote as a block. We can do what we and residents think is best, that’s the joy of the Green Party.
Best wishes,
Ian
PS: Don’t forget, if you vote for anyone else, then the Conservative candidate is more likely to win. With your support, Greens can win again in Maresfield ward! Thank you.