I have lived in Sheffield for most of my life and before retirement I worked as a careers adviser. I have always been active in the community and have previously served as a city Councillor, a school and college Governor and trustee of national and local charities. Since retiring I have been active as a volunteer with a city centre church. Sheffield is a great place to live but if we are not to lag behind other major cities we need to do more to attract high quality jobs, improve our physical environment (especially in the city centre) and find solutions to the problems of homelessness and begging. Locally, we need to improve the reliability of public transport ,improve secondary school performance and protect our environment from over- development. It is a while since the Conservative Party was represented on the City Council but I believe that we need people who can bring fresh ideas to bear on the challenges we face. Recently, Sheffield has benefited from the Conservative government's extra funding for parks, street cleaning and measures to tackle anti-social behaviour. Obviously, we face challenging times ahead, but if elected, I will work with the local community to make sure that West Ecclesfield gets its fair share of resources.