NATASHA BARTLETT COOK [LibDem]: “I Am The Change!”

A Letter to the Editor from Natasha BARTLETT COOK of Scarborough (who is contesting the Weaponness ward of the Scarborough Borough Council local elections for the LibDems), introducing herself to the Borough electorate.

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Dear Voter,

I just wanted to write and thank you for the tremendous response I have received whilst campaigning in Weaponness.

I realised, as one of the younger candidates, that I might not have been taken seriously; nothing could have been further from the truth. I have been overwhelmed by all the kind welcomes and seriousness with which you took my messages to heart. Many residents that I have met say it is time for a change. I listened hard to what you all told me and have altered some of my policies accordingly and reinforced others, as I found so many of you had the same concerns.

I am the change! Will you be the change with me and vote for someone different? I am seeking election because I want Weaponness Ward to have a Councillor that puts local residents first. I believe that being a Councillor is not telling people what is good for them; it’s about listening to them, finding out their needs and doing all I can to achieve their – your – aspirations, and help where needed.

With your help, I will continue campaigning for better public services, safer and cleaner streets, better care for the elderly, more facilities for our young people and scrapping the ‘Bedroom Tax’. I have worked with Cllr Johan Zegstroo and Michael Beckett, your Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, on a number of campaigns:

• For more Police Officers ‘Bobbies’ on the beat, helping in the community where historically they made such a difference to public order and safety; not just filling in paperwork and meeting targets.
• For more affordable homes for local people.
• Against ‘Bedroom Tax’ which hits those on fixed or low incomes.
• Alteration to the ridiculous parking charges which, while a ‘cash cow’ for the Conservative-led Council, to then waste by giving it to millionaire business men as an ‘incentive!’ to build a swimming pool! The charges proposed to use the pool are extortionate!
• I will also continue to campaign to have the sexual abuse scandal of our home town to be properly investigated.

We need to fight for our local services, including NHS Dentists, local Post Offices, better public transport and transport links, better roads, cycle lanes, more affordable homes and more Bobbies on the beat – out helping in the community, not at desks filling in paperwork and meeting targets. While many of these are not within the remit of the Borough Council, Councillors can still present the needs of the people of Scarborough to County and Central Government.

As a former Governor of the Sixth Form College and Gladstone Road School, member of my Church Council and currently a member of the University Chaplaincy Team, I understand how to do the work necessary of a Councillor and have experience of committee structures and how to help people with problems, to get to the organisations who can resolve their issues.  

Liberal Democrats are the only major political party with fully costed and checked environmental policies. Liberal Democrats want a Safer, Cleaner and Greener future for Scarborough.

But please remember that my fight is not against the other parties, it is for our area and everyone who lives here. There is a lot to be done to improve Scarborough and a lot that is just lovely. Every time I come home from University, where I am studying Special Needs and Inclusion and Mathematics, I am struck once again by how lucky I am that I was born and brought up here, Scarborough is so very beautiful, its people so lovely and welcoming; it just needs to truly reach its potential.

Please consider giving me your vote on Thursday May 7th. Be the difference, vote for the future, our future; together we are better.

Very best wishes and thanks,

Natasha,

Natasha Rose BARTLETT COOK, Scarborough. 5th May, 2015.