Hi I am John Montgomery, I am delighted to have been approved to stand as your representative for Bangor Central on Council on behalf of UKIP.
The “no local whip” policy in councils means UKIP councillors will always put local interests, not party or self interest first. Furthermore, UKIP Councillors will not be dictated to by the “politically correct” and will always stand up for local people and common sense. This is what attracted me to UKIP in the first place having suffered for my quest to represent the people rather than bow to party interests.
Perhaps one of the biggest concerns related to me from both residents and Council is an overwhelming belief from many of those residents, that North Down is not given the priority it deserves. The reality is that current councillors do not have the strength, or perhaps commitment, to stand up for North Down and from my perspective Bangor in particular. Originally the name of the Borough was to be North Down and Ards but this was changed.
As with many others, I’ve scratched my head wondering why our MLAs at Stormont get paid generous salaries and expenses from the public purse (while not doing their job) at a time when services are stretched to breaking point.
We have elected representatives being paid to NOT make key decisions on important issues here.
Recently we faced inflation busting rate rises without seeing any benefit or improvement in the town. Indeed it would seem that within the term of the current Council little has changed to benefit Bangor. Somewhere! there is chronic waste of ratepayers money. On your behalf I would like the opportunity to investigate.
Some years ago I ran a small business in Bangor giving some insight into the issues faced by local traders. We all know the current issues; too many charity shops, Banks and Building societies. Shockingly, even the banks are leaving the Town Centre. The town needs help from council but even those who try innovative ways of promoting their business, such as McCullough’s, are thwarted by council. Then there is the chronic lack of convenient parking spaces.
If you have managed this far down the article, Thank You. I have previously served a number of times on North Down Borough Council as a Councillor and had the great honour of serving as Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Again I ask for your valuable vote to enable me to serve you once again with integrity.
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