Chris has lived in Wendover with his wife Mary since their arrival 36 years ago. He says that it is an ideal place to bring up a family and he wants to keep Wendover that way. He studied agriculture at university and worked for the National Farmers Union in London for 26 years.
Chris has been very active in the life of the village. He stood twice as a Liberal Democrat candidate in the local elections and was on the Parish Council for six years (until 2007).
Within the village, he has taken a particular interest in road safety and the encouragement of cycling. He played a strong part in the provision of the extension of the cycle route along the Aylesbury Road as well as the installation of cycle racks in the centre of the village, the extra step outside Stars (it is part of the Manor Waste and thus on parish land) and the improvement of the cycle path linking Lionel Avenue with Dobbins Lane.
Chris is also an active member of the Safer Routes to School group for Wendover Junior School, where he also was a governor. Another of his major interests is the “Get Wendover Cycling” group. He feels strongly that improving the facilities for cyclists. pedestrians and users of mobility scooters would be of immense benefit to Wendover and Halton villages that currently are suffering severely from traffic congestion and parking problems.
He is a member of the local Wildlife Trust and has a large garden with “wildlife corners”. The garden has been open to the public to raise funds for both the local wildlife trust and the Ian Rennie Hospice.
Chris is a keen bridge player and is the secretary of Wendover Bridge Club which meets at the cricket pavilion. The club provides substantial financial support to Wendover Cricket Club and contributes significantly to the social life of the village.
What is Chris’s position on the main issues facing Wendover and Halton today?
- Princess Mary Hospital Development Site – 400 units will put a severe strain on the local infrastructure. Good cycling routes to the centre of both Wendover and Halton villages and to the schools are essential. This will help to relieve potential congestion and the demand for parking.
- Wendover Junior school refurbishment and expansion – the plans for the works at the school were withdrawn at the last minute. Chris believes that the Princess Mary Gate development presents a case for urgent review of the improvements to the schools.
- Parish Council – Chris is a strong supporter of the Parish Council which has achieved a great deal for village – for example, the renovation of Hampden Pond, the flower meadow, the establishment of the monthly farmers’ market and the installation of cycle racks in the centre of the village.
- Land in Back Street – Chris has strongly supported the Parish Council throughout this dispute – the Parish Council has simply been doing its job in defending the interests of Wendover residents in a proper and legal manner. It is vital that the Parish Council and the Parish Clerk should receive the support that they deserve from all sections of the Wendover community.
- Aylesbury Growth consultation – the final decision on the increase in housing must be accompanied by a corresponding improvement in the infrastructure and by the provision of adequate local employment opportunities.
- Parking consultation this is long overdue. Our district and county councils have been “considering” the parking problem in Wendover for many years but without any tangible results. It is high time that effective action is taken not only to improve the parking situation in the village centre but to confront the problems elsewhere, for example, in residential areas near the schools and the railway station.
- Public Transport – Chris will be in favour of the project linking Aylesbury to Oxford and Milton Keynes by rail. However, he finds it more important that a frequent bus link will join Halton and Wendover to Aylesbury and the Wendover Train Station and the Tring train station.
- Halton Shooting Range – Chris supports the reasonable request of the residents of Halton to construct a noise muffling structure.
The current economic crunch has brought to the fore the issue of employment. However, our vale has been haemorrhaging jobs under the Conservative administration for more than a decade (yes, also in the years of plenty). This means more people must commute out of the county and our children will move to live where there is work. It is in the hands of the County Council to attract back employers through the clever setting of business taxes, allocation of business parks and fast tracking information technology infrastructure and encouraging High Tech companies to base their activities in the Vale.
If elected, a major goal for Chris would be the improvement of road safety within Wendover and the encouragement of alternative modes of transport to reduce traffic congestion and parking problems. Much still needs to be done to improve facilities for pedestrians, cyclists and users of mobility scooters (for example, a pelican crossing at Ashbrook recreation ground).
The pavement along part of the Ellesborough Road is disintegrating and a general resurfacing of Dobbins Lane is long overdue. The Conservative County Council, however, have no plans or intentions whatsoever to do anything about these problems. Chris would exert maximum pressure on the County Council to ensure that this and other necessary work is done without delay.
In continuation of Chris’ efforts to improve accessibility to facilities (e;g; the extra step and rail to Stars on the Manor Waste), he will investigate alternative ways of scrossing the rails at the Wendover train station. There are many who shun the trains due to the prospect of using the footbridge.
In the vicinity of the railway station, the schools and the village centre, car parking is causing severe problems to local residents. There is no easy answer to these problems but Chris would work closely with residents to devise parking schemes that provide the most acceptable solution. We have had these problems for many years but, so far, there have been no satisfactory proposals.
Chris has noticed that visible policing in Wendover has been on the decline. Last year the number of Community police officers was reduced from two to one (not to mention that ten years ago the Wendover Station housed more than a handful of officers). Clearly this is because our villages are considered a low crime zone. However, we have reached the critical point where the thinly spread police resources pose an invitation for criminals, trouble makers and vandals. Chris would work closely with the Parish Council in supporting our local police force.
Chris would strive hard to ensure that there is adequate funding for Wendover schools. In particular, he would press for the restoration of the funding for Wendover Junior School so that the necessary refurbishment and extension can be accomplished.
Chris values highly the historic centre of Wendover. He would support strongly any measures needed to preserve it. It is important that the present practice of keeping the street furniture black should be maintained and he would press for the replacement of the grey bollards in Pound Street with black ones.
Strategic Voting Information?
In the last county council elections the results were very close. Had people voted more “tactically”,away Chris might well have been elected. Chris is a local man, who has a clear grasp of local issues and has already shown that he can get things done. If you agree with Chris’s programme for action, please show your support for him at the ballot box.
The 2005 County elections results
How do I contact you?
Call Chris on 01296 624 089
Send a letter to the Liberal Democrats Freepost, 7 Barrie Close Aylesbury, HP19 8BR
Where may I find more information?
www.libdems.org.uk - find out more about the Lib Dems.
www.aylesburylibdems.co.uk - A brand new website for the local party
www.southcentrallibdems.org.uk - South Central Region Liberal Democrats
www.libdemblogs.co.uk shows you the huge number of personal blogs written by Liberal Democrats all over Britain.
This is not an official Lib Dem blog/publication. All that is written here is only my opinion. To be of the safe side: 'Published and promoted by Eli Kling who is a member of Aylesbury Liberal Democrats at Reform House, 6 Castle Street, Aylesbury Bucks, HP20 2RE'. Eli lives in 10 Manor Road, Wendover, HP22 6HQ.
Picture
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| From Chris Peeler - Amature Photos |
How will the Clock Tower junction cope with the extra traffic from the Princess Mary Gate? It is time to start planning now and not be surprised when the new residents get their keys.
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| From Chris Peeler - Amature Photos |
Chris strongly supported the previous Parish Council, the current council and the Parish clerk over the “Back Street” issue. As county councillor, Chris would continue to give strong support and under his leadership this issue, which has been so damaging to village life, will be brought to a final and proper conclusion as speedily as possible.
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| From Chris Peeler - Amature Photos |
It took three years to get this step and rail. The next accessibility issue to be tackled is the crossing of the rails at the Wendover Train Station.
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| From Chris Peeler - Amature Photos |
The tarmacing of the green verges up to the trunks of the trees is nothing less than a disgrace. Chris would ensure that any future such work in Wendover is properly authorised and supervised. Rectification of this debacle is urgent but nothing so far has been done – neither have we been given any date for the work.
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| From Chris Peeler - Amature Photos |
Further shoddy work in Dobbins Lane. The quality of the patching after the installation of a pipe is very poor and endangers cyclists. Furthermore the County Council has no intention of rectifying this in the foreseeable future.
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| From Chris Peeler - Amature Photos |
In the conservation area, street furniture should be black. These Gray Bollards are yet another example of defective & insensitive work by the County Council.
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| From Chris Peeler - Amature Photos |
Small changes such as markings and a dropped kerb in the right place have greatly improved safety for pedestrians and cyclists.
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| From Chris Peeler - Amature Photos |
There were an approved plan and a budget but the promised Toucan crossing was not installed. We were never given an adequate explanation of this and we are still waiting to hear when this work will be done.
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| From Chris Peeler - Amature Photos |
Princess Mary Gate (or is it Wendover Hights): We never wanted this development in Wendover but our Conservative district and county councils were totally ineffective in preventing it.
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