Councillor Pages

Overarching priorities

• To improve the communications between Council and Community to ensure a better understanding of the issues that affect us all.
• To seek a fair funding system for local services which would enable the Council to plan for the future with more surety.
• To seek an inspection regime that will provide an accurate account of the performance of the Council without overwhelming the Town Hall with bureacracy.

Individual Issues

Tourism - the tourism industry is the life blood of the islands, without it we would be unable to maintain many local services such as the air links, daily sea links and current levels of health care.

It is important that the Council works with the industry to ensure that tourism is maintained and developed in sympathy with the needs and wishes of the local community, and our fragile environment.

Local Infrastructure - work is being undertaken to secure the life-line sea link to the islands. However our roads, water and sewerage systems are all in urgent need of upgrading.

Secure and realistic long term funding must be identified to enable the Council to provide the quality of service the community deserves.

Employment - thankfully there is very little unemployment on the islands. However there is both a lack of well paid employment, and a lack of people to work in local services. This is often viewed as a housing issue, but it is also about education opportunities and how we value the workforce both financially and for their role in the community.

The Council must work with the education and industry sectors to develop opportunities for further education and training on the islands.