A veteran campaigner from Peasedown St John has decided to throw his hat into the ring for the upcoming Parish Council by-election on Monday 15th August.
Nathan Hartley, who previously served as a B&NES Councillor for the village from 2007-2015, stood down from district-level politics last year to take a ‘year out’ to travel.
Nathan said: “Peasedown St John really is a fantastic place to live. Since I first became a councillor in 2007 there has been a huge growth in the number of community projects and initiatives that bring people together.
After travelling around Europe and parts of Asia last year, I realised how significant and special the strength of community feeling is in our village – something I’ve not found elsewhere.”
Wanting to ‘get back into the swing of things’, Nathan has released Six Positive Reasons to vote for him on Monday 15th August:
- Experience: Nathan is a veteran campaigner for the community. Over the past 15 years he has been involved with many of Peasedown’s big initiatives and projects.
- Local: Nathan is Peasedown St John born-and-bred and grew up in Frederick Avenue. As the only candidate in this election originally from the community he knows the village extremely well.
- Hard working: During his time as a B&NES Councillor, spanning 8 years, he completed more than 3,000 individual pieces of casework for residents.
- Dedicated: Since 2007 he has worked with councils, community groups and residents to bring £200,000 to the Peasedown community. The funding has been used to support village projects, fundraising appeals, investment in infrastructure and sponsorship for people-led initiatives.
- Service: Nathan’s commitment to keeping residents updated with local news has seen more than 80,000 newsletters delivered across Peasedown St John since 2005 with information of what Nathan’s doing for the community.
- Leadership: Nathan is the Founder-Chairman of Peasedown’s Party in the Park. Since bringing the original festival team together in 2008, under his leadership, Party in the Park has:
- Held eight summer festivals – with attendance figures of around 2,500 people each year;
- Hosted five Christmas in the Park events;
- Raised over £70,000 for the community – all of which has been reinvested in community events;
- Given almost £10,000 to community groups through The Party in the Park Grant Fund;
- Set up the Sara Holley Community Award – given to dedicated long-service volunteer each year.
Nathan will be standing as an Independent candidate in the by-election. He added “I realised some time ago that party-politics gets in the way of local politics.
“Representatives on Town and Parish Councils shouldn’t be affiliated to a party – but rather prioritise the needs of the local people they represent.
“I’m standing in this by-election on my record of action over the last 15 years. I do hope the people of Peasedown will, once again, lend me their support.”
Two vacancies have arisen on Peasedown St John Parish Council that will be filled through a contested by-election on Monday 15th August.
Polling Stations will be open from 7am-10pm with a result expected to be declared later that evening.
