STANDING for election at Gloucestershire County Council, Cirencester Conservative councillor Stuart Tarr said he will focus Cirencester's roads, hospital and schools. 

Stuart Tarr, who is also a councillor at Cirencester Town Council, promised to provide a stronger Conservative representation of Cirencester on the county council, if elected to represent the Cirencester Beeches ward.

He summed up his priorities:

  • Ensure Cirencester secures a fair share of the £150million investment in Gloucestershire roads
  • Strengthen doctor and specialist nurse-led services at Cirencester Hospital
  • Protect rural schools from the new funding formula

On improving the town's roads, he said: "We need a strong Conservative candidate to stand up for Cirencester to ensure that we secure a fair share of the Conservative-led county council's 'biggest ever' five year £150 million investment in our Gloucestershire roads.

"That means more resurfacing, potholes filled and uneven pavements relaid, and traffic calming measures to prevent rat-running through our pretty rural villages.

"We also need to maintain pressure on the government and highways England to deliver the promised £255 million A417 link road improvement scheme, on which the design stage has started with completion expected in 2023/24."

Speaking of services at Cirencester Hospital, he said: "We need to do more to strengthen the doctor and specialist nurse-led services at Cirencester hospital, which recognises that the hospital is serving a growing population of around 20,000 or more, in order to reverse the trend of the recent cuts that have already been made.

"We also need to do more to join up our NHS and Social Care services building on the extra £21 million which the government has given to the county council to support the vulnerable and elderly including those with mental health problems."

He added that he would make a strong case to government to protect rural schools from the new funding formula, with the support of Cotswold MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown.

He said that the formula "unless modified would divert still more funding to inner city schools in other regions which already benefit from considerably higher per capita funding than our own".

He stressed that Cirencester needed a "stronger Conservative representation" on the county council, where there is currently no Conservative representation for the town.

He said: "Make no mistake, this is a two party contest between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats, with the other parties, including UKIP, mostly running on a national political rather than a local agenda.

"I have Cirencester and its surrounding villages very much at heart, it is a great place at the centre of the Cotswolds to live, so I do hope you will vote for me to deliver what is needed for the Capital of the Cotswolds and its rural parishes."