Ann was first elected as Wealden District Councillor for the Framfield Ward in 2007. She was re-elected in 2011, 2015 and 2019. In 2009 she became Chairman of Planning Committee North until September 2012 when she was asked to join the Cabinet initially as Portfolio Holder for Corporate Services until May 2013 when she took over the role of Portfolio Holder for Planning and Development. She is now Leader of the Council and of the ruling Conservative group.
She is currently in the process of seeing through the various statutory processes of the Local Plan. She Chairs the Local Plan Committee and the Building Control Partnership. She has also been elected to sit on the Noise Management Board Executive liaising with Gatwick Airport.
Since becoming a District Councillor she has sat on a variety of other Committees including Environment Scrutiny and Licensing plus the Employees’ Consultative Group and Personnel Committee.
Over those years has spent that time putting every effort into her various roles for the strategic benefit of Wealden and to also ensure that Framfield & Waldron Ward (now Cross in Hand) has a strong voice on Wealden District Council.
Ann has been the Wealden District Councillor since 2007 and is a champion of the local communities she represents. A parish councillor from 1995, Ann became Parish Clerk to Framfield Parish Council in 1999, a role she still enjoys. Having been involved in different levels of government for over 25 years she has a broad knowledge of its idiosyncrasies, representing and working with residents on a variety of different issues.
Although now Leader of the Council, it is her local community which is dearest to her heart, having lived in Blackboys for over 30 years, bringing up her family here.
During the last 13 years, Ann has developed valuable experience at senior level, working on issues that deeply affect communities and families such as planning, housing, traffic calming/speed of traffic, highway maintenance and flooding, refuse collection, council tax, rents and benefits. Alongside her comprehensive local knowledge she also brings to local government her wide-ranging experience from her earlier career in business.
Ann is standing for re-election in May's district council polls:
Condemning the Government’s storm water reduction plan, as not being stringent enough, Ann says that “pouring sewerage into our rivers and seas is not acceptable in our so-called ‘civilised’ country.” To tackle this, Ann has met regularly with Southern Water to bring in new working practices so that any new housing must be connected to a functioning sewerage system which then doesn’t impact on adjacent properties.
Ann played a leading role in getting Government to agree to the recent consultation to reduce housing numbers imposed on local authorities such as Wealden.
Ann is also working hard with the NHS to provide and retain doctors for our communities.
