Tadley and Pamber Conservative candidate – Derek Mellor
The Conservative candidate for the Tadley & Pamber ward, Derek Mellor, is confident he’s going to hold on to his seat – but is predicting a “fight” with the Liberal Democrats.
Mr Mellor, who has also been a county councillor for the ‘Tadley and Baughurst’ ward since 2017, became a borough councillor for the first time in last year’s full council election.
He took on the borough council role last year “because it was an integral part of my patch”, beating his Liberal Democrat rival in next month’s election, Jo Slimin, by 15 per cent.
This year, however, with no Labour candidate standing, Mr Mellor said it would become a “one-on-one” fight because “there’s no other major party in there to mix up the share of the vote”.
He said: “We have a majority against them all, but it is mid-term and there have been some massive national issues in the last 12 months.
“All of these things tend to work against the governing party, so it will be a fight, but we’re fighting on our own performance.”
Mr Mellor said voters should look at the Conservatives record in Tadley, where he said the town was “back on good employment figures” and “the areas of deprivation and the free school meal requests” were down.
He added that the general economy had held up well due to central Government’s furlough scheme, amongst other grant schemes, suggesting the Conservatives could still be trusted with the economy.
Locally, Mr Mellor – who moved to Tadley around 10 years ago, sits on various Hampshire boards and is, according to his wife, a sports fanatic – said his main principles were planning for the residents, instead of for developers’ profits, and the green recovery after Covid.
He said planning was the big issue currently, with some residents concerned over the progress of the Local Plan Update and the number of houses allocated to the borough, and he predicted parking and electrical vehicle charging points would be the next major issue.
Click here for Liberal Democrat candidate - Jo Slimin
Click here for Green candidate - Richard Musson
Click here for Hampshire Independents candidate - Charlotte Bennett
The election will take place on May 5.
