A FORMER Taunton Deane councillor has announced he will stand in the upcoming Rowbarton and Staplegrove county by-election.

Alan Debenham of the Green Party, from Rowbarton, who served on Taunton Deane Borough Council for several years, is one of four candidates in the November 21 by-election for the county ward.

Alan has lived in the Ward for the past 30 years and has remained politically active, regularly campaigning on the Green Left for both local and national issues.

The candidate said: "We need a major restructuring of local Councils and their independence and tax-raising powers and methods, along the lines of the 1979 Layfield Royal Commission report, to really get governing locally, with much more devolution to the Regions and first-tier Councils away from Westminster, plus Proportional Representation voting systems wherever practicable.

"In other words, a big shake-up in present miserably failed parliamentary and local authorities' democracies, which presently have very little regular public or citizen-assembly engagement. 

"Although nearly all Councils have passed Climate Emergency Strategies and agendas, nowhere near enough big system changes are being delivered to truly avert looming climate and ecological catastrophes: for example, we need communal extended-family Council housing, not two adults two children private houses, sucking-up completely unsustainable large amounts of globally supplied resources. I'm still biking in and out of town at 84 and so should many more people. "   

The candidates for this Somerset County Ward, on Taunton's northern outskirts plus Kingston St Mary and Norton Fitzwarren, are as follows :
               
                Alan Debenham       Green Party            49 Clifford Ave. Taunton TA2 6DL
                Moya Doherty           Labour Party           ( address in Somerset )
                Nick O'Donnell          Liberal Democrat   18 Greenway Ave. Taunton TA2 6HU
                Pete Prior-Sankey     Conservative          ( address in Somerset )

This vacancy resulted from the recent resignation of County Councillor Dixie Darch and covers a large vital area, which Mr Debenham said is "important for as many registered electors as possible in the Ward to vote on, or before (postal voters)."

Polling Day is Thursday, November 21.