The following article is a candidate profile for the Midsomer Norton (North) Town Council candidate, Dr Cheryl Scott. All views expressed are solely those of the author.

Although I grew up in Bath, I have spent most of my working life in the South East , before moving back to the West country in 2016 to be closer to my ageing parents. . I have worked in the life sciences commercial arena for most of my career, and for the latter half I transferred my board-level business development skills sideways to help early stage health tech innovators to develop their ideas and grow their businesses. I currently work for the NHS, assisting health tech innovators to develop and deploy their innovations within the NHS/social care but prior to this spent five years as Town Clerk to Keynsham Town Council.

During those five years, I assisted the Council to put in place sound financial and budgeting strategies for current and future projects as well as overseeing the Neighbourhood Development Plan, the re-development of the Town centre and associated extensive resident-wide consultations.

Personally, I would like to see Midsomer Norton develop into a vibrant, accessible, safe and inclusive town providing services and activities for all ages. I also think that what this looks like in practice, i.e. which issues to address first, should be led by you, the voters. The Council’s responsibility therefore is to decide how it will effectively deliver on your priorities and provide sustainable stewardship of the assets involved.

Unfortunately the new Council will inherit a mixed legacy -exciting ongoing Town Centre transformation projects and new green spaces to manage - yet also insufficient funding, reduced community grants, low reserves and lack of staff resources following a recent mass exodus. These issues need be addressed and this is what I think the Council needs to focus on in order to achieve the “how”:

· Transparency in respect of information and collective decision-making

· Advocating and collaborating with the relevant authorities and stakeholders to address the town’s needs

· Sound, sustainable financial strategy /budgeting processes, following the "proper practices" required in law

· Development of new funding and investment opportunities for capital projects and review of budgeting to ensure assets can be adequately maintained

· A full complement of staff who are managed by a trained staffing, treated with respect and valued

Therefore I am standing in order to offer my skills and expertise to the new Council to help it become fit for the future.