I am privileged to be standing as the Welsh Liberal Democrat candidate for the Powys County Councillor vacancy in the Rhiwcynon ward.  I have lived in Aberhafesp for 36 years and served as a Community Councillor for Aberhafesp Community Council for over 6 years.

As I am now retired I can give the County Councillor job the time I feel it needs rather than struggling to fit it in alongside other work.  I have campaigned on local issues in the past, some of which have been successful, some of which have not, so I know better than to promise things that may never come to pass.  Too many candidates in elections make promises they later find they can’t keep, but there are areas I am particularly keen to focus on and push for results.

The long promised, and now overdue Community Hospital in Newtown is a much needed facility.  Whilst sadly it will not have an A & E Department,  the provision of other services will remove the need for so many local people to travel to Shrewsbury or Aberystwyth for examinations and treatments.  Its implementation is something I will push for.

Highways seem to regularly let us down.  Potholes take a long time to be fixed, and often when they are the fix is short-lived and the pothole rapidly returns.  We all know local government budgets across the UK are in a terrible state after years of underfunding by the Tories, but I want to see if Highways can do a better job with the money we do have. To me it makes sense to look at longer term repairs for potholes as, whilst a better repair may cost more, it will save money in the long run if the pothole doesn’t have to be repeatedly repaired 2 or 3 times per year.

Road safety also needs revisiting.  We now have 20mph speed limits in some locations where there is no significant danger, but no 20mph speed limits in some places where they would make a real difference.  A more sensible case by case approach needs to be taken, consulting folk who live there.

There are other issues which need addressing, if elected I will do my best to push for improvements in how Powys County Council functions.

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The country's really fed up with politicians of all persuasions.Many have not been honest , and some have fallen short on the expectations of public life. Strong independents can bring a bit of common sense back to politics and would not toe the party line in defiance of reality.

I would work with the community to support the causes they believe in and stand up against policies that are not in the best interest of the electorate I represent. We know that hard decisions must be made , and money is tight. 

If elected my primary objective, which Reform will implement if it joins any future Welsh Government coalition, is the abolition of Powys and the restoration of Montgomery County Council (dissolved by the Conservatives in 1996).

Powys is far too large a geographical area to be managed effectively - and lest we forget, most of Powys’s population and industry is in Montgomeryshire. Decisions made a long way from the people they are affect are often not good decisions.

Reform also campaigns to drastically reduce the number of Councillors, in Powys from 68 to twenty-one (with a cabinet of six). We would introduce proportional representation for these elections, abolishing the ‘First Past The Post’ system which stymies creative thinking and limits the competition for good ideas. I also campaign for an upgrading of the main trunk road link to Shrewsbury, which I hope becomes a (sympathetically designed) dual carriageway within my lifetime.

In education, whilst we in Reform celebrate and advocate for the Welsh language, we would instigate a  ‘pause and think’ around the forced conversion of schools to be bilingual by instruction in areas with few Welsh-speaking households. We would also end the Liberal Democrat-led coalition’s obsession with closing our small primary schools, particularly in areas of high rurality.

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I am a specialist physiotherapist and have worked in the NHS for over 8 years, spending the last 4 in our local hospitals and GP practices. Apart from the environment, my primary passion lies in healthcare, and ensuring that the past decade of NHS decline is reversed. High quality healthcare must remain available to everyone, and a 2-tier health system based on income must not be allowed to continue to develop. On a personal level I play cricket for local team Guilsfield CC, and enjoy open-water swimming in locations like Tal y Llyn and Lake Bala.

My world revolves around my two young children, who attend the local school in Tregynon. Their future, in almost every aspect, will be shaped by the changes in climate that we are already experiencing. This is why it is vital that issues such as expansion of renewable energy sources and support for sustainable use of farmland are translated as effectively as possible on a local and individual level. Priorities need to include ensuring access and advice to local residents on transitioning to environmentally-friendly methods of heating our homes, and adequate support for farmers to meet national targets on sustainability.

As someone who has learnt to speak Welsh in the past few years, I am broadly supportive of the transition of Ysgol Bro Caereinion to a Welsh-medium school, but am sensitive to the potential impact on local families, and issues such as transport to other schools where needed. 

Who is Paul Wixey? Born in rural mid Wales and brought up on the North Wales coast, living above the family shop. Like many youngsters after leaving school, I moved away from home for work and further education. After university and military service, I spent the rest of my life in the engineering and transport industries, including time at the Port of Holyhead. More recently I have been the Safety Officer, then Chief Electrical Engineer with the Welshpool and Llanfair Railway.

Throughout this time, I have always been active in my local community. Campaigning for improved maintenance and heating in local authority housing, raising funds for a new community centre, starting a community launderette in inner city Nottingham which was featured on Channel 4’s ‘The Secret Millionaire’. Since moving to Cefn Coch 10 years ago I have campaigned against Powys’ car parking fee hikes, co-written funding bids for new sports facilities and am a member of Llanfair Carnival Committee. All this has given me the experience of listening to people, reading complex documents, distilling documents down to their basics and dealing with local authorities with the confidence to speak to authority on my own and behalf of the community.

I am proud to back our community every day and will be a loud voice for Rhiwcynon if elected County Councillor and as a Labour Councillor I would be part of the ruling party on Powys County Council. I hope I can count on your vote on June 4.

Our family first came here in 1973 when I was primary school age. I am married to Sarah. We have three adult sons, Tom, Jack and  Joe.

Our sons all attended school in Tregynon and Llanfair Caereinion and are Welsh speakers.

We farm cattle and sheep at Llwyn y Brain and are firm believers in productive agriculture and environmental/conservation work being inextricably linked

Over the years we have planted over 40 000 hedge and tree plants abc have six wildlife ponds here. We are using multi species grass mixture to enhance the grazing and carbon capture on the farm.

We are currently involved with the Game and Wildlife Conservation  Trust in a curlew preservation project in the area. 

Our family has always been involved in our community and I guess standing for the county council in this ward is just a profession of that.

There are a number of issues and concerns in our area. Amongst these are of course, potholes/roads and speed limits. PCC unfair school transport policy. Council tax. Supporting local businesses and the farming community, including PCCs council holding estate. Broadband and internet access. Social care.