Roger Davies – Welsh Liberal Democrat candidate Maesydre by-election

Wrexham.com for people living in or visiting the Wrexham area

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Feb 25th, 2021

We have offered all candidates the (free) chance to promote themselves ahead of the Maesydre by-election, below is an unedited submission from this candidate.

You can view all the candidates standing here, and read all of their Q&A’s from the main Maesydre by-election page.

The Q&A

Tell us about who you are, any political history and why you have the political leanings that you do.

I am an experienced campaigner, who was brought up in Wrexham and educated at Grove Park Grammar School, before leaving to join the Royal Navy. After leaving the navy I stayed in Devon, and married a local nurse. I was a founding member of the SDP and the Liberal Democrats. I became both an Exeter City and a Devon County Councillor. I graduated from Exeter University and after obtaining my PGCE I taught History, Maths and ICT till I retired and returned to live in Wrexham in 2014.

What are the three key local issues in this ward and why?

I know it isn’t a purely local issue, but as it effects everyone, the biggest issue is recovering from the Covid pandemic. We have lived through this terrible time and councillors, members of the Senedd and the Westminster government must all work together to get us back to a normal life. Put Recovery First.

Next we need to look at the use of land in our area. When we first moved back to Wrexham from Exeter my wife was amazed at the amount of green spaces there were here. Sensible decisions have to be made by the council in conjunction with other stakeholders, over the future of both the 9 acre field and the old Grove Park Girls School site. We must not let them be designated “Brown Field” sites and lose them. However they cannot just be left as they are, and a way must be found to use both areas as a valuable resource for the community.

At a time when Council tax is still rising rapidly, services to our community are diminishing. Things like the state of the roads and reduced waste collections. Our community is suffering, as Wrexham Council struggles to cope with an ever increasing social services budget deficit. The “independent” led council group blames underfunding from the Senedd. The Labour led Senedd blames low grants from the Tory run Westminster Government and The Prime Minister blames everyone but himself. We need to look at how we pay for our local services afresh. Town Centres are changing, whether we like it or not and business rate revenue is going to fall as property use changes. The Banding for Council Tax in many areas is unfair. When “Austerity” strikes central government, first looks to Local Authorities to reduce their spending. Our present system is broken. I know that one councillor, representing one ward, is not going to be able to change things but as a society we are going to have to sort this out. Politicians of all parties must get together and find a fairer more equitable system. Oh and this month our tax bills arrive.

What would you do to resolve each of those, and what would be your desired outcome for each?

The three issues that I have highlighted above, though different, all have a common theme in their resolutions. Residents, politicians and political parties need to come together in these difficult times and work out solutions that work for all of the people in a community.

What is your view on the local and national pandemic response, and what role will you as a councillor have in the future recovery?

First of all the National Government since the start of the pandemic has been a shambles. Too little too late rapidly followed by an overreaction followed by a U turn followed by chaos. Then the devolved governments asserted that they would do things their way. Cardiff has not made as many errors as Westminster, in my opinion, but having different rules at different times here in Wrexham to those over the border 5 miles away has made things rather confusing. There was even a time when pubs in England were open and Wrexham was shut, then vice versa. As there were no border controls I wonder how many people were travelling back and to? The vaccination program has been excellent. I was concerned that at first we in Wales got off to a slow start however by the time that I became eligible Wales had vaccinated a higher % of the population than any of the other home nations.
As to what I could do as an individual councillor, I am very realistic and my small voice in a national debate may not be heard but my Party the Liberal Democrats have launched a campaign, “Putting Recovery First” which I am fully committed to.

Would you put the ward first in any vote, even if that clashed with your political group or alliances on the council?

One my first principles is that when I was elected to council, I was elected to represent all of the residents of my ward. Not only would I vote against my political group if any decision was to the detriment of the electors in my ward, I can say categorically, that on both Devon County Council and Exeter City Council I did vote against my party.

If you change political allegiance from what you are currently seeking election for (eg. resigning from, or joining another group) will you trigger a by-election? If not, why not?

If I was elected to Wrexham Council I cannot envision a situation where I would change parties. I have been a lifelong Liberal/Social Democrat and at my age I will not change. However to actually answer the question I will promise the electors of Maesydre that if this scenario did happen I would happily resign my seat and fight a new by-election under the colours of the new group.

What local activity have you taken part in over the last few years or months to improve your ward? Regardless of if you win, will you continue?

I stood down as a councillor in Devon after I became a teacher for two reasons. Firstly because it is actually against the rules to be a councillor when you work for the council. Secondly, counter to public opinion, working as teacher is extremely time consuming and very stressful so there is no way I could give my constituents and my pupils the effort they both deserved. So for a long time I stood back from political activism. After I retired my wife and decided to come home again to Wales. Now, my enthusiasm fully recovered, I have became involved again with Wrexham Liberal Democrats. When I found that there was to be an election to the Maesydre Ward my memories slipped back to my youth. My Grandmother lived on Westminster Drive and I have many fond memories of visiting her house and this area. I jumped at the chance to stand for council to represent this area and give something back.

To wrap this up, why should people vote for you?

I am an experienced councillor and I promise to do everything I can to represent the people of Maesydre I have the knowledge and ability to do a good job. During my time as an activist for the Liberal Democrats I have lost track of the times I have been told on the doorstep “I would vote for you if only you could win, I don’t want to waste my vote” Well this time you can. If you vote for me I will win, just as our candidate did in two out of the last 3 elections.