My name is Judy Abbott and I am standing to be your councillor in Burscough town in the local West Lancashire Borough Council elections on 2 May.

I have 30 years’ experience of living and working in West Lancashire, raising my family here in this beautiful and great place to live.

Despite this, Burscough residents tell me that they have concerns over the state of the roads, of flooding and potential overdevelopment of land. Public transport needs investment, health services need expanding, flood protection needs building and the roads need sorting out!

I have long campaigned for and will continue to campaign for increased tip opening hours which were cut by Lancashire County Council some years ago.

I believe it is worthwhile investing time and energy into maintaining and improving this area for the people who live here. The council needs to use your council tax wisely and to plan and future-proof carefully.

To do this I need your support in the local elections in May.

I pledge to listen to you. To listen to your concerns – those outstanding now and those that may arise in the future.

I pledge to communicate your concerns with the local council, with the County Council or other relevant groups. And to feedback results to you.

I pledge to work with you to keep Burscough a great place to live.

To fulfil these pledges, as a councillor, I will set up community groups to discuss and prioritise problems. These will include groups on social media for those who prefer to work this way as well as in-person meetings.

I have a lot of experience, from working in the NHS, in communicating with a range of people and organisations and I am a problem solver.

I understand the area and have a love of the countryside, a family background of farming in Lancashire and an understanding that by working together, Burscough will continue to be a great place to live and work.

Finally, I welcome and support the work of my Labour colleagues here in Burscough including the recent campaign against the parking charges at Tesco and Burscough Bridge train station, and I was delighted to see Labour block proposed increased parking charges in the borough. All of this in addition to

• the multi-million pound redevelopment of Burscough Sports Centre,
• investment in the canal towpath, Burscough Community Farm and Burscough Richmond FC,
• and increased Electric Vehicle charging provision including at Burscough Wharf,

show just what voting for Labour in the local elections gets you – a local voice for local issues.