Dear Resident

I have been a community activist and councillor in one way or another for more that 40 years in my adopted home of Hitchin.  It’s almost 50 years since employment and impending motherhood brought me here and I have never wanted to live anywhere else since then. My children and grandchildren have been born and brought up in the town, attending local schools and themselves being active in their local communities.  So I am always made aware of the needs of local people across all ages and with a huge variety of different needs for help, support and services that they need and are not just imposed on them.

This has been clearer than ever during the long past year of COVID-19 and I’ve been so privileged to work with local voluntary groups and the county and district councils doing all I can to ensure that people are safe, warm and well, have food for their families, and a roof over their heads.  Times are really challenging for everyone and we simply have to support one another at this time.

Our schools and libraries have been doing all they can to provide what is needed in the most difficult circumstances and my admiration for our teachers, NHS staff and essential shop workers has never been higher.

I love Hitchin for many things – it’s fantastic sense of market town history, it’s marvellous community spirit with local groups passionate about the arts, sports and activities for children, local history and a fantastic range of community support.

As well as my work as a local councillor I have spent most of my working life in Further and Higher education supporting students with their learning and more recently working with local councils and councilors around the country to ensure that they lead and provide services to the best possible standards, listening all the time to the needs of residents.

If I am re-elected as your county councillor I will continue to ensure that I deliver hard but constructive messages to the county council and national government. About the help and services we need locally.  Above all I will continue to support local citizens in any ways that I can, as I have done in the past.  I will be available and as helpful as I can be whatever challenges people are facing with their own needs, those of their children and those of elderly residents needing special help to stay as independent as they can be.

With best wishes

Judi Billing