Meet Emsworth's new councillors and find out what they think now that they have been elected and what do they hope to achieve.
Grainne Rason 
Thank you so much for re-electing me. My ambition is to
continue to be a strong voice for Emsworth, and to serve the
needs of our residents at Havant Borough, helped by our team
of Green councillors, Reuben Mychaleckyj and Charles Robert.
Now that we have a new administration and four Green Party
councillors, we are in a much stronger position to influence
the strategy, direction and decisions of our council.
Our
first task has been to help build the coalition and to
develop productive, respectful working relationships with
our partners and officers within the council. We are also
building relationships with our Hampshire County councillors
and with West Sussex councillors on wider issues like
traffic and anti-social behaviour so we can get things done.
Under the administration, I have a cabinet position. Local
Government cabinets make most of the decisions which helps
to speed up the decision-making process. We meet once a
fortnight with the senior officers for cabinet briefing and
to prepare for the decisions we will need to make. My
portfolio covers Environment, Water Quality and Climate
change. Green councillor Netty Shepherd from Hayling East is
assistant cabinet lead on Climate and Open spaces. We are
very busy, learning what these new roles mean and putting
together strategies and policies.
Our
most immediate task will be revisiting Havant Borough
Council’s Climate Action plan to make it more focused and
target driven. The Environment Act 2021 will be bringing
changes to what we can recycle and how we will do this.
Since last year, Havant Borough Council has appointed a
Climate Change officer and an ecologist, meaning we have
more expertise on the team than before. There is a lot of
work to do to improve our recycling across the borough and
with negotiations with Hampshire County Council as to how
this will be delivered. We also have to work on the
Biodiversity strategy.
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is included in planning
as a way of creating and improving natural habitats. BNG
makes sure development has a measurably positive impact
('net gain') on biodiversity, compared to what was there
before development. As with most schemes, this is not
straightforward but it does create opportunities to protect
and enhance our existing habitats as well as creating new
ones.
We
have many challenges ahead and I and our team are excited to
take them on.
Main
Priorities: Protecting our Environment and Green spaces,
developing an Action plan for the borough for Biodiversity
and Climate.
Reuben Mychaleckyj 
Hi
I’m Reuben Mychaleckyj. I feel very privileged to represent
Emsworth on the council. We have a whole new team including
a fairly new chief executive that has built a new team of
officers over the last few years, and 17 new councillors
with a new coalition cabinet.
I
see us all as a united force to ensure residents are
represented and cared for in the best way. I welcome all
councillors new and old and after the new council leader was
voted in, I went over to the opposition to introduce myself
and express my wishes to work together. Tit for tat party
politics drives me (and the rest of you I imagine) up the
wall.
I’ve
been selected to sit on the Overview & Scrutiny Committee.
The role is to hold the cabinet decisions to account. It’s
about exploring all the options in a report thoroughly and
making recommendations that are grounded in reality, and
don’t waste officers time and money. It also allows you to
call in external bodies such as the NHS or Water companies
for public meetings so they can also be held to account.
I
want to be open and transparent, and bring local politics
into the 21st century, keeping you updated on what I’ve been
doing and making sure I’m easily accessible. As the Havant
Green Parties Social media manager I will also do the same
for our other Green Councillors. So follow us all on social
media to stay in touch. We are working hard and by following
us on Facebook you can keep up to date on challenges in your
local area.
Main
Priorities: Cleaning our waterways, Infrastructure, Engaging
young people in politics & increasing trust in local
politics.
Charles Robert
Hi
I’m Charles Robert, I stood as third Green candidate for
Emsworth and I was delighted to be elected. My tenure is for
two years, I
have less time to make an impact! However now that we have
four Green councillors this gives us a strong position in
cabinet and we can cover more committees.
I
sit on the Planning
Committee which means I also attend site visits. I
also sit on the Licencing Committee and can be called to sit
on the Licencing Sub Committee which makes decisions about
applications such as licensing premises and taxis.
The
first few weeks have certainly been very busy. Aside from
committee work there have been numerous induction sessions.
There have been invitations to attend a variety of
functions, such as the MIND information day, celebration of
100 years of the coming together of Warblington and Emsworth
church. Havant Big Green Week workshops including Volunteer
Archeology at Staunton Country Park, Bodging workshop in
Park Wood and meet the Havant Borough Tree Wardens in Yoel’s
Copse to name a few.
An
additional role is Tree Champion for the Borough. I have met
with the Havant Borough Tree Wardens, Head Forester at
Hollybank Woods and will meet with the Tree officer once
appointed. We need more affordable homes in the Borough.
However we need trees to play a more prominent role in any
new development and we need to safeguard our trees.
On
top of all of that is the day to day case work that comes in
from residents seeking advice, support, information.
Yes
it’s been busy but it is also exciting.
I feel privileged to be a part of a strong team of
Green councillors doing our best for all of you.
Main
priority: ensuring the environment has prominence and does
not take second place to short term economic decisions.
Follw us on facebookto see what we've been up to
