Mark Pearson – Your Liberal Democrat Candidate
Mark has lived in Claydon for over 15 years and knows the area well. He is active in the community running the local Scout group and was previously the Scout County Commissioner for all of Suffolk.
Mark is a business and marketing strategy expert and works with small and medium sized businesses across East Anglia so has a good working knowledge of the challenges that businesses face
“I am a strong advocate of community and bringing people of all walks of life together. When we work together, we achieve far more for the area we live in.”
Mark is the best choice for Gipping Valley on 7th May
Our roads and infrastructure
“Time and again we see much needed new housing built but the infrastructure to support it woefully lacking. We need to have a plan for Suffolk that is developed on both housing and infrastructure needs.
In my own road in Claydon potholes caused much damage in January and February. I regularly saw service recovery vehicles changing tyres on cars.
It is good that many of the potholes have been fixed: however, they were the same ones as last year because the fix was not robust enough to survive the winter.
Technology is evolving quickly and we need to explore better long-term solutions and make improvements to the processes that delay action.
Cost of living crisis
Global insecurity, whether Putin’s Ukraine war or the military operation started by Trump in Iran, has led to soaring oil prices and we will soon see rising inflation. The Liberal Democrats are calling on an emergency transport package that would:
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By doing so we will avert an economic downturn. Farmers’ costs will be reduced and food transport costs controlled. Similar action has been seen across the world. We would do it by using the £2bn of additional tax revenues that the Government has already seen due to the price rises. Keeping businesses operating and employment up will help down the line to pay this back.
You may remember something similar was done in Covid when the Government paid furlough to workers: it meant our economy kept going and long-term problems were reduced.
Energy Self-sufficiency and Net Zero
In 2025, Britain wasted £1,467,023,332 switching off wind turbines and paying gas plants to switch on1. That’s crazy! Energy supply contracts should be re-negotiated to stop this waste. They must give suppliers a fair profit to drive investment but not windfall gains.
A better equipped grid and better location use planning would lead to lower bills that are less susceptible to global oil and gas prices that we can’t control. (1 Source Octopus Energy).
But we must not allow pylons to proliferate without seriously considering the alternatives: undersea or underground. Cost is not the only issue!
In Suffolk we could support the path to a fossil fuel free future by accelerating the installation of charging points for electric cars and vans.
Our Gipping Valley community: Views From John Field & Adrienne Marriott
Voters of Gipping Valley have elected a Liberal Democrat to represent them for five of the last six County Council Elections. Let’s ensure they are represented well in the future Mark Pearson is the best choice for Gipping Valley
Our villages: Akenham, Barham, Bramford, Claydon, Flowton, Great Blakenham, Hemingstone, Henley, Little Blakenham and Whitton are inclusive, strong and proud communities.
They are certainly not part of a mythical broken Britain. Let’s ensure they remain growing, vibrant villages.
We need to deal effectively with challenges like balancing the economic benefit of the Port One extension against the visual, noise, environmental and traffic harm to the Gipping Valley.
We need councillors like Mark Pearson, a local man who has worked for the community, with extensive management consultancy experience. He will present your views and needs and help officers to high quality solutions and performance improvement.
Our top national priorities are:
- Voters of Gipping Valley have elected a Liberal Democrat to represent them for five of the last six County Council elections.
Cut energy bills: halve energy bills within a decade by investing in clean, cheap renewable power and making homes warmer and more efficient.
Fix the NHS and social care: Our plan would ensure everyone can see a GP when they need to and address the social care crisis, easing pressure on hospitals and tackling the never-ending crisis in the NHS.
Grow the economy by repairing our trade with Europe: We will tackle the cost-of-living crisis and get Britain growing again by restoring trade with Europe. A new UK–EU customs union would cut red tape for businesses and help fill the £90bn Brexit black hole.
Back high streets and local businesses: We will cut VAT for hospitality businesses including pubs and restaurants to put money back in people’s pockets, support local jobs and revitalise our high streets.