Maidstone North East division covers North and East wards.
Ian is 65 and retired in 2009 after 40 years as a senior manager with a major contractor in the construction industry. He has lived in Maidstone for nearly 40 years with his wife and has two grown up children and four grandchildren.
He has been a County Councillor for the Maidstone North East Division since 2008 and has just been elected for his third term. He is also a Maidstone Borough Councillor. He has previously been a member of the Kent Police Authority where he led on roads policing, and was Chairman of the Strategic Committee of Kents Road Casualty Reduction Partnership. He has previously been Chairman of the Vinters Park Residents Association and was a Bearsted Parish Councillor for twelve years.
Ian is a trustee of the Howard de Walden Centre in Bluett Street, providing community facilities for various local organisations.
He is the Lib Dem Group Spokesperson on the Environment, Highways and Waste Cabinet Committee and, also sits on the Planning Committee.
Ian says:
"My priorities for the next four years includes fighting to improve the condition of our local roads and footways, protecting our countryside and green spaces, improving local community facilities and especially dealing with issues raised by local residents".
Around a fifth of working age people live with a disability. For many of these people one of the biggest challenges of getting into work is the journey to work and back home.
Disabled person's bus passes in Kent are operative during off-peak hours, from 9:30am to 11pm on weekdays. The pass is therefore too late for most disabled people needing to take a bus to work. However, in Wales, Scotland and some other parts of England, such restrictions do not apply.
In recent weeks there has been extensive media coverage regarding the use of glyphosate-based weed killers such as Roundup, following concerns about the potential harm to humans and wildlife. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the World Health Organisation's cancer agency, concluded that glyphosate was "probably carcinogenic to humans" and other more recent studies have demonstrated a detrimental impact on bee populations.
More than 150,000 foreign-registered lorries failed to pay the Dart Charge in the past year according to a Freedom of Information request by Kent Liberal Democrats, who are calling for a new system to be introduced as soon as possible.
Liberal Democrats joined a cross-party group of 40 MPs and members of the House of Lords calling on the Chancellor to bring forward preferential tax rates for company electric cars in his forthcoming Budget. The letter to Philip Hammond comes shortly after the Government scrapped grants for new plug-in hybrids and slashed discounts on other electric vehicles.
Highways England officials have been accused of ignoring the people of Kent after refusing to face councillors to account for the traffic chaos caused by multiple roadworks on the M20 and M26.
Highways England chiefs were invited to come to the Maidstone Joint Transportation Board (JTB) to explain to councillors how they are managing the various works on the M20 and how they will operate the controversial Operation Brock post Brexit.
The Government has promised that Thameslink trains will be running from Maidstone via West Malling to Central London from December 2019, following sustained pressure from Maidstone Liberal Democrats.
Today Rob Bird, County Councillor for Maidstone Central and Lib Dem Leader at Kent County Council, got official reassurance from the Department for Transport that the long-overdue services would finally start running at the end of next year.
Following the successful National Productivity Investment Fund bid, Kent County Council has been awarded £9.4m of Government allocation. This combines with £1.5m in developer contributions and £500k investment from Maidstone Borough Council to deliver a congestion busting improvement on the A249 Bearsted Road. This involves the widening of the carriageway between Bearsted Road and New Cut Road roundabouts, the connection onto the M20 and other works necessary to join other connecting local roads.
'It is unacceptable that a "double-whammy" has been dealt to rail passengers in mid-Kent' were words used by the KCC Leader in response to a question from Liberal Democrat Environment & Transport spokesperson, Ian Chittenden,
At yesterday's County Council meeting Ian Chittenden asked what steps the KCC Leader, Paul Carter, is taking to ensure that the Secretary of State puts Kent's County Town back on the rail map.
• Critical state of County's roads and pavements affecting all Kent residents
• The repair backlog could top £1 billion over the next ten years
• £77 million needed per year just to stop situation getting worse; KCC are spending less than £29 million
• Lib Dems propose spending extra £5m from reserves to use on the most urgent repairs this year
Kent County Council is asking for Government for an additional £4.6 million of 'Incentive Fund' support for highways maintenance. They need another £50 million just to stop the roads getting worse.
Kent's roads have suffered from chronic under-investment over many years. A small budget is spent patching potholes. But new ones appear and others get bigger every day. Other highway assets, such as bridges and drains, also urgently need attention.