The Totnes Candidates for Devon
Who are you going to vote for?
Totnes & Dartington Electoral Division
Publications like ours are ’embargoed’ from having political opinion in the run up to elections so we invited each candidate to send us 400 words as a statement.
We have yet to hear back from:
John Ainsley Charlton who is standing for Reform UK
& Rick Gaehl who is standing for Labour & Co-operative Party
Richard O’Connell, Conservative Party
I was born in Totnes at Broomborugh hospital. My mother was the daughter of Mrs Napper, which Nappers Halt in Staverton is named after and my father worked in construction and met my mother when he was one of the team building the hydroelectric plant on the Dart. They married and lived in Broompark, and my father then worked for Dartington Hall. When I was 9 months old my parents bought a dairy farm near Aveton Gifford where I lived until they retired when I was 21 years old. My older brother studied rubber technology and I studied mechanical engineering, firstly working in the marine industry and then in mould design for a plastics company. In 1971 my brother and myself started Bandvulc Tyres which was a tyre retreading company based in Ivybridge. We built the company up with warehousing and tyre fitting depots across the UK employing 450 people before selling to Continental Tyres in 2016. At the time of sale 75% of the UK’s groceries were delivered on Bandvulc tyres and one of our tyres was being fitted every 3 mins 24/7.
My wife and I moved back to Totnes 20 years ago, and after retiring in 2016 I have kept active helping to support the community in various ways. I am a passionate STEM ambassador for schools and colleges, encouraging students to consider Science and Engineering as a career. We are producing too many students who have followed a dead end path in further education which has not produced the career they were expecting.
I am chair of Bridgetown Alive and also chair of the Totnes Community Composting group where we are actively searching for a suitable site to operate from. I am also a Trustee of Totnes Trust who own the Town Mill and was involved in the restoration of the water wheel. I am also a relief driver for 
Totnes caring covering social events and hospital appointments.
So why chose me as your councillor?
1/ I have the engineering background to logically solve problems together with the business experience to understand finance and budgeting.
2/ I work well with councillors from other political parties on projects such as composting, Bridgetown Hall extension, the play Galleon refurbishment. I believe that once elected politics should be left aside and we must work together for the benefit of the community that we serve.
Jacqi Hodgson, Green Party
I have served as an elected Green Party Councillor on Devon County Council for 8 years, South Hams District Council for 14 years and Totnes Town Council for 16 years
At all three tiers of local government, the role has been far more than simply making the argument for the environment. The Green Party’s solid values of fairness, social justice and the right to a healthy and safe environment with prosperity for all of us, can only be assured if we put public health and wellbeing, people and planet before profit and greed.
Having been the Councillor who first put the climate and ecological emergency on the Council agenda at Devon County Council, South Hams District Council and Totnes Town Council in December 2018, I scrutinise their annual plans and budgets through that lens.
I have served as Mayor at Totnes Town Council, for a total of four and a half years. I was in that role in March 2020, when COVID arrived and took on the role of Chair of the Totnes COVID Response Partnership which I set up with the Town Clerk. That opportunity to ensure proper support, safe volunteering and work shoulder to shoulder with the various agencies that offered and made widely available supports for the residents of the town and surrounding parishes during the pandemic, has left a lasting legacy of a solid partnership of local groups that provide an astonishing range of care and support for local residents which continues.
My enthusiasm in being a Councillor stems from my strong sense of social and environmental justice and a lifelong passion for wildlife and the outdoors. In my private life I’m a Mum and I manage an organic smallholding with my husband where we grow vegetables, have replanted old hedgerows and a traditional orchard, have established an apiary and have set aside a lot of space for rewilding where the wildlife is now flourishing.
Becca Collings, Heritage Party
I’m standing for Devon County Council with the Heritage Party because I believe local government should serve the people , not silence them. Like many in our community, I’ve grown increasingly concerned about how decisions are being made and whose interests are being served.
I didn’t plan to enter politics. I’m a mother and a carer, advocating especially for those who are vulnerable or routinely ignored. My adult son lives with complex needs, and my journey into public life began when I challenged decisions made without transparency or accountability , including during the pandemic, when I simply read aloud the legislation the council claimed to be following.
For that, I faced hostility. The council leader approached me in anger, hand raised to strike, stopped only by a colleague’s intervention. Others called me abusive names a moment witnessed and reported by local press. That experience taught me that standing up for what’s right is not always welcomed, but it is necessary.
I’m committed to protecting Devon’s heritage, green spaces, and local voice. I oppose unjustified overdevelopment that disregards local character and resident needs. I stand for housing that serves communities, not speculative profit, and for policies rooted in respect for the people who already live here.
The Heritage Party is about real representation. We oppose ideological overreach and the erosion of local democracy. I want to be a voice for those who’ve been ignored , and a reminder that courage, compassion, and common sense still belong in public life.
If elected, I will not be part of the silence. I will stand up , for you, for your family, and for the place we all call home.
Lance Kennedy, Liberal Democrats
From Newton Abbot I joined the Devon & Cornwall police in 1969 retiring in 1997. My service was in both Counties predominantly in Bodmin. I served in various departments including Community, Communications, CID, Traffic, Licensing and 16 years on the Tactical Firearms Team. I received a Chief Constable Commendation for bravery in disarming a male with an automatic weapon, later proved to be a replica and a Judges Commendation for not discharging my firearm when threatened by an armed man.
Joining Bodmin Town Council in 2003, becoming Deputy Mayor in 2004 and subsequently Mayor on four occasions also Chair of the Nth and East Cornwall Patient and Public Health Involvement Forum. I campaigned for and established a veterans mental health unit which is part of the Mental Health Trust. I was chair of the Cornwall Blind Association and an executive member of the CALC and was elected to the National Association of Larger Local Towns Committee, also vice chair of the Regional Trading Standards committee and the Police and Crime Panel.
2009 I was elected to the Cornwall Unitary Authority serving as a Cabinet member for public safety, licencing, trading standards, waste and chair of the Military Covenant also the Fire Authority representing Cornwall at both the LGA and Parliamentary fire committees. Successfully reorganising the CCTV system and presided over bringing the Fire and Rescue Service out of Government intervention and a new fire HQ.
2018 I was elected to Tiverton Town and Mid devon District Council and again in 2023 serving as Chair of the District Audit Committee and my currently Chair of the Scrutiny Committee along with a directorship of the Devon Association of Local Councils.
With the impending Local Government Reorganisation introducing Unitary Authorities representation is paramount, and as in Cornwall seek to introduce direct links between the Unitary Authority and Town and Parish clerks to ensure greater involvement of local opinions. Planning, as an example, must have local hubs ensuring the involvement of local members. It is likely the number of councillors will be reduced with greater involvement and a reduced bureaucracy creating better opportunity to respond to issues under a single council.
Whilst appreciating I do not live in the area I will with local contacts, cooperation, regular visits and good use of modern communications use my experience to fight for the best results from the likely Government changes for the area and all residents.