Forum Topic

Meet the Brentford UKIP candidate.

Dr Ryan Thomas CEng MIMechE.Follow me on Twitter: @ryanthomas2013About me: I graduated from Cardiff University with a degree and a PhD in mechanical engineering in 1999.  Following this I joined the British Army and in December 2000 was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst into the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.  I completed 9 years of service, which included two tours of duty, one in Iraq and the other in Afghanistan.  My first job upon leaving the army was in financial services, but since 2011 I have worked in construction in the water industry as a SCADA project manager.  I moved to Brentford in 2012.My politics: I believe that individual responsibility, self-reliance and consideration for others are the cornerstones of building a strong, vibrant and prosperous community which allows constituents to realise their full potential whilst the vulnerable are also protected.  The council exists to serve the community and not the other way around.  They only have power because we give it to them, and they only have money because we pay it to them.  For me the role of the council is clear, it provides services and an administrative capability in order to serve the community.    We decide what we want, and we pay our money to fund those activities accordingly.  If the council is not spending our money on services that we require, then it should give it back.My main concerns:Education.  As a society our prosperity depends upon our ability to develop our human capital - the bedrock for this is a solid education.  Are we providing enough school spaces?  Are our teachers of the required quality?  How do we support apprenticeships and further education colleges?  How do we support tertiary education establishments?  How do we help adults that want to re-skill or learn new skills?  Are our libraries relevant and if not what can we do to improve them?  To be clear: I am a massive supporter of libraries and believe they provide an essential public service, if they are ever under threat I will always fight to ensure that they are maintained.Activities and opportunities for young people.  After school clubs, sports clubs, Scouts, Brownies, Girl Guides, cadet forces, Duke of Edinburgh Award.  I believe that challenging our children, and exposing them to risk-taking opportunities in a safe and controlled environment is essential in developing their non-academic skill-sets.  If elected I would be a strong supporter of activities and opportunities for young people.Health.  Is the council catering for the community's needs and is it meeting its statutory obligations? What more can we do to make our roads safer for cyclists to encourage more cycling; is there more we can do to encourage people to walk more?Business and commerce.  Local government cannot create jobs but it can create the conditions that encourage businesses to grow, invest and recruit.  Our local businesses are our Crown Jewels and our golden geese all rolled into one.  What do they need from the council to make doing business easier? What more can the council do for them and why isn't it already doing it? What more can we do to encourage businesses to establish themselves in the borough?I believe in a smaller, leaner council and holding it scrupulously to accountWhat I am against: Crime. Anti-social behaviour.  CPZs. A bigger council. Regulations. Giving money away for zero return. Waste.The Lionel Road development and the re-development of the current Brentford Football Club site will clearly have a massive impact on Brentford in the coming years.  How can we minimise the adverse impact on existing residents while maximising the opportunities these projects will bring?

Ryan Thomas ● 4306d14 Comments

Most politicians give it the 'blah blib blab' and kiss babies etc and you never know what you get until they are elected. One thing is for sure Ryan does not have a hard act to follow if the attendance record of one of my current councillors is taken into account. We are even paying for him to get a qualification. Allegedly.

Keith Iddon ● 4294d

"I believe that individual responsibility, self-reliance and consideration for others are the cornerstones of building a strong, vibrant and prosperous community which allows constituents to realise their full potential whilst the vulnerable are also protected." Very commendable."The council exists to serve the community and not the other way around....They only have power because we give it to them...they only have money because we pay it to them...it provides services and an administrative capability in order to serve the community. We decide what we want...If the council is not spending our money on services that we require, then it should give it back." That's blatantly obvious.You go on to say how important education is - of course it's important. "Are we providing enough school spaces?" There are never enough. "Are our teachers of the required quality?" That's beyond your remit. And on and on, pushing the right buttons to make us react positively. Libraries: Yes we all support libraries, but few people use them. Are they an essential public service? No, they are a public service - but they need to adapt to modern times. I'm nostalgically attached to Brentford Library, and would be unhappy to see it closed - but I don't use it. It's comforting to know it's there - just as it was comforting to know that Brentford had a local police station - but I didn't use that either and it has gone now. What do you think about that? Perhaps you could encourage the council to provide a small police desk in some empty shop in the high street - free from rates with a spare bobby. That could win you a vote!And so on you go, ad nausea: Supporting young people with activities and opportunities; Health: Community needs. Cyclists: Making our roads safer for them. Walking: encouraging people to walk more. Do you want them to cycle or walk? - make your mind up - Brentford isn't that big and adequately provides for both. "Local government cannot create jobs but it can create the conditions that encourage businesses to grow, invest and recruit. Our local businesses are our Crown Jewels and our golden geese all rolled into one." Sounds like a sound-bite from the School of Extra Mature Cheddar - cheese and more cheese.What are you against? Guess what? "Crime, Anti-social behaviour, CPZ's, waste. Giving money away for zero return". Isn't everyone against those (except perhaps the people blighted by non-residential uncontrolled parking)? The fact is that your introduction says nothing innovative, nothing dynamic, nothing original, and is merely filled with stock politico-speak.As a Brentford resident for over 20 years, why should I vote for you? You may talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?

Paul Brownlee ● 4294d

Vanessa, if you think the railway service now is worse than it was under the dark days of British Rail, you must have a very short memory.

Richard Greenhough ● 4294d

Thank you Ryan for your response which is understood.However, referring to your comment "additionally, I don't see how access to their SCADA could be obtained." Surely, as a regulated Utility, the Local Authority can and should demand access to their SCADA?

Steve Taylor ● 4296d

Hi Steve, if this response seems a bit simplistic it is not meant to patronise you but is meant for people that may read this post not knowing the first thing about SCADA.SCADA = supervisory control and data acquisition - and it is a system designed to automate processes. So, where SCADA now does the job, people used to do it before. A sewage treatment works as large as Mogden will usually have a site based SCADA system as well as plugging into a regional SCADA system, which, for TW (Thames Water) is based in Reading.In direct response to your question, it is not possible to take action against TW for failing to action SCADA alarms, the reason for this is that an alarm may be generated for very trivial reasons so may not need to be actioned.  Additionally, I don't see how access to their SCADA could be obtained.If you wanted to take action I would therefore follow a first principles based approach which is:1.  What is causing the issue? e.g. Odour2.  What does the law and the Environment Agency have to say about it?3.  Are TW within the parameters allowed by the law?4.  If not, then yes, I do believe the Local Authority should aim to get a resolution for residents.If this hasn't answered your question, please let me know where you want me to elaborate.

Ryan Thomas ● 4297d

"but since 2011 I have worked in construction in the water industry as a SCADA project manager." Ryan - I have read up quite a lot on SCADA management but somehow the SCADA system operated by Thames Water at Mogden, whilst good at reporting, does little to solve the problems created by the site. In your opinion would that be because the Thames Water staff are not adequately trained or because they are using the system purely as a tick box monitoring regime? If you were elected as a Councillor, do you believe it is possible for the Local Authority to take legal action against Thames Water when SCADA data / faults are not actioned by Thames Water site management?

Steve Taylor ● 4297d

Lovely words but sadly rather detached from reality - Councils have to work within the confines of national legislation and regulations, regardless of what Mr. & Mrs. Jnoes who lives in the Borough actually want.Ryan, on the one hand you say you're against regulations, yet on the other you talk about the massive impact of development.    Central government has over the last year or so been relaxing planning regulations to a considerable extent, for example by allowing office buildings to be converted to residential units without requiring a full planning application (prior approval), without developers needing to provide affordable housing, health or education contributions etc.  You criticise the Lionel Road scheme (which I should stress I don't support either professionally or personally) but that did include a considerable chunk of financial contributions (admittedly not as much as it should have done but anything is more than an office to resi conversion done under the prior approval procedure).So straight away your aims/manifesto contradicts itself - all very laudable but if you ever did get elected you'd realise how unrealistic those aims are.

Adam Beamish ● 4298d

"Personally, I am a strong believer in the free market so would encourage private providers to set-up in the locality.  This would have many benefits, the main ones being competition and choice which would drive up standards and drive down costs, provide jobs and revenue and it would also alleviate the burden on the NHS providers."I think that's been the argument put forward when the utilities were privatised, the railways privatised, plus many many more previously publicly owned companies (and opticians allowed to be part of a competitive industry). All of which have just succeeded in costing Joe Public a bomb for rubbish service. But has of course helped large conglomerates and their various directors and shareholders make a bomb. God forbid anything like this should be allowed near our health services and holding us to ransom.

Vanessa Smith ● 4298d

Ryan - just to be clear are you suggesting that the solution is for private providers to offer GP services at an additional cost to users over and above the tax and national insurance that they pay? If you are then that really isn't a solution applicable to most people.

Chris Broadbent ● 4298d

Ryan,Thank you for the fairly detailed introduction. Although it reads very positive, there are a number of issues in the borough that need to be tackled and the required actions may have to be easy. In particular, I’d love to know your views on the two items you’ve touched upon in your introduction:1. Your are againct CPZ. Can you please explain how do you propose to handle the problem of increasing difficulties with parking for the local residents?2. Lionel Road development and the re-development of the current Brentford Football Club – how do you think the adverse impact on existing residents can be minimized?

Alex Shpinkov ● 4298d

Welcome to Brentford Ryan.Pop down & have a beer or three in the Magpie any weekend & meet the 'locals,

Kevin Farnan ● 4298d

Yes I have experienced it Ryan and it's supply and demand as to why. Massive demand for a short supply of appointments. There's no mystery. I sometimes think that all the money and tax I pay goes to pay for others to get good medical care, which is true but frustrating and unfair to some extent. I think the particular surgery where I am is great once you get to see a gp but there's the rub...getting the appointment is ludicrously difficult and seems to be getting harder.

Keith Iddon ● 4298d

Hi Keith, I will address the point you raise about property development in another post because I believe it to be quite a complicated issue in terms of the drivers behind it.In respect of health services, of course, we need to ensure that we receive our share of health spending and allocate it appropriately.  Personally, I am a strong believer in the free market so would encourage private providers to set-up in the locality.  This would have many benefits, the main ones being competition and choice which would drive up standards and drive down costs, provide jobs and revenue and it would also alleviate the burden on the NHS providers.The question I would ask though is: why do you think there a shortfall in the availability of GP appointments, and is this something you've experienced?

Ryan Thomas ● 4298d

Welcome Ryan. I hope you, and all the other candidates are concerned about the council's attitude toward the proposed rampant development of Brentford, the sale of proposed new properties to foreign investors and the shortfall in available GP's appointments, amongst other issues, that is already more than apparent without the extra numbers in population that we will have. I am aware that the NHS provides the surgeries etc. but LBH should advocate strongly on our behalf. The thousands of new dwellings, coupled with the  huge number of new flats already built and occupied will massively increase the council tax take from Brentford. I wonder how much of this will be spent on local services.

Keith Iddon ● 4306d