Congratulations to Stephen Burroughes who wins ‘primary’ style race for County Council elections
In an Obama style primary vote, Stephen recently won a ballot of conservative party members to become the candidate for the Framlingham Division at next year’s Suffolk County Council elections. “I am thrilled to have won the ballot, and if successful, look forward to being a ‘rural’ voice down at County Hall in Ipswich.”
Stephen was born and raised on the family farm in Chediston, and was first elected as a District Councillor to Suffolk Coastal in 1983 aged just 22, at the time becoming one of the youngest councillors in the country. While living briefly in Halesworth in the early 90’s, he served a term on Waveney District Council after having won the Halesworth seat. Within 12 months he became the conservative spokesman for Housing and Environmental Services. During this time he also applied to be considered as a parliamentary candidate and to become an MP, but was unsuccessful. He was doing all this while holding down a full time ‘day’ job in Norwich.
Stephen moved back to live in Chediston in 1998 and successfully won a by-election to Suffolk Coastal District Council in 2000, and remains a Councillor with Suffolk Coastal.
Stephen was elected Chairman of the Council in 2009 a role he successfully fulfilled travelling throughout Suffolk promoting the best that Suffolk has to offer.
Stephen says, “I want to evolve my political experience and work hard to improve the lives of all those who live and work in our beautiful county. I am a good listener, and I will try and use my skills to support our communities, helping to build a sustainable infrastructure and in doing so create the perfect environment to attract those who want to live, work and invest in Suffolk. I know that by working together with we can achieve this by placing our trust in local communities, giving them the tools and freedom to achieve their full potential, and through true ‘localism’ restore faith in local government and collective responsibility”.
Stephen informs us:
"My initial application led to my being invited for interview, and those that passed were referred to the party membership in a primary style ballot process. There were 4 candidates going for the Framlingham Division vacancy, and the results were announced in Framlingham on Friday last, I managed to secure more votes that the other 3 candidates put together, and was subsequently formally adopted immediately. If successful next May (and Framlingham is one of the safest seats in Suffolk) then I will run my District role alongside that of County Councillor, so I will be a kind of 'one stop shop' for all local government issues.