Candidate Seeks Independence for Folly Island

A Folly Island resident is standing in next month's town council election under the ticket "Independence for Folly Island".

Former town centre manager and author John Barber is standing in the Bengeo Ward in a bid to become a town councillor.

Mr.Barber has delieverd a number of initiatives in the town, including the first Hertford Resident Parking Zone, Fun Days, the regular Farmers Market, a Continental Market, Behave Or Be Banned scheme and the Taxi Marshalling Scheme.

As well as serving as town centre manager, he has also been chairman of the Folly Island Residents' Association and Hertford Pub Watch.

If elected, he proposes to introduce a number of measures, including:

• A separate independent political ward for Folly Island
• A toll gate on Folly Bridge to pay for maintenance of the bridge and roads on the island
• A treadmill on the banks of the River Lea to generate free electricity for Folly Island
• Removal all town centre signage to Folly Island to discourage traffic with out-of-date mapping systems accessing the island
• Establishing a tunnel under the River Lea for residents to access the town centre tunnel network, should the bridge collapse

Mr.Barber also emphasises that the island does not have the economic or social problems of the town centre nor the landfill and rat-run problems of "Bengeo proper".

Other candidates standing for Hertford Bengeo include Alex Darr (Green), Veronica Fraser (Labour), Sally Newton (Conservative), Sue Dunkley (Conservative), Linda Radford (Conservative), Peter Ruffles (Conservative), Alec Turner (Labour), Tracy Turner (Labour), and John Wiggett (LibDem).