Driffield needs fresh ideas and a fresh approach. So what are our ideas?

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Wendy Phillips

Wendy has lived & worked in Driffield for over 20 years. Most recently she ran an Afternoon Tea cafe & events venue & she was one of the partners at Chocolate & Pink, a handbag shop in the town centre.

Before running her own businesses, Wendy was employed by Councils in Hull, Humberside & North Yorkshire as a Family Liaison Officer, Sheltered Housing Warden, Senior Care Officer, Youth Justice Worker & Child Protection Social Worker, before leaving the statutory organisations for the Voluntary Sector at The Church of England Children’s Society as a Children’s Rights Worker & finally ran her own Rights, Participation & Advocacy Project in East Yorkshire. Wendy worked alongside Senior Managers, Councillors & partner agencies and is well used to the way in which they perform.

Wendy’s main drive throughout her career, was to ensure the clients voice was heard, listened to and acted upon. Wendy believes people have a right to be consulted, to be able to participate and make informed choices about decisions which affect their lives.

Wendy has been a Carer for both her own Mother and her Mother in Law who have lived with her family for over 10 years, she knows the battles Carers have when trying to ensure their care is  the best their relatives can expect.

Wendy decided to campaign to become a Councillor at East Riding as she has experienced making tough decisions around heating, bills and food in her chosen careers and in her own life, she wants to use that experience and voice to stand up for Driffield. She has the drive, determination & confidence needed to be an East Riding Councillor with Driffield at the heart of all her actions. She is particularly interested in looking at Social Care for older people, youth provision, health provision.

“We have so many new families living in Driffield who were promised Medical Centres & Dentists, sadly that infrastructure has yet to be developed”. Wendy wants to support those families struggling with this lack of services in our rapidly expanding town.

What are our ideas for the future of Driffield?

Tom Watson

Tom has lived both in Driffield and in villages surrounding Driffield all his life. He has worked in the public and private sector and now works in Driffield running his coffee shop. He has been honoured to have been sat on Driffield Town Council since 2018. This experience along with talking to his customers on a daily basis gives him a great insight into the challenges Driffield face.

“I speak to people every day about Driffield in the shop, people really care about the town and are worried about its future. The number one issue that I hear is the state of our amenities, they haven’t kept up with the huge growth in the town. People are also very worried about the recent closure of pubs, cafes and shops in the town centre. Driffield needs major help, it’s time East Riding Council put us on a level playing field with Beverley. We have huge untapped potential, for example, the canal has been closed for over 30 years; think of the boost to the town if it were reopened.

What are our ideas for the future of Driffield?

Richard Phillips

Richard moved to Driffield with his family 23 years ago and never looked back! On leaving school, his first job was in construction, travelling to all parts of the UK building cooling towers for power stations. Later he developed and managed a manufacturing facility in Hull making plastic cooling media for the UK power generation industry. It was whilst working in Hull that Richard met his wife, Wendy.

More recently, Richard retrained as a mathematics teacher and, after graduating, taught in inner-city secondary schools, adult education and delivered teacher training.

During the last few years, Richard and Wendy have stepped back from work commitments in order to care for their elderly mums.

Richard was a keen hockey player in his younger days in Doncaster, Hull and eventually Driffield, mainly as a coach to the young players.

Richard has a wealth of personal experience to robustly represent the people of Driffield and Rural’s interests on the council.

Richard joined the Labour Party immediately after the last General Election anticipating the very worst times ahead for the country and his children’s futures.

“I could not reasonably have expected quite how bad things have become but I am consoled that we appear to be on the cusp of a Labour Government which will go some way to undo the immense damage to our way of life by the Tories.”

What are our ideas for the future of Driffield?