Councillor Mike Eddy

Ever since 1994 I have lived in the Deal and Walmer area after moving back to Britain from Spain with my wife (a teacher) and daughter (now a university student). My contacts with this part of the world go back a lot longer having worked at Dover Castle and brought university students to Deal and Walmer Castles.

I’ve served at different times on town, district and county councils as well as being a Non-Executive Director for the East Kent Health Authority and then the Kent and Medway Strategic Health Authority. I continue my interests in the NHS as a governor of the Kent Local Involvement Network (LINk), the local health watchdog.

I am a trustee of the local Citizens Advice Bureau and of APEK (advice Partnership East Kent) which was set up by all the East Kent CABs to provide consistent quality advice across east Kent. I am currently a Governor of Walmer Science College and, until recently of the Downs Primary School (now a federation).

St Helena

28 St Richards Road
Deal
Kent
CT14 9JR

Tel: 01304 368330

Email:cllrmichaeleddy@dover.gov.uk 

The Labour councillors for the Mill Hill ward have regular surgeries on the last Friday of every month in the Eden Café in St Richards Church at the top end of St Richards Road, Deal. Occasional surgeries are also held in Magness House, on Mill Hill, as well as occasional street surgeries.

Dover and Deal Labour Party holds regular street surgeries attended by elected councillors and volunteers. Full details of surgeries are available through Dover and Deal Labour Party, 26 Coombe valley Rd, Dover CT17 0EP (tel: 01304 201199)

Or I can be contacted directly at: 28 St Richards Rd, Deal CT14 9JR (tel: 01304 368330).

It might be quicker to list what I’m not interested in, but I’ll try to cover some of the things that do interest me most.

Archaeology and history are high on the list of interests. I am a trustee of the Deal Maritime and Local History Museum and of the Dover Roman Painted House Trust, as well as being the Chairman of the Western Heights Preservation Society which is lobbying for the conservation of the largest Napoleonic period fortress in Europe. I am a member of both the Fieldwork and the Publications Committees of Kent Archaeological Society.

Having directed a number of archaeological projects in Britain and overseas, I am interested how projects are managed which, I suppose, is how I’ve ended up shadowing the Finance and Performance aspects of the Council’s work. From time to time I get involved in “peer review” projects, looking at how other councils operate – which is really valuable experience for my work as a councillor on Dover District Council.

The core of the area I represent, Mill Hill, is the old Coal Board housing estate and shares a lot of the same issues that affect the former mining areas of the North and Midlands.

A key issue is health which is why I‘ve got involved in various health bodies over the last decade and a bit. Another key concern is jobs and training.

Deal generally suffers from poor road maintenance and I am keen to see improvements to road safety, not just in the Mill Hill ward but across the district as many of my constituents have to travel to work beyond Deal. Blocked drains and poorly maintained pavements are also an enormous concern as the former affect safety and insurance premiums and the later restrict the independence of the elderly and the disabled.

Though schools have seen a lot of improvements over the last decade (some £5 million of new classrooms and sports facilities at Walmer Science College, for example), the cuts to the Building Schools for the Future programme and threatened closure of the Linwood Youth Centre of great concern to me.