Paul Williams

I’m standing to be one of your councillors in Kinson, where I live. I was brought up in Kinson, went to school at Oakmead, and from there went on to study music at the Royal Northern College of Music.

I work in education and the music industry and have had a career ranging from performing across the world to teaching at local schools.

Public service

Throughout my life, I’ve always made it a priority to help people and my local community in any way I can.

• Provided sheltered accommodation for people coming out of the care system.
• Helped form the AFC Bournemouth Fans’ Trust.
• Helped raise funds for the new stadium in Kings Park.
• Volunteered for a range of charities, including as a trustee.
• Setup an organisation that offers free musical education for all.
• Volunteered during the pandemic as a volunteer for BCP Council’s #TogetherWeCan volunteer project and helped several local charities.
• Volunteer at West Howe’s Henry Brown Centre offering free music lessons for children on Saturday mornings.

Investing in our future

I was brought up in Kinson, attended school here, learnt to swim in the now closed swimming pool, attended local clubs in the community centres, and learnt my music, which I’m now fortunate enough to follow as a career, at Oakmead school.

From my time as a kid, I know exactly what it’s like to have been offered opportunities that gave me a leg up in life. I came back to live in Kinson and was shocked that many of those opportunities have now been taken away thanks to Tory austerity and cuts.

That’s tragic for today’s youngsters and it leaves me worrying for their future. We need investment back in youth clubs, activities, amenities, and schools, and I’ll passionately fight for it.

Investing in our future

On top of that, I’m appalled by the behaviour of the Conservative Party and believe they have fundamentally harmed our politics.

What we see nationally is echoed at BCP Council with dodgy deals, jobs for mates, outsourcing anything that moves, and atrocious behaviour in our townhall meetings.

This is keenly felt in Kinson itself – one of our Tory councillors has now lived in Manchester for over two years, still claims his full allowance, and has refused to resign.

His Conservative bosses at the townhall tell him not to resign out of fear of losing their control over the council. In my world, that’s corrupt and immoral, and we need an end to this kind of politics.

Kinson deserves better

I believe that the primary roles of a councillor are to stand up for our community, to help residents when they need help, to report issues to BCP Council, to advocate improvements to our area, and to make our ward a nicer place to live.

I’m ready to roll my sleeves up and get working for the residents of Kinson.