I have lived on Bellhouse Road since 1999. I am married and have two sons. Although originally from Doncaster, most of my family is in Sheffield. My background is in accounts and I have also worked as a credit union development worker and trainer in community group accounting. I am currently a mature student at the University of Leeds.

I am involved with community organisations, doing voluntary work. One is Sheffield Credit Union, a large community-based saving and loans organisation open to everyone in the city. In the past I have been a founder member of an environment group. I am very committed to political and environmental change and have been a Green Party member since 1997.

I am particularly concerned about public transport around Firth Park, as a bus-user. There is a high dependency on public transport, through low car ownership and distance from the city centre. The service provided is poor, although efforts are being made to improve north of the city bus infrastructure in certain ways. Problems include the delays, and occasional gridlock, due to construction work which impacts on this area as we are virtually at the "end of the line". The use of cross-city routes (eg. 75/76, 47/48) only suits a tiny minority who happen to be going to a particular place on the other side of town, but mostly it means "double trouble" in terms of increasing likelihood of buses held up in bottlenecks. There is an inadequate service to Meadowhall (and therefore to employment prospects and further connections to Rotherham). The 37 bus has recently been removed, for example. Services to Sheffield in the evenings are too infrequent. The Green Party is pushing for Quality Contracts to reinstate council control over fares, routes and timetables.

This is a very urban area, and pollution problems result in poorer quality of life, and even a shorter average lifespan. Noise and fumes from the motorway are part of this, so reducing the need to travel by car would improve things. Police sirens and high speed car races at night are stressful. More speed bumps would be part of the solution.

The area can be depressing to look at, detracting from the many good schemes - to plant flowers etc. By and large, this is not due to individuals but to companies and corporate bodies who apparently have no sense of duty to keep the area tidy. The feeling that we live in a downbeat area is one that surely contributes to youth disaffection and further vandalism.

Many may say young people, isolation and crime are the major problems in the area. In fact unemployment and lack of activities are among the underlying root causes. Ironically even the closure of pubs has contributed to this, making the streets at night a lonely and frightening experience. We need more employers to be encouraged to set up in the area, in a 'mixed use' development plan.

We need to add to shopping areas carefully, not accepting more betting shops which just extract money from our community. These encourage gambling addiction and should be restricted to the town centre or 'leisure' districts, not residential areas. We need young people's activities - not only sports, but also awareness-raising and consciousness-raising creative and artistic projects. We need to foster self respect and enthusiasm in our young people, not simply complain when they are on the streets.