Next of our local council candidate profiles for the Ballymoney DEA, is Alliance’s Peter McCully.
Mr Peter McCully is standing for the first time on behalf of the Alliance party.
Peter is a native of Ballymoney having attended Dalriada School and played youth rugby for Ballymoney RFC.
Peter studied politics at University and after several years abroad he has returned home to the area
Having studied politics, Peter will be well placed in understanding the political landscape and the policies and procedures in the political arena, but will a lack of experience on the coal face of local politics or indeed the lack of a profile with the local electorate, affect the votes needed to secure Alliance a seat in the Ballymoney DEA.
A a young person himself, Peter wants to improve the local area for the better of the next generation in what he describes in his election flyer as wanting to ‘tackle the exodus of young people leaving the Ballymoney area’.
Often young people are inclined not to vote or don’t know who to vote for. Could Peter provide an alternative or another option for the local young people to get behind and vote for.
STATS
This is Peter’s first time challenging for a seat on council, but in 2014 Alliance ran Stephen McFarland who received 304 first preference votes eventually being excluded after stage 5, with a total vote of only 348.
MANDATE
The tag line of Alliance for these local elections is ‘Demand Better’ and Peter certainly plans to tackle this by Demanding Better for Ballymoney and wants to see ‘New’ and ‘Dynamic’ representatives to get the best out of the town.
Peter has set out the following 4 priorities if he is elected to Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council.
-Greater transparency and openness in council to allow the local electorate to be informed more in the decisions that affect them and limit the amount of ‘scandals’ that has surrounded politicians in the past.
-Young people are at the heart of Peter’s mandate as he feels that local youth have no options but to move out of Ballymoney as the options in the area are limited. If elected Peter plans to get council to get higher paid, skilled jobs and more housing which is affordable to attract young people to remain and work in the area.
-Protecting local business in Ballymoney and ensuring council does more to protect them and make the town centres ‘thriving communities’.
-And a cleaner community is also a priority and Peter wants to ensure that council address issues like dog fouling and fly-tipping and wants to see more enforcement as well as community backed involvement.
