South Oxfordshire District Council

Sue Cooper

Sue has lived here for nearly 50 years and has represented the area on the District Council for 25 years, so she has a very good working knowledge of our villages.
She was Leader of the Council through the pandemic and then Cabinet member for Climate Change and Nature Recovery, which are two of her strongest interests.
She is keen to continue this work and help residents of Benson, Crowmarsh, Warborough and Ewelme with their day to day problems.

David Turner

David has given more than 40 years to public service in the Chalgrove Area as a County, District and Parish Councillor. He has worked on many projects (including getting grants) which included the Chalgrove Nursery Class, the Children’s Centre, the Skateboard Park and the Youth Facility. David is currently the Chair of SODC and former Chair of Oxfordshire County Council.

He is a regular attendee at Parish Council and Parish Meetings in Berrick Salome, Brightwell Baldwin, Chalgrove and Newington and takes up issues on their behalf. David opposed the SODC Conservative Local Plan which
contained the Chalgrove Airfield proposal to build 3000 houses there. He has been a Chalgrove Primary School Governor for 42 years and also chairs the Five Parishes Bus Services Group to help to maintain our local bus service

Ed Sadler

Ed moved to South Oxfordshire in 2021 but has lived in nearby Buckinghamshire for the previous 30+ years. He has worked full time within the Nuclear industry in both Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire since 1992. He has always been involved in local politics particularly regarding developments which could have a devastating effect on communities.

Ed is primarily concerned about sustainability in the area and has a strong sense that where there is an imperative for new housing – that these should be for the longer term and fit for people’s lives rather than the endless identical estates of multiple units with inadequate facilities like ugly parking solutions, lack of storage for bikes, poor building standards and lack of green credentials.  He would also like to see community inclusion in future modelling instead of housing designed by big vested interests who don’t care about the longer term. As a member of Sustrans, he believes it’s important to provide the alternatives in active travel, such as the proposed cycle way through to the Phoenix Trail so that residents truly have a safe option for traffic free cycling, moreover that it is important that new housing has facilities that reflect this to allow residents to participate and live this lifestyle. Greater investment in funded public transport is also a vital area that he would like to fight for. 

Anne-Marie Simpson

Anne-Marie was elected in 2019 and is dedicated to working hard for her local community. She champions a holistic approach to local plan-making, with climate change, environment, health and wellbeing at its heart, and local communities influencing development in their areas through neighbourhood planning. Anne-Marie moved to Moulsford 32 years ago with her husband, training and qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, and raising a family.

Ben Manning

Ben has lived in the area for 14 years. His wife Ali is the former owner of The Wallingford Bookshop. Previously, he completed his degree at Oxford Brooke’s University, then briefly moved to America to work in publishing. With experience in public and private sector, from marketing for multimedia, to senior officer in local government for the education department, Ben now works as an actor and runs a production company in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell.

Andrew Tinsley

Andrew has lived in South Oxfordshire for 25 years. He is a Chartered Environmentalist specialising in sustainability of infrastructure projects. He has worked for government regulators, industrial operators and local authorities. He has professional interests in climate resilience approaches and in industrial legacy management. 
A keen volunteer, he supported the pandemic vaccination programme regionally. He provides professional mentoring to the next generation of environmentalists and is an active member of the Green Liberal Democrats. 

Andrew has worked on a wide range of infrastructure projects, but has become increasingly concerned how new housing projects have been poorly coordinated under the Conservative government. These have placed a strain on existing services and infrastructure, and the cumulative impacts have become a threat to the quality of our environment within South Oxfordshire.
 

David Rouane

David has lived in Didcot for over 30 years. He worked in the charity sector, most recently as director of an environmental charity. He previously worked in health and humanitarian organisations and was for many years a trustee of the South & Vale Carers’ Centre.

David went into local politics because he was tired of hearing people running down Didcot, especially when it was included in the book, Crap Towns. “I like living in Didcot and I want to make it an even better place to live. That won’t happen by accident, someone has to roll their sleeves up and get on with it.”

He was elected to SODC in 2019. He was responsible for introducing the Housing First policy to reduce homelessness and, since becoming leader of the council, has introduced a plan to deliver social housing that local people can afford.

Zia Mohammed

Zia moved to Didcot 2 years ago. He studied Business information systems at Middlesex University, has run multiple successful businesses, and wants to be a voice on the council for our minority communities. He enjoys keeping fit and is also a car enthusiast.

Hugh Macdonald

Hugh worked as a Consultant in Higher Education and taught International Relations and Economics at several Universities. He and his wife Annie have lived in Didcot since 2004.

Maggie Filipova-Rivers

Maggie grew up in a household dedicated to public service and has been engaged in politics from a young age.

Maggie studied BA in Economics and MSc in Political Economy of Development, at various UK Universities. Passionate about international development, when she had her young family Maggie decided to focus her energies on understanding the challenges and opportunities around migration (specifically forced migration). 

As her day job Maggie works with over 100 Local Authorities, supporting them in creating local refugee frameworks in the absence of a coherent, effective or compassionate such on a national level. Maggie believes local government can be an important driver of positive change and that much can be achieved when there is proactive and innovative local leadership. 

Over the last 4 years, Maggie has fulfilled the role of Cabinet member for Community Wellbeing at South Oxfordshire District Council which has included services such as leisure, culture and art, health and wellbeing, homelessness and rough sleeping, covid response, refugees, diversity and inclusion. 
 

Georgina Heritage

Georgina Heritage moved to Lewknor in 2015 with her husband Alfie. Since taking the opportunity of early retirement, Georgina now enjoys several volunteering roles. She also headed the campaign to save Blue Cross Lewknor, where she was a regular volunteer. Georgina loves south Oxfordshire and believes greatly in protecting the rural environment whilst ensuring residents have the facilities and infrastructure they need. Her career experience in running small businesses taught her to value the concerns and priorities of village communities.

Georgina has a strong sense of community and wants our villages to be sustainable and viable for future generations. She decided to play her part by getting involved in local politics.

Leigh Rawlins

Leigh lives in Sonning Common and is a passionate advocate for our local community. With a degree in Economics & Finance he is an experienced businessman, having held senior roles including Finance Director and Managing Director.  He has been a parish councillor since 2012 and a district councillor since 2019. He has developed a strong knowledge of Planning and took a lead role in Neighbourhood Plans and in opposing the threatened Gladman development of 245 houses north of Emmer Green in 2018. He has supported many voluntary activities and from the outset has taken a major role in the winning and development of the new 4 hectare Memorial Park in Sonning Common.
Leigh believes that we need our Planning to be focussed on our local, rural needs. He rejects the previous Conservative plans for a vast growth in population, degrading our special environment and adding too many 4+ bedroom “Executive” homes to our housing stock - whilst the share of 1-3 bedroom market housing was less than half what it should have been. By 2019 SODC’s finances were left in an awful mess - after years of neglect and botched outsourcing.
 

Mike Giles

As a local parent, Mike understands the need to ensure the community has quality local services, alongside sustainable infrastructure. Mike has worked at numerous not-for-profits, including water and education charities, and spent three years within local government. He is currently chief executive of a health and wellbeing organisation, committed to improving medicine accessibility. He also has experience as a board member for a mental health charity.
Mike believes that public services don’t always work in the interests of the people they serve, but that local government can drive change for the better. He is passionate about helping people achieve their potential and supporting the most vulnerable.
 

David Bretherton

David has served as a District and Town Councillor since 2003; he has also twice been Mayor of Thame.

David and his family have lived in Thame since 1984, where he is known for always putting the people of Thame first in his thoughts and action.

With others, David successfully fronted the Thame Remembers project from 2014, was a founding trustee of Thame Community Land Trust and is working on community facilities in Thame and the cycle way to Haddenham.

Kate Gregory

Elected 4 years ago, Kate lives in Thame near Lord Williams’s upper school with her husband and two daughters.
Kate has also been a Town Councillor and was elected to the County Council 2 years ago.

Kate has recently joined the Cabinet at South Oxfordshire with responsibility for legal & democratic services. Kate has provided grant funding for the Red Kite family centre, the SOFEA community
larder and Thame Drive Electric events.

Pieter-Paul Barker

Elected 4 years ago, Pieter-Paul has lived in Thame near Barley Hill school for 20 years and has two sons, who grew up in Thame.
As a South Oxfordshire Cabinet member, Pieter-Paul has worked on bringing council services back in-house from an outside company. This saves money and improves the council’s
response to residents.
Pieter-Paul has provided grant funding for tree planting in Thame, improvements to Thame Players Theatre and the COP26 climate action programme in Thame.

Katharine Keats-Rohan

Katharine has lived in Wallingford for 20 years and has been a Town Councillor for four years. Passionate about the environment, saving Wallingford’s heritage, and supporting community stalwarts like the Wigod Way Family Centre, and the many unpaid carers looking after family members with Alzheimers and other problems.  

"I’m livid about the degradation of all social and civic services and the impoverishment of so many citizens under successive Conservative governments. I strongly believe in democracy at the lowest level and will press the SODC to give more powers to the Town Council and Parishes to resolve matters at local level."
 

Freddie van Mierlo

Freddie has been the Oxfordshire County Councillor for the Chalgrove and Watlington division since being elected in 2021. Previously, Freddie has also been a Bix and Assendon parish councillor. As county councillor, Freddie has championed the 33 High Street project to bring the building into use as emergency housing, delivered traffic calming measures for Pyrton Lane, and supported the relief road for Watlington. 
Freddie specialises in health and environment policy, advising companies, NGOs and patient groups on new medicines. As a geographer by training, Freddie also has a keen understanding of spatial planning and ‘place-making’
Freddie is standing for election to South Oxfordshire District Council to continue his service to the community. Residents tend to come to him, because he ‘gets stuff done’ and he takes pride and enjoyment in doing this for residents.