Sara Loewenthal;

I’ve lived in Horsham for almost 15 years having moved down from West London where I grew up. I’ve worked as a professional musician since the 80s in many different genres including a reggae band and classical orchestral, both live and for TV. I’ve also been a proud trade union member of the Musician’ Union for over thirty years.

My parents were both immigrants, my father being a refugee from Nazism and my mother, a Windrush generation British citizen from Trinidad and I have a strong interest in social and racial justice.

I am committed to genuinely affordable housing having spent most of my life living in so-called “social” housing. There is a real need for more affordable rental as well as purchase property. We won’t get that by building huge developments which price out the average Horsham resident on a standard wage.

The current issues we’re facing with Tory controlled WSCC are their plans to close 32 out of 43 Children’s and Family Centres in West Sussex including 5 in Horsham district. These centres are much needed for many families and even more so in a pandemic.

There is the proposed retail park at Broadbridge Heath. With so many shops going out of business due to Covid, do we really need to spend £15M on a retail park for just four new shops?

It’s important to hold the Tories on WSCC to account for these and other issues and only Labour councillors are currently doing this and will continue to do so. We need more representation and I hope to be able to do that as your representative.

I have signed South East Climate Alliance Pledge and if elected will work with other members of West Sussex County Council Labour Group to put these into effect in West Sussex.