SIMON TAGG (CONSERVATIVE)

Simon Tagg has been a councillor and community champion for the Westlands since 2007 and has served as leader of Newcastle Borough Council since 2017. He is well known in Westlands for delivering his regular newsletters, carrying out regular pothole patrols and targeting litter hotspots. He campaigned for extra highway investment in the area that has led to more local roads being resurfaced, and grids and gullies unblocked to prevent flooding. Simon is committed to keeping council tax low and getting value for money for local residents while protecting front line services. He pledges, if re-elected, to keep council rises below 2%. Simon has led the council’s response to the gas stink from Walleys Quarry landfill. He is holding the Environment Agency to account for their failure in stopping the stink and has ensured that the borough council have commenced legal action against the landfill operator.

He has ensured that local green spaces are protected with a number in Westlands being designated for tree planting to help offset carbon emissions and to improve the local environment.