Below is the latest post in our series of Q&As with election candidates standing to be councillors in Preston.

The election takes place on Thursday 3 May 2012 and we’ve emailed this list of questions or posted it through every candidate’s door so you can find out what’s beyond the name on the ballot paper and what they will do for your local area if elected.

Full name? Matthew Brown

Party? Labour Party

Ward? Tulketh

Occupation? Civil Servant/PCS Union Official

What has made you decide to stand for election? I want to use the powers I am given to make Tulketh a fairer place to live and give people more control over their lives.

What are the key issues for your ward? In Tulketh, the issues are affordable housing, maintaining a clean environment, making the area safer, tackling anti-social behaviour, making sure developers pay their fair share to improve the area and ensuring the fantastic voluntary and community sector organisations in the ward, like the Preston Trampoline Club and Scope, continue to flourish.

If you were elected, how would you keep your constituents informed? Tulketh Labour Party puts out regular leaflets and go on walkabouts most weekends throughout the year.

Anything else to add? The Conservatives and Lib Dems have cut government grants to Preston City Council by 43% from £19.4 million a year in 2010/11 to £10.5 million in 2013/14. Indications are that there are even more cuts to come after that.

Our manifeto for 2012 shows that Labour is the last line of defence against the coalition government. Across Tulketh and Preston we will:

Freeze cremation and burial charges
Keep rises in using our leisure centres at no more than inflation and freeze the passport to leisure
Increase the supply of affordable housing by requiring developers to provide 30% affordable housing on all new developments over 15 houses or more and look to build affordable housing on council owned land
Maintain spending on essential services on parks maintanence and refuse collection, for example
Replace recycling boxes with bins to encourage recycling
Investigate how we can use renewable energy to benefit the community
Re-establish a Credit Union to tackle payday lenders and loan sharks and provide affordable credit to all
Promote a Living Wage of at least £7.20 an hour across Preston employers
Expand the number of co-operatives operating in Preston including looking at establishing a bulk buying co-op to negotiate cheaper energy bills for residents

View a map below showing the other candidates standing for election in Tulketh and across the city.

View Election 2012: Local election candidates standing for Preston City Council in a larger map

If you’re a candidate standing for election, please send us your answers to the questions above along with a photo of yourself we can use to go with the piece. Please email it to contactus@blogpreston.co.uk as soon as possible.