Kimberly Barrett - Milton Ward

Kimberly is our candidate for Milton Ward in the 2021 local elections.

Biography:

I live on Posbrooke Road in Milton with my husband, my 2 boys and my sausage dog!
I have lived in Milton for the majority of my life and was born in St Mary’s Hospital. My family have been in Milton for 4 generations now (My grandparents, my parents, myself and now my children) and I love living here. My grandfather was in the Navy and my other grandfather worked in the dockyard as a welder.
I attended local schools in Milton and my children attend Meon Infant School and Meon Junior school.
I studied and gained a degree in Maritime Archaeology from Bournemouth University because of my love of the Mary Rose and Portsmouth’s rich maritime history.
I worked in the renewable energy industry for several years before I had my children so am very passionate about green schemes and renewable energy. It is also why I understand the climate emergency we are facing and feel that we need to do anything and everything we can to make this planet better for our children and for future generations.
I founded and have run the Keep Milton Green group on Facebook and Twitter for almost 7 years. It has kept residents up to date with any planning applications and activities in the area and has become a real community group.
I work at Milton Village Hall in the heart of the community and enjoy working with residents of all ages.
I am a committee member on both the Milton Neighbourhood Forum and the Milton Neighbourhood Planning forum and am a committee member of the Friends of Beddow Library. I am also a committee member of the parent’s group at Meon Infant School that raises additional funds for the school.
I organise and run the Milton Jumble trail and I have helped to organise the Milton Market Halloween celebrations and I also volunteer on the day. During the various lockdowns, I have organised the Halloween Pumpkin trail and the Winter Windowland trail across the city to try to cheer people up.
I have attended many full council meetings and planning committees and have frequently spoken out about overdevelopment, lack of infrastructure, loss off trees, air quality issues, the environment and the loopholes around affordable housing. I have also represented residents of Milton by making deputations on their behalf at various meetings.
I already have a good working relationship with the Milton Councillors as we have been working together for a number of years on a variety of different issues eg Aquind, the St James Hospital development, Kingston Prison, Christmas lights at Milton market, casework community events etc.
I already do casework for residents and have got tree’s planted, drains fixed, roads repaired and helped signpost residents to various organisations when they have needed help.
There have been a lot of development applications in Milton and the surrounding areas in the past and there are a lot of large ones coming in the near future, I feel it is important to have someone representing the area who already understands planning processes and laws, something that I have a lot of knowledge about.
I have not just turned up at election time to try to get you to vote for me and I have a positive record of action over the last 7 years to prove that shows that I do work all year round and not just a few months before the election. I will always do all I can for the residents, for my children and for future generations to make sure that our beautiful, vibrant and community minded area thrives, grows and continues to improve.