About Stephen West
Stephen West is your representative on Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council and Tadley Town Council for the ward of Tadley North.
He was first elected in June 2003 at a time when our Borough Council was planning mass development in Tadley while wasting our money on various projects in Basingstoke. He decided that "enough was enough" and mounted a campaign to put a halt to the planned development on Tadley's green field sites. The public supported this campaign that showed the Council that Tadley did not have the infrastructure to support new housing and that the people were not prepared to pay the Council Tax for a town while receiving the amenities and services for a village. As a result of the success of this campaign, the residents of Tadley North elected him as their Councillor.
Stephen was born and brought up in North Lincolnshire. After studying Computer Science and spending two years teaching computer skills to young people, he moved to the South East and eventually came to Tadley in 1997 after marrying Suzanne who he met after moving to Reading to take up a job for a computer network consultancy. Having worked as a director of a telecommunications company for 4 years, he then trained as a journalist and was published in technical journals as well the mainstream press including the Reading Chronicle. However, he put aside his journalistic ambitions in 2005 to become a consultant to a national telecommunications company specialising in satellite communications where he remains today.
Before becoming interested in politics, Stephen served as a Special Constable first in Essex Police and then with Thames Valley. It was during that time that he learn't about the real problems facing communities and how years of poor policy making by central government had caused a breakdown in society with all of the problems that go with it such as family breakdown, lack of school discipline, drugs, violence and child poverty. By chance, he was invited to a drinks reception with Baroness Thatcher in 1999 and it was a chance meeting with William Hague who at that time was the leader of the Conservative Party that sparked his interest in politics and which led to him joining the Conservatives in 2000.
After joining the Conservative Party, he worked part-time developing ideas for and growing William Hague's Conservative Network (a now defunct organisation aimed at connecting business people with the party). After working at Conservative Central Office during the General Election, he was introduced to the Conservatives in Tadley and was persuaded to join the local branch and help out. He soon became interested in local campaigning and was forced to resign from the Special Constabulary when he declared his intention to fight the incumbent Liberal Democrat Councillor, Jo Slimin at the May 2002 local elections. He was defeated convincingly by the Liberal Democrats but won the following year after exposing the poor value-for-money the Council was delivering and made a stand against mass housing development.
In May 2007, he was re-elected with a larger majority after Jo Slimin, the Liberal Democrat Town Councillor unsuccessfully challenged him for the seat. Following the boundary changes in 2008 forcing all-out elections in the Borough, Stephen was re-elected once again despite another strong challenge by the LibDem's Jo Slimin. He served as part of the administration on Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council as vice-chairman of Economic and Community Development until May 2008. He also takes an interest in national politics, regularly attending Conservative conferences and contributing to the policy debate.
Stephen lives in the North of Tadley with Suzanne who is a teacher and their 5 year old adopted son. When not working, he enjoys sailing, SCUBA diving and skiing. His favourite TV programmes are Dr Who and The Bill.