Meet the SALC Board

Cllr. Andrew Lewis

Chair of the SALC Board and representative of the East Suffolk Area Forum.  Andrew has been a parish councillor since 2018 and joined the SALC Board to help support the work they are doing to help town and parish councils be the best they can be.  His professional background is supply chain, project management and management consultancy.  Andrew has seen for himself how the services, advice and support from SALC can make a huge difference to parish councils.  As an active member of the board he believes the most important aspect is not to be afraid to voice your own opinion whilst being very open to listening to the views of others around you and coming to a consensus view.   He finds the role very rewarding and always comes away from SALC meetings with new knowledge and valuable insights.

Cllr. Julie Bell

Vice Chair of the SALC Board and representative for the Mid Suffolk Area Forum.   Julie moved to Suffolk in 2016 from Hertfordshire where she served as a District Councillor for 8 years.  She was co-opted as a parish councillor onto Gislingham Parish Council in 2018 and currently Chair.  Julie's main interests are planning and has been focussing on the process of developing a neighbourhood plan.  Julie applied for a place on the SALC Board as she felt her previous experience and knowledge in local government would be of benefit.  

Cllr. William Sargeant

William has been a co-opted parish councillor in Botesdale since 2004 and represents the Mid Suffolk area on the SALC Board.   He has always valued the SALC training and development offer and area forums as it ensures he is kept up to date with local and national developments.   William has also been Chair of the SALC Board and provided support and assistance to the team with a review of their governance arrangements in 2018 resulting in greater alignment, clarity and focus to business planning and management.

Cllr. Maggie Dunn

Chair of Great Barton Parish Council, Maggie has been a parish councillor for over 10 years and a representative of West Suffolk Area Forum.  Previously a police officer for 30 years before moving onto the Home Office and then the Dept, for Work and Pensions, she is now retired and enjoys time with her family including two rescue dogs, Buddie and Lulu.  She has a particular interest in the countryside and ensuring there is a legacy for future generations which is particularly relevant for Suffolk as a mainly rural county.

Cllr. Helen Davies

Helen first got involved in our local parish council as a result of being involved in a planning application.  Reducing her work commitments enabled her to contribute to her local community and utilise some of her skills which includes IT.   In 2019 Helen became Chair of Sproughton Parish Council and has developed a lot of knowledge about planning and sustainable development in view of the parishes proximity to Ipswich.   This has now expanded into environmental issues and the challenge of balancing the need to provide housing alongside adequate infrastructure and economic opportunities.  Working closely with SALC has provided Helen with access to guidance and expertise and has highlighted the importance of training and benefits of ongoing professional development including support for clerks who fulfil a vital role.  She is keen to see easy to access guidance for councillors to help them through the annual calendar of events and to support SALC in their ambition to collaborate with SLCC for the benefit of the sector. 

Cllr. Mark Valladares

Mark is currently Chair of Creeting St. Peter Parish Council having been brought out of retirement in 2016 by his now fellow councillors for reasons best described by the phrase "process matters."  He represents Mid Suffolk area on the SALC Board having been elected because no one else wanted to do it and it was a job that needed doing.  Mark's professional life revolves around stress-testing the accounts and records of small and medium sized enterprises for a major government department and so his particular interest is governance and finance.  As part of his stance on governance and, perhaps because he is half-Indian, he also takes diversity issues seriously, based on the theory that organisations are best equipped by considering the widest range of perspectives in their decision making.

Cllr. Mark Clements

Mark represents Mid Suffolk Area Forum on the SALC Board. Mark is a parish councillor for Old Newton and has held the position of Vice Chair for the last 4yrs.  Mark has represented the village at SALC meetings since he became a councillor 13 years ago. 

Retired 2yrs ago Mark have been “working” at Stowmarket’s Menshed on community projects and volunteered for the local Good Neighbour scheme over the last 14yrs. 

Lesley Beevor

Lesley represents East Suffolk Area Forum on the SALC Board.  She is Town Clerk at Southwold Town Council and member of the Society of Local Clerks.  This brings significant experience and an important operational and practical technical perspective to the SALC Board and is a contribution we both respect and value. Lesley is also one of SALC's trainers delivering councillor and clerk core training on our behalf. 

Cllr. Rhys Jarvis

Rhys was elected through the SALC AGM. 

Rhys is a Chartered Engineer by profession having spent the latter part of his career managing a number of international businesses principally in the transport sector.

He came into Local  Government over six years ago as an Independent Member and Vice Chair of South Yorkshire Passenger Transport’s Audit & Risk Committee and then becoming the Independent  Vice Chair of South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority Audit Governance and Risk Committee.

 

More directly he was elected a town councillor in Southwold in May and is Chair of their Finance  Committee. In addition he is also an Independent member of Brent Council’s Audit and Standards Advisory Committee.

 

Living in Reydon for the last decade and now retired, Rhys has actively supported educational development in the County and is a Trustee of the Consortium Trust based in Halesworth which oversees a number of local primary schools.

 

A previous Board Member and now Advisory Council Member for German Industry UK, he has  been involved in lobbying UK Government and fostering activities to develop and expand trading links between the two Countries.

Needless to say Rhys is looking to bring multinational business experience to SALC and its members in light of Suffolk’s expanding commercial overseas trade.

Cllr. Jane Steer

Jane represents West Suffolk Area Forum on the SALC Board. Jane is the vice-chair of Barrow-cum-Denham Parish Council, one of the more western villages in Suffolk.

Jane has been a Parish Councillor for 2 years and has recently retired. Jane spent most of her working life in Further Education, in both management roles and in lecturing; specifically in Business and Procurement education. More latterly she had her own business which offered Procurement qualifications to a wide variety of people.

Having lived in Barrow for most of her life, Jane is keen to ensure that children of the village can stay in the village as they grow up, rather than having to find cheaper housing elsewhere; to this end she hopes to be able to influence the type of development moving forward.

Jane has joined SALC in order to facilitate ideas to and from the Parish Council, as she feels that the Parish Council can easily become insular and isolated. 

Jane Cryer

Jane represents Babergh Area Forum on the SALC Board. Ihave a background in administration and management, having been Assistant to the D and Chairman, then taking on the role of Membership Officer, at East of England Tourism (formerly East Anglia Tourist  Board), before being appointed Partnerships Manager until I left in 2010; this latter role involved working closely with both commercial and local government partners. I have been a Parish Clerk since May 2011 which I joined Layham Parish Council. In 2012, I also become clerk to Raydon Parish Council, until my resignation in December 2022 - I remain clerk to Layham. I gained CiLCA in 2015. I look forward to being more involved with both the Forum and the SALC Board, and hope I can bring an understanding of the day-to-day issued and problems facing parish councils. The role of Parish Councils is evolving and I welcome the opportunity to be involved with this process.

 

Neil Coleby

Neil represents East Suffolk Area Forum on the SALC Board.  He is Parish Clerk for Kessingland Parish Council and a member of the Society of Local Clerks.  He was first involved in local government in the 1980’s in Thetford prior to working for the M.O.D.  He was also elected to the new Lowestoft Town Council when it was formed and was involved in the development of the council as one of the largest new councils in the country.  Neil has a local government and civil service career history but spent the last 16 years before becoming a clerk, working nationally organising and tutoring in lifelong learning in the trade union movement.