PCC ELECTION: Green Candidate Cleo Lake's Responses To Our Questions

Cleo Lake
Green Candidate for PCC

Somerset Independents is not standing a candidate in the Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner Election 2021. More information on our decision, and information on all candidates, are in our updated article here.

Instead, we are holding all of the candidates to account and challenging them to answer the questions that residents want answered.

We have asked questions to all 5 candidates. Some of the questions are the same for all candidates. The other questions are based on what each candidate has said in public.

All candidates were asked their questions over the most recent weekend.

Below is the FULL response from Green Candidate Cleo Lake. She was the third candidate to respond.

The below are the opinions of the candidate and NOT Of Somerset Independents.

 

Cleo Lake's Responses To Our Questions

 

The more recent questions:

There may be various reasons why Councillors fall behind or fail to pay council tax on time, I know there have been and can be administration errors but I think that all those in public office should do the best they can and when a situation occurs to act quickly to rectify it and apologise.  I am more concerned by the suggestion that a councillor had not attended Full Council for 6 months whilst still taking their allowance but note that they have now resigned. I agree that all those in public office should undergo a full DBS Check so yes I would support your campaign on this. 

Other answers

1. We asked Sue Mountstevens about her being an "Independent" PCC:

I have been supported by the Green Party and stand as their candidate.  I would not have had the resources or team support to have stood to make a difference otherwise.  What is unique about the Green Party is that as politicians we are not ‘whipped’. As a Bristol City Councillor since 2016, I have had the freedom to vote how I wanted to at Full Council for example.  Having said that I am inline with a number of the Green Party policies as I see them as more progressive in many ways. I would ensure that I do not bring big P politics into the role, working with the Police & Crime Panel which is cross party, I hope will be similar to my experience of being on Avon Fire Authority since 2017, where elected members worked on the whole cohesively cross party and across geographical boundaries to keep communities safe. 

2. We asked Sue Mountstevens about her appointment of John Smith as her Deputy PCC. We also asked her about the Nolan Principles, which all public servants are bound by. We said:

Knowing the scale of the issues faced across the Avon & Somerset area, I would be prioritising recruiting (in the right manner) a Deputy as soon as possible.  Outreach and regular contact with community groups and forums is really important to me, but I can't be everywhere all the time and so I would want a Deputy to share some of that front facing work but also I want to recruit someone who is experienced on institutional reform and budget scrutiny, with an ability to explain this to communities.

3.  We asked about the boundaries of Avon and Somerset for policing:

There are some significant differences in the geography and demographics between Bristol, Avon & Somerset. However there are some cross cutting concerns such as road safety, cyber fraud, youth interventions, anti social behaviour and drugs activity.  I would heavily scrutinize our resource, capacity , response and patrol strategy to ensure where possible that all communities have visible policing.  Police hubs and police stations are important and we must do all we can to assure people wherever they are, that it is important to report crime and that they receive an adequate and considerate response in a timely manner that justifies the council tax precept. When you pay for a service you expect to receive a service. 

4. Consultations and surveys have mixed results and engagement and I think they should always run alongside going out and hearing from people and gaining testimonials and qualitative data. Results can often be skewed to fit a particular narrative and at best only provide a snapshot of opinion. It would be important to me to interact with as many community forums as possible, encouraging more consortiums where possible that synergies particular groupings and also have a way of creating better dialogue and communication with local councillors so that we can constantly get a sense of concerns on the ground, what is working well and what isn't, and effectively monitor and report back.

5. We also asked Ms Mountstevens a set of questions about Coronavirus, the Glastonbury Festival and other large events such as at the Bath and West Showground. We want to see Somerset residents protected.Her response was very disappointing:

Our region is a hot spot for cultural and social activity which is one of the great aspects of our identity.  It has been an extremely challenging year or so but I do feel optimistic going forwards.  As a former events manager and St Pauls Carnival Chair, I am watching keenly the results of the gig trials underway in Liverpool.  We must ensure safety is paramount before attempting to return to how things were pre covid. I am also not in denial about the recreational drug scene and have concerns about the possibility of more illness and overdose following lockdown and so I think it is very worthwhile opening collective thinking on drugs testing for party goers for example, to avoid episodes of overdose and fatalities. Education on alcohol and drugs must continue as more needs to be done to mitigate the numerous issues connected to misuse. 

Regards 

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Cleo Lake
Green Party Police & Crime Commissioner Candidate
Avon & Somerset Police