At its November meeting, Mickleham Parish Council considered applications from two strong candidates to replace retiring Councillor Judy Kinloch and voted to appoint Kayleigh Hunter, a resident in the village for the last 11 years.

Kayleigh is a key member of Juniper Hall, where as a Senior Tutor she has experience in budgeting, risk assessments, and community outreach projects. Readers might remember her wedding photo in the September 2019 magazine when she married Jacob. The local Badminton club formed a guard of honour with badminton rackets while she also counts running among her other interests. She took part in the London marathon in April last year.

Kayleigh, 34, says she is extremely excited to take on the role and is looking forward to working alongside the other Councillors to make sure that every member of the community is able to say they live somewhere where they feel safe, supported and listened to.

She identifies the issue of affordable housing as well as traffic speed and noise to be the most pressing issues for the Parish Council going forward. “I believe that good communication and community engagement is key to being an effective Councillor and these are two qualities I will be bringing to this role,” she said.

John Lowes, a long-standing Mickleham resident and a GP partner in the Ashtead Medical Practice for 25 years, missed out on this occasion and Councillors regretted that they weren’t able to appoint both candidates. However John’s experience and knowledge should not go unused and it is hoped that he can make a significant contribution to the Parish Council with the many issues it faces.

Chairman David Ireland thanked both candidates for their interest and is looking forward to working with them for the betterment of the community.