Dan grew up in Uckfield, attending Holy Cross School and Uckfield College, with much of his family living here. He has been active in Uckfield’s community life since he was 16, when he set up a successful petition to stop cuts to the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme in East Sussex.

Since then, he has served as the youngest ever member of Uckfield Town Council, elected aged 18 on a pledge to do what he could to reopen the Uckfield Youth Centre, which was achieved nine months later.

Dan’s focus has often been on the provision of facilities for Uckfield’s young people, like the Uckfield Youth Centre. He is now working to upgrade the play area on The Drive known to many as “The Cage”. In addition, alongside Uckfield Labour Town Councillor Ben Cox, he is one of the Founding Directors of the Uckfield Community Fridge, work he is particularly proud of.

Another of Dan’s top concerns is the environment. He currently works with Labour Town Councillor Angie Smith to help Uckfield’s transition to net zero carbon emissions as part of the Uckfield Green Partnership. The need for car ownership on new, out-of-town housing developments is hampering this effort and will worsen the issue of pavement parking, which makes life increasingly difficult for disabled people and parents with pushchairs.

Dan says: “I’m very concerned about the lack of Wealden Plan, which means that developers are able to get away with shoddy, badly planned housing projects. We need more houses, but we also need the affordable prices, a range in sizes and the facilities to match. Moving up the housing ladder is impossible when almost all new builds are three and four bedrooms!”

Dan loves meeting residents on the doorstep, so perhaps you will meet him soon!