Bio: Gareth Kitchen

The kids say my bio is so me!

Gareth is well known in Wotton-under-Edge as the owner of Cookability. This job brings him into daily contact with the community and keeps him connected and informed about local issues.

He served on Wotton Town Council for three years in the early 2000s and feels that he can draw on that experience in the role of district councillor.

“I want our community and high street to embrace the changes that will be needed as the world moves to ‘net zero’ and I feel that I can help shape that future,” he says.

He would particularly like to encourage the council to publish more data about the economic health of the district’s towns. “Getting this data into the hands of local residents, businesses and entrepreneurs means that they could identify and take advantage of new opportunities. This simple, cost-effective change would nurture new localised economic growth, possibly in novel and unexpected ways.”

Originally from rural south Wales, Gareth moved to Wotton in 2001 and was later attracted to Stroud because of what he calls its “notoriety as a hotbed of political activism”. He is an active volunteer with Stroud Against Racism, and has been involved with scrutiny at Gloucestershire Constabulary, where he has excellent working relationships with senior officers.

“I’m well known for, and comfortable about, holding authority to account with quite dogged determination,” he says.

He is a strong supporter of proportional representation in elections, because the present system favours the main parties. “It’s just not right that Gloucestershire’s six MPs are all Conservative and white – and will quite probably be all male after the general election.”

He believes that much more decision-making power needs to be devolved down to the local level from Westminster, and is a supporter of Yes Cymru, the campaign for an independent Wales.

He joined the Green Party because of its ethos advocating an economy rooted in sustainability and pursuit of social progress rather than economic growth above all else.

Before moving into retail, Gareth worked in IT and still enjoys working with computers. He is an advocate of open-sourced software, believing it offers users more privacy. “Many of the societal problems we see today are rooted in business practices of tax avoiding American internet conglomerates and their intrusive surveillance advertising practices.” he says.

His hobbies include cooking and DIY. He is a long time Forest Green Rovers supporter and both his children were FGR ambassadors.