Once again I am astonished and disappointed to read petty and disrespectful comments from the outgoing councillor Mark Hood.

His behaviour in recent weeks towards members of his own ward as well as others has quite frankly been shameful. Especially as he is a senior elected representative.

However, my response lies with his comment in CTF towards Linda Holt and the Fife Conservative Party. "I expect she understands the Conservative Party have little to offer the hard pressed families of the Cowdenbeath area.”

Comments like this further show his arrogance and ignorance. Linda cannot stand in Cowdenbeath as I had already been selected as our candidate. And my party and I certainly do understand the issues in the Cowdenbeath area and I do have a lot to offer hard pressed families as I am part of one!

I live in Cowdenbeath with my wife and three children. I have a modest part-time job in the public sector with Fife Sports and Leisure Trust and I also run a small online store with my wife from home.

As you’d imagine, our income is very basic. Like many other young families, we survive month to month. We don’t have luxuries. We rarely can afford to go on holiday. My best shirts and suits are from charity shops!

From April, our family budget will be further stretched by a triple whammy of council tax. We live in a band E property, so we will see a 7.5% increase from that. We are all likely to see a 3% increase from Fife Council and of course the usual hike in water rates.

My wife and I sacrificed and saved for many years so we can move to our dream home with a bedroom for each of our children.

Our SNP Government bizarrely believe if you have a big house, you must have a big income and not necessarily a big family. We wanted to be sure we moved to an area with a wonderful community, plenty of activities and excellent schools. Cowdenbeath was our only choice, we never even considered anywhere else!

I am already on the campaign trail and have been receiving excellent feedback with my message about “putting people back in the heart of our community.” This isn’t some catchy slogan I dreamt up, this is my clear objective!

As councillors, we are your elected representatives. We are simply your voice at Fife Council and should be fighting for the needs of our communities before anything else. Even petty party politics.

I will not be engaging in playground squabbles and I certainly will not be showing any disrespect to any other candidate, their party or their supporters.

My approach and campaign is simple. I will be engaging with schools, businesses, community groups, families and children and listening to their opinions on how we can improve our towns and villages.

"As a Conservative I believe in local action by local people. They are the ones who know what’s best for the neighbourhood in which they live and if elected in May, I will fully support them and back them up all the way.

DARREN WATT,

Conservative Candidate

for the Cowdenbeath ward.