Your Independent Councillor for Hook & Rotherwick
My name is Dermot Smith and I was first elected in the May 2019 local elections to serve as an Independent councillor for Hart District Council. My initial term was for four years and I was re-elected for a second term ending in 2027
I am delighted to have been elected by fellow councillors as the Chair of Hart District Council for 2024-2025 which means that as well as chairing the meetings of Full Council, I will be representing the Council at many civil functions and charitable events within and outside the district during the year.
I represent Hook and Rotherwick to make sure that the interests of both villages are served within Hart without having to defer to the overriding interests of a political party.
Before being elected to Hart District Council I had already been involved in the community in many ways:
- Helping the Hook Youth Council set up and operate an Internet Café for their members before home broadband was widely available
- Being a member of the Robert May’s School PTA committee for 8 years, including 5 years as Treasurer raising over £20,000 every year for the school
- Founding Hook Action Against Overdevelopment (HAAO) in 2013 which continues to keep residents informed on planning matters in the area and though time pressures mean I must now leave it to others to run the group, I continue to contribute help and advice
- Working with the Robert May’s School Bus Group in their ultimately successfully campaign to keep the transport running from Hook
- In 2018 I was honoured to receive the Hook Community Award from Hook Parish Council
I’ve lived in Hook for over 30 years and our family has grown up here, with my children having attended both of the Hook schools and also Robert May’s. My background is in the IT sector, and I have run a small business for the past 25 years, during which time it was the recipient of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
We continue to welcome new residents to Hook as the houses that were approved ten years ago are now all built. There should now be a period of stability because Hart has an up to date Local Plan. I was delighted to be able to vote to adopt the Local Plan in 2020 after so long with Hart having no valid plan in place, because it means property developers no longer have control over where and how many houses to build. It was also a pleasure to speak in the Council chamber in support of the Hook Neighbourhood Plan and vote for its adoption in the same year.
Serving as an Independent Councillor enables me to:
- Work collaboratively with all other councillors and groups without having to defer to the overriding interests of a political party.
- Vote positively for good ideas, no matter whose they are. For example the proposal to exempt young Care Leavers in Hart from Council Tax up to age 25, or the declaration of a Climate Emergency.
- Bring my business skills to the council, serving on the Overview and Scrutiny committee for 6 years, the Audit Committee for 3 years and last year also chairing the Licensing Committee.
I continue to represent Hook and Rotherwick to make sure that the interests of both villages are served within Hart.
Working as a Councillor
Some of the most important work I carry out is to assist residents who have individual issues, whether with Council Tax, planning matters or other problems where I can help find them the best assistance from Hart or other bodies. I join the Parish Council meetings in Hook and Rotherwick and help both of them in dealing with Hart District Council. Here are just three of the recent successes I have achieved for Hook:
- I was delighted to be able to obtain the payment of £20,000 of funding related to the Hook Allotments – funding that had been held up for more than 8 years.
- I managed to secure funding towards the installation of lifts in the Community Centre when the initial bid had lost out.
- I got a guarantee that the funding for improvements of parking at Grand parade would be kept available for an additional 5 year period when it was otherwise about to expire.
As an independent councillor I work for the interests of Hook and Rotherwick, not those of a political party at a local, regional or national level whose interests may not be the same as those of Hook and Rotherwick residents.
I believe that Hook and Rotherwick should be served by someone who has demonstrated their commitment to our villages over a long period and who has participated fully in the village community. I believe that I have shown this commitment and ability and was delighted to be re-elected to continue this role.