Alan Hilliar adopted as prospective parliamentary candidate for Surrey Heath

5.54.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sat 24th Oct 2009

Alan Hillier - prospective parliamentary candidate for Surrey Heath

In a well-attended meeting recently, local campaigner Alan Hilliar was selected as the prospective Liberal Democrat candidate for Surrey Heath for the next General Election, which must be held before June next year.

Alan is an experienced candidate having fought in three previous campaigns for various local constituencies. Alan and his wife Carolyn have lived in Ash, in the Surrey Heath constituency, for a number of years, where they are active members of St Peter's, their local Anglican church. Alan was a local councillor on both Guildford Borough and Ash Parish Councils. In his working life, he is a business consultant, focusing on helping organizations through the process of change, particularly in the areas of human resources and technology. For relaxation, he performs in a local amateur musical theatre group.

Thanking the meeting for his selection, Alan said: "I joined the Young Liberals at the tender age of thirteen and I was out on anti-apartheid marches in my teens. I knew then that it was important that I stood up for what I believed in. Change does not come about easily. It comes about when men and women of courage and integrity are prepared to stand up and be counted.

I've worked hard to persuade ordinary people that they have the power to change things. That means genuinely listening to what they have to say and helping them bring about realistic changes and solutions in their communities."

Alan is convinced that Liberal Democrats have an important role to play in an area that has been dominated by insensitive Conservative governance for so long, and will build on the already strong support for the Lib Dems in this area. In fact, nearly 30% of the electorate voted for the Lib Dems at the last General Election compared with around 25% nationally. In this year's County Council elections, 42% of the electorate voted for the Lib Dem candidate in Frimley Green & Mytchett.

Alan also emphasized that his approach will be to empower local people to take control of local matters that are important to them. He said: "I'd like to see the Liberal Democrats in Surrey Heath become a force for change in this constituency, bringing about a new style of politics - welcoming, not avoiding debate, and engaging with a much broader range of people.

But I also want to see principles of fairness and justice, of care for the poor and elderly, of decent education and of far greater care for our environment worked out in this constituency, founded on the principles of greater involvement of and greater power to ordinary people in our communities."