Congratulations are in order for Cllr Sarah Pugh, the West Suffolk District Councillor for Whepstead and Wickhambrook who has been elected to serve on the Conservative Councillors' Association Board, as one of two Non-Metropolitan Council representatives. The announcement was made at the CCA AGM held in Harrogate during the Conservative Party's Spring Conference.
Her journey into politics started when she was appointed Chair of the Wool Towns LEADER group in 2016, overseeing the distribution of two million Euros in business support for her area which covered parts of Essex and Suffolk. From frost fans for the burgeoning viticulture industry; no-till seed drills; farm diversification projects such as creating cafes, farm shops, butcheries, guest accommodation through to a temperature controlled workshop for an artisan chocolate maker - the range of enterprise behind front doors, hedges and in the bottoms of gardens was hugely uplifting but the challenges such small businesses faced to access grant support gave her impetus to stand for election to be able to speak up for rural enterprise more formally.
Sarah was the East of England representative on the Leader Exchange Group run by DEFRA and contributed to the Prince of Wales’ Foundation study into the challenges of rural living. Sarah currently sits on the National Executive of the Rural Services Network representing West Suffolk District Council and is the only representative from East Anglia on the Executive.
Sarah is a Member of the Conservative Rural Forum and is passionate about rural living. The disparity in central Government funding for rural councils as opposed to urban councils is unforgiveable and something she works tirelessly to raise awareness of.
