Meet the candidate: Leon Paternoster

On Thursday, 7 May, Ipswich residents will head to the polls for two local elections on the same day — one for Ipswich Borough Council, the other for Suffolk County Council. Leon Paternoster is standing for the Green Party in the St. John's ward, contesting one of 16 borough council seats up for election across Ipswich.

As an apolitical publication, we sent every candidate standing in the town the same five questions, and we're publishing every response in full, without editing, so that residents can hear directly from the people asking for their vote. No candidate receives more or less prominence than any other. This is what Leon told us.

Tell us a bit about yourself — who are you, what's your connection to your ward/division, and why do you want to become/remain a councillor?

I'm Leon and I grew up in the area back in the 80s – I went to Copleston. Me and my family moved back in 2019 and I mainly work from home here as a website manager. I'm an Ipswich Town season ticket holder and you might see me out walking my greyhound.

I joined The Greens as I'm frustrated with politics not even trying to solve what I think are solvable problems, and I like the idea of working on them locally. The Greens are all about that, and clear on how to take on Reform.

What are the three biggest issues facing your ward/division right now, and what would you do about them if elected?

State of the town centre, pot holes/parking and getting affordable housing. They're often linked.

Investing in local transport will make getting into town easier and reduce the burden on roads and parking, especially in roads close to town. It might help increase footfall as well.

I'd push for bringing the repair of potholes into council control (although appreciate this currently an SCC area): there are incentives for private companies to do the work poorly.

The town centre is a big problem, but greenifying it, looking at mixed residential and commercial areas and encouraging smaller, local businesses to take on empty units could help – we're open to all ideas in the Greens. I hear a lot of suggestions when I'm canvassing: it's something people want to tackle.

Private landlords must be held to account and we need to build more social housing, rather than poor quality, expensive, private estates.

Suffolk is in the middle of significant change — from the local government reorganisation creating new unitary authorities to ongoing pressures on housing, transport and public services. What's your view on how these changes should be handled, and what role do you see a local councillor playing?

The new structure's a good thing, I think: having two layers of local government is confusing and makes joined up policies more difficult.

Local councillors are there to help come up with solutions to local problems, and to oversee the executive's work. It's about consensus and pragmatism, rather than established party politics.

What do you consider your most significant personal, professional or community achievement — and what does it tell voters about how you'd approach the role?

I was one of the first employees of Suffolk Libraries, the charity that ran the library service for more than a decade and established friends groups for each library. I helped set up its customer service systems and its own self-service kiosks.

We kept all libraries open, and expanded and improved the service – we even opened new, additional "pop-up" libraries, despite Suffolk County Council constantly cutting the budget.

Most of the problems I mention are down to a lack of investment and a broken political system, but I hope my experience shows you can improve things through some creative thinking, working locally and being willing to just go ahead and try stuff.

If elected, how will you make yourself accessible to residents in your ward/division? How can people contact you now, and how do you plan to keep in touch if you win?

I'll hold regular surgeries and come to local community events. The Greens believe in going to out to communities, rather than waiting for people to come to us.

We also want to set up citizens assemblies so local people can express their views and we can make the big decisions together.

If you want to contact me now, visit https://ipswich.greenparty.org.uk/contact/ and address the message to me.

Want to hear from the other candidates standing in St. John's ward — and across the rest of Ipswich? We're publishing every response we receive in full.

Polling stations open at 07:00 and close at 22:00 on Thursday, 7 May, with results expected on Friday, 8 May. To vote in person you will need a valid form of photo ID — if you don't have one, you can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate at gov.uk before 17:00 on Tuesday, 28 April. The last day to register to vote is Monday, 20 April. For a full breakdown of every candidate standing across Ipswich and all the key deadlines, read our complete guide to the May elections.

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