Congleton Town Council by-election

Hello, I’m Dr Abby Smith

Please vote for me to be your Town Councillor for Congleton North Ward, 21st May 2026

I am thrilled to be standing in the Congleton by-election for the Equality Party. I believe that you need to be the change you want to see in the world, and I am determined to help Congleton be a place where no-one is left behind and everyone can thrive.

Will you vote for me?

I have lived here in Congleton with my family for 15 years. I love this town and its people and I am determined to make it even better for everyone.

I’m an analytical environmental scientist at a university and work on the impact of the environment on human health. I’ve already offered my skills as part of a Congleton Partnership initiative to track the quality of the River Dane.

Both at the university and in Congleton I have worked hard for people’s rights and to improve lives. I have led and participated in a number of community groups and volunteered for years to help make life better for people in Congleton.

I’m currently the Co-Chair of Congleton Pride and I organise events, give talks and run campaigns to help make our town more inclusive and welcoming for all.

I also sit on the Congleton Partnership Oversight Committee, which supports many charities and voluntary groups in town.

With these experiences I will ‘hit the ground running’ as your new Town Councillor.

I am a proven problem-solver and I believe strongly in ‘nothing about us without us’, working with local residents to solve their problems and improve our town.

My priorities for Congleton Town Council are:

• Campaign for truly affordable housing
• Support sustainable development that protects our green spaces
• Champion better SEND provision and accessibility
• Tackle violence against women and girls, and hate crime
• Help combat domestic violence through prevention, education and protection
• Work for a connected Congleton with better bus, train, foot and cycle networks
• Support trans rights as human rights. None of us are equal until we are all equal
• Show that teamwork, not division, is the path to a better Congleton for all.

Please get in touch if you have any questions: AbbySmith@EqualityParty.org.uk

Did you know that Congleton already has two hard-working Equality Party Town Councillors, Susie Mead and Kay Wesley? They’ve done an amazing job and I would love to join them.

Their ideas and projects have been supported cross-party, but many of them would not have been started without your Equality Party Councillors.

They have tackled the cost of living crisis by setting up the Bromley Farm Hub, led by Susie. This provides free food grown on the shared community-run Friendship Garden. It also has a Residents Forum improving housing, a free lunch club for isolated people, a domestic abuse support group, a stay-and-play for young families, a women’s mental health group, an addition recovery group, cooking and exercise classes, and more. This would not exist without your Equality Councillors.

Another initiative started by Kay is the Equal Access Advisory Group, a team of disabled people who are helping make our town more accessible for all. All our major events now have accessibility guides, many shops have signed up to our Disability Welcome Scheme, and the Town Council itself is Disability Confident Committed.

Domestic abuse and sexual violence are among the most common crimes in Congleton, but had never been discussed in the Town Council before an Equality councillor was elected. Now the Council is White Ribbon Accredited showing its commitment to eradicating gender-based violence, and works with the police and other authorities to combat it. Arrest rates have increased. Kay works closely with both high schools and primary schools running workshops to protect young people from the harms of misogyny and cyber-bullying.

Kay and Susie are key members of the Community Safety group, working with police and other agencies to tackle shoplifting, street and drug crime, antisocial behaviour and road safety. This partnership working has led to Congleton being one of the safest towns in Cheshire. 

Susie chairs the Regeneration group which helps improve our town centre, and she sits on the InBloom group and Environment committee, driving biodiversity as well as making Congleton beautiful. Kay brought climate emergency proposals forward and helped deliver the ‘Sustainable Living in Congleton’ residents programme. On the Planning Committee, Kay has objected to building on our green spaces and to the loss of important trees. She even made a developer replace trees lost due to their work. 

Kay has lobbied for better bus services, and we now have the new 93a/c service. She’s also worked with Congleton Sustainable Travel and Cheshire East Council to improve cycle and footpaths.

Kay has also engaged with the young people of Congleton, setting up Town Hall Tours and initiating the new Youth Council.

Read Kay and Susie’s Councillor blogs to learn more. They are the only councillors that document all their work and their meeting attendance, which is the among the highest on the Town Council. I will do the same.

With 3 of us elected we can do much more!

The Equality Party does not have the big budgets and rich donors of the national parties. We are ordinary people doing an extraordinary thing.

Please support us to bring even more equality to Congleton so that everyone can thrive.

Thank you.

Here is my election leaflet:

About the Equality Party

Equality Party policies include

• Universal free childcare
• Affordable housing – built for people, not developers
• Low-cost, reliable and frequent public transport
• Towns and transport that are fully accessible for all
• Taxing wealth
• Valuing paid and unpaid care work
• Recognising trans rights as human rights
• Ending men’s violence against women and girls
• Challenging polarisation and hate. 

We stand for a new type of economy – not designed to put more money in the pockets of the rich at the cost of everyone else and the planet. Our economic policy (‘doughnut’ or ‘circular’ economics) is centred around a system that ensures everyone, and the planet, can thrive.

Our Congleton Councillors

Read about our local councillors

Here you can learn about what our Councillors have been doing to bring Equality to Congleton, including the annual newsletters detailing all their projects:

Promoted by Jane Evans on behalf of the Equality Party at Grosvenor House, 3 Chapel St, CW12 4AB