“What you hear about Reform, I shouldn't fit the brief”

Following the recent Cuxton, Halling and Riverside by-election, Steven met the new councillor (and new deputy leader of the Reform group), William Burvill, in the White Hart pub in Cuxton. They discussed William's work in social care, his working relationship with his fellow ward councillor, how he intends to keep things local, and lots more.

Which ward are you the councillor for? 
Cuxton, Halling and Riverside. 

Why that ward? 
To be fair, I'm the chair of Reform in Rochester and Strood. The election came up, and the branch decided to put me forward. I've worked here before. I've got friends here and I also used to look after a disabled child here. My first ever job was at Diggerland, which is up there.

Since becoming a councillor for the ward, have you had an interaction with [fellow ward councillor] Councillor Fearn? 
No, I've not heard from him, but then that doesn't shock me because neither have the residents.

Which political parties have you been a member of? 
Reform. I’ve never been a member of any other party. 

When did you join? 
Oh gosh, I joined a few years ago. I think it was just after the general election. That was the first meeting I went to. 

Was there an event or an issue that led to you joining? 
No, I've always been into politics. I've never belonged to a certain party. I've always read the manifestos and seen what party would support the family and me as a person. Then I went along to the meeting. I didn't know what to expect, you hear things. It was nice. I just took the time. I've enjoyed every single moment of it.

When did you become chair?
A few months ago. I was first secretary, then deputy chair, and then chair of the branch. 

The general election candidate, Daniel Dabin, wasn’t selected to be a local election candidate. Were you involved in that decision?
No, I had nothing to do with that.

Amongst Reform, what is an unpopular opinion you have? What is it you disagree with your other members about? 
We don't really disagree. I'm not going to say we agree with everything because we don't. But that's normal.

Can you give me an example?
I think if anything it's probably I'm one of them people, like marmite, I'm not there to please people. Now we're not going to have the same views, and I want to be one that says let's chat and air it out.

People need to know that Reform does know local

Nationally and regionally, Reform have lost a number of high-profile by-elections. Yet you keep winning in Rochester and Strood. Why is that?
We have a very good team. I think we do it a little bit differently down here. A lot of people who work with Reform are more of a national party, and we really focus on local issues because I think that's what's important. People need to know that Reform does know local. I think that proved it. We did local, we aimed it at local, and we won. I think that's what we are focusing on now. Local issues, listening to the residents. I think that's key, and delivering something different for the people. 

Can you give us an example of the local issues?
In Cuxton, I've had the bus routes, I've had parking, both at Cuxton and Halling, school parking. Crime, be that anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping, and I think overall people are starting to see that their village's standards are starting to fall, and they want someone to get a grip of that and start delivering services. I've had someone talk with me this week about hedges. It might not have been very important to people, but it is important because that's upsetting them and that's my job is to find out why it is not being cut and looking into it for them. 
I think it's about communication, not ignoring them.

This is what I class as traditional Britain

What makes Cuxton, Halling and Riverside so interesting to you?
I think it's got a lot. It's got beautiful local pubs. If you want to come for Sunday dinner, the White Hart do a great Sunday dinner. The community, it's very traditional. It is an odd feeling. When I campaign, people know me, and they stop, and they talk. It is a community. This is what I class as traditional Britain. It's lovely. It's a lovely countryside. People should come down here, go to the local pubs, the beautiful farm shop.

What is your official occupation? 
I'm officially a special needs carer.

What does that entail?
I look after one lad who's severely disabled. I teach him his independent skills, I take him shopping. I might have to give him personal care. I try and encourage him to be as independent as possible. It's not easy. He has challenging behaviour. It's my job to make sure he has a decent life, and he's involved in the community.

You represent the party on council committees. Which committees are you on?
I'm on children and young people, and then on adult social care.
Since I left MidKent College, I have always studied childcare, and I've always worked at special needs schools with complex children. I've done that for 15-plus years. The children are severely disabled, life-limited conditions, complex children of Medway. I've done that all my life. I worked at a complex special needs school. I think I've got good experience, and at the moment, with all the pressure on that, the party thought it would be great for me to go and do that.
Then adult social care is what I do now. I look after disabled adults. Again, with that experience, you have a good understanding of what services are needed and how people struggle. 

Can you give us an example of a Reform policy in that area?
Well, everyone's heard Richard Tice. Everyone's heard that. 
I think at the moment they're coming up to a committee and they're talking about the complexity, and I think that's the key part here. There is complexity, and we need to prioritise. The complex children definitely need it. We need to prioritise services that need it first and then others after. I'm not saying that children don't need it, but we do have to look at children that are non-verbal, challenging behaviours. Medical conditions need to be prioritised first because obviously we know the budget's not going to stretch to everything. We do need to prioritise services first. That'll be our job to look at that and scrutinise it. The key part is to scrutinise, not just stop it, but to scrutinise and deliver a better service. 

You've been made deputy leader of the group. What does that entail?
I've only just been given it, so I'm still learning the job. We are a small party. It's three of us. You've got your chair and your deputy. I think it's about supporting each other. Supporting the party and actually listening to the residents and delivering. That's my thing as a deputy. I know it's all titles, and some people love having a title. People keep calling me councillor. It's William. It's about doing the job. 
My job is to support Dave [Finch, Reform group leader], and he's doing really well to support the residents.