Liberal Democrats choose a candidate

LIBERAL Democrats in the Epping Forest constituency have adopted Dr Michael Heavens as their parliamentary candidate for the general election.

Dr Heavens, a former Chigwell NHS GP and psychiatrist, was first elected to the district council in 1984. He has sat on several committees and been council chairman and leader. For the last year he has been the portfolio holder for housing.

He is a member of the East of England Regional Assembly's health and social inclusion panel and a substitute member of the planning panel Dr Heavens has been a board member of the Chigwell Riding Trust for Special Needs for over ten years and is its current chairman. He has a long involvement in local community work as member of several Rotary clubs.

He stood for Parliament in Epping Forest in 2001, when the Liberal Democrat share of the vote increased by 5.2 per cent.

Dr Heavens said: "Although on past results some people may regard me as an outsider I believe that, from my long and varied experience, I have a breadth of knowledge about local residents' needs that makes me the best person to represent Epping Forest at Westminster."