Joe is Planning to represent Swansea east and surrounding communities in the Welsh Parliament.
For too long, communities like St Thomas, Bôn-y-maen, Llansamlet, and Clydach have been treated as Labour's backyard - taken for granted, left to decline, and offered excuses instead of action. At council level, Joe has seen first-hand how decisions made in Cardiff affect people's everyday lives. Now he wants to take that fight to where those decisions are made.
The Welsh Parliament controls health, education, housing, local government funding, and environmental protection. These are not distant policy areas - they are the issues that determine whether your GP surgery is open, whether your child's school is properly funded, whether your community gets investment or neglect, and whether places like Kilvey Hill are protected or sold off.
Joe believes Swansea east deserves an MS who understands working life, who has roots in the community, and who will speak honestly about what is going wrong - not someone who will toe the party line while services crumble and communities are ignored.
Why Now?
Labour has held these communities for generations, but people are still struggling. Services are worse, the cost of living is crushing families, the NHS is under impossible pressure, and communities are being told to accept decisions like the Kilvey Hill development without proper consultation or respect.
Joe believes residents deserve more than managed decline and party loyalty. They deserve long-term thinking, proper investment, protection of what matters, and representatives who are prepared to stand up for them - even when that means challenging their own party or government.
The Fight for Kilvey Hill
A major reason Joe is standing is the failure of those in power to protect Kilvey Hill.
He believes Kilvey Hill is not just another piece of land. It is part of the identity, health, and well-being of the east side of Swansea. For thousands of people, across generations, it has been a place of open space, quiet, wildlife, memory, and connection. In a heavily urbanised and motorway-bound part of Swansea, it remains one of the last vital green lungs of the area.
Joe believes it is a dereliction of duty to allow such a place to be damaged, diminished, or treated as if it exists for private exploitation rather than public good. In his view, Kilvey Hill belongs to the people in the deepest civic sense. It is part of the shared inheritance of Swansea East, not a plaything for outside interests.
He has met many local people who feel the same way: that what is happening to the hill is wrong, that the environment is being undervalued, and that the community has not been properly respected. Joe wants to take that fight to the Senedd and make sure the protections for the designated Quiet Area and the wider public interest are properly defended in Welsh law.
Swansea East Deserves Better
The communities Joe wants to represent - St Thomas, Bôn-y-maen, Llansamlet, Clydach, Kilvey, Port Tennant, and surrounding areas - account for a significant portion of the new Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd constituency. These are working communities with deep roots, strong identities, and real needs that have been overlooked for too long.
Joe is standing because he believes these communities deserve an MS who will fight for them with the same determination he has shown as a councillor for twelve years - someone who understands the bus routes, the waiting lists, the school catchments, the housing pressures, and the cost of living squeeze, because he lives through it alongside everyone else.
