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Being a local councillor was the last thing on my mind when I decided to leave the ‘Big Smog’ and head back up north to the green, green grass of home. I had just one thing in mind then. My plan was to set up and develop my consultancy working from an office in my own home, overlooking the rolling green hills of Huddersfield.

Well, I certainly got the location spot on. And even as I write, the bright winter sunshine streams through my office window as I look out toward the famous Castle Hill. Mmm….Yorkshire, God’s own county.

The only problem is, once an activist, always an activist. I just can’t seem to mind my own business and walk on by. That’s why within months of arriving back in Yorkshire I had launched a road safety campaign for a crossing on a busy duel carriageway opposite a major supermarket. The frightening spectacle of a terrified elderly couple trying to get across the accident blackspot propelled me into action.

The local paper followed the two year campaign which ended in victory and the council agreeing to a £100,000 crossing. Typically, the cash-rich supermarket thought less of the safety of its own shoppers and refused to cough up a penny.

Naively, I thought getting involved with my local Labour Party would be a good way of getting even more done in the community. But just months after becoming Chair of my Ward, I had seen enough. The sight of local councillors bogged down in party politics, in-fighting, foul-play and the naked lust for power as an end in itself was as much as I could stomach.

Yes, it was fun representing Huddersfield at the 2006 Labour Party Conference, sharing the platform with Mr Blair as he gave his farewell speech, appearing on page four of The Sun and the cover of the Manchester Evening News and even managing to make a conference speech myself. But, the truth is, neither the pathetic political in-fighting locally nor the hob-nobbing with political personalities nationally actually gets things done.

From my experience, if you want to get anything done you simply have to do it yourself. That’s why I bid farewell to the Labour Party - coincidentally on the same day as Mr Blair - after a fifteen year membership.

And that’s why I’ve decided to stand as an independent in the Local Elections in May.

Yes, going it alone as an independent is a long shot but it actually feels great to be free from the shackles of a political party. And as a fighter, the challenge is as thrilling as the kill!

Follow my campaign at: www.makethatchange.org.uk