Jeff Hanna was the Liberal Democrat candidate for Bournemouth West at the 2024 General Election
Jeff would like to thak all those people who voted for him in the election.
Local candidate
Jeff and his family fell in love with Bournemouth and moved here, initially to Westbourne. They moved to Central Bournemouth, lived there for several years, including renovating the flat they lived in during the Covid lockdowns. They then moved to just off Charminster Road, wanting a garden after so much time without one.
Jeff stood for council last year, and along with so many other LibDem candidates, he was successful. He understands the problems here, not least the issues in Bournemouth Town Centre, empty shopfronts, the homeless, aggressive begging, substance abuse, and fear of crime, as well as the shoplifting, the car crime, the thefts of bikes and mopeds, and of packages from doorsteps that we experience right across the wider Bournemouth area. (See his 5-Point Plan for Bournemouth below).
Skills and Experience
Jeff has real life experience. He taught in the East End of London, with all the challenges that throws up - including bus queue duty each afternoon because of racially motivated knife crime.
Several London schools later, with gradual promotion, Jeff became headteacher of a Hampshire comprehensive, serving an area of relative deprivation, with serious behaviour issues. His firm but caring management ensured that the school became well ordered, and he looks back on those days, supporting families, encouraging pupils, supported by his staff, as some of the best years of his life.
Since then Jeff retrained as a psychotherapist, or counsellor, offering one to one, low-cost sessions for students and young people. He understands the need for mental health support for all who experience difficulties.
Meanwhile, Jeff has also served as an elected councillor in two different London Boroughs, holding responsibility at different times, for the Council Budget, for Children’s Services, for Planning and for Highways and Transportation, before moving to Bournemouth, only to be elected to his third council here.
Jeff's 5 Point Plan for Bournemouth
1 BUSINESS RATES REFORM - Enable councils to cut rates for struggling retail zones, so that the shops we value can survive.
2 FINE PROPERTY OWNERS - If they keep shops vacant, to encourage them to drop their rents, so that new retail outlets can keep our shopping centres thriving and alive.
3 SUPPORT THE HOMELESS AND THE ADDICTS - The Council and Charities need government support to help those in need. It is a national issue, not just Bournemouth’s.
4 MORE POLICE FOOT PATROLS - Scrap Police and Crime Commissioners. They are unnecessary. Spend the £100million that they cost on more police on our streets. Bring back community policing, where local bobbies know their patch, and what is going on.
5 INVEST IN HOMES - Convert unused premises to homes and increase footfall in our stores, to increase the number of homes in the area, and to keep shops in business, for all our sakes.