Cllr Dr Royce Longton
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1. Burghfield Ward
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Royce retired a couple of years ago following an academic career as an ecologist and bryologist (that means he studied mosses and liverworts - it takes all sorts!), and he is now able to spend more time on the golf course and training a new puppy. After 10 years at the University of Manitoba in Canada Royce spent 25 years at Reading University where he became Head of the Department of Botany. He carried out fieldwork in many of the world's ecosystems from the polar desert of Antarctica to tropical forests and montane vegetation in central Africa. He wrote around 80 scientific papers and one book, the Biology of Polar Bryophytes and Lichens published by Cambridge University Press.
Royce was driven into politics by revulsion against the institutionalised selfishness promulgated by Margaret Thatcher, and naturally joined the then Liberal Democrat Party. He has represented Burghfield as a Berkshire County Councillor (1993-98) and on Newbury District Council/West Berkshire Council since 1995. Throughout this time he has been closely involved in planning issues, seeking to achieve the best possible balance between ensuring sufficient housing to meet genuine need while avoiding damage to the environment, and between preserving our attractive countryside while minimising the harm to existing communities by cramming too many new homes into urban areas.
He has represented West Berkshire Council as Chairman of the Joint Strategic Planning Committee for the six Berkshire Unitary Councils, and as Vice Chairman of the South East England Assembly's Regional Planning Committee. Elsewhere, he has sought to bring his professional expertise as an ecologist to bear on sustainability issues such as waste management, nature conservation, and reducing carbon dioxide emessions, for example through his Chairmanship of Thames Valley Energy, a not-for-profit company promoting the development of renewable energy. technologies throughout the Thames Valley and beyond.
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