Cllr May Molteno

May lives with her physio husband and three teenagers, who all go to school locally. It’s a busy household, with lots of comings and goings, as two of her children live half their time with their Mum. When the kids were little, May was an Early Years Teacher, running an outdoor education setting for children who struggled in mainstream school. She’s therefore passionate about play facilities for children and access to nature for everybody.

 The other parts of May’s working life have focussed on helping communities to have a say in the places they live, work or play. She has run national and local consultation programmes – such as on the extension of the Lake District National Parks and getting Lottery funding for Dunwood Park in Oldham. May now works for a property company that specialises in creating university campuses.

 Locally May is very involved in climate change projects. She sees this as issue which might affect every aspect of our lives – from food security, to flooding, to extreme heat. Equally, she believes that if the government properly tackled the climate crisis, we would create more resilient communities, new ‘green jobs’, improved public transport, warmer homes, cheaper energy and affordable, healthy food.