Rajesh Gulabivala

“I have spent my entire career working with money that matters to real people. I started out training in a small accountancy firm, then sharpened my skills at Deloitte, one of the world's leading professional services firms, before founding my own practice in 1990. For 35 years I have worked alongside small business owners, entrepreneurs and families, helping them manage their finances, grow their livelihoods and navigate a system that often feels stacked against them. That experience has taught me something important: when money is managed well, communities thrive. When it is not, ordinary people pay the price. Our high streets are under real pressure. Local businesses are struggling with rising costs, footfall is falling and too many shopfronts stand empty. Public services feel stretched, and residents too often feel their concerns go unheard at council level. I have seen this first-hand through my clients and through my years as a community advocate in this area. I am standing as your Reform Party councillor because I believe our council deserves the same financial discipline and transparency that any well-run business relies on. I will bring 35 years of professional expertise directly to bear on how public money is spent, where savings can be made without cutting the services residents depend on, and how we hold decision-makers properly to account. This is not about politics for its own sake. It is about getting the basics right: a safer neighbourhood, a stronger local economy and a council that works for you.”