Councillor John Paschoud 

Perry Vale Ward, London Borough of Lewisham

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I'm a governor of Perrymount Primary School and a member of the Co-operative Society, the AUT trade union, the British Computer Society, English Heritage, and the Labour Campaign for Open Local Government.

I have lived in South London for all of my adult life, and in Forest Hill since 1988.

I am married with four children born in 1980, 1985, 1988 and 1991 (and a grandson born in 1999) who have all been at Lewisham schools.

I believe that as councillors, we can be the most effective representatives of local people if we are ordinary local people, with ordinary lives, occupations and problems to deal with, and so I haven't tried to turn being a councillor into a full-time job.  I'm lucky enough to have a daytime job as well (at the London School of Economics as an Information Systems Engineer), so please be patient if you can't always contact me immediately on my home phone number (020 8291 5729);  if you can, it's often quicker to email me. 

As well as issues concerning constituents in Perry Vale, my areas of particular interest as a Lewisham Councillor have been:

• the environment, planning and regeneration of Lewisham, to make it one of the best places in London to live, work and learn;
• effective use of information (and information technology) by the Council, so that it can provide better services more effectively;
• improving our local democracy, by creating new ways of involving people in making decisions, such as Community Forum meetings, and using new technologies to consult people.