Ponteland South: Meet the Three Candidates Standing on 30 July

Residents of Ponteland South ward go to the polls on Thursday 30 July to choose a new town councillor — and the by-election has already sparked a lively debate on local social media about what a town council actually does, and where the money goes. Before we get to the candidates, it's worth clearing up a point of confusion that's come up repeatedly online.

Town council vs. county council: what's the difference?

Ponteland Town Council sits at the local tier of government. Its remit typically covers things like the village green and parks, allotments, civic events, small grants to local groups, and acting as a consultee on planning applications. It raises a small precept, added to your council tax bill, and can build up reserves earmarked for specific projects.

Northumberland County Council, by contrast, is the unitary authority responsible for the big-ticket items: roads and highways, social care, schools, waste collection, and the bulk of council tax spending. Policing falls to Northumbria Police and GP provision to the NHS — neither is within a town council's control.

That distinction matters, because several of the issues raised in this campaign — road conditions, policing visibility, GP access — sit with other bodies entirely, not Ponteland Town Council. It's also, as you'll see below, a distinction the three candidates handle rather differently.

What the town council can do, even where it doesn't hold the power directly, is act as an advocate: raising local issues with Northumberland County Council, lobbying for funding, and pushing for budget to be allocated to specific local priorities such as road repairs, footpaths or drainage. It's a difference between direct control and influence — but influence residents can still hold their town councillors accountable for using.

How we approached this

The Darras Index spoke with all three candidates asking the same set of questions on their priorities, vision and approach to representing the ward. The responses varied considerably. Darab Rezai spent an hour and a half with us in person. John Hewett replied briefly by email, forwarding most of the questions to Northumberland Conservatives for an official party line and noting that several of the topics raised sit outside a town council's remit. Reform's candidate Chanchal Samaiya provided a detailed, wide-ranging written response covering both local and county-level issues with his colleague Kevin Robertson-Hanlon.

Chanchal Samaiya - Reform UK

Reform's earlier campaign leaflet framed the by-election as a chance to shake up "business as usual" in Ponteland, pointing to high council tax rates alongside poor roads, thin policing and difficulty securing GP appointments — problems it laid at the door of "whoever has been in charge." It cited a 29.1-point swing toward Reform in the 2025 local results as evidence residents want change, and highlighted that the town council holds £804,390 in reserves, alongside a claim that auditors have flagged for three years that the money should be spent on services rather than held back.

That reserves figure prompted a robust exchange on a local Facebook group. Several residents pointed out that potholes, policing and GP access aren't within the town council's powers at all, and questioned why a campaign for town council was leading with county- and NHS-level issues. Others argued the £804k isn't idle but earmarked for identified projects — including a new play park at Twizell, a pump track for young people, a heritage trail, and the town's Christmas and free leisure programme — and that this kind of community project often takes years to plan, which is why funds sit in the account meanwhile. There was also disagreement over how town councils are actually funded (via developer contributions negotiated site-by-site, rather than a fixed levy), and over whether a low-precept parish council could realistically take on highways repairs.

The written answers we received went considerably further than the leaflet. On priorities, the response centres on value for money — getting "the basics right" on potholes, pavements, drainage, lighting and verges, and pushing back on the idea that money should sit in reserves while everyday issues go unresolved. It raises firm opposition to a proposed 60-home development on greenbelt land around Callerton Lane, questioning whether Ponteland's roads, GP capacity, dentistry and schools could absorb it, and criticises the pace of the town council's Neighbourhood Plan update, which it says has been in progress for around two and a half years.

On health, the response cites this publication's own reporting that NE20 GP surgeries ranked among the worst in Northumberland in the 2026 NHS GP Patient Survey, and raises difficulty securing NHS dental registrations locally, including for children. (You can view our independent article on this here). On transport, it backs protecting existing bus routes and explores the case for a local feeder minibus service connecting South Ward and Darras Hall to the village centre. On safety, it calls for more regular meetings between residents and senior police decision-makers, not just local officers, alongside support for Neighbourhood Watch and speed awareness measures. On transparency, it credits a colleague, Kevin Robertson-Hanlon, with pushing for town council meetings to be recorded — a campaign it says eventually succeeded — and commits attendance to a monthly councillor surgery on the first Saturday of each month at Waitrose which is already place, plus street surgeries and regular resident updates.

John Hewett — Conservative

John Hewett has lived in Ponteland for more than 40 years, with a career spanning the Merchant Navy, the offshore energy industry and a senior lecturing post before moving into community work. He currently chairs Ponteland Leisure Learning u3a, leads Health Walks, serves as a Flood Warden, and is treasurer and event organiser for Ageing Well, alongside membership of the Footpath Users Group.

His campaign letter lists five priorities drawn from years of conversations with residents: protecting Ponteland's Green Belt and village character; supporting local families and young people by building on holiday activities and youth provision; maintaining and improving parks, footpaths and community facilities; protecting heritage and environment, specifically naming the Pele Tower, while continuing to invest in green spaces; and being an "accessible" councillor who listens and responds to residents' concerns.

Asked directly for more detail, Hewett's response was notably shorter than the other two candidates'. He said he'd forwarded our questions to Northumberland Conservatives to ensure his answers were "in line with party policy," and described several of the questions as irrelevant to a town council. On the points he did answer: he sees his role as helping residents within the town council's remit and directing them elsewhere when it can't help; he said he doesn't hold a personal long-term vision for the area, as that "is in the Local Plan"; he confirmed roads, lighting and drainage are county council responsibilities; he described funding as "an internal issue"; he intends to protect the green belt from development where possible; he plans to continue liaising with local police to keep Ponteland safe; and he noted that council meetings are already minuted, recorded and in the public domain.

Darab Rezai — Independent

Darab Rezai, 69, moved to the North East from Brighton in 1975, and has lived locally with his wife Dorothy since marrying that year; two of their three daughters live with their own families in South Ward. He currently works as a director across several companies and brings 12 years' experience as a parish councillor in Teesside, nine of them as Chairman — a period in which he says he helped secure significant community and charity funding, including £300,000 towards a £400,000 new village hall, £65,000 for a playground, and £25,000 for a countryside footpath, as well as winning a no-win-no-fee case that recovered £35,000 for the parish. He also chaired a regional Licensing Association for a decade, representing the hospitality industry, and says this gave him experience liaising directly with MPs, council leaders and the Tees Valley mayor.

Rezai was the only candidate to sit down with us in person, spending an hour and a half talking through his priorities in detail. These closely track his campaign literature: uneven footpaths, potholes, ditches and poorly maintained bridleways and verges; anti-social behaviour from boy racers, e-bikes and off-road bikes, with a call for better speed awareness measures; the absence of an active neighbourhood watch; a wish for more community events catering to all ages; appreciation for litter-picking efforts (Ponteland Anti-Litter Squad PALS); and a pledge to make himself personally available to residents and survey the community directly on its priorities, rather than assume he already knows them. He also raised hedges encroaching onto footpaths as a small but practical local issue.

His published aims add applying for community funds and grants, improving the village green and parks, better facilities, a cleaner and safer environment, and organising events promoting local crafts and talent, with a particular focus on engaging younger people. He also says he intends to work with the other ward councillors on footpaths, roads and speed awareness.

A recurring theme in our conversation was his preference for finding out directly from residents what matters most, rather than councillors deciding for them. Rather than guessing which projects deserve funding, he wants to run open forums and surveys where people can raise issues in their own words, and says he'd rather build a picture of local priorities from that direct feedback than rely on assumptions about where money should go. He frames this as an ongoing relationship rather than a one-off consultation — being genuinely available to residents between elections, not just at campaign time — and sees it as central to how he'd support the community if elected.

What residents are saying

Beyond the reserves debate, the wider comment thread touched on several recurring themes: confusion — and some frustration — about which tier of government is actually responsible for roads, policing and GP access; scepticism about national-level campaign pledges being applied to a parish-level election; calls for more transparency on how developer contributions to the council are calculated and spent; and practical, unglamorous requests, including one resident simply asking for the riverbanks in the village centre to be tidied up so people can picnic and paddle there again.

A final word

This piece was put together as a straightforward, factual account of all three candidates — every claim above comes directly from campaign literature, public comments, or the candidates' own written and verbal responses to our questions, all of which were received ahead of today's deadline. We've deliberately kept our own views out of it; residents deserve the facts to make up their own minds on 30 July.

It's been genuinely heartening to see how much people across Ponteland South care about their community, whichever side of the debate they land on — from candidates giving up their evenings to answer questions in detail, to residents taking the time to weigh in on Facebook. Thank you to everyone who contributed.

Polling day

Ponteland South ward votes on Thursday 30 July.