Green Party hopes Sheffield councillor will become Mayor

Rob Murphy will stand for election providing the party can fundraise £8,000 required for the deposit and mailing to electors.

Rob is a heating engineer who has worked across the region and now runs a small heating business as well as serving as a councillor for City Ward. Before that he represented Central Ward. He has been re-elected twice since and worked closely with former Green Coun Jillian Creasy who in the 2015 General Election received the third highest Green vote in the country.

Rob has been the party's local transport spokesperson, and has successfully campaigned for improved road safety measures and for the bus services that currently operate in Sheffield and Rotherham on Boxing and New Year's Day.

Other successes have included allowing the public to record council meetings, 20mph speed limits in residential and school areas in Sheffield, and successfully pushing the council to use ringfenced council tax rises on social care.

Recently, Rob has led the call on the council for full public access to the controversial Streetsahead PFI contract, and an immediate resolution between the tree campaigners and the Labour Council.

Rob said "South Yorkshire needs change. It has been left behind other regions in the UK for far too long. I will change the 'Town Hall knows best' culture here, and bring openess, fairness and real democracy into local government. If I am elected mayor on May 3 the bad old days of 'one party rule in South Yorkshire will be over.

"As a small businessman I know sitting in traffic jams is wasting money, as a family man I know this is time I could be spending with my family and as a politician I know it doesn't have to be like this, there is another way. I'll make the necessary changes to get South Yorkshire moving again. On transport, support for small businesses and value for money. I have the skills experience and vision to get things done."