Positions: Planning Committee; Scrutiny Management Panel; Education, Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel; Hampshire Fire & Rescue Authority.

Elected in May 2023 as a Labour councillor for Cosham ward, Mary was originally from the North of Ireland, where she grew up. She moved to England many years ago and chose to make Portsmouth her home because, she says, it’s a great place with lovely people.

She’s a qualified teacher of adults, worked in community regeneration for 5 years and was a community development worker in one of the most economically deprived estates in the UK.  Seeing people in poverty on a daily basis has moved her to stand as a council candidate in the city. She’s passionate about the need for change from top to bottom.

She’s worked for Women’s Aid and is committed to highlighting issues like domestic abuse, where she uses all her networks to collect clothes, money, and household goods for people in dire circumstances who need to build a household from scratch. She also volunteers in a food bank and in a mental health charity to help and lend support. She also accompanies people to housing offices, Citizens Advice Bureaux and food banks in a voluntary capacity to help and lend support. Mary says: ‘I’m not unusual in this, we all help out because we need to.’

She’s worked in a variety of different areas in Portsmouth throughout her career here and is well informed on local issues. She believes that whoever is in charge at the top, it’s vital as a local councillor to keep focused on the issues that people who live here feel strongly about and matter most to them. She’s seen many vulnerable people with low aspirations, poor literacy and numeracy skills, learning difficulties, often living in debt, depressed and physically ill, who have little hope for the future. She wants to help people improve their lives and work to find solutions to issues that pull them in a downward spiral that can last for generations.

Phone:  07823 – 795430

Email:  cllr.mary.vallely@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Ward surgeries: First Friday of each month from 10am to 12 noon at Cosham Library, Spur Road, Cosham, PO6 3EB.

Last Friday of each month from 10am to 12 noon at Hawthorn Crescent Community Space (between two blocks of flats). For exact details of location, please call either Cllr Vallely or Cllr Asghar Shah.