Bernard Hyde

Statement to voters

Bernard is a husband, father of three children and has eight grandchildren. Born on the Isle of Sheppey, Bernard has a long association with Kent as well as travelling the world, first as a Merchant Navy Navigation Officer Cadet and later as a Chartered Architect. After qualifying as an Architect, Bernard spent the first twelve years of his career in Architecture in Local Authorities and Private Practices in the United Kingdom followed by twenty-six years working for a Government Department and then his own practice in Botswana before returning to Kent where he worked for a further eight years in his own architectural practice. Bernard is interested in self-sufficiency and tries to grow much of his own organic food. He believes that nations can adopt a similar self-reliant approach by protecting the environment and treasuring their arable resources. In the United Kingdom the construction industry is responsible for more than half of our carbon emissions. An understanding and appreciation of the environment and its many attributes has led to a conviction that all our buildings can be net zero carbon while at the same time producing surplus energy and providing their owners with income. Bernard is working with the West Kent Branch of the Royal Institute of British Architects to devise ways for everyone to have safe, secure and affordable housing. Vested interests and financial incentives to policy makers are preventing our country from controlling climate change and from protecting our endangered wildlife. A failure to comprehend how large inappropriate developments obtained planning approval, led Bernard to study for a Town Planning qualification early in his career. Forty years later, developers are still getting planning approval for projects that bear no relationship to basic good planning principles. In retirement, Bernard is still endeavouring to challenge those who want to build the ‘wrong thing in the wrong place’, while trying not to forget to prune his raspberry canes. Change is on the horizon!

Election history

Westminster general elections