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Bert
Advanced Member
484 Posts |
 Posted - 13 Mar 2013 : 15:14:19
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I have received a Poll Card for voting, at an Arun District Council by-election for Angmering Ward, on the 18th April.
Sadly, there is a vacancy due to the death of Mrs. Julie Hazlehurst.
However, what I am incensed about, is the timing of this by-election.
Just two weeks later, on 2nd May, we have the West Sussex County Council, local elections.
It would have been a simple and the most obvious course, to hold the by-election for the District Councillor vacancy, on the same date as the WSCC elections on 2nd May. There would have been hardly any cost involved in having the two elections on the same date.
As it is, the District Council has to spend about £9,000 of our Council Tax to arrange and service this by-election.
What a disgraceful waste of our money. This is not the fault of Arun District Council (ADC).
ADC are obliged to hold a by-election within a specific period of time, if an election is "called" by two Angmering residents, supporting a political party.
As a consequence, ADC are unable to delay this by-election until the WSCC elections.
So, two election days, within a fortnight, at substantial additional cost to the council tax payer.
The cost of the by-election is due to printing poll cards, having them delivered, arranging the hire of a number of election premises and the cost of employing staff for 15 hours on the day at each polling station in addition to other administrative costs.
I hope the individuals and political party who knowingly called this additional and totally unnecessary election, feel this is a constructive and worthwhile use of council taxpayers money, during a time when the Council is having to reduce costs.
Needless to say, I will not be voting for the party who are responsible for "calling" this by-election.
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Bluebell
Average Member
United Kingdom
99 Posts |
Posted - 13 Mar 2013 : 16:53:31
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| OK Bert. Just tell who the offending party is, Blue, Red, Yellow, Or Another and I will join the boycott. |
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Bert
Advanced Member
484 Posts |
Posted - 13 Mar 2013 : 16:59:56
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| Bluebell...as soon as it is in the public domain, which won't be long, I assure you I will, ....well before the election. |
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Bert
Advanced Member
484 Posts |
Posted - 28 Mar 2013 : 19:41:15
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This by-election has been called and thereby forced upon us, by the local Liberal Democrats.
They knew full well, by calling for an election, before a specific date, that ADC would have to spend about £9,000 in costs to arrange this, as I indicated in my above post.
They were advised that it would be more appropriate and less costly to the Council purse, to hold the election on 2nd May, the same day as the West Sussex County Council elections. But no, they have forced the issue, at this substantial cost.
Personally, I think it is disgraceful, and a disgraceful waste of our Council Tax money.
There have been many recent vacancies across the country, on District Councils and all that I have seen, are holding those elections on the same day as the County Council elections, but not our local Liberal Democrats. They want to waste your money on an unneccesary by-election, that is just two weeks before the County Council elections.
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Nick2020
New Member
United Kingdom
7 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2013 : 15:30:27
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I have yet to have a visit from a candidate or election literature through for the Angmering Bye Election.
If politicians cannot be bothered to put in the effort leafleting and canvassing, why are they surprised when residents don’t bother to vote?
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luckyduck
Moderator
United Kingdom
169 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2013 : 16:27:29
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| The only leafelt we have had is from the Conservative, who has made it clear he objects to the current housing development applications - at present he will get my vote, as the only one who seems to care about the village - no doubt the others are just in it for what they can get out of it for themselves, and don't care less about the village. |
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GreenFields
Average Member
United Kingdom
65 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2013 : 18:44:43
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| Agree Luckyduck. I wasn't going to bother voting but since the Conservative chap is against the housing developments he'll be getting my 'X'. |
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Nigel
Senior Member
United Kingdom
238 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2013 : 19:50:40
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Just remember that the Conservatives run ADC and it seems that they want 'Angmering Garden Village/Town'. Will District councillors be for the village or the party when it comes to voting?
Food for thought. |
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seagull
Average Member
United Kingdom
49 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2013 : 21:52:20
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If the Conservatives on ADC ever vote for a Garden City or large housing development in Angmering we will just have to make sure they are annihilated in the next District Elections. It's about time they
represented the people who voted them in and start dictating the policy on ADC and not letting the Officers run it how they want. |
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derekdainton
deleted
579 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2013 : 09:29:04
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| Bear in mind the maxim "Campaign in Poetry, Govern in Prose". Of course, any candidate who expresses a view opposing housing development in Angmering is going to secure votes. And from the comments here, it seems to have worked. Think Nigel is right, when it comes to the vote ...... |
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luckyduck
Moderator
United Kingdom
169 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2013 : 17:42:17
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| Interesting that our parish councillor, who is also an ADC councillor has kept totally silent on any of the developments - has been a closely involved party in the Angmering Garden City vision, and is setting himself up for a huge anti vote in the next elections - AND he stands as a Tory - so maybe it is the people we need, not their political views? |
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Bert
Advanced Member
484 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2013 : 20:24:28
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So far as ADC voting for or against any housing developments in Angmering, (or any part of Arun District,) some residents may not appreciate, that the whole Council does not vote on these property development applications.
As many do know, these applications are voted on and decided upon by the Development Control Committee (DCC) otherwise known as the Planning Committee, upon recommendations by the Planning Officers, who are not Councillors.
This Committee is made up of 15 Councillors of each political party, from across the Arun District.
The late Mrs Julie Hazlehurst, one of the 3 Angmering District Councillors, was on the DCC. To the best of my knowledge that vacancy on the DCC has not been filled, and may well not be by an Angmering Councillor.
To the best of my knowledge Angmering's two current Conservative District Councillors oppose the current housing development applications. But neither has a vote on this issue as they are not on the DCC.
What we will get is 14 or 15 District Councillors from Bognor Regis, Littlehampton and elsewhere in Arun, of each of the political parties or Independents, deciding on our fate.
Our Angmering District Councillors will not be getting a vote, and even if one of them is appointed to replace Mrs Hazlehurst on the DCC, he will be one voice against 14, so I wouldn't get too hung up on criticising our current Angmering District Councillors or the political make up of ADC.
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seagull
Average Member
United Kingdom
49 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2013 : 13:41:54
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| I agree with everything you have said Bert. The Development Control Committee is made up of 12 Conservative Councillors, 1 Labour, 1 Lib Dem and with 1 Conservative vacancy, which should go to the person elected next week, as long as he is a Conservative! It's about time these Conservative councillors got together and kicked this 'Garden City' idea into touch and start dictating policy. We voted them in; it's about time they represented our views. If they don't we will just have to vote them off at the next elections. There's always UKIP. |
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Bert
Advanced Member
484 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2013 : 14:15:48
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seagull...of course we will all vote for whom we like. My initial posting was to inform, why we have two local elections within two weeks, and the consequential waste of taxpayers money; not to make any political points.
I posted my most recent comment, because some residents, do not appear to appreciate that our Angmering District Councillors do not vote for planning applications. They are not on the DCC.
The one vacancy, as indicated in my comment, is to replace the excellent Conservative Councillor, Julie Hazlehurst, who did a great deal of good work for Angmering, who sadly died recently.
We will all vote for who we wish, but punishing Angmering candidates for what Councillors in Bognor, Littlehampton or Pagham decide, is rather illogical.
It is the Lib Dems who have "called" this by-election, costing about £9,000 to the Council Tax pot, thinking they may gain an advantage by not waiting two weeks, for this by-election to be held on the same date as the County Council elections, which was the obvious thing to do and which the Lib Dems were advised to do. |
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seagull
Average Member
United Kingdom
49 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2013 : 17:23:38
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Bert.... I do realise all that. The by-election should have taken place on the same day as the County election and saved us £9,000.
I do realise we all vote for who we want! I am not trying to punish any Angmering District Councillors UNLESS they don't represent the
views of the villagers who elected them. It's called DEMOCRACY.
Whether you or I like it or not, District and County Councillors are usually affiliated to a political party, unlike Parish Councillors.
The Conservative District Councillors 'control' ADC, or they should be. All I am trying to get over is that, collectively, they should be dictating Arun policy and all singing from the same hymn sheet, especially when dealing with planning policies. Get it? |
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Bert
Advanced Member
484 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2013 : 18:27:27
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seagull....I assure you, I .. "get it."
We don't know that the Conservatives across the District are not "singing from the same hymn sheet." There hasn't been a vote on any of the planning applications yet.
There may be a point in re-considering who one votes for, at the next District Council elections, in a couple of years time, after we know the result of the DCC's decisions.
The point at this single by-election is...that both our District Councillors oppose the substantial house building applications and the Conservative canditate also opposes them. So they DO ..."represent the views of the villagers."
Like you, I hope the Conservative Councillors across the district have got their act together, as I am totally against any large scale development. Although of course, who knows what a Lib Dem or Labour majority Council would do. Nationally, all three major parties are banging on about more construction!
It's rather like the HS2 rail proposal. Those who have voted Conservative in the past are threatening to vote elsewhere. There is no logic to that, due to both Labour and Lib Dems totally supporting the scheme, which the voters fail to recognise.
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Nick2020
New Member
United Kingdom
7 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2013 : 20:07:42
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My Arun District Council ballot paper has arrived and still no information from any of the candidates!
This is the ultimate contest of the unfit being picked by the unwilling!
In the absence of any other information, what selection criteria are other residents using?
I have considered supporting the candidate whose name produces the highest Scrabble score but this system is obviously flawed as it would disadvantage the most common surnames Smith and Jones.
Other criteria could rate the appeal of the party logo, the alphabetical order in which the candidates appear on the ballot paper, or the correlation between the ballot paper number and the candidate’s house number and postcode.
I never realised how difficult voting could be, previously I have voted for the party I thought would make any difference but this strategy was flawed as well! |
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SaveAngmering
New Member
1 Posts |
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Sue Ware
New Member
United Kingdom
4 Posts |
Posted - 11 Apr 2013 : 22:02:47
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| I would like to point out that the previous entry from someone calling themselves “SaveAngmering” was not made by me or any of SAV’s Committee. SAV is not political and we do not favour any one candidate and therefore would not post just one candidate’s flyer. I asked each of the three candidates for their statements and I am in the process of emailing their replies to SAV’s members so that they can make their own informed choice. Sue Ware, Co-Founder SAV |
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