Spooner Row Message Board

Modern elections are all about postal votes and 'helpful' people at the door who will arrange this for you and help you fill it in if you are not very careful.

It is much easier nowadays to get a postal vote and the return rate is very high indeed. Far higher than the number who turn up at the poles. 80+ is the norm

Recognising this, the  Party machine puts a tremendous amount of effort into finding out which way you might vote, and will send out letters and canvass those who might not come out when it rains or is dark and really push this method of voting. Hand delivery on the day to the returning officer is also allowed

Sadly , there have been some instances in the Midlands where electoral fraud has actually been proven via this method, and of course this costs money, so the better off parties usually do better, as they can legitimately tap into the information available at Electoral offices , for a fee of course. Independant candidates really have the dice loaded against them from the off in any election unless they want to spend a fair bit of their own money in the process.

So, the message here is please do take up a postal vote if you cannot vote or attend a polling station on the day , BUT you fill it in, YOU sign it and you POST it, in the free envelope the Council will provide with the form YOU have to sign. Do not let anyone save your must trusted friends post this for you.

All the big ish parties do this.

Fair? I let you decide !

Looks to me like Julian Halls has provided a common-sense piece of advice: Vote, but fill in your own postal vote and post it yourself - what is wrong with that? 

Is this the Julian Halls that originally was telling people that he was an Independant and then went off to Join the Lib Dems. Is this the Julian Halls who is known in Wymondham as the silent councillor because he hardly speaks at Town Council meetings.

In answer to the last question the view was taken that there is no need to provide a Lib Dem candidate in competition against an independant and this arrangement was reciprocated in the last ward election held here in Cromwells.

However an independant candidate did appear in the Cromwells by election who was previously a Conservative and just happened to live in a location that had a strong Lib Dem following in previous elections.

You might take the view that this is sharp practice or a genuine desire on the part of that individual to act independantly from now on in the interests of the Town which is really what local elections are about and not party block voting. That kind of practice is reserved for Parliament in my view, although even that failed recently in respect to the bedroom tax and I do not believe it has a place at District either but there are some who very vociferously disagree.

Again for the second day running, I let the reader decide why that might be the case

The Lib Dem shabby pact with the Independants has denied me a Lib Dem supporter and indeed the other voters of these Wards a democratice choice. Has Labour also done a pact. I would say this indeed is sharp practice. Well done to the Conservatives and to the Independance for putting up Candidates. At least you offerd the voters a choice.

All parties including the Independants should put forward candidates as this gives a wide choice to the voters. Even if I wanted to stand for council it is up to the Lib Dems and other parties to put in place a selection process. Because the Lib Dems made the shabby agreement with the Independants not put a candidate forward this ruled out any Lib Dem supporter from standing.

We know that the Lib Dems collouded with the Independants to deny the voters a choice in the by election. Mr Halls said so in one of his posts above. They go on about the need for openess but then go on and do a shabby secret deal that denied voters a choice in the by election.

As usual we seem to have morphed a bit from the original topic but it seems to me that you as the readers might benefit from an update on my activities since becoming a councillor.

I was a little surprised by the charge that I say little but in my defence if the matter has already been decided in a party meeting elsewhere , as blatantly occured at the AGM then saying anything is a waste of time AND for matters which have been grinding on for many years prior to my arrival, then I feel I have no right to comment whatsoever on these matters and consequently saying nothing, which is a position many new councillors find themselves whatever their allegiance.

That all said at meeting 1, I openly discussed the rather fractious relationship which was reportedly in place and it has been agreed to set up a sub group to prepare a protocol to improve matters for possible adoption. Unfortunately this has stalled somewhat by the resignation of Cllr Elias.

I have worked with the Clerk to update and revise the Risk assessment Policy and the Health and Safety at work Policy of the Council and these changes have now been adopted. This by Law has to be provided free of charge if you are a Councillor

Unfortunately the sub committee I was appointed to ( Leisure and environment) has yet to meet since I have become a Councillor on account of lack of business.

There have also been several behind the scenes discussions via e mail, which have been winging their way back and forward plus any personal referrals I have had from Ward members which have entailed bouncing them onto County , South Norfolk or other enforcement agencies.

The role of a Councillor is not just to go the meetings and vote and I have attached a brief list of matters I have been involved in , IN THE WARD to which the majority of you have elected me

• Pile of rubbish / soil on the Playing field
• Weekly updates on crime on the message board
• Attendance of Lizard residents association meetings
• Attendance at Village Hall meetings
• Involvement with the repair to the path and road in Spooner row which was started last year before I became a councillor
• Planning issues with South Norfolk who seem to think they can ride roughshod over the local Plan by ignoring it which entailed a meeting on site at SNDC . You might be interested to know that we were allowed 15-20 according to the Plan and the latest estimate is in excess of 50 and this is just Spooner row
• The ongoing farce of the flooding railway bridge at the Lizard where I await a response from the MP in respect to this truly apalling situation where in a road closed scenario the residents face the prospect of having no Emergency vehicle access whatsoever unless it is in an ordinary car i.e no fire engine or Ambulance
• A long winded and detailed response to the Gypsy and Travellers Plan which has been very poorly drafted and practicaly gives carte blanche planning permission for a G and T if you want to provide one. South Norfolk already has more sites than any other authority in Norfolk and I think we have more than done our bit in the west of the SNDC area
• Late night Fireworks

I am sure this is not all but you get the idea and remember all of this has to be done in my own time and at my own expense as is the case for all parish and town Councillors.

Finally the agreement we have with the independents is not in anyway a matter which was agreed in secret. If all the parties put up a candidate, of course you would vote for that candidate whose views and opinions most closely match your own, but whilst we retain this truly stupid first past the post electoral system , which all the big parties benefit from to a greater or lesser degree and I include the Lib Dems and UKIP here , the sitting majority party will always want as many candidates as possible to split and divide the opposition vote. To be frank in Norfolk this will almost always be the Conservatives.

Tactically agreeing not to put up candidates to avoid this split vote might deny the voter the choice, but in my experience they simply do not vote anyway or vote for the person , which is why Councillor Elias as was , was elected as he was known to be a hard working individual who was working for his ward and the Town. That is what local elections are or should be about.

Finally, it is you who decides whether the person is doing a good job or not and come next May we all get a chance to influence this, but even at this stage I would urge you not to confuse the role of national politicians and policies with local ones, which can often be completely different in how they effect you locally.

Thank you anon for the opportunity to explain and update everyone

Julian Halls 

Typical Lib Demery here. Trying to claim credit for things that other people have done for the Village. What a pile of rubbish spoken here. His defence of a secert pact with the Independants and his reasons for it is nothing more than anti democratic chant. The footway improvements were on the list for action long before he became a Councillor. Stop trying to take credit for things that you have not done.

 I do hope that no other Party does secret pacts with anyone not to field candidates. I agree with a previous post on here. That would denie me the choiuce of voting for the Party of my choice.