A Balls Up and Doorstep Comments on the Forthcoming Coming County Election.
A major balls up by the local Folkestone and Hythe Conservative association took place last Friday [10/03/17] at the Grand. The Guest of Honour Lord Howard of Lympne [pictured] had arrived as had others only to be turned away and sent home, before anything got decided.
At the Grand on Friday 10th March the local conservatives were due to hold their local AGM. However, it didn’t happen.
It didn’t happen because the invitations which were sent out, were sent out by email. Now that’s all well and good in the 21st Century, but not according to their constitution. Their constitution stipulates that hard copies, yes, letters, by snail mail must be sent out to there 450+ plus local members.
Those who did bother to turn up, didn’t even make a quorum and we understand they were not amused after giving up their Friday night to attend a meeting which didn’t happen. We understand that an investigation is now underway to look into the shambles.
This is a party which runs our local Council in Shepway, this is a party which wishes to organise our lives, yet can’t organise themselves.
Anyway, that aside we understand that the Leader of Kent County Council, Cllr Paul Carter, took time out to come and help Cllr David Owen, [flat cap pictured below7/03/17] on the campaign trail for the forthcoming elections and look who else is in the picture, yes Mrs Jeffery and husband.
Also we can’t forget the Marsh. Cllr Tony Hills has had talks with Dr Therese Coffey MP the Under Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in her parliamentary office regarding the Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) which might be put in place across Hythe & Rye bays.
So we’ve been doing some campaigning of our own across the district and the one thing we keep hearing time and again about our local Cllrs at District and County level is
“The only time I see a Cllr is when there’s an election coming up. They knock on the door give us some spiel then ask us to vote for them. None of them keep their promises, so I just don’t bother to vote anymore.” said Mr Peters.
Another voter told us: ” They (the Tories) only look after business and do next to nothing for the average joe. I won’t be voting.”
Mrs Clarke told us ” I voted UKIP last time, but that opposition leader, what’s his name [Len Laws] is an amoeba and seems to agree with the Tories at every turn. Neither he nor his group will be getting my vote on May 4th.”
We could keep going in the same vain for a long time as many people we spoke to said Cllrs were untrustworthy, took brown envelopes [not that we have ever seen any evidence of this] and just want to concrete over our beautiful district.
It is sad that this is how many people feel across the district but it is not true that politics is the art of the possible. Politics is a choice between the disastrous and unpleasant [J.K Galbraith]
That said, we’ll give the last say to Mr James, who put it so eloquently
” I wouldn’t p**s on any of them if they were on fire, as they are all the same, totally untrustworthy and on the take to feather their own nests.”
Shepwayvox
Well said Mr James, I agree with your sentiments exactly!
I won’t be voting for any of the ones already in power that’s for sure, they don’t care that we don’t want our countryside concreted over just for a vanity project (lorry park) or that they want to build 1000s of houses on greenfield sites. They just care about how much money they will get from it all.
I can’t wait to vote out Damian Collins when his time is up either.
I sent Len Laws an email in November, but guess what, he hasn’t replied. So I phoned him up to get a meeting, not possible as he was “very busy”. In the end I got my KCC Cllr Carole Walters to help me and she did. I won’t be voting UKIP as I did last around. Len Laws in my humble opinion is a useless Cllr and a waste of space.
One answer in terms of local elections is to target prominent council members, unite the opposition parties behind one candidate — there IS common ground — mobilise the under 30 vote and especially the first time voters by demonstrating the day to day impact of local council decisions. The Lib Dems used to be great at this, Obama was hugely successful at it.
It would seem this this meeting was scuppered by a member within their ranks. Obviously their constitution needs to be revised to embrace the modern idiom. As regards this member, he, and it was a he, should be ashamed to have wasted the time of those attending and to cause a new AGM to be convened.
I have long resisted entreaties to join this association but now I have now sacrificed £25 to add my voice to what I consider to be the sensible quarter of this association.
I now anticipate the hearing of my voice and intend that divergence from what is moral and legal will be brought to public attention.
There are members of this association who are radical and should re-consider their aims.
“the modern idiom” – it this the same as the “Village Idiom” ?
There’s one currently on SDC..
Nice one Meldrew. Are you prepared to share the identity? I suspect it is someone with a somewhat clerical persona.
There was a survey conducted once in Shepway 100 people were asked at random if they knew who their County Councillor was. Two did. Sadly no matter what the people quoted might say in this good article the same old faces will be re-elected.
I would strongly recommend that local residents reach out to their local councillor, invite them round for a cup of coffee or a glass or two of wine and share their concerns and problems with them as one would with one’s MP, doctor or even priest. This relationship of confidence is a vital part of our democracy and remember, like a puppy isn’t just for Xmas, a vote is not just for election day……..
Not sure about ‘reaching out to a local councillor’…..
How about chaing the rules for local council elections – for example right now they demand our votes (that’s the people who can be arsed to vote) then disappear or decide to do something like Otterpool Park in the knowledge that they have a few years in hand where the plebs may forget or get bribed with stuff.
So how about a change – how about having yearly elections where 25% of counciliars have to stand again for the four years and so on.
That way we get our voices heard on an annual basis and if there is any cretinism from a council then they can expect a sound kicking in the ballots.
Obviously ‘they’ would say that this isn’t workable because ‘they’ need at least four years to deliver any cretinism and ‘they’ might say it is too expensive to hold annual elections.. And of course this area is soundly ‘nasty party’ so it probably wouldn’t work here..
And the cost of this cock up goes to yes you guessed it, the tax payer 😡😡
Do you have any particular taxpayer in mind? I bet we could think of a few!!