Conservatives winning here?

How will the Conservatives do at the forthcoming elections?

Mayoral Election for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
They should win this hands down.

County Council Elections.
I currently predict the Conservatives will take back control of the County Council.

Cambourne Division.
Mark Howell has been selected as the Conservative candidate. He is currently a District Councillor on SCDC. He lives in Papworth Everard  outside the Cambourne boundary. Not living in the Division may cut back on some vote. Not too sure the Conservatives will win here. They could but not a certainty.

SCDC Bourn Ward
The Conservatives will win this.

Bourn Ward SCDC

The election for the SCDC ward of Bourn is up for election on 4th May 2017. This is a by-election because Mervyn Loynes is resigning. A map of the ward is below:

Can Labour win?

Can Labour win any of the elections being held on 4th May 2017? The answer is No and Maybe.

The Mayoral Elections.

These elections will be held to elect a Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. This is a new position and the nearest comparable election would be the PCC election in 2016. This was a Conservative win so likely to be a Conservative win again.

The County Council Elections - Cambourne Division.

Labour cannot take the County Council. The new County Division of Cambourne is a different matter.

At the last elections held in 2013 the results were as follows:

Bourn Electoral Division
Conservative 449
Liberal Democrat 434
Labour 393
UK Independence 363
Green 89

Essentially this was a 4 way race.

The differences between the old Bourn Division and the new Cambourne Division are that Cambourne and Bourn stays together with Longstowe and Little Gransden added. Caxton, Eltisley and Croxton are moved to Papworth Division. This favours Labour.

Labour have a very good chance of taking the Cambourne seat. Yet Labour will do little to win this seat. A pity for Labour.

Bourn Ward SCDC.

This is on the old boundaries. The last election in 2016 was a Conservative win. Unless Labour are going all out for the Cambourne County seat I cannot see how they will win this seat.

Why no referendum on Council tax increase?

In 2010 the coalition government said any council tax increase over 2% would need to hold a referendum to implement such an increase. This has been modified so Councils in the bottom quarter of the list of Councils can increase by £5 or 2% whichever is greater. SCDC has decided to increase by £5. That is a 3.84% increase in their portion of the council tax.

Is Papworth Everard Parish Council racist?

Just looking through Papworth Everard Parish Council I was perplexed by who can stand for the Parish Council. The law states whom can stand for a parish council. This is listed below:

Qualifications for standing for election 
1.1 To be able to stand as a candidate at a parish council election in England or a community council election in Wales you must: 
 be at least 18 years old 
 be a British citizen, an eligible Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of any member state of the European Union, and 
 meet at least one of the following four qualifications:
 a. You are, and will continue to be, registered as a local government elector for the parish/community in which you wish to stand from the day of your nomination onwards. See paragraph 1.11 for further information. 
b. You have occupied as owner or tenant any land or other premises in the parish/community area during the whole of the 12 months before the day of your nomination and the day of election. For more details, see paragraph 1.12. 
c. Your main or only place of work during the 12 months prior to the day of your nomination and the day of election has been in the parish/community area. More information is provided in paragraph 1.19.
d. You have lived in the parish/community area or within three miles of it during the whole of the 12 months before the day of your nomination and the day of election. See paragraph 1.20 for further details.

Papworth Everard Parish Council website says the following:

Eligibility for office as a Parish Councillor

You must:

• Be over 18 years of age
• Be a British citizen or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland.
• Be on the parish electoral roll on the day of co-option and thereafter, or
  • Have occupied as owner or tenant any land or other premises in the parish during the whole of the 12 months preceding the day of co-option, or
  • Have had your principal or only place of work in the area during the whole of the 12 months preceding the day of co-option, or
  • Have resided in the parish, or within 3 miles of it, for the whole of the 12 months prior to co-option
• Have not held any paid office or employment under this authority
• Have not been a person adjudged bankrupt
• Have not been a person who, within five years before the day of co-option, has been convicted of any offence and has had passed on him/her a sentence of imprisonment for a period of not less than 3 months (whether suspended or not) without option of a fine

What are the difference?

PEPC says only British and Irish Citizens can stand. Therefore all EU citizens and eligible Commonwealth Citizens cannot stand for PEPC. This is illegal and wrong. This discriminates against fellow EU and Commonwealth citizens who are eligible to stand.

Picture of offending statement.

More work for the Parish Council meeting!

I've just noticed the Parish Council Chairman has decided there is more work for the Parish Councillors to do with longer meetings.

These should be announcements rather than decisions. Yet decisions are being taken by the Chairman rather than by the Council. The Chairman has announced that 2 items, West Cambourne and Parish Plan Update are to be added to an already crowded agenda in this chaotic council.

Ron says:The whole point of having delegated committees is to take on this sort of work. 

59 pence. The difference between Cambourne and Ipswich.

Labour ruled Ipswich Borough Council Band D Council tax comes in 59p ahead of the Cambourne Band D Council tax.

Cambourne Band D Council taxpayer bill: £1701.22

Ipswich Band D Council taxpayer bill: £1,701.81

Why?

In Cambourne we pay for a County Council, District Council, Fire and Rescue, Police Commissioner and a Parish Council.

In Ipswich they pay for a County Council (including Fire and Rescue), District Council and Police Commissioner. No Parish Councils in Ipswich.

When the propaganda comes through from Councils and political parties comes through informing residents how cheap the councils are, think only 59p behind Labour run Ipswich.

New Cambourne County Division.

The old Bourn Division has been abolished and the new Division of Cambourne in now up for election. The new Division contains the Parishes of Cambourne, Bourn, Little Gransden and Longstowe.

Grumpy old men bar one.

With most, if not all, the candidates announced we seem to be on course for a "Grumpy Old Men" election. Bar the Green Party which has selected a women.

More info here.

District Councillor attendances

With Merv resigning early I thought I would look at Bourn ward Councillor attendances at District Council.

Cllr Crocker.

For the 5 meetings he was supposed to attend he attended all. More info here.

Cllr Loynes.

For the 4 meeting he was supposed to attend he attended 3. More info here.

Cllr O'Brien.

For the 11 meetings he was supposed to attend he attended 4. That is not very good. More info here.

Where is the problem. Of the eight planning committee meetings Des was supposed to attend he attended 2. Is Des getting the unhappy with Councillor work and is thinking of pastures new? If this kind of attendance carries on shouldn't Des consider whether to carry on until the elections of 2018 and resign as Merv has done?

Merv Loynes is to resign District seat.

Merv Loynes is standing down from District Council ending his political career as he is not re-standing for County.

In the Parish minutes for 7th February 2017 the following is stated:

 District Councillor Crocker is also chairman of the Parish Council and was chairing the meeting so no hardship there.

 Merv lives in Eltisley outside the new County Council Division for Cambourne.

There we have it. A by-election for Bourn Ward on 4th May 2017.

This will be under the current boundary. See map below:

More Councillors? The consultation starts.

Cambourne Parish Council wants more councillors. Why? Because it is the Big Boy on the block of South Cambs Parish Councils and thinks it should have lots of Councillors.

My arguments against the increase in number and my arguments for parish warding of Cambourne us here.

Links

The Consultation is here.

NALC Good Councillor Guide

Community Governance Review Guidance

CPC Report on Community Governance

What is the point of CPC planning committee?

What is the point of the planning committee? A waste of time, effort and money so a few councillors can make objections which are ignored by SCDC Planning. Here is another example:

Meeting 17th January 2017.

The Chairman explained TR/2 and stated "..loss of parking space is not deemed a planning issue to object to an application".

Having heard what the Chairman of Planning has said concerns were still raised and...

Having been told by the Chairman that "..loss of parking space is not deemed a planning issue to object to an application" the Committee STILL went ahead and objected because of a lack of parking space. What a waste of time, effort and money.

There or not there. That is the question!

When is a Councillor there and also not there. According to the Planning Committee minutes of 20th December 2016 Cllr O'Dwyer was both at the meeting and also wasn't.

As can be seen from the above minutes Cllr O'Dwyer was present at this meeting. He also gave his apologies and these were accepted so he was also absent.

These minutes were ratified at the next Planning Committee meeting held on 17th January 2017.

It is now officially confirmed. Cllr O'Dwyer was both present and not present at the Planning Meeting on 20th December 2016.