Review of the local news this week

One of the areas that I intend to pilot in this blog is to do some political commentary on some of the news items appearing in the Camberley News & Mail.

So making the local news this week…

“Borough Council must “fight harder” for rail links

This story highlights the concerns of the Camberley Society about the current poor rail links between our area and London. Now I regularly take the train from Camberley to London for social reasons and the 72 minutes to travel 32 miles is just ridiculous.  The Camberley Society are pressing for a link in 50 minutes which would be great but unlikely in the short term.

The Council will be discussing this further next week but one of the problems I experience is the very slow connection times at Ascot and Ash Vale which means that people generally wait there for 15 to 20 minutes. This may not be easy to resolve for signalling reasons but is definitely worth a look along with a couple of extra direct trains each day from our area including at least one “fast” service with much fewer stops. This is probably more likely in the short term than trying to get the Sturt Cord in Frimley Green reopened which is likely to be at least 10 years away.

Another area that needs looking at is the very unpleasant environment for travellers using Camberley Station.  Last time I travelled (less than 2 weeks ago), pigeons were enjoying the inside waiting area and the benches were covered with their droppings.  If you didn’t fancy that, you could stand outside in the cold and rain! This is hardly likely to encourage business commuters to get out of their cars and traffic jams.

Project to benefit from crime cash

This is a great story that St.Michael’s will now be getting a ball games area for young people. There is no doubt that this is a desperately needed initiative in an area where there are many young people living in cramped housing. Hopefully this will also resolve resident concerns when people are kicking balls around in car parks and garages and shows that positive engagement is a far better approach.

On a different note, it’s great to see that a new social enterprise has been launched to help adults with learning difficulties to get work opportunities.  Many years ago, I spent a number of enjoyable summers working with clients in this category and they are some of the most committed workers I have ever met.  Sometimes they need extra guidance and help with certain tasks but their loyalty and dedication is amazing and would put others to shame. As one example, I have met one bloke who spent over 10 years working as a gravedigger at a cemetery and was brilliant at the role. It’s good that there are a number of enlightened employers in our area who already realise this and let’s hope that more follow and this is a success.

Letters page

Interesting to read two letters from a Conservative and Lib Dem candidates in the recent elections who both comment about the lack of general awareness for local councillors. I have already blogged about this in detail but both of them make good points about apathy and that local councillors are well meaning but can only help if they know about a problem.  This again highlights that there is a real issue about local government and a need to positively address voter interest before the next round of elections come.  Perhaps it needs a few people to discuss in a local pub one night - volunteers are welcome to contact me!

And finally, it was good to see another mention for my good friend, Murray Rowlands who appeared at the Camberley Theatre along with many others for the annual Surrey Heath Book Festival.  I have bought his book “Innocents of War” but have to confess not to have read it yet although very interested in the Kiwi history,  I understand that he and former Z cars actor and now Cllr, Ian Cullen, were the warm up act for Honor Blackman who apparently brought ”a bit of glamour to the event” according to a quote in the paper! It’s probably fair to say that Murray and Ian didn’t do the same…

Voting? You must be joking…

I wouldn’t usually write a blog in response to someone else’s but I really liked this one from the always readable Left of Lightwater in which he describes a very typical BBQ discussion about elections and their general lack of interest. http://leftoflightwater.wordpress.com/

Like any local politician, going along to Council meetings is only one aspect of life and in the summer, I usually spend my Saturday afternoons playing cricket for a local club side in Surrey.  It’s fair to say that most of the other players would have about as much interest in politics as watching paint dry for the afternoon which is great as it means getting the real views and experiences of people rather than just hearing from those in political circles who falsely believe that they know what is going on.

So here’s my unofficial straw poll courtesy of a different all-age group to the Lightwater BBQers.

Did you vote?

- “No, it’s a load of ########”

- “No – I only bother if it’s a general election.”

- “Everyone’s the same and no-one does anything”

- “Voted for what? Don’t know what you are talking about.”

- “Don’t really understand it – just seems like a load of people arguing.”

Some others did say that they would probably have voted if they knew anyone standing or would have voted for me if they lived in the area even if they didn’t like my “colour”. One or two described experiences with their own local councillor in different areas which had generally been negative along the lines of “they like to hear the sound of their own voice” or “they never got back to me” or ”they never did anything”.

Like LoL, I reckon our unofficial straw polls are actually a pretty accurate reflection of what many in society think.  There are in fact only a very small minority of people who are politically engaged and the rest are either not at all or it is just of passing interest around elections or certain news stories. This is a shame as actually most politicians are very hard working for their communities.

But if you dig deeper, you will find that many people actually hold strong well formed opinions on different matters. So for example, they will avidly follow a football team, know their celebrities, have strong and often different views on moral issues and tell you about how money is spent or wasted.  But mention any political party and watch eyes glaze over!

So my starting point for improving voting turnouts would be:-

- Politicians at all levels actually talking about issues and subjects that interest people but in a real way and not overly partisan (the public are very good at seeing through politicians who blag!) This is something I already try to do on Twitter in a small way but will probably now throw in the odd random blog as well particularly on topical or local subjects.

- Get as many candidates as possible involved within their community – people are more likely to vote if their pal is standing or alternatively if they know a candidate and want to vote against them. A choice of bland party hacks does not appeal to many.

-  Using the community networks that are already in place. By this, I don’t particularly mean social media (although that clearly has an important role) but the numerous sporting clubs, faith groups, community radio, pub quizzes etc.etc. already doing this.

There are probably loads of other ideas knocking around – now’s the time to hear them before all the politicos get focused on the next set of elections in 12 months time.

Final thoughts of 2013 election

Any election result must always start with congratulations to the winning candidate.  This is easy for me to do as I have known Denis Fuller for many years working together on positive community projects such as the Surrey Heath Youth Council.  He deserved to win because quite simply, he was the candidate who had the most support both personally and for his political party.  I am sure that he will continue to work hard for the residents of Camberley West as he has done in the last 4 years on successful campaigns such as getting rid of cowboy clampers in Frimley.

Sadly, the turnout in these elections was very low and that is a real shame.  Around 7 out of every 10 voters did not see the point of voting for anyone either because they didn’t think it makes a difference, none of the parties or candidates inspired them or they didn’t want to waste 10 minutes of their life walking down to the polling station or even sending back their postal vote form. A small number of these are deliberate choices (such as religious reasons) but the vast majority are not and just see voting as pointless as nothing changes regardless.

This is the real issue of the election.  It isn’t actually about the campaigns, pledges, percentage shares going up or down, party slogans or endless analysis. Some areas yesterday were more fiercely contested than others but yet it appeared to make little or no difference to the turnout figures.

This is not a new trend but it is a dangerous one when you have political parties and candidates totally unable to reach out into communities beyond a small minority of their own supporters. In most areas, there were at least 3 candidates to choose including the so-called protest vote of UKIP.  In fact, the real ”protest vote” were the 70% of people (and increasing) who decided to take no part in it at all.

All of the political parties moan about “not enough young people voted yesterday” or that they need younger activists and yet if we are all quite honest, do little or nothing about it.  But it is not just younger people – it is people of all ages and nationalities who are saying the same thing.

Now that elections have finished and there are none planned for at least 12 months, I want to start an open debate about how we can improve this situation at least in a small way in Surrey Heath. For my part, I intend to try and get more into schools and youth centres (one of my own pledges) and speak to young people about why I got involved in politics as a local lad myself and welcome any political colleagues from any party who want to join me.

On a wider aspect though, it would be great if we could get some real practical ideas from the community and perhaps set up a non-political residents panel on the issue as a way of getting brutally honest feedback.

And as a final reflection, I just want to publicly thank all of the 991 people who decided to vote for me in Camberley West.  I know that many of those will be disappointed either personally or politically but I’m not – to go from 434 votes up to 991 votes when a boundary change reduced the area and then the turnout was lower was a great result and a real credit to all in my team.  In fact, we got 29 more votes than the winning Conservative candidate in Frimley Green & Mytchett! More importantly, it meant that the winning candidate and his team had to work hard for their win which they undoubtedly did and credit to them.

Election Day in Camberley

The polls have closed – the ballot boxes have been sealed until tomorrow and the day is drawing to a close on probably the most enjoyable election day that I have ever had.

Much credit must go today to the two teams of Labour and Conservative activists who have manned polling stations, leafleted, knocked on the doors of those who had yet to vote (far too many) and despite what people may think, have genuinely wished each other good luck.  Some of my Labour colleagues across the country might be surprised at this but Surrey Heath “rules” are that you work as hard as you can with as many people as you can and then let the electorate decide!

The great unknown in this election and across Surrey is the vote that UKIP will get.  My impression from our canvass returns is that they have polled well despite running a very poor campaign which failed to focus on a single local issue. Certainly, their supporters identified by us have come out to vote as have a large number of people who are identified as “don’t know”. Many Conservative voters have decided to stay at home despite a gloriously sunny day but then so have some of the Lab voters. This means that the turn-out in this election is therefore likely to be low. It is difficult to predict exactly but my guess is lower than 35% and perhaps nearer 30% which would be a pity.

Fuller blog with results and comparisons tomorrow.

My 6 pledges for Camberley West

So here we are – 2 days before the election and despite being one of the few candidates standing who regularly blogs and tweets, I had forgotten to put my election pledges on my own blog!  Oops but thank you for the people who have pointed this out and better late than never. I will be blogging again on some other election matters that have come up but this will be done after the polls close as a respect to the electorate.

I think we are all aware that people treat election pledges from politicians with some degree of scepticism but even so, we should have a go and along with some context, here are mine:-

1) Help to advise residents wanting to set up their own community campaigns

For the last 12 years, I have worked in the field of community development which basically means helping different geographic communities in Surrey to become safer and stronger.  The stronger bit means to set up community groups, forums and activities which bring people together.  Sometimes this might be to address youth issues (for example by setting up local youth groups) or it might be a community litter pick or to set up a new Residents Association or Neighbourhood Watch.  Note here that by helping to advise, it means giving them the tools to go on and do it themselves perhaps through training, funding advice or general guidance.  Of course, there are times when community groups will have a different viewpoint or agenda to mine or the Council but even so, it’s always better to help them to put their best case forward and this is what being a community champion is all about.

2) Visit all local schools in the area at least once a term and talk to students where invited.

This is something that I feel passionate about and would absolutely commit. Again, I have visited many schools in this area and elsewhere in Surrey and they really want to have a good relationship with community reps.  All the schools I know are always very keen to have people coming in and delivering assemblies, Citizenship talks, helping out at their fayres or events and just basically being a community friend to them.  It is not about doing formal tours or visits as some people wrongly think but about popping in occasionally, helping where you can and being known as their approachable link if the need arises.

Again as personal examples of what this pledge means to me, I have delivered assemblies to young children bringing in teddy bears (called Gordon and Jordan) to help with simple safety messages and taken litter education sessions involving simple games. In another school, I was asked to go and just play football occasionally at lunchtime with some of the children as all the staff were female and this also really helped their OFSTED by showing community engagement.

More locally, it meant joining with my church and helping to serve soup to families and be a steward for The Orchards Bonfire night. In Collingwood, it was a pleasure to go in and speak with their Year 8 students and help with their Citizenship classes when they were studying their local community and it felt a bit like Question Time!  I would be more than happy to do this in Kings and Tomlinscote as well and know that many Surrey Heath politicians of all parties feel the same.  Being an ex-youth leader does help – it’s not for everyone!

Every school would like something different but that is the joy of local schools and why they need good close links with elected members. Schools are not keen if it is just a stuffy uninterested cllr wandering around on a tour but they do want people able to enthuse and engage with their pupils and students in a real way.

Incidentally this does not involve being a Governor which is a very important but completely different role.  Personally, I would want to link with all schools and not be more linked to one than others so if elected, I would not become a governor myself at any individual school.

3) Set up a monthly e-mail newsletter for residents giving details of community events and County updates.

This is again something that I have regularly done in a professional capacity.  It’s a simple task starting with the public contacts of all of the community and sporting groups within the area and their public contacts before widening out to the local residents.  We already have local variants of this in Surrey Heath and it is easy to set up quickly.

4) Regular patrols of the area so that all potholes are quickly reported and our roads are sorted out.

Again this is a very simple pledge.  I already walk a lot around the area for various community activities.  Regular patrols are also undertaken by the local Police and Housing Association for their roles and local politicians should therefore be doing the same by physically walking around their area on a regular basis and seeing what residents see.  Again this is something that I already do as indeed do many other politicians of all parties around the country as potholes and general environmental issues are such an important doorstep issue to our residents.

5) Speak out at County Hall to ensure proper provision of social care and mental health services in our area.

Unfortunately, social care and mental health rarely hit any political agendas but are crucially important issues.  We have an ageing population and yet real problems around the provision of local social care particularly around adults with learning difficulties.  In terms of mental health, around 1 in 4 of the population will personally experience this themselves.  I expect that the vast majority of people reading this blog will know someone in one or both of these categories.  This pledge is about gathering all of these experiences and making sure that they are fully heard in County Hall when decisions are made about funding, services, provision.   Again this is an issue where I have some professional expertise and personal experience and am keen to try and address what is seen as “remote” decision making by service users and their families.

And then finally….

6) Would only vote to put up Council Tax if wasteful spending in non-essential areas has been removed.

This year, both Surrey County Council and Surrey Heath Borough Council put up Council Tax meaning around £30 extra a year to the average resident. At Surrey Heath, I was one of only two councillors who voted against this increase this year.  The reason for doing so is because although councils do have real funding pressures and government cuts (to which I sympathise), there are still some areas of waste that have yet to be removed.  I have already blogged in detail about the examples in Surrey Heath and therefore rarely find myself in agreement with such people as Eric Pickles and David Cameron! That is not to say that I will never vote for Council Tax increases and indeed have done so in the past but does mean analysing budgets line by line and addressing wasteful areas of spending before asking residents to dig even more deeply into their pocket.

So there we have it - 6 simple pledges and nothing too contentious there at all. In fact, these pledges could probably have been written by a politician of any party or none!  I hope that regardless of whether I am elected or not, these 6 themes are taken forward over the next 4 years as they are really important to our community.

Learning election lessons….past and present.

Despite what some politicians say, elections are actually quite an unsettling time for them.  The public are in effect making a judgement on who they want to be their representative in an area for the next 4 years and this can sometimes be an uncomfortable personal message to hear.  It might also be life changing for their personal circumstances.

As someone who has both won and lost on a number of occasions, I have come to learn many lessons about elections and lesson number 1 goes like this:-

A voter has the absolute right to choose who they like based on whatever reason they like.

This sounds obvious but can actually be a great frustration for every candidate when faced by a voter in the doorstep! This is because they have a certain message they want to put across to the great British public. Instead, they find people with a massive range of public interest in political affairs ranging from being absolutely fanatical to completely uninterested and all the spectrums inbetween.  But every single voter has the same 1 vote to use if they so wish.

I mention this because we are now in a campaign where I am one of the candidates in an election for Surrey County Council.  This means that whoever wins in each of the 81 divisions ends up as the local rep and therefore link with schools, youth centres, roads, social care and other similar services.

For many voters however, they see this as an opportunity to express their views on other completely unrelated matters such as their view on the present or previous Government, the economy, immigration, Europe, party leaders etc. etc. Despite our efforts to politely inform them that whoever they choose can do nothing in those areas, they still wish to vote accordingly and good luck to them…it is not for any of us to complain if they choose to vote in this way.  I can remember personally losing my then Watchetts seat in 2003 exactly like this with people repeatedly saying that they weren’t going to support me due to the war in Iraq!

For others, they do not have the slightest interest in any of the policies being put forward  but they do want to know about the people and especially if someone is standing who they know or are connected with in some way.  This is particularly true in local elections where people live, work or ”play” with many of the candidates.  In effect, they want to vote for their friend or even someone they vaguely know on the grounds that they can then approach them should the need arise.  Every candidate in every election has a personal vote of some description and this is because a personal link will often trump someone’s political views which are rarely strong.

For others, they will pick according to apparent random issues such as who they think is the best looking, has the funniest name, lives nearest to them (all of which I have heard) or some other non political reason.

This leads on to lesson number 2…

“The electorate are always right”

This lesson is again really hard especially when extremist candidates win such as the BNP (thankfully not standing in Surrey Heath) or when people have such low awareness that they still think we have a Labour government or that Mrs Thatcher was in the Labour Party (yes I have met such people in the last month).

The best way I can describe it is a bit like applying for a job but instead of a interview panel of 4 or 5 people, the decision is made by over 10000 deciding! But whether someone wins by 1 vote or 10000, they still have a bigger mandate than any officer as the public chose them.  For that reason, I have always come to the view that you should win humbly or lose gracefully and always respect whatever the public result regardless of whether you agree with it or how others behave.

And the final lesson I have learnt is this..

Be focused on your own campaign

In my particular election, there are 2 other candidates who are also running active campaigns in different political parties. I wish them good luck and good health over the next week and recognise the hard work and dedication that they are also putting in.  Hopefully, between us all, we can get a good turnout of electors which is then in everyone’s interest.

But whatever they do in their campaign is up to them.  It has been mildly amusing to be forwarded blogs, watch videos, marvel at changed photos etc. but whatever they write or say is not relevant to me at all.  Too many elections at any level end up with candidates focused on each other rather than focusing on the electorate and their needs and wants. The public hate this and rightly so.

To demonstrate this personally, I have refused to discuss other candidates on the doorstep even when voters have raised comment themselves.  Where people have said that they don’t want to support me for personal or political reason, I have still tried to encourage them to vote for someone else so that they do vote.   I would hope (and have told informally) that others are doing the same which is encouraging as it is outside the usual election norms.

Following my dismal prediction for the PCC election, I will not be making the same mistake again by guessing the results in Surrey Heath but can say that I am really enjoying this campaign and chatting to so many local residents. It has been great to catch up with old friends and make new ones. At times this has been a bit embarrassing (such as when a member of my campaign team knocked on the door of my old babysitter and started swapping stories!) but whatever happens, I hope all the Surrey Heath candidates in all the parties have an enjoyable final week and that the weather stays good!

Councillor attendance at Surrey Heath (or not?)

We have just received the annual report on councillor attendance at Surrey Heath and this is due to be officially tabled at the Full Council on Wednesday.

Now councillors of all parties are very busy people trying to combine their role as a local representative with their work and family commitments and occasionally (dare we say it?) a social life. Most people would understand that even the most diligent members would sometimes miss out on a meeting as long as it is for good reason.

However, it is very disappointing that there are a core of people who get elected and then cannot even be bothered to send their apologies according to the official Council report. It is really important that they do so for two reasons namely:-

1) It shows that they take their duties of putting the views of local residents seriously.
2) It then means that a substitute from their political group can then attend instead who is able to speak and vote on the matters in hand.

So who are the people who keep doing this? Well, here’s the list which is in the public domain.

- Cllr Gandhum (Lightwater) – failed to send apologies for 6 of the 14 planning committees.
- Cllr Cullen (Heatherside) – failed to send apologies for 5 of his 10 scrutiny committees.
- Cllr Pitt – failed to send apologies for 3 out of the 10 Full Council meetings and 1 of the 3 Licensing Committees.

There are 3 other Conservative councillors who didn’t send apologies on 3 separate occasions.

I am really pleased to say that out of the 34 recorded occasions when a councillor did not bother to send apologies for a meeting where they are a member, not a single one of those was from any of the 5 Opposition members.

Turning to attendance generally, this is much more varied and an interesting theme develops here. There are only 8 councillors out of 40 who have missed one meeting or less during the year and they are:-

- Cllr Bush (who serves as the Executive)
- Cllr M Gibson (Council Leader)
- Cllr Mansell (current Mayor)
- Cllr May (a Scrutiny Chair)
- Cllr Price (a Scrutiny Vice-chair)
- Cllr Whittart (Opposition Deputy Group Leader)
- Cllr Hamilton
+ me (Opposition Group Leader).

Spot the theme here – everyone apart from Cllr Hamilton has other Council responsibilities as well and yet manage to fit them in. Four of the above 8 have paid jobs outside the Council as well. It is possible to do it although am sure that the 8 of us would agree that it can be hard at times.

Of the rest, I know that many work unsocial hours, some work regularly abroad, some have difficult family or personal circumstances and that illness both long and short-term has been an issue for others. I want to make it clear that the vast majority of councillors of all parties and none take their roles very seriously and that Councils are best when we have such a wide variety of people taking part from all walks of life. Also, meetings is only one part of the councillor role which also involves casework and general community working. The meetings though do mean that you get the chance to speak a local voice into the Chamber when decisions are made.

But my concern is that it takes no effort to tell a colleague or an officer that you are not able to attend a meeting and to try and get one of the designated substitutes from your group instead. If we all took the attitude of a small minority, the Council decision making would just grind to a halt which is in no-one’s interest…