Wanted! New East Devon District Councillors
On 7 May, voters in East Devon have
the opportunity to vote in two elections. Zorro
has already blogged about the general election and the need for change
locally. Now my attention turns to the District
Council elections.
District Council elections are held
every 4 years, alongside elections for Parish and Town Councils. At the last District
Council elections the East Devon Conservatives maintained their massive
overall majority on EDDC. Out of the 59 District Councillors, 43 of those elected stood
under the East Devon Conservative banner.
The outcome of the elections returned an East
Devon District Council that is made up of –
- Conservatives: 43
- Liberal Democrats: 10
- Independents: 6
The full list of the 2011 East Devon
election results are available -
In order to have a controlling majority on the District
Council a Party, or coalition of Parties and/or Independents need to be
able to muster 30 or more Councillors. Once a majority is formed this in turn
determines the allocation of roles across all of the Council’s Committees and
Sub-Committees.
Shamefully, in 5 Wards a total of 7 Conservative Councillors,
including Council Leader Paul Diviani, were elected unopposed. These Wards
were –
- Newton Poppleford and Harpford West
- Otterhead
- Raleigh
- Sidmouth Sidford
- Yarty
Looking at the 2011 election results, 9 Wards could, with a bit of
organised opposition, provide significant challenges to the incumbent Conservative
Councillors. This could potentially realise 18 seats that could be taken
from the Conservatives.
When you take all of this and add it to the existing non Conservative
Councillors. it shows that acquiring an additional 14 non-Conservative (and
non-UKIP) Councillors, that today would alter the political control of the District Council, is not total fantasy.
The current Conservative majority on EDDC
have not covered themselves in glory over the past 4 years. They have taken a
number of deeply unpopular decisions that have flown in the face of strong
local opposition. We have even seen East Devon
electors in their hundreds angrily march on the Knowle. This is not a sight
that one expects to see in East Devon really,
but it showed the real strength of feeling amongst the electors to an unpopular
Council decision.
At every turn, the Conservative majority on EDDC
have showed that they are not reflective of the wider EDDC
electorate. Indeed, when other Councillors on EDDC have
sought to speak on behalf of the electors and challenge the Conservative
majority they have been treated appallingly. We have seen and read of attacks,
both personal and political, on those who dare to stand up to Councillor
Diviani and his Conservative colleagues. They have been treated by
the Conservative
majority in ways that the old Soviet Union
would have been proud of. In ways that electors find unacceptable. This cannot
be allowed to continue.
Many of us believe that enough is enough in East
Devon and that these forthcoming elections are an opportunity to
challenge the Conservative majority and to elect those who will far better reflect
the views and interests of the population across East
Devon.
This will require residents standing in the District
Council elections in May. There are Wards that can be turned from Conservative to
another political colour. There are 5 Wards where Conservatives go unopposed,
thus giving the electors in those 5 Wards no ability to choose someone other
than a Conservative
to represent them. Electors in these 5 Wards are effectively
disenfranchised.
It’s time for a change!
It’s time for EDDC to have new
Councillors who will break the East Devon Conservatives stranglehold on the District Council.
It’s time to get potential new EDDC
candidates to gather support from those who will vote for them.
It’s easy to become registered as a District
Council candidate. All you need to do is to complete a nomination form
and have it signed by a proposer, a seconded and 10 others. They all need to be
registered to vote in EDDC. It’s not that
hard to do is it?
District Councillor nomination
packs will be available from EDDC’s offices
at the Knowle and from Parish clerks as from 9 March. You will need to
collect them as they will not be posted to you. Once you have completed the
nomination form and obtained the requisite number of signatures, it needs to be
returned to the EDDC offices by 4.00pm on 9
April. As the advert says; simples!
If you won’t stand in the elections, do you know someone that should
do?
To help you, or they, are thinking about becoming a candidate in the
District Council elections go online at –
It’s time for change! It’s time for challenge!
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