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Hereford Times - 28th March 2019

Opposition groups join forces in bid to run council

By Ian Morris, Assistant Editor

HEREFORDSHIRE Council’s three largest opposition groups have joined forces in a bid to oust the Conservatives from power at Shirehall.

The Herefordshire Independents, It’s Our County, and The Green Party have agreed to support each other in the run up to the May 2 county council elections.

Group leaders hope to form the Herefordshire Alliance if they receive enough support from the electorate for a change on the council.

One of the alliance’s proposals is to remove the cabinet system and move to a committee style of governance, involving all elected councillors, as soon as the council

constitution allows it.

Its leaders are asking voters to get behind the alliance candidate standing in their area – whichever of the three groups that candidate is representing.

It’s Our County co-leader Liz Harvey said the alliance was hugely important in bringing about change at the council.

“Vote for us if you believe in a broad more representative council,” she said.

“A vote for an alliance candidate in your area is a vote for us all.”

Green group leader Trish Marsh said her party has always been keen to cooperate with other parties they share common ground with.

“We have a strong record on this nationally and locally,” she said.

“None of the opposition parties have the resources to effectively contest and win elections in all wards in the county.

“We all have to make decisions about where to focus our energies, based on existing strengths.

“We all have a shared interest in freeing the council from one-party control, improving scrutiny, sharing responsibility, and moving towards a more consensual, broadly-based politics.”

Meanwhile, the Conservatives said it was their intention to field candidates for all of the council wards.

Deputy leader Nigel Shaw said: “The Conservative group is aware that the opposition parties have had difficulty in finding candidates willing to stand in many ward areas, so their decision to work together in an electoral pact is not surprising.

“It is currently our group’s intention to stand a Conservative candidate in all 53 wards of the county in order to satisfy the demand of the electorate.

“The Conservative group is proud of its record of delivery during the current administration when many neighbouring councils have suffered severe budgetary problems.

“One thing is clear, if you want a Hereford bypass then only voting Conservative on May 2 can deliver this.”
 

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Posted

Interesting reading for my area , thankfully we have been Independant for a number of years , this year I see that the  Conservative candidate resides in Ledbury some 20 miles away is Standing against the in post Independent .

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Posted

Quite a few new names in the City areas, plus, unfortunately, some old lags who should have gone ages ago. It will be very interesting to see just how badly the Tories fare ... possibly the only good thing locally to come out of the ongoing Brexit farce is that they may well lose their grip on Herefordshire and we can pull back from the brink (unless the ingoing members find a note to say they've spent all the money!).

Posted

I’d like to wish Amanda Martin & John Harrington all the best as I hope both can get elected as I feel they both will do a good job even though they are not in the same party.

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Posted

I'll second that, Cambo... adding the name of the Indies' Angela Tyler (Aylestone Hill Ward), who called at our house last week to personally canvass our support. She seems to me to be a thoroughly good egg. So good luck to her!

Posted
On 05/04/2019 at 18:07, Cambo said:

I’d like to wish Amanda Martin & John Harrington all the best as I hope both can get elected as I feel they both will do a good job even though they are not in the same party.

Both in the Hereford Alliance of IOC Independents and Greens 

Posted

These are the city wards:

The following is a statement as to the persons nominated for the election of a District Councillor on Thursday, 2nd May 2019 for the Herefordshire Council -

1. Aylestone Hill Ward

2. Belmont Rural Ward

3. Bobblestock Ward

4. Central Ward

5. College Ward

6. Eign Hill Ward

7. Greyfriars Ward

8. Hinton and Hunderton Ward

9. Holmer Ward

10. Kings Acre Ward

11. Newton Farm Ward

12. Red Hill Ward

13. Saxon Gate Ward

14. Tupsley Ward

15. Whitecross Ward

16. Widemarsh Ward

Posted

I see Kath Hey is standing for my ward (College). She seems to be carpetbagging (loose interpretation) across town. She obviously doesn't fancy standing for Aylestone or Tupsley! Will she knock on my door? Or ring my bell? ~ that is not an innuendo by the way! She will have to make a visit to my house to even have a sniff of attracting my vote. If she visits (and I'm absent) that counts! 

Posted

This from Jim Kenyon

Jim Kenyon for Hereford & Herefordshire South

8 hrs · 

Kath has worked with me in the Tupsley ward for the last 4 years she is hard working intelligent and trustworthy, she is standing in the College ward for the county council please if you live in the area Vote for her if you don’t tell a friend who does if you need another reason to vote for her when she wins she will knock out an absolute idiot of a Tory who is quite possibly the most self serving prat I have ever met “and I’ve known a few”

Posted
On 11/04/2019 at 23:37, Tom Smith said:

Just to point out Belmont Rural and Holmer are not City Wards.

Quite right. but included wards which people perceive as part of the city due to large housing developments.

Posted
15 hours ago, Denise Lloyd said:

This from Jim Kenyon

Jim Kenyon for Hereford & Herefordshire South

8 hrs · 

Kath has worked with me in the Tupsley ward for the last 4 years she is hard working intelligent and trustworthy, she is standing in the College ward for the county council please if you live in the area Vote for her if you don’t tell a friend who does if you need another reason to vote for her when she wins she will knock out an absolute idiot of a Tory who is quite possibly the most self serving prat I have ever met “and I’ve known a few”

A Freemason as well. Kath stands a good chance of knocking him off his perch, and I really hope she does, it won't be a moment too soon. 

Posted
On 13/04/2019 at 01:57, Roger said:

I see Kath Hey is standing for my ward (College). She seems to be carpetbagging (loose interpretation) across town. She obviously doesn't fancy standing for Aylestone or Tupsley! Will she knock on my door? Or ring my bell? ~ that is not an innuendo by the way! She will have to make a visit to my house to even have a sniff of attracting my vote. If she visits (and I'm absent) that counts! 

Kath is standing at City in Tupsley.

Reason for not standing at County in Tupsley is to help the Herefordshire Alliance as many Tories out as possible.

Posted

Somebody might like to ask a Con candidate about the Blind College -

 

Council spends £6.25m on campus purchase

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The total cost to local taxpayers to help rescue the struggling college for the blind in Hereford amounts to more than £6m.

Herefordshire Council’s contracts and assets cabinet member Harry Bramer made the decision in February to spend £5,395,000 on purchasing the Royal National College of the Blind’s southern campus.

The total capital cost amounts to £6.25m which included stamp duty, land tax and other purchase costs of £635,000.

Extra costs to cover legal valuation, project management consultant fees and contingency costs are anticipated to total £220,000.

Council officers say the project finance will be drawn from the development partnership capital programme bringing forward budget allocated for 2019/20. This is funded from capital receipts reserve.

They also say that the RNCB will continue to occupy some of the buildings in the very short term with the view to moving their entire provision to the northern campus by 2020.

Hereford College of Arts occupies the main building on the site while having access to other areas and will remain in the building for the long term providing an income stream to the council.

The council will be considering growth opportunities with its development partner in the near future and will continue discussions with its key education partners.

Chris Jenner, technical services acting assistant director, said in a report: “In the short term the property provides an income stream for the council under an existing lease to the Herefordshire Arts College which is due to expire in 2023.

“This income could be deposited in a sinking fund to cover liabilities.

“There is potential to increase the income stream through further letting of accommodation to the RNCB, effectively a sale and leaseback arrangement in the short term.”

The site comprises a number of buildings including a grade II listed red brick Victorian building which is currently used by the arts college under a lease.

Other buildings vary in age and use and includes a café. The property has parking areas at different locations across the site.

The proposal was circulated to all political groups at Shirehall but no comments or questions were received leading up to the decision.

Posted
9 hours ago, Tom Smith said:

Kath is standing at City in Tupsley.

Reason for not standing at County in Tupsley is to help the Herefordshire Alliance as many Tories out as possible.

She's definitely standing for College as their ward councillor - the statements are linked further up the thread. She's standing against a UKIP and a Con.

There isn't a City ward. There is a Central ward - Jeremy Miln is standing for Greens, against an Independent (proposed by Kenyon), which sort of contradicts the much touted 'cross party co-operation'. 

Posted

You are getting your Herefordshire Independents confused with your Independent Independents.

Some of the Independent Independents are working with the Alliance others are ploughing their own furrow.

Posted

Well yes, but this 'official' explanation says otherwise - unaligned Independents should be playing nicely with Herefordshire Independents. Guess Kenyon plays by his own rules. They've all had long enough to sort this out - IOC lost seats at the last election  because they weren't organised in time and they've all had another 4 years to get their stories consistent. Poor proof reading as well (govemance - is that a love-in with the Gove?).

57368797_2305638776125449_813756329607823360_n.png

Posted

I thought Mark Eden Dykes was also standing as a  Newton Farm candidate? Not much information on Bernard Hunt- his leaflet was all about Cllr Edwards (rtd). Had a quick chat with Margy as she put a slip through the door, and she slipped up on her residence and knows nothing about the area! Had Glenda slip. No others. Don't get me wrong but there is no young blood, no one to target the youth. They get a bad rep because there is nothing for them to do! Yes there are a fair few bad eggs but this also rubs off on the good ones.

People action with a header. That's what we need.

Posted

Make your vote count is pretty difficult when there is only one name on the ballot paper.

From The Slog today:

In an astonishing drift towards Soviet democracy, 300 council seats in England have been guaranteed for one party or individual before a single ballot has been cast, weeks before the May 2nd polling day.

The closed shop of shoo-in candidates affects around 850,000 voters across Britain. 150 councillors will win their seats without a single vote being cast. In these wards the candidates are running uncontested meaning these candidates ‘win’ their seats automatically. And Parties or independent candidates have also been guaranteed an additional 152 seats, as multi-member wards go ‘under-contested’ – i.e. where a lack of competition means that at least 1 seat in the ward is guaranteed for a particular party or independent candidate.

The scandal of 21st century Rotten Boroughs has come to light thanks to painstaking research carried out by the Electoral Reform Society (ERS). And the most telling statistic is this one:

While the Conservative Party will get 137 of these undercontested seats, Labour will get just 2 (two) 

This is because the Labour Party accepts that, in many Wards, FPTP (first past the post) leaves them with no chance of winning. Yet they appear not to be worried about giving their supporters zero choice at local level. In fact, from the Leader downwards, they oppose any move away from FPTP. How curious that a Party so often using “democracy” as its watchword should be so unconcerned about a lack of it.

Make your vote count is pretty difficult when there is only one name on the ballot paper.

Posted

Never voted in local elections . I am Holmer , we have 2 x Indies and a Conservative . I will vote for anything if it hits Tories hard . Probably apathy has kept them in place over time .

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