cogload
Lib Dem
I jumped in the river and what did I see...
Posts: 8,244
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Post by cogload on Apr 8, 2024 15:57:01 GMT
Ummmm.....
😬😬😬
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Khunanup
Lib Dem
Portsmouth Liberal Democrats
Posts: 11,552
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Post by Khunanup on Apr 9, 2024 11:17:29 GMT
Fratton
We come to the first of Portsmouth's two landlocked wards, located in the geographic centre of Portsea Island. The communities of the ward are: Fratton, which is wholly situated in the ward and comprises about three quarters of it. This is an entirely residential area which almost completely consists of tightly packed Victorian terraced streets other than the small part at Kingston Rec and the southern part of Kingston Cemetery in the north east of Fratton (which as the names suggest, as with the south western part of Baffins on the other side of the railway line mentioned in the entry for that ward, was traditionally part of an area called Kingston which no longer exists as a community in the city). For such a topographically flat island, Fratton does boast the highest natural point in Portsea Island (less than 9 metres above sea level) at St Mary's Church (the latest of several to bear that name, serving the oldest parish outside Old Portsmouth on Portsea Island) and the highest non-natural land surface on the Island, the top of Fratton Bridge next to the station that tops out at just under 10 metres. The ward has a high level of privately rented properties and owner occupied properties alongside a handful of social housing and there's some privately rented student accommodation at the south end of the area. Though like elsewhere in Portsmouth minority communities don't tend to be clumped in one place, Fratton does have a higher than average proportion of eastern European residents. Fratton is bounded to its south and east by the railway line that curves from a north/south line to an east/west one by the time it gets to Fratton Station at the far south of the ward (forming the boundary with Milton and Baffins wards), to the west by Landport in Charles Dickens Ward, to the north west by Buckland (both that part on Charles Dickens and in this ward) and to the north east by the small part of Copnor that sits in Fratton ward. The part of Buckland in Fratton ward lies in the north-west. It has a very different aspect to the parts of Buckland in Charles Dickens and Nelson wards as this area to the east of Kingston Road has virtually no social housing, is majority owner occupied and, like the rest of the ward, is mainly tightly packed Victorian terraced housing and has no green space at all. To the north are Nelson and Copnor wards' parts of North End and to the east is the part of Copnor in Fratton ward. The ward's bit of Copnor, situated in the north-east, is almost identical in character to the part of Buckland to the west with the exception of containing the northern part of Kingston Cemetery (the city's largest, and, as might be expected, having a large amount of military graves dotted around its grounds). It seamlessly connects into southern Copnor situated in the far south-west of that ward to its north and faces the Baffins part of Copnor across Copnor Road to its east. This ward's history is inextricably linked to the SDP's split from the Labour Party and the political career of one Mike Hancock. The ward, which with minor changes in 2002 to give us what we have today, created in 1983 was constituted by the entirety of the preceding Fratton ward which elected three Labour councillors to varying levels of safety from 1973 alongside a small part of perennially Lab/Con marginal Buckland ward (discussed elsewhere) and a bigger chunk of (western) Kingston ward which in the three 1970s election provided results of split representation (2 Con/1 Lab, 2 Lab/1 Con and 2 Con/1Lab respectively). The referred to above Mike Hancock topped the poll for Labour each time in the old Fratton ward. In 1981 the SDP was formed and soon afterwards Mike Hancock joined the nascent party and was the Alliance's only elected councillor on Portsmouth City Council in the first election post that event in the newly expanded Fratton ward in 1983, topping the poll ahead of two Labour candidates. He was not joined by any colleagues in the 1984 local elections (The Alliance coming third in this ward, with Labour retaining one the seat in a three way marginal ahead of the Conservatives) but things changed in the ward (and more widely in the city) after Mike Hancock's election as MP in the Portsmouth South by-election a month later. After that the politics of Fratton ward became highly predictable, with The Alliance and then the Lib Dems holding all seats in the ward by comfortable margins (other than the initial election in 1986 when the first non-Hancock victory happened and the all-outs in 1996 for the new unitary authority where Labour were not too far behind). This didn't change after the boundary changes in 2002, with the most notable difference to what had happened in the preceding 16 years being that Labour finishing in third place from 2004 to 2010 (with the Conservatives second each time), with the nadir being two results of under 10% within a year in a 2007 by-election (after the disqualification of a Lib Dem councillor by the Standards Board for England) and the ordinary 2008 election. In the first two elections during the coalition the pattern continued, but with Labour moving back into second place over the Conservatives. Then everything changed. Mike Hancock was accused of inappropriate behaviour in his position as councillor by a resident of the ward and he was suspended by the parliamentary Lib Dem party and from the Lib Dem group on the council with investigations by the national Lib Dems and the council ongoing. This scenario resulted in one of his ward colleagues to sit as an independent Lib Dem on the council and she subsequently quit the party, seeing out her tenure as an Independent. After a period of the suspension Mike Hancock quit the party but the decision was made by the local Lib Dem executive to not stand a candidate in Fratton ward when he was up for re-election in 2014. In this year of the UKIP surge in Portsmouth he came third behind UKIP and Labour thus Fratton (inevitably) having a non-Lib Dem/Alliance elected for the first time in 30 years and Mike Hancock's first ever defeat in a local election. The Lib Dems gained back the seat of the councillor gone independent in 2015 over UKIP in second (Mike Hancock standing again, as he did in the general election on the same day, coming sixth in the ward with only 5% of the vote) and held their other seat in 2016 narrowly over Labour. In 2018 Labour finally gained their first representative in the ward since 1984 taking the UKIP seat from 2014 (whose not-restanding incumbent had defected to the Conservatives during her term), 72 votes ahead of the Lib Dems (UKIP finishing on single figures in fourth). In 2019 this result was not repeated with the Lib Dems holding their seat relatively comfortably (ahead of the now Labour MP's dad, standing for the party this time around) and very narrowly held their seat up in 2021 by 52 votes (with the Lib Dem candidate being the man who'd lost narrowly in 2018). In 2022 the Lib Dem who had stood down in 2021 looked to make a comeback but was defeated by the incumbent Labour councillor by 120 votes and last year the incumbent Lib Dem also held his seat with a slightly reduced majority ahead of Labour.
Winners: 2002 - Lib Dem x3, 2003 - Lib Dem, 2004 - Lib Dem, 2006 - Lib Dem, 2007 - Lib Dem, 2008 - Lib Dem, 2010 - Lib Dem, 2011 - Lib Dem, 2012 - Lib Dem, 2014 - UKIP, 2015 - Lib Dem, 2016 - Lib Dem, 2018 - Lab, 2019 - Lib Dem, 2021 - Lib Dem, 2022 - Lab, 2023 - Lib Dem
Up this year: Lib Dem (Served 2021-)
2023
Dave Ashmore LD 1051 38.1% Aimee Gwyther Lab 840 30.4% Jacob Short PompyInd 457 16.6% Peter Ross C 248 9.0% Samet Alves Grn 139 5.0% Chris Pickett TUSC 24 0.9%
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cogload
Lib Dem
I jumped in the river and what did I see...
Posts: 8,244
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Post by cogload on Apr 15, 2024 12:10:41 GMT
A few of our stakeboards have been vandalised (in 3 wards). 🙄
Mordaunt's leaflet (mentioned above) has gone out constituency wide.
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Post by PoliticoP on Apr 15, 2024 13:34:45 GMT
A few of our stakeboards have been vandalised (in 3 wards). 🙄 Mordaunt's leaflet (mentioned above) has gone out constituency wide. I swear the Libs say this every year in Portsmouth. What wards this time? I think it’s going to be a very tight election, can see the Indies continuing their onslaught in the north, possibly winning 1 more than expected. I think they could win Fratton too. Labour if they don’t win more seats now they never will. St Jude, Charles Dickens, Central Southsea must be bankers for them. Doesn’t feel like an election in Pompey for once, very muted.
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Post by sinisterdexter on Apr 15, 2024 16:01:09 GMT
Labour will never take the council until they can make a comeback in the northern wards - I think I'm right in saying that they only have 2 councillors out of 21. Doesn't bode well for their chances in Portsmouth North in the GE either
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Post by PoliticoP on Apr 15, 2024 17:47:30 GMT
Labour will never take the council until they can make a comeback in the northern wards - I think I'm right in saying that they only have 2 councillors out of 21. Doesn't bode well for their chances in Portsmouth North in the GE either I think a GE is different as they will do well on the back of the fact they are not the Tories. The council however will not see any change in this election. The Lib Dem’s will limp on basking in the fact all the other parties don’t like each other and will not remove them. Labour need a Lib Dem collapse in the south, which does not look like occurring.
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Post by jakegb on Apr 15, 2024 18:10:28 GMT
A few of our stakeboards have been vandalised (in 3 wards). 🙄 Mordaunt's leaflet (mentioned above) has gone out constituency wide. I swear the Libs say this every year in Portsmouth. What wards this time? I think it’s going to be a very tight election, can see the Indies continuing their onslaught in the north, possibly winning 1 more than expected. I think they could win Fratton too. Labour if they don’t win more seats now they never will. St Jude, Charles Dickens, Central Southsea must be bankers for them. Doesn’t feel like an election in Pompey for once, very muted. It does indeed feel much quieter this year; though there's a steady stream of orange in much of the south (and Baffins). In Milton (my home ward), there's very little red, unlike the last two cycles.
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Post by jakegb on Apr 15, 2024 18:32:17 GMT
Labour will never take the council until they can make a comeback in the northern wards - I think I'm right in saying that they only have 2 councillors out of 21. Doesn't bode well for their chances in Portsmouth North in the GE either I think a GE is different as they will do well on the back of the fact they are not the Tories. The council however will not see any change in this election. The Lib Dem’s will limp on basking in the fact all the other parties don’t like each other and will not remove them. Labour need a Lib Dem collapse in the south, which does not look like occurring. The Lib Dems have been remarkably resilient here, especially in light of their last GE result (in Portsmouth S) - credit where credit is due. I can't see any major challenges this election cycle - what with Lab's local problems + the Tories' national unpopularity. Saying that, the PIP may well start to cause challenges in the south of the city (in the coming years); the Tipner project/(possible) expansion of the clean air zones have the potential to alienate a lot of previously loyal voters in the south of the city.
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cogload
Lib Dem
I jumped in the river and what did I see...
Posts: 8,244
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Post by cogload on Apr 21, 2024 17:19:30 GMT
Tory leaflet been delivered in one half of Anchorage Park but not the other. A5 multi sided with "their plan" for Copnor and Anchorage Park. This includes (inter alia) tackling crime in Portsmouth, keeping council tax low (apparently running a council requires business acumen), HMO regulations, dentistry, affordable homes and environmental protection. The last 3 are laughable claims.
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cogload
Lib Dem
I jumped in the river and what did I see...
Posts: 8,244
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Post by cogload on Apr 23, 2024 12:01:57 GMT
A3 sized card popped through my door with "I'm voting Lee Tindal" on it. Suffice to say I won't be displaying it. 😬
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Post by sinisterdexter on Apr 23, 2024 12:29:54 GMT
All I've received in Hilsea is a card from PIP and ditto for friends in Drayton & Farlington
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Post by PoliticoP on Apr 23, 2024 19:13:36 GMT
All I've received in Hilsea is a card from PIP and ditto for friends in Drayton & Farlington Sounds like the Tories have given up on those wards.
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Khunanup
Lib Dem
Portsmouth Liberal Democrats
Posts: 11,552
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Post by Khunanup on Apr 23, 2024 22:17:04 GMT
All I've received in Hilsea is a card from PIP and ditto for friends in Drayton & Farlington Sounds like the Tories have given up on those wards. There's little chance they'll lose in Drayton & Farlington. They're sunk in Hilsea, Cosham and Eastney & Craneswater are being left to fend for themselves and the only place they're putting up a real fight against incursion (probably in vain) is Copnor.
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Post by PoliticoP on Apr 24, 2024 8:30:21 GMT
Sounds like the Tories have given up on those wards. There's little chance they'll lose in Drayton & Farlington. They're sunk in Hilsea, Cosham and Eastney & Craneswater are being left to fend for themselves and the only place they're putting up a real fight against incursion (probably in vain) is Copnor. Why are they trying so hard in Copnor? Penny Mordaunt could only have 4 councillors soon enough, would not have seen that coming a few years back. The demise of the local Tories is something I did not expect. Wonder what has caused it.
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cogload
Lib Dem
I jumped in the river and what did I see...
Posts: 8,244
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Post by cogload on Apr 24, 2024 10:20:03 GMT
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Post by jakegb on Apr 24, 2024 18:34:54 GMT
There's little chance they'll lose in Drayton & Farlington. They're sunk in Hilsea, Cosham and Eastney & Craneswater are being left to fend for themselves and the only place they're putting up a real fight against incursion (probably in vain) is Copnor. Why are they trying so hard in Copnor? Penny Mordaunt could only have 4 councillors soon enough, would not have seen that coming a few years back. The demise of the local Tories is something I did not expect. Wonder what has caused it. Me too - following 2021 I saw a route back to them re-gaining the council. They have plummeted in numbers - mainly at the hands of the PIP, but Labour and the Lib Dems have also had their share of the spoils too. Mind you, neighbouring Southampton has not been any better for the blues.
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cogload
Lib Dem
I jumped in the river and what did I see...
Posts: 8,244
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Post by cogload on Apr 29, 2024 14:50:16 GMT
Another letter through from Lee Tindal. This time he isn't "reaching out" but advises me that he will "personally fund free activities for youths (sic) locally so children can have things to do outside of school hours". I hope he has deep pockets.
Has a right go at the Conservative councillor for the ward by making snarky comments about that councillor's record on HMO's and crime and therefore "you can't trust the sitting councillor". Fair enough.
This is countered by a Tory leaflet from Lewis Gosling who is the sitting Councillor who basically rehashes "the plan", takes credit for the LD led council's moves on dentistry and states he supports Pompey FC (amongst other achievements).
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Post by tonyhil on Apr 29, 2024 18:23:52 GMT
PIP seems to have been unusually successful for a localist party in a major city. Sooner or later they will crash and burn though - how long do you think it will take?
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cogload
Lib Dem
I jumped in the river and what did I see...
Posts: 8,244
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Post by cogload on Apr 29, 2024 18:28:49 GMT
PIP seems to have been unusually successful for a localist party in a major city. Sooner or later they will crash and burn though - how long do you think it will take? Pass. The city takes a well earned break from local politics next year before 2026 and the possibility of a boundary review and the dreaded all ups. Who knows what that will bring...?
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Post by sinisterdexter on Apr 29, 2024 18:32:42 GMT
Election fever has hit Hilsea: 3 leaflets from PIP and one from the Tories in the past week 😁
Pompey has always had a huge contrarian streak, so the PIP popularity will last until something more interesting comes along..
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