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Post by casualobserver on Dec 28, 2016 14:13:22 GMT
I forecast that the Greens will lose their seat in Ilkley. That there exists a seat in Ilkley held by a Green and to be contested between the Lib Dems and Labour shows how seriously town councils are taken. (I assume Ilkley has no more power than your average parish council ?) Unlike "your average parish council", a Town Council has a Mayor! |
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Post by forumreader on Dec 28, 2016 22:38:23 GMT
No, it's a Faversham Town Council by-election, administered by the Swale district council. |
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Post by forumreader on Dec 28, 2016 22:41:28 GMT
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Post by East Anglian Lefty on Dec 29, 2016 6:29:30 GMT
They don't *have* to be, and in some cases aren't. Thanks for taking my hyperbole literally. It would just be nice to see normal elections with at least both main parties putting up a full slate of candidates, rather than scrabbling around to find someone of any party or none who might just make it through to the end of their term without resigning or not showing up for six months. Of course, six- and seven-member FPTP wards really don't help that cause. I disagree. If you had smaller wards, it'd be even harder to find candidates. |
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Post by Antiochian on Dec 29, 2016 12:06:41 GMT
That there exists a seat in Ilkley held by a Green and to be contested between the Lib Dems and Labour shows how seriously town councils are taken. (I assume Ilkley has no more power than your average parish council ?) Unlike "your average parish council", a Town Council has a Mayor! Not true... Andover Town Council doesn't have a Mayor.. only a Chairman.. the Mayor can be made by the Chairman declaring him/herself.. a sort of self-apotheosis.. no-one else can do it for him or her... |
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Post by tonygreaves on Dec 29, 2016 22:19:24 GMT
A Town Council can decide to have a Mayor but does not have to have one.
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Post by Penddu on Dec 30, 2016 5:04:33 GMT
I disagree. If you had smaller wards, it'd be even harder to find candidates. I suspect in Bridgend it's symptomatic of the town council covering only about a third of the town. I once lost a bet when I was in school whether Bridgend or Maesteg was bigger. Bridgend was clearly much bigger, but the official populations given in the AA guide was something like Bridgend 15,000 and Maesteg 21,000. After a fight about the result the Geography teacher explained that population was based on council boundary and Bridgend Urban Council only covered about half of the town - the rest was in Penybont Rural Council. So i lost but was still right.....(a bit like the Brexit result) |
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Post by casualobserver on Dec 30, 2016 14:07:54 GMT
I suspect in Bridgend it's symptomatic of the town council covering only about a third of the town. I once lost a bet when I was in school whether Bridgend or Maesteg was bigger. Bridgend was clearly much bigger, but the official populations given in the AA guide was something like Bridgend 15,000 and Maesteg 21,000. After a fight about the result the Geography teacher explained that population was based on council boundary and Bridgend Urban Council only covered about half of the town - the rest was in Penybont Rural Council. So i lost but was still right.....(a bit like the Brexit result) Good to see that you took boundary matters seriously at school. Violence is so rarely seen these days when local government boundaries are in dispute! |
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Post by Penddu on Dec 30, 2016 15:09:01 GMT
You have to understand the animosity between Bridgend and Maesteg rugby clubs at the time to understand the fight....still goes on today with Maesteg councillors preferring to join with Port Talbit than stay in Bridgend
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Post by gwynthegriff on Dec 30, 2016 17:27:15 GMT
You have to understand the animosity between Bridgend and Maesteg rugby clubs at the time to understand the fight....still goes on today with Maesteg councillors preferring to join with Port Talbit than stay in Bridgend "Ah, the Old Parish ..." |
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Post by gwynthegriff on Dec 30, 2016 17:37:46 GMT
Alsager TC (East Ward)
Byelection 12th January
Candidates nominated: Lib Dem & Labour
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Post by tonygreaves on Dec 31, 2016 21:30:55 GMT
I was once the agent for a Liberal candidate in Alsager East ward. A very very long time ago!
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Post by andrew111 on Dec 31, 2016 22:58:54 GMT
Faversham Town Council - Abbey Ward 19th January 2017This is already proving to be a really interesting fight. There's loads of personal and political history here, with scores to settle and personal points to prove. This should end up being a three-cornered fight between Labour, the Conservatives and UKIP, with Labour most likely to come out on top with a gain from the Conservatives here. The Independent, Green and LibDem are just bit-players in this contest, although the Independent (James Copland) is one of only two out of the six candidates who actually live in Abbey Ward - the other being the Conservative, Andy Culham. Results in this ward in recent elections (Town and District wards are co-terminous): Town 2015: Ind: 643/487/465/409 Lab: 700/618/613/610 (top Labour candidate was Trevor Payne who is standing in the current by-election) Con: 873/854/849/711Grn: 480/449 District 2015: Ind: 448/305 Lab: 659/513 (659 was Trevor Payne) Con: 839/799Grn: 389/331 Town 2011: Lab: 742/683/665/663 (Trevor Payne elected as Town Councillor) Con: 829/783/752/638 District 2011: Lab: 626/536 (626 was Trevor Payne) Con: 759/682Grn: 322 LDem:191/154 For decades this ward has seen a tight fight between Labour and the Conservatives, but almost always since the late nineties the Conservatives have just won. This has partly been because the Conservatives' organisation in Abbey Ward is very good and their Councillors there are really involved with the local community throughout the year, and they work the ward really hard both at election time and between elections. Up till the turn of the century, Labour usually (but not always) marginally edged the Conservatives out in contests here. Trevor Payne's been fighting this Ward (and the County Division that contains it) since the 2000 elections. He runs the local Footpaths Society and the local rifle and pistol club. He has an established personal vote, over and above Labour's significant base vote in this ward. Until last year's elections Trevor was a very active Town Councillor for the Ward and his failure (by just 11 votes) to secure re-election last year was very much a surprise and entirely down to the increased turnout as a result of the General Election being held on the same day. The Conservative candidate, Andy Culham, has quite a bit going for him in this contest. He's got the best organisation behind him, the greatest number of helpers, the fact that he's the only significant candidate who lives in the ward [Trevor Payne lives in next-door Priory Ward], his recent experience and high profile as a former Town Councillor (in Davington Priory Ward, as it was then called) and the inbuilt (although slight) natural Conservative majority in Abbey. Add to that the Conservative strength in the national opinion polls and the scores of new members who've taken the initiative to join the Party since David Cameron resigned, and you'd expect this to be one of the easier contests in this ward's recent history for the Conservatives. Matters are complicated by UKIP, however. To the best of my knowledge UKIP has never fought this ward at Town or District level. Their candidate, Trevor Fentiman, lives in Watling Ward and last year unsuccessfully contested Teynham & Lynsted Ward (some way outside the Town) in the District Council elections, having previously represented Teynham & Lynsted as a Conservative. None of these facts bode well for UKIP in this by-election. But before Trevor Fentiman was "forced" out to Teynham & Lynsted, he was probably the best respected and most well-known Town and District Councillor in Faversham, where he represented the Conservative Party for some time, rising to become a very popular Mayor of the Town. Trevor Fentiman is a larger than life character who gets on well with (nearly!) everybody and who'll get a substantial personal vote in this by-election, even though he's never lived in or represented this ward. When you add to that the efforts being expended by UKIP on his behalf (especially the help from the next-door Sittingbourne & Sheppey Constituency) it's not surprising that he's seen as a very serious contender. Taking all of this together, and despite the national opinion polls, this has all the ingredients needed for one of those rare Labour gains from the Conservatives in this ward, harking back to their (at least partial) victories here in 2011, 2002, 1998 and before. But it will be an increasingly hard fought battle in the next three weeks!! Current state of play on Faversham Town Council: Con 11; Ind 2; V 1. I just acquired JK Rowling's "The Casual Vacancy" in the local charity shop... The sleeve says she has "created an epic. from the smallest of elections in a sleepy British town" I thought she lived in Scotland, not Faversham! I must admit that having just been involved in a hard fought 4 way contest for a parish council by-election I could not resist! |
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Post by finsobruce on Dec 31, 2016 23:19:54 GMT
I just acquired JK Rowling's "The Casual Vacancy" in the local charity shop... The sleeve says she has "created an epic. from the smallest of elections in a sleepy British town" I thought she lived in Scotland, not Faversham!
I must admit that having just been involved in a hard fought 4 way contest for a parish council by-election I could not resist! yes, but she was brought up in Winterbourne and Tutshill in Gloucestershire - plenty of scope for parish council machinations there I suspect. (you probably know this already of course, so apologies for pointing out the obvious)  |
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J.G.Harston
Lib Dem
Leave-voting Brexit-supporting Liberal Democrat
Posts: 14,784 
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Post by J.G.Harston on Jan 1, 2017 0:16:51 GMT
I just acquired JK Rowling's "The Casual Vacancy" in the local charity shop... The sleeve says she has "created an epic. from the smallest of elections in a sleepy British town" I thought she lived in Scotland, not Faversham! I watched the TV adaptation, but couldn't concentrate on it as I kept mentally yelling No, that's not what a parish council does/has responsibnility for/has powers over. |
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Crimson King
Lib Dem
Be nice to each other and sing in tune
Posts: 9,846
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Post by Crimson King on Jan 1, 2017 2:04:03 GMT
I just acquired JK Rowling's "The Casual Vacancy" in the local charity shop... The sleeve says she has "created an epic. from the smallest of elections in a sleepy British town" I thought she lived in Scotland, not Faversham! I watched the TV adaptation, but couldn't concentrate on it as I kept mentally yelling No, that's not what a parish council does/has responsibnility for/has powers over. the book is just as bad, no concept that there might actually be rules about how vacancies are contested (thogh it was about right iirc on the powers of the parish) |
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Post by andrew111 on Jan 1, 2017 16:13:37 GMT
I watched the TV adaptation, but couldn't concentrate on it as I kept mentally yelling No, that's not what a parish council does/has responsibnility for/has powers over. the book is just as bad, no concept that there might actually be rules about how vacancies are contested (thogh it was about right iirc on the powers of the parish) Yes, although I must say when I tried to look up the "rules" most of them seemed to be advisory and it was a bit difficult to find out if there was anything statutory. Seemed to be at the discretion of the local electoral office (run by the principal council), but at the expense of the Parish Council... |
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Post by andrew111 on Jan 1, 2017 16:16:13 GMT
I just acquired JK Rowling's "The Casual Vacancy" in the local charity shop... The sleeve says she has "created an epic. from the smallest of elections in a sleepy British town" I thought she lived in Scotland, not Faversham!
I must admit that having just been involved in a hard fought 4 way contest for a parish council by-election I could not resist! yes, but she was brought up in Winterbourne and Tutshill in Gloucestershire - plenty of scope for parish council machinations there I suspect. (you probably know this already of course, so apologies for pointing out the obvious) No apologies needed! I did not actually know where Rowling came from (I suppose I should have realised she was not actually Scottish!).. And my knowledge of Gloucestershire is almost wholly theoretical! |
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Post by finsobruce on Jan 1, 2017 16:23:21 GMT
yes, but she was brought up in Winterbourne and Tutshill in Gloucestershire - plenty of scope for parish council machinations there I suspect. (you probably know this already of course, so apologies for pointing out the obvious) No apologies needed! I did not actually know where Rowling came from (I suppose I should have realised she was not actually Scottish!).. And my knowledge of Gloucestershire is almost wholly theoretical! And congrats on getting your "ton up" of posts.... |
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Post by andrew111 on Jan 1, 2017 16:46:45 GMT
No apologies needed! I did not actually know where Rowling came from (I suppose I should have realised she was not actually Scottish!).. And my knowledge of Gloucestershire is almost wholly theoretical! And congrats on getting your "ton up" of posts.... Ah yes, thanks! You are going for the 100 tons I see! |
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