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Desperate Tories take down Lib Dem signs overnight in Seaton
The Conservatives have lost the election arguments locally as well as nationally, so they are resorting to underhand tactics – removing their opponents’ poster boards. Last night, I lost the one outside my house while a large one on the verge at the top of Beer Road was also stolen,
Richard towers over rivals at Seaton hustings
Seaton’s Liberal Democrat MP for the last two years, RICHARD FOORD (pictured speaking), dominated last night’s hustings in the Gateway, leaving his Conservative rival, Simon Jupp (on the right, looking on) a marginal figure. As Richard outlined his decades of experience in the military and education, Jupp’s background a special political adviser seemed no match.
As Richard recounted, it was he who, after hearing from the League of Friends of the threat to a wing of Seaton Hospital, first alerted the local community. Jupp repeated the lie that he had been ‘blocked’ from joining the Hospital Steering Committee which was set up in November at the public meeting I organised, but the simple truth is that – as I reminded the hustings – he didn’t bother to turn up, despite already having canvassed in Seaton for a whole year by that point.
Concerns about the NHS and social care dominated the meeting, but the Party of Women candidate, Hazel Exon, provoked anger from the floor when she answered questions about the environment by repeating her conspiracy theories about trans people – which were ably challenged by a young woman in the audience.
Jupp showed his right-wing instincts by pitching for support from climate and vaccine sceptics, but sounded subdued – the audience had largely moved beyond the Conservatives. Having moved first to Exmouth and then to Sidmouth so that he could call himself a ‘local man’ in his election leaflets, Jupp must now be wondering where he will go after Friday’s result.
Green candidate says vote for Richard Foord
At tonight’s Axminster hustings (pictured above), Green Party candidate Henry Gent said, ‘Vote for the candidate best placed to defeat the Conservative’ – that is, for Richard Foord. Jake Bonetta. the Labour candidate, has previously said, ‘We cannot let the Tories win here’, but he did not make a clear statement like Henry Gent’s tonight. Yet that is what is needed – Richard is not sure of beating the Tory, who some projections still back to win. Every vote counts – as Henry indicated, there will be another day when it makes sense to vote Green or Labour, but not now.
Local Plan: last chance to comment on the Green Wedge
The consultation on EDDC’s new Local Plan closes on Thursday (27th). I’ve now commented on the Seaton-Colyford Green Wedge – reminding the planners of the 150-strong public meeting which I chaired last year – and the Seaton-Beer wedge.
This is you last chance – the process is easy, although the format doesn’t let you go back over your answers easily, or see what others have said. I posted a summary of the issues from the Green Wedge group a week or so back, if you need prompts on what to mention/
Exmouth: I wrote that Paul Arnott would make a good MP
Paul pictured with Claire Wright – here’s my article in East Devon Watch.
Statement by the Seaton Hospital Steering Committee
Jack Rowland (Chair of the Committee) has issued the following statement:
The Seaton Hospital Steering Committee has been made aware of comments on its work by an election candidate. We are a non-party organisation elected by a large public meeting last November, and our members give their time for the common goal of securing the whole of the Hospital for the community.
The Steering Committee has always welcomed support from all political corners and rejects any suggestion of a lack of cooperation with those who have shown their support for Seaton Hospital. We look forward to working with whoever is elected as our MP on July 4th.
We are proud of our record in representing the people of the Seaton, Beer and Colyton area in negotiations with NHS Property Service and NHS Devon over the last 7 months. Huge progress has been made in securing a long-term future for our local hospital:
- The Hospital has been made an Asset of Community Value – to our knowledge the first time a hospital in East Devon has been granted this status.
- Our expression of interest in the Community Ownership Fund has been accepted and we expect a decision on our application after the General Election.
- Months of discussions with local community and healthcare organisations, in conjunction with the two NHS organisations, have led to the formulation of a detailed plan for the vacant wing, which was submitted to the NHS bodies last week, also for consideration following the election.
BREAKING: Electoral Calculus predicts (narrow) Lib Dem win in Exmouth as well as here
EXMOUTH & EXETER EAST: Lib Dem (Paul Arnott) 30%, Conservative 29.2%, Labour 17.8%, Reform 14.9%, Wilson (Independent) 4.8%, Green 2.8%. Lib Dems have 48% chance of winning, Tories 43%, Labour 6%.
HONITON & SIDMOUTH: Lib Dem (Richard Foord) 46.7%, Conservative 32.7%, Reform 10.5%, Labour 7.4%, Green 2%, Coxon (Independent) 0.6%. Lib Dems have 83% chance of winning, Tories 17%.
CAUTION – these are estimates. You only get these results if you vote for them!
Seaton Hospital plan presented to Devon NHS
The Hospital steering committee has issued the following press release:
“Following six months’ discussion with over 30 community organisations, the cross-party Seaton Hospital Steering Committee, elected at a large public meeting in November and representing Colyton and Beer as well as Seaton, has submitted a plan to NHS Devon and NHS Property Services, the owner of the Hospital, for community use of the vacant wing in the Hospital, to improve the health and wellbeing of the local area.
“The plan has been developed after regular discussions with the two NHS bodies. It was presented to Sue Windley of Devon NHS by Jack Rowland, Chair of the Committee, Kirstine House, Chief Executive Officer of Seaton Hospital League of Friends, and Ben Tucker of Re:store, who was the lead committee member in long discussions with all our partners and in drafting the plan. (See photo.)
“We are now waiting for our partners’ responses, which they will not be able to give us until after the General Election. At that point we will share our plans with the whole local community who gave the Hospital such strong support when the wing was threatened with demolition. We are excited about the potential for restoring the whole Hospital to use on behalf of everyone locally, young and old.”
Seaton & Colyton MATTERS 