Local campaigner and East Devon Alliance chair, Paul Arnott, launches campaign for Coly Valley ward
Paul Arnott is standing again for the Coly Valley, where he came within 200 votes of beating the Conservatives in 2015. Paul will be campaigning hard in Colyton, Colyford, Southleigh, Northleigh, Farway, Offwell and Wilmington up to voting on May 2nd. Email me cllrmartinshaw@gmail.com if you’d like to help by putting up a poster or leafleting.
Promoted by Martin Shaw, Lynwood, Old Beer Rd, Seaton, on behalf of Paul Arnott, Minton House, Church Street, Colyton.
Great start to local election campaign by Seaton Independent candidates Dan Ledger and Jack Rowland – follow them on Facebook @EDASeatonWard
Dan Ledger and Jack Rowland are campaigning for Seaton and have been getting a very positive response as they’ve hit the streets of the town. You can help by putting up an A4 poster in your window, giving out leaflets – and voting for them! If you’re on Facebook, please follow their campaign and get regular updates by ‘liking’ their page @EDASeatonWard. You can contact us on that page or by emailing cllrmartinshaw@gmail.com. Let me know if you haven’t received our election leaflet as all areas should have been covered by the end of today.
Promoted by Martin Shaw, Lynwood, Old Beer Rd, Seaton, on behalf of Jack Rowland, 18 Albion Close, Seaton, and Dan Ledger, 13 Marsh Road, Seaton.
West Seaton residents will have to vote in Beer, despite promises there would be a polling station in Seaton.
People in the western side of Seaton who have been shunted – against the protests of the Town Council and the West Seaton and Seaton Hole Association – into the Beer and Branscombe district ward, will have to travel to the Mariners’ Hall in Beer to vote on May 2nd. Despite Cllr Marcus Hartnell assuring the Town Council that there would be a polling station in west Seaton (in what is now the ‘Beer Road Ward’ for the Town Council election), Seaton voters are more or less being forced to drive to Beer, unless they fancy a vigorous up-and-down hill walk via the Coastal Path or the rather dangerous main road. This is adding insult to injury. The district ward is still called Beer and Branscombe, although there are far more Seaton than Branscombe voters in the revised ward.
Jack Rowland and Dan Ledger are standing in Seaton as Independent East Devon Alliance candidates for EDDC
JACK ROWLAND, current Deputy Mayor of Seaton and former Mayor, who chairs Seaton Area Health Matters which is striving to retain the hospital as a health hub, and DAN LEDGER, a town councillor with special interests in employment, housing and leisure facilities in the town, have announced that they are standing to represent Seaton in the district elections on Thursday 2nd May.
On-street parking tariffs: need for strategic approach which supports public transport and cycling recognised by County committee
The Corporate Infrastructure and Regulatory Services Scrutiny Committee debated a ‘call in’ of proposed increases in on-street parking charges, which the Lib Dems argued were inconsistent and in some cases excessive. However the point was made by Labour Councillor Yvonne Atkinson that we need to look at the possibility of using parking income to support public transport and cycling. I urged a more ‘strategic’ approach and this was recommended by the Committee.
Connecting Devon and Somerset: broadband rollout is a ‘mini-Brexit’ says Tory councillor – and he didn’t mean that as a compliment
The disaster that is the Gigaclear superfast broadband rollout came back to Scrutiny on Tuesday. Councillor Rufus Gilbert, the Conservative cabinet member responsible, called it a ‘mini-Brexit’. Even if it all works out in the end, 50,000 homes and businesses still won’t be connected in 2020. And no one thinks it will. Cllr Gilbert’s point was that ‘we don’t want a hard exit’ from the Gigaclear contract. He claimed that we will know ‘by the summer’ whether Gigaclear can recover – the rollout timetable for communities is still unknown. But when I pressed for a more definitive update at the next Scrutiny meeting on 26 June, he said that would be too early. This debacle, impacted but not solely caused by the Carillion collapse, is surely another big nail in the coffin of outsourcing in Devon. In the meanwhile, people affected will be able (from April) to claim from the national Better Broadband Voucher Scheme. I’ll post details when I have them.
Outsourced property management: minimal ‘profit’ for DCC, while ‘all the income generation is cheques from County Hall’ – time for a rethink?
Devon County Council outsources its property management to Norfolk Property Services. DCC has 20 per cent equity in NPS, but the forecast profit share for DCC in 2019-20 is a mere £78k. This emerged at DCC’s Corporate Infrastructure and Regulatory Services Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, leading Tory councillor Paul Crabb to make the comment in the title to this piece.
Seaton & Colyton MATTERS 