There is to be a by-election in Hadleigh North on November 8th. The Liberal Democrat incumbent has apparently found that it is all too much work. As a result I have spent a few hours over the past week helping the Conservative candidate, Peter Burgoyne, by delivering some leaflets and doing a spot of canvassing.
I must admit that I had to overcome the feeling of revulsion for letter boxes and doorbells which I developed towards the end of the campaign in May. However, once I had persuaded myself that there were no large dogs, or worse, on every doormat, the door-knocking experience was as usual interesting and ultimately rewarding.
I was struck by a number of things.
Firstly, the hot topic of the swimming pool was mentioned by absolutely no-body I spoke to. As I am sure you have gleaned from the press, Hadleigh Pool is (probably) on its last legs. Inflation and contemporary safety and other standards being what they are it is going to cost around £7m to replace. Babergh simply does not have this sort of money. It was felt that around £3 to £4 million might be found, but this would have meant using capital receipts not only from asset sales in Hadleigh, but from everywhere else in the District. I was personally less than happy about this, since I believe that benefits from the sale of Council property should be spread more fairly, but Councillors from Hadleigh have been vocally demanding the lot (and Liberal Democrats have been trying to blame the Conservatives for not letting them have it, which is inaccurate and unfair.)
Secondly, whatever time of the day or week you call on people at least 50 percent are not at home. Where on earth do people go? I know that many people work, and of course Saturday morning is probably a shopping morning for many, but whole swathes of houses lie completely empty, as far as I can see, for hours at a time.
Thirdly, Labour supporters are getting a very raw deal in Babergh at present. Once again no Labour candidate is standing, which means that there is no chance of the end of Babergh as a ‘Socialist Free Zone’.
If Peter wins in Hadleigh the Conservative Group will still not have overall control of the Council, which is a great pity to my mind since 6 months as a Councillor have taught me that the lack of clear political direction at the Council has many drawbacks for almost all concerned.
