Babergh ward boundary review

Where's Babergh?

Yesterday I went to Bildeston’s Chamberlin Hall on behalf of Sudbury Town Council to hear more about the review currently taking place with a view to changing Babergh District Council’s ward boundaries. 

The changes are being made at the council’s request so that it can reduce the number of councillors from 43 to 31.  This means that the number of residents per councillor will rise from 1667 currently to approximately 2400 in the future.

It is likely that all ward boundaries will change, and the Boundary Commission is now working on where they should be.  They are seeking help from Town and Parish Councils to draw up a pattern of wards on the basis of three criteria

1. Each ward should have a similar number of electors with a tolerance of plus or minus 10 percent of the average
2. Wards should represent the local interests and identities of the local communities, taking into account factors such as history, the location of local shops and other facilities such as schools and places of worship.  Concrete examples of the existence of a community would be useful.
3. The arrangements should lead to convenient and effective local government.  This means that the plans should be convenient for local councillors, not cross natural boundaries such as major roads or railway lines, not be too large geographically or contain too many separate parishes.

How to engage?

There will be two consultations of which this is the first.  There will be another when the Boundary Commission comes up with its draft recommendations.

 One can respond by letter, e mail or on-line.

The internet portal will contain maps and an interactive tool which will enable consultees to experiment with possible alternatives.

All submissions will be published.

Timetable

Preliminary Period: when the council size is agreed with Babergh.  (This stage is now complete, but can still be challenged through the consultation process)

Current consultation on ward boundaries (13^th June 2017 to 14^th August 2017)

Draft Recommendations published

Consultation on Draft Recommendations (3^rd October 2017 to 11^th December 2017)

Final Recommendations (which cannot be changed) (February 2018)

Order to be laid in time for May 2019 Elections

It was stressed that it is important to get involved with the process NOW.

Meanwhile in Suffolk

David Cameron spends election eve supporting dementia charity.

It was strange on the eve of polling day to go to a dinner in London hosted by Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK),  and listen to a rousing speech from none other than David Cameron.

Mr Cameron has taken something of a low profile since he stepped down as Prime Minister almost a year ago.  I understand that he has been writing his memoirs and taking time for a well-deserved rest.  He certainly looked as though he was in good form yesterday evening, and I think he had lost a little weight!

The reason for his brief emergence into the public eye was that in January this year, Mr Cameron became the President of ARUK, the UK’s leading dementia research charity.  During his time in office he drove the subject of dementia higher up the world’s agenda by focussing on the issue as chairman of the G8 in 2013.  He also launched the charity’s five year £100m Defeat Dementia fundraising campaign, and led a government initiative to set up new research facilities at a number of academic centres in the UK.

Although most of his speech was taken up with dementia related topics, he did open proceedings by saying that it was odd not to be looking forward to attending his 'count’ tomorrow.  I did not sense that he was particularly worried about this however, as he recalled the pain of sitting on gym equipment in a school hall for hours waiting for the declaration of the results.

It is good to see David Cameron making this big commitment to fighting the disease that is now the number one killer of women and number two killer of men in the UK.

Alzheimer’s Research UK is one of the fastest growing medical research charities in the country, with a current £33m portfolio of projects underway at leading universities in the UK and around the world. Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2017, and with a research legacy of £80m across over 650 projects, the charity is at the forefront of global dementia research efforts. Its programmes include a world-first network of dementia Drug Discovery Institutes, innovative international partnerships between academia and industry, and award-winning public awareness campaigns, most recently Santa Forgot.

To learn more about ARUK click here.

Cosford election result

I am sorry that Philip Mutton failed to retain the Cosford Division seat for the Conservatives in Thursday’s election.   He would have offered energy, enthusiasm and fresh ideas to the County Council. He would also have served his residents well and with impartiality.

Through no fault of his own, Philip was selected late and therefore found it difficult to speak to as many voters as he would have liked.   I believe that some people were put off by his relative youth, believing that he would lack the necessary experience to make a difference.  Others were concerned that he would not have time to do the job since he works full time.

These views were misconceived.   Despite his age Philip has a natural maturity of approach and can command the respect of young and old.  A broader point is that we really do need to try to reduce the average age of councillors.  In Suffolk even now this must be well over 60… hardly representative of the population at large.   As far as the need to work is concerned, Philip had the commitment to do the work, his company was willing to grant time off, and in any event should local politics really just be the preserve of the retired and/or the self employed?

Anyway, the people have had their say, and I must congratulate the winner, Robert Lindsay, on his success.  I also wish the residents of Cosford the best of luck.

Election overload

I do hope that people will not be so fixated on all the media coverage about the General Election in June that they forget about the poll for the County Council election on May 4^th!

A general election has never before been called in the middle of a local government election campaign and there is a very good reason for this.  Humankind cannot bear too much politics, and, ignoring for a moment those among us who cannot get too much, most switch off if overburdened by political overexposure.

I can understand why Teresa May needs to go to the country now, and go quickly.  Had she waited another two weeks to announce her decision she would have had to fight the election after the European Commission had set out its negotiating position, which they have stated will be after 8^th June.

However, once again local government matters have been overshadowed and diminished by the action of the Centre and many of us who are involved at the local level find this frustrating.  It will be interesting to try to gauge whether the imminent General Election has in fact made any difference to the outcome on May 4^th.  Looking at the relative turn out figures could be instructive in this respect.   

However, do remember if you feel you can’t face a trip to the polls,  what happens at the County Council does matter, and the person you choose to be your County Councillor may have a direct impact on your life, and will certainly affect the life of your community.

Town Council election, a good fight, but a pity about the turnout.

Sudbury Town Hall

I was very pleased to read the article about my election to Sudbury Town Council in the Suffolk Free Press.  The journalist, Ian Parker, managed to extract the main points from my disconnected ramblings very well.  I was delighted to be elected, and have already had a constructive meeting with Jacqui Howells, the efficient Town Clerk.  There is a lot to do, it is good to keep a toe in the 'local government' water,  and I think the next two years will be interesting ones both for me and for the town.

Despite the fact that Christmas intervened with the timetable, and the weather was very cold, the election felt like the ‘real thing’.  The competition from other parties was quite fierce and it was good that almost all of them took the time to get round the town to try to engage residents.  It is sad that the turn-out was so low.  The lack of polling cards and the time of year has been blamed. Additionally, maybe it is optimistic to hope that working people will take the time to go out to vote on a cold winter evening.   However, even a good proportion of those receiving postal votes did not fill them in.  I do wonder why this is.  Is it just a feeling that politicians aren’t worth voting for?  Or is it the sign of a deeper malaise?

I share the view of the young councillor from Great Cornard, who was featured on the front page of the newspaper this week.   We really must do more to encourage people to engage in the democratic process.  It is not a perfect system but it is certainly the best one that there is.