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Papalscope Apri 2005

Papalscope. Saturday, 09 April 2005.

Royal Wedding.
Those of Cornish descent can welcome our new Duchess. All best wishes for your future together. What was that old rhyme?

'If you will be King, dilly dilly I will be your Queen,'

If not, there's twenty thousand Cornish Men will know the reason why.

Tisbury to hold an Election, can this be?

Apparently Bridget Wayman is to be our new County Councillor. Maybe it is too presumptive to assume that the candidate selected by the Conservative Party will be elected. I do not doubt that this Lady is an excellent choice. However it grieved one to read in Focus, that

'The Conservatives are looking for a community minded person to represent Tisbury and Mere on the Council.'

Was there the implication that the Conservatives were looking for a Conservative to represent the Conservative Party on the Council? A Councillor is there to represent his or her Electorate, not any particular Party. If at that stage of the game any of the Parties have not found themselves a Candidate, something is amiss, maybe they 'need to keep out of the Kitchen'!

Previously the Conservatives were looking for some one to stand as a Conservative District Councillor in Tisbury. It was 'no go' last time, nor anyone local the time before that.

To express an entirely personal opinion, this apparent ferreting around for Council Candidates, has done a great dis-service to Local Government. So far as the District Council is concerned, there is no call to involve Party Politics.

Our District Council is led by a 'Conservative Cabinet', this has not given us good Local Government nor lowered our Community Charges. A Psephologist might consider that the level of Public support for each elected Councillor could be expressed as a percentage of his or her total Ward Electorate. Thus expressed, the order of precedence on the Council is as follows;

Councillors, Draper Ind. Has the maximum of 36.084% then on down through, West Ld. ,Mills Ld., Willin Con., Tisbury's Councillor Green Ind 29.568%., Moss Con., Sample LD., Rycroft Con., Divine Con., Cettleburgh Lib.Dem., Hewitt Con., Britton con., Randall con., Wren Con. The Leader of the Council 24.467%. Peach con. Paisey Con. Nettle con., Warrender con., Bissington con., Dalton LD., Tomlinson Ld. McLennan Lab., Hooper Ind. Brady con., Bissington con. Collier con., Fear Lab., Culver con., Anderson con, Cardy con., Clegg Lab., Leo Lab, Brown- Holvoet c., Brown Con., Greville Lib.d., Peach con. 15.913%, Brown con., Evans Lab., Baker Con., Tomes Lab., Mc.Carthy Lab., Edge Lib.dem. Noeken con., Bojdys con., Howarth Lab., Mallory Lab., Osmet Lab.,Walsh Lab., Woodbridge Con. Of Bulford. 12.308%, Spencer LD. Of Bulford 9.169%, Westmoreland con. of Amesbury West managed 8.437% of his Electorate. (Councillors Cole Morgan, Couper and Mrs Spencer are not represented here.)

I realise readers will find these figures form a set of very interesting statistics

. Two Councillors elected to represent the transient Army Bulford Ward sit with 257 and 345 votes respectively. One of the seats contributes to the Conservative majority on the Council. It is extraordinary that a Ward, where only 670 people out of 2803 bothered to vote, can influence life for the rest of us.

There is another problem. This concerns the configuration of Wards. 1500 Electors tend to be represented by one Councillor. Now that we are in the age of the Computer surely Wards should be sub-divided so that one person has but one vote. In Tisbury and Bulford Wards we each have two votes. In some other Wards an elector get's three votes. I do not suppose this actually alters the composition of the Council. But it would be seen to be a far fairer way to conduct an election, if each and every Elector had but one vote. That would not lead to anomolies.

I recall a Candidate receiving the votes of 52% of the Electorate in a two seat ward. He didn't get elected because some Electors, either thoughtlessly,or possibly thoughtfully, used their other vote to differentiate between other two same 'Party' candidates, neither of whom they wish to elect s their first choice. Seemingly not everyone is sophisticated when it comes to an Election!

If you do not want a Political Party Candidate, do not be 'conned' into voting for one. There is no need to cast more than one vote, if you support but one of the candidates, nor if you have them to cast three!

TISBURY PARISH COUNCIL. At last there is a list of its membership posted on the Parish Notice Board. Apparently they may all be contacted at an address in the Donheads. Is that why Councillors were so unwilling to let the Electorate know where they live? I regret I can not let you know which that Donhead address is, as it too is surely protected under the Data Protection Act. **************************************** *** ROVER AND MG> CARS
The Station Works site Tisbury and Longbridge Birmingham are both owned by the St.Modwyn Property Company. There are four hundred and fifty acres of prime 'BRUM' development land , we have ten here. On the' Breakfast' TV. Programme Anthony Glossop the M.D. of St Modwyn spoke enthusiasically of future employment for 10,0000 at the Birmingham Site. We in Tisbury need more employment at Station Works, not the proposed redevelopment of 60-80 houses so meekly aquiesed to by the former Tisbury Parish Council. It is difficult to understand why those our Parish Councillors, none of whom held office through the exercise of the Public Franchise, were so keen to have these new Commuter and Retirement housing built at the Station Works site? Nor why they prefer the importation of new residents be they Commuters or Retired Folk such as I now am, to the provision for Employment and Services in Tisbury? JBP.

contact : John B. Pope
Tel : 01747 870326