General Discussion
All six candidates standing for election as our MP will be at a hustings on Wednesday 29th April, 7.30pm Dawlish Community College, Elm Grove Road.
Plenty for the audience to get their teeth into, especially on local issues.
For instance the £35 'Garden Tax' that Conservative-led Teignbridge District Council will be bringing in this year (if enough Conservative Councillors are elected) and which is strongly opposed by the Liberal Democrats.
Conservative Westminster candidate Anne Marie Morris says "The Government’s view [that is the Coalition Government] is that local residents already pay their council tax and should not have to pay extra for this service. This, together with the Government’s concerns that these charges inconvenience residents, make recycling harder and increase fly tipping and backyard burning are sound reasons to oppose such a charge. I share this view."
Fine words, but it is actions that speak louder. So is it good enough to face both ways and say simply the charge is "an issue for local authorities"?
Gary Taylor
I'm not a Tory but I don't mind paying an extra £35 a year to have my garden waste collected, the current service is inadequate anyway. I don't think people in flats who don't have gardens should pay for my garden waste.
I'd kind of (with exceptions for older people and the disabled etc) agree with you.....but only if there is is a garden waste or Community Composting Scheme in place locally (which does not include a 15 mile round trip - N. Abbot) where we could take our garden waste.
So why not set that up, charge the £35 for a membership card, and allow members to take the finished compost away too.
Might even employ a couple of people into the bargain.
@Huw. Yes, I like that idea very much. I wonder if there is an area near the allotments - free compost to allotment holders!
@ Huw & @ A Frame,
I agree with the idea of a community composting scheme. I also agree that the current service is inadequate.
The new refuse service planned for roll-out after the election would include a weekly collection for food waste (which we support) however the introduction of the £35 charge will undoubtedly lead to a further drop in the overall level of recycling, as AMM herself points out.
Teignbridge are expecting a take up rate of just 35% (generating a predicted profit for the District Council of £948,000 over the 7-year vehicle contract period) and while some of the 65% on green bin waste not currently collected will be home composted or driven to the tip, it is inevitable that much of it will be fly-tipped - or will go up in smoke. We in Dawlish are over 10 miles (as the crow flies) from either the Newton Abbot or the Exeter recycling centres, so we are the most badly affected in the District by this divisive charge.
The Liberal Democrats believe the needs of the environment and the customer should be put before cash generation for the Council. If we win back control at the election, we will scrap the £35 charge. We also will re-examine the collection options in engagement with the community in the search for even better value, service and recycling levels in the future.
Gary Taylor
Soooo, who's been defacing all the Tory posters in Holcombe?
I won't be voting for them but I disagree with the Criminal Damage.
It has to be a left thinking person who doesn't believe in Democracy - doesn't it?
Not sure why you think those to the Left in politics don't believe in democracy. Those on the ultra left and those on the ultra right might have problems with that concept (do fascists believe in democracy?) but, in general, do those whose political inclinations are to the Left have an issue with democracy? No. Why do you think otherwise?
It might just be apolitical vandals who are responsible for defacing the posters.
and on the subject of democracy - I've just had this sent to me
"Rupert Murdoch is back. After the phone hacking scandal, Murdoch retreated from UK politics. But now it's been revealed that he’s back giving orders to his army of journalists in the UK. [1] He's decided to use his media empire to try to distort this general election and claw back his dominance over our democracy.
According to a story in this week’s Independent, he's angry about Ed Miliband’s tough stance on press regulation - so he’s told The Sun to be "more aggressive in their attacks on Labour" because of it. [2] He's ordered his tabloids to unleash a fresh barrage of propaganda to block tougher controls on media barons"
Perhaps a question relating to the media (but especially the press) and democracy could be asked of the candidates at the hustings on Wednesday?
I wrote: "a (singular) left thinking person (singular) who doesn't believe in democracy (because they are defacing anothers posters)"
Therefore it wasn't a general comment on all left-thinking people now was it?
Why should it be a Left thinking person? It could just as easily be a disgruntled with the Tories person of the Right.
Thing is, until someone is charged and found guilty, it is all conjecture.
RE community Composting - a great idea. Why use all those carbon miles in carrying garden waste to a distant site when it can be processed and recycled locally? I think Chudleigh has such a scheme. There's no reason why Dawlish couldn't have one, two, three or more composting centres. Think Green!
Of course! You're right - it's probably a UKIP supporter calling the Tories the 'Nasty' party. Silly me.
Can we agree that all we know at the moment is that the posters have been defaced by a person or persons unknown.
If you have a question you would like to put to the candidates then please contact the Rev. Roger Whitehead asap. Contact details below (RW has given me his consent to put his contact details on here).
The population has increased by approximately eight million since 1979, that probably has a bearing on the figures.
I went along to the hustings last night and whilst there someone asked me about vote swapping.
There are plenty of links on the internet about this, just type in Vote Swapping and hit the search button.
Here's one of the links.
Something fundamentally flawed about the website VoteSwap.
In my view it should come with a health-warning that tactical voting between only the Green Party and Labour will help the Conservatives retain and gain seats - the exact opposite of what these voters really want.
While local canvassing tells us it will be a close fight for our own constituency, it will be even tighter in Torbay - with Lib Dem MP Adrian Sanders defending a majority of 4078 against the Conservatives. The bookies odds for a Lib Dem or a Conservative win there are identical (evens) - and yet the site advises:
"For those who decide not to tactically vote Lib Dem, this is a suitable seat for Labour supporters to swap and for Greens to vote Green, as this is not a Labour target."
Same goes for Newton Abbot - and while the current odds for an upset here are longer, to all those Green and Labour supporters who have an open mind about voting tactically I would advise that the only way to actually prevent a Conservative hold in our constituency is to vote for the candidate that in 2010 was just 1% (523 votes) short of winning, our former Lib Dem MP Richard Younger-Ross.
The Lib Dem party forms a broad church, with right of centre economic policies balanced by left of centre social policies. Beat us up if you will for what as a junior coalition partner we were not able to acheive in government, but for the 75% of progressive policies that we were able to deliver - and for the chance to push back the far-right tide - we ask for the support of the electorate once more.
Gary Taylor
Likewise. To avoid Tory District Councillors in Central North East vote Independent
Last time the Indies won 1 seat and were only 1% short of winning a second seat, just 30 votes behind
Exactly the same logic applies
(my emphasis in bold)
"the Conservative Anne Marie Morris is seeking to hold onto her seat with one of the smallest majorities in the country. With only 523 votes in it last time over the then Lib Dem MP Richard Younger-Ross it could still be a very close call. County Councillor Mr Younger-Ross is pitching to get back into parliament following the boundary changes that meant his old Teignbridge seat was redefined.
He has been extolling the virtues of free school meals for children under the age of 11 this week as he hopes he can squeeze the Labour vote in order to win. Mrs Morris has been pressing home her claims to have spearheaded the campaign for the New Kingskerwells Bypass, demanding a share of the Government cash for small firms for superfast broadband and for her role in advocating the saving of the Dawlish railway line.
Also in the running is Roy Freer of the Labour Party, Rod Peers for UKIP, Sean Brogan for Left Unity and Steven Smyth-Bonfield of the Green Party. Whether Mrs Morris is returned to Westminster could depend on whether the supporters for these three candidates decide to vote tactically."
I see the defacing of Tory posters has now spread as far as Starcross - same message; same coloured paint - someone's being busy!
@HuwMatthews2 - I see what you mean. For a definitive answer suggest asking the Express and Echo reporter who wrote that article.
But I imagine they are referring to Green Party, Labour Party and Trade Union and Socialist Coalition supporters voting tactically for the Lib Dem candidate in order to stop the Conservative candidate from being elected.
Michael,
I appreciate the analogy, but I disagree that the logic can be applied locally.
This is probably the wrong thread to rekindle the argument about how a proposal to switch housing allocation sites by our Dawlish Independent Teignbridge District Councillor (supported by Conservative District Councillors) ended up with Dawlish having to shoulder 350 more houses than is documented in the adopted Local Plan, but as it is relevant to the democratic process I will respond.
Previously, you have suggested the proposal to re-allocate housing from Shutterton Park to Gatehouse Farm as a decision that reflected the views of the people of Dawlish - however you have yet to show me any evidence that the people of the Gatehouse/Elm Grove/Secmaton/Carhaix areas (or the wider area to the west of the A379) agree with this assertion. In any case, even if there were some who did agreed to such a switch, they surely would have expected experienced (and paid) District Councillors to at least have had the foresight to understand the considerable risks involved - and to have mitigated accordingly.
But no.
And while Nick Clegg had the guts to say that he was sorry for not being able to deliver on student fees - no such apology has been received from any of our Teignbridge Councillors on the failure to contain the number of houses going up in Dawlish to the 900 proposed in the Local Plan, even though the town was already having to shoulder far more than its fair share.
In my view this shows disrespect to the town's residents. It is our belief that they deserve better - and although Mike, Martin and I may not all be polished politicos, we have the passion and the local policies which we believe will help make a beneficial difference to people’s lives and the environment in Dawlish.
The Independent group running for Teignbridge offers no such vision – just more of the same.
Gary Taylor
I think we've debated this issue so many times that it will bore people if I take the opportunity to go over the facts yet again - we disagree Gary and that is fair enough.
The votes will be counted on Friday May 8th, and I hope that my friends who have worked so hard for Dawlish over the past 4 years will receive support in return.
The Lib Dems have had plenty of visions in the past, but they easily go back on promises, make dramatic U-Turns and then offer weak apologies.
They just seem to be saying anything to defeat Anne Marie Morris, and the whole 'we're local she's not' is annoying, RYR is from Surrey, AMM is from Sussex. This regionalism and League of Gentlemen style 'a local candidate for local people' guff resembles UKIP but in regional terms. Part of liberalism is free trade and free movement, I'm no Tory I certainly wouldn't claim AMM has done anything for the area, but the Lib Dems are truly clutching at straws.
The Lib Dems campaign is based on their needs, last week it seemed they remembered young people can vote too and thought ' Oh what interests youth?'.. 'Let's try environmental issues'. So apparantly a former presenter of the BBCs Really wild Show has agreed to write a letter explaining why a vote for Lib Dems protects the environment. Presumably they''ve left this bit up to him as they overlooked it. It's all pretty late in the day.
They have no environmental credentials nationally or locally, they propped up a Tory government that is pro fracking, that has moved subsidies to Solar PV and away from insulation as it's more lucrative for big business but the wrong way round for improving energy efficiency. They formed a government that on the one hand pursued a zero carbon agenda by 2020 which is nothing but a pipe-dream given that the same government has encouraged road building projects and ill conceived property developments, such as the ones in Dawlish.
The Lib Dems and the Tories are ignorant to the fact the construction industry is one of the largest net consumers of materials, emitters of green house gases and producers of waste. So even if the Red Row development were to be sited else where in Teignbridge and thus protecting our local environment, it would just screw up someone else's back yard. Their localism reflects their 'say anything' to win votes approach.
I don't even know whether their council candidates would stay in office very long, or whether they're attention spans could last a term in office, one minute they apparantly represent a Parish Council in villages where they don't reside and have little to with, then they think it's a good idea to begin a break away Parish for their own patch claiming they're better off without Dawlish. Then nothing. What became of that project? I imagine the petition did not receive the required number of signatures, that's the problem with basing a campaign on a minority view and they trying to convince the majority.
Then good bye parish councils.
Next it's let's jump on the Dawlish Council bandwagon and it seems that it's okay to be in Dawlish again.
A lot of inconsistency, chopping and change, but that's politics, power and personal ambition. What about representing the community for the long-haul?.
And then there's integrity, I don't want to vote for MPs who fiddle the system and then get off via loopholes that their peers create, whether it's mirrors or renting a flat subsidized by the tax payer. Half of our MPs should have faced trial.
The Lib Dems tactical campaign is so negative and uninspiring, but if you have no vision and little to distinguish the party from it's Tory big brother what do you expect. And even if they had a vision few people trust them, especially young people who they betrayed over tuition fees.
There is no real opposition to thye Tory's or conservatism in our constituency, vote for what you believe in, even if your vote counts for nothing, let the population work out that the first past the post system is a poor electoral model and that our system has little to do with democracy (House of Lords, cash for honours, tax avoidance by the super rich and large multi-national corps). If it takes a long time to come to that realization then we're all in for some shitty times ahead. Try turning of your TV for starters.
If you believe the coalition has done a great job over the rail link in dawlish and ignore the lack of investment in the SW compared to other regions' rail networks that's your choice.
And if you believe the coalition's supposed economic recovery will create jobs and affordable homes in the area and ignore the the real benefits going to greedy developers who throw up sub standard homes for retirees to live by the seaside and to massage national stats relating to economic growth and GDP, then you get the government you deserve.
The Lib Dem's telling me I should vote tactically for them just shows their arrogance and represents a party in deep denial. If the Tories win in the Newton Abbt constituency in it's all down to the days following the 2010 election. If they so vehemently oppose the Tories why give them the keys to the door. It's so bloody simple. or was it just the allure of power? It corrupts you know.
“Constitutionally, there is no rule that the party with the largest number of seats has a right to form a government. Mr Clegg also said the party with the largest mandate should be able to negotiate first”.
From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32475098
Question: When Nick Clegg talks of the largest mandate does he mean the party with the largest number of seats or the party that had the most votes cast for it?
The two are far from being the same.