News (and views) roundup, week ending 10 May

The Haslemere Herald today reports the results of the Surrey county elections last Thursday – it had gone to print before election day last week.  More from the Herald below, but first a reflection on the result.

There will be people who say that the election of Mrs Barton to be the councillor for the Haslemere division is a vindication of the parking campaign in which she was involved.  Certainly, in an exchange of views about the parking campaign with a local worthy, I was disdainfully told that the 4,000 signatures which their street petition attracted exceeded the entire turnout on the 2009 election which returned Councillor Renshaw.

I won’t go over again my views on the validity of street petitions as compared with formal elections, and will move straight to some statistics about the 2013 and 2009 elections, below.

2013		% vote	% electorate		2009		% vote	% electorate
Barton (Ind)	1208	35.4	12		Renshaw (Con)	2331	60.5	25
Mulliner (Con)	1188	34.9	12		Robini (LD)	1522	39.5	16
Culligan (UKIP)	573	16.8	6
Nicholson (LD)	285	8.4	3
Scales (Lab)	154	4.5	2
Turnout	3408					3853
Electorate	9680					9356

 

What observations can we make from this?

• What happened to all those petition signatories?  At least 2,800 of them apparently did not vote for Mrs Barton.  Of course, it is likely that a significant number could not vote for her because they are not on the Haslemere electoral roll, living in places like Liphook or Fernhurst, but that can hardly be the only explanation?

• The 2009 turnout may have been less than the number of signatures on that petition, but the 2013 turnout was lower still
 
• Councillor Renshaw received almost twice as many votes in 2009 as Councillor Barton has done in 2013: in numbers; as a percentage of votes and; as a percentage of the electorate. Even the 2009 runner-up LibDem received a larger popular mandate, again in numbers and as percentages of votes and of total electorate

But Mrs Barton took the most votes and therefore won the election, fair and square.  Of course it is possible that the UKIP factor may be what stole the election from Mr Mulliner, but elsewhere in the country it is evident that UKIP took votes from all mainstream parties, with the traditional protest vote no longer going to the LibDems, indeed they were probably punished for their involvement in the coalition, and who can say that none of Patricia Culligan’s votes would have gone to Councillor Barton, had she not been on the ballot?

Also, Councillor Barton is not wholly defined by the parking campaign, even though she was a prominent figure in it.  She has however also been involved in other community initiatives, notably Haslemere Vision and a walking-bus proposal for one of the local primary schools.  She has other elements to her platform which I personally support, even if others might not:  in particular to do more to make our street environment safer and more pleasant for residents on foot or bicycle, for example traffic calming measures and use of 20mph limits in the town centre and residential roads, a policy which we know the ruling Conservative group in Surrey, especially the convicted drink-driver Councillor Furey, have pronounced against. 

I would however like to know how that is consistent with a Libertarian approach to car parking, and I don’t buy this as any form of vindication of that campaign.  Indeed, surely Councillor Barton's position must be at odds with the "over my dead body" proclamation of one town shopkeeper opposing the new Petworth Zebra?

Now read what she has to say as quoted by the Herald:

 

 

Not a word about parking there, although as usual the Herald manages to give the impression that parking is the key.  Why?

Turning now to the letters page, two valedictories, one for, and one by, Councillor-emeritus Renshaw. 

This:

 

 

And this, under the heading “County Hall can be a lonely place”

 

 

From Twitter

Nikki Barton‏@VoteNikkiBarton Read council documentation & arranged meetings today. Now working my way through e-mail responses. (Late night fireworks beyond my remit).

Fireworks?  No doubt many residents heard or saw the spectacular display on Tuesday evening.  I understand that some residents in Farnham Lane, who presumably had no line of sight on them, thought that the army must be conducting exercises.  Certainly Mrs M thought much the same until I pointed them out, low in the sky to our south.  Mrs M then heard from her tennis buddies at the recreation ground the following morning that the display was somewhere just to the south of the rec, and those of them who lived around there were somewhat annoyed about the lateness of the hour and the effect on their pets.  No doubt Councillor Barton is now finding that the lot of an elected politician is sometimes to absorb the ire of constituents over matters in which she is powerless to intervene.  So what else is new?

Returning again to the once-endangered species the Petworth Zebra, (previously reported here, about half way down) there must be domestic disharmony in Courts Mount Road.  Compare and contrast this:

HIGHWAY ISSUES

Mr R Serman, Mr P Jones (Sports Locker) and Mr C Rollinson (Woody & Morris) made representations in objection to Surrey County Council’s (SCC) proposed crossing on the Petworth Road. The following points were made:

·         The objectors were not properly consulted by SCC.

·         The proposed crossing will greatly impact deliveries made to the shops in the immediate vicinity.

·         Guidelines dictate that there should be a minimum of 50 metres visibility on either side of any proposed crossing, which is not the case in this instance.

·         As taxpayers, £60,000 is not a justifiable amount of money to spend on a project such as this in the current economic climate.

·         SCC never came to see Mr Jones of Sports Locker personally to discuss the proposal, but instead asked for the opinion of a junior employee when visiting the shop.

·         An elderly lady resides in the neighbouring property and relies on being collected by car, the proposed crossing will make this impossible.

·         There has been a complete lack of communication from SCC advising where shops should be loading/unloading in view of this crossing being installed.

·         There will be a loss of three parking bays which are crucial to the surrounding businesses.

·         There has been no evidence of dangerous incidents at this location and as such a crossing is not warranted.

(Minutes of the Haslemere Town Council Planning Committee, 7 February 2013, under the heading “19/13 Highway Issues” bold emphasis added by me)

With this:

 

 

(Letter to the Haslemere Herald, 14 October 2011)

And this is law, I will maintain

Unto my Dying Day, Sir.

That whatsoever King may reign,

I will be the Vicar of Bray, Sir!
 



Quote of the week

“I had only to examine my own heart and it told me straight off what the Irish people wanted” (Eamonn de Valera, December 1921)