Beauty Spot Saved!

Hooray! Surely?

The Mid Sussex Times carries this story on this weeks edition (Well, it was out last Thursday) and is not alas not yet online as they seem to have trouble catching up with the end of the 20th century let alone the 21st!

The long and short of the story concerns an area of land known as Paddocksland which is adjacent to Blunts wood and Paiges wood.

It was considered for housing development and has been found to be unsuitable.

The thing is this though, it was always going to be considered and always turned down. All sorts of land is because it has to be considered, and is turned down because it is unsuitable. So it is not true to say it was saved because it was not under threat.

That said, I don´t want to discourage people from making clear what their feelings are. It is however a bit sad when what purports to be a newspaper over eggs the pudding.

Local Elections: Conservatives outstanding win!

The local elections have produced an outstanding victory for the Conservatives, gaining 256 seats.

The last time these elections were held was a very low ebb for Labour. In reality it would have been possible for Labour to claw back some net gains, certainly with the Brown bounce last summer. All that is now gone and labour have had a right kicking losing 331 seats.

The BBC have calculated the national share of the vote and that puts Labour in third place on 24% of the vote with the Conservatives on 44% and the Liberal Democrats on 25%. This is the worst Labour result for 40 years.

The BBC has this.

Conservatives gain Southampton!

Fantastic.

Also Nuneaton and Bedworth!

Looks like a good night for the Conservatives.

Accident and Emergency under threat

It appears that the Conservative party have uncovered why accident and emergency services are under threat up and down the land, including places like Haywards Heath, and the Princess Royal.

According to this article from the Times today it is all to do with how big a catchment area an Accident and Emergency service should have. Currently they have about 250,000 but government guidance indicates they want that to be about 500,000. In short just under half of A & E are under threat.

The reasoning is that the bigger centres will be better able to cope with people like heart attack victims and stroke victims.

The logic is however somewhat flawed.

Firstly your average heart attack victim is no going to take longer to get to A & E to be seen in any case so whilst more will survive who make it to the hospital more will die en route. (The same applies to limiting stroke damage)
Secondly, if there is a benefit to centralising that kind of specialist care, that does not mean that all A & E care need be centralised.

The reality is that this government has made a hash of the way it has constantly reorganised the NHS, and we, the consumer will pay the cost through both increased taxation and lower service levels.

The same is likely to happen to maternity units as well. This government needs a serious kick in the ballot box.

So what future for the Liberal Democrats

It is interesting to observe the musings of the Liberal Democrats as they ponder what was a bit of a stuffing.

In Mid Sussex the Liberal Democrats seemed to have a plan, which someone may have communicated to Indigo Public Affairs, who predicted Mid Sussex would be taken by the said Yellow Peril.

The only problem with that of course is that we had one too, and ours worked oh so much better than theirs.

However if they are looking for someone to blame in their own ranks, and on the day of the count some clearly were, it seems that they will pin it on the people in their party, particularly in Burgess Hill, who went independent over "disagreements".

I have to say it helped, but we were not counting on it.

It seems though that elsewhere they are looking for bigger blood. Word reaches me that the leadership is being blamed both nationally and in Wales.

The Arsembly blog has a series of articles here on the ructions in the Welsh Liberal Democrats who have yet to make any progress since their first election of 6 AM's here, and here.

Meanwhile Ordovicius has this tale of blame here and coalition trouble for the Liberal Democrats here.

Then of course there is the slow bubling of noises about Ming Campbell's leadership. Iain Dale has round ups here and here.

I know that in Mid Sussex their PPC Serena Tierney (who rather ridiculously styles herself as Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman*) was surprised at some of our results, particularly in Lucastes because I heard her say so. That made me laugh!

That said they obviously had high hopes and were looking to improve their seat numbers in the council and went backwards instead.


So should they blame Ming, their own internal divisions, their campaigning technique or what?

Frankly I don't care as long as they rip themselves apart, but then again I might be biased!

* To be fair at least the English language has not been garbled here. Spokesman is correct and can apply to both men and women. Spokesperson would have caused a rant on my part!

Did I mention how exhausting elections were?

This was my first campaign. I have to say it was educational. It was also extremely hard work, particularly in the last days when the tempo really hots up.

What you see on the doorstep, in terms of leaflets delivered and canvassers knocking on doors is only a small part of a very large operation.

Leaflets need to be written, set into delivery routes.

Canvass sheets need to be produced, but after they have been filled in, what is on them needs to be entered back into a computer system to make the information useful.

It is a big organisation, and it ticks along all the way to polling day.

Surely that is when the campaign ends? Not a bit of it. Polling day is a day of unremitting hard work, running around getting the vote out. I was literally running at stages in the day! I thought I was so unfit that I could not run out of sight on a dark night, but the adrenaline of election day gives you energy.

So after having worked from well before the polls opened to when they closed some 15 hours later it had been a long and very hard day. Normally I would have gone straight on to the count, but this year that was not to be. We did the count the following day.

The problem is you don't want to sleep straight away! My running mate Katy Bourne, Peter Bradbury, now the newly elected County Councilor for Cuckfield and Lucastes decided to have a drink and a chat. That was good.

Then came the count. I was so tired I missed my alarm and ended getting to the count which started at 8.30 at 10 instead. The count went on and on and on. I still had energy left though, as it was exciting! We had some key battlegrounds we needed to win, as well as being aware we would be squeezed in areas where we did not want to be squeezed.

Since the end of he count and the loss of the adrenaline I have been completely exhausted! I have had an almost complete lack of energy.

That said I am just about feeling it coming back now as I return to normal.

Winning Ashenground next time around

After having had some serious sleep overnight, after that very long count, my thoughts have now turned to winning Ashenground at the next local elections in 2011.

I am working on some local campaigns over issues that were raised on the doorstep as well.

If anyone wants to get involved, please let me know. You can email me here.

Labour keep their head whilst all about them lose their's!

The strange tale of the 2007 local elections in Mid Sussex is that both the Conservative leader, Patrick Shanahan, and the Liberal Democrat leader Graham Knight lost their seats, whilst Paddy Henry, the Labour group leader retained his but lost his group, (Richard Goddard).

We are very sorry to lose Patrick as group and council leader. He is a very good man, and a very good leader. He lost his seat because of a planning issue over 220 houses in Mackie avenue in Hassocks where the opposition seemed to blame the Conservative council for allowing it. The reality is rather different. The planning application was fought by the council as far as it could be, with the council even employing a barrister for the planning appeal.

Local planning is now far less at the discretion of local government and is now based on rules. The net result is that if people don't want a large development on their doorstep, and the council does not either, the developer can just appeal, and if the land meets the statutory criteria, they get it. That is not good for local democracy.

However we did make some fantastic gains. We gained all two seats in East Grinstead Ashplats, from the Liberal Democrats, two in Haywards Heath, Heath ward, again from the Liberal Democrats, two in Lucastes from two former Conservatives who went independent, and could have split the vote. In Burgess Hill we won one seat out of two from the Liberal Democrats (very well done Pru, and Jim for helping out!) the same in Victoria ward, (well done Mandy! Good work Julian, better luck next time).

We also gained a seat from an Independent in Hurstpierpoint and Downs. Our total gains being 9! We did however lose 4, 3 in Crawley Down and one in Hassocks.

Katy Bourne and I managed to get turnout up from 32.55% last time to 41.2% this time. Whilst Katy and I did not win this time in Ashenground, we certainly got a result in terms of getting the vote out!


My blisters have blisters, I am personally shattered, as no doubt are all our members who have worked very very hard indeed.

A very early start!

Wow,that was an early start, and people think it starts at 7 when the polls open!

Looks like it is going to be an interesting day in Mid Sussex, though we won't get to know the result until tomorrow.

Hopefully I will be able to update you from my mobile later.

Ward by Ward Predictions for Mid Sussex!

I will be making ward by ward predictions for Mid Sussex, or rather saying what the gains and losses will be, after the close of polls tomorrow, and before the count on Friday.

I also expect to be publishing the actual results on Friday as they are announced in the hall.

Mid Sussex District Council predictions

As the final day of campaigning draws to a close, and election day beckons, I thought I would make some predictions about how it will go.

Currently there are 25 Conservative councilors out of 54, with 24 Liberal Democrats, 2 Labour and 3 independent.

We expect to make 7 gains, leaving us with 32 out of 54 councilors, with an outside possibility of another 3.

It does not look like it is going to be a good day for the Liberal Democrats in Mid Sussex.

Liberal Democrats panicking in Ashenground!

As I said earlier, I was out on the campaign trail earlier today canvasing in the ward in which I am standing. (My running mate is Katy Bourne.)

If the frantic leaflet delivery is anything to go by, and yes Ashenground is getting more deliveries from the Liberal Democrats than it has before, including some expensive ones, they are in a bit of a panic!

I like a good campaign and a good fight, and that is what is happening!

Liberal Democrats on the run in Ashenground!

Those of you who read this blog regularly will know that I am standing for the local council elections on May the 3rd in Ashenground ward, in Haywards Heath, for the Conservative party.

I have been out on the campaign trail and delivering leaflets along with the rest of the Ashenground team for some months now, and it appears that the Liberal Democrats have only just noticed. It is currently held by the Liberal Democrats at both town and district level, but up until a couple of days ago they had only delivered one election leaflet.

Well, now all that has changed. They have now rushed out a big A3 glossy leaflet and appear to be running around like headless chickens!

I would not mind quite so much though, if they were not so sailing quite so close to the wind in terms of the truth, or rather implied lack of it.

Lets be clear. Their leaflet tells no lies, but it is close. For example in one of the candidates biographies, Richard Bates is said to have campaigned against changes in waste collection. The quote is:

Richard campaigned against black sack refuse scheme and says that the 2 weekly wheelie bin collection will make the streets even less appealing

Grammar aside, (after all you would expect them to proof read a leaflet) the problem with this is it implies the Liberal Democrats are against the 2 weekly collection doesn't it? It does not actually say that though. The problem is they are not. All party groups are behind the scheme and this is nothing more than cheap political point scoring.

Then there is this, on defending services, and in particular the services at the Princess Royal Hospital, (under a picture of a very small number of banner waving Liberal Democrats amongst 7,500 members of the Conservative group, Labour group and members of the public)

Lib Dems at last years rally in support of the PRH. Liberal Democrat councillors have been in the forefront of the fight to preserve local health services in Sussex. As Christine McLean says, "We have fought for many years under both both Labour and Tory governments for adequate funding and locally accountable health services"

Where is the problem? Well all party groups have been out campaigning in support of the Princess Royal Hospital, a lot of the work has been done by the Conservative group, including the setting up the Support the PRH website. You will note that the front page of that website you will see a picture of the 3 MP's who are backing the campaign, Nick Herbert, (Arundel and South Downs) Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) and Norman Baker (Lewis). Nowhere does it mention parties, nor should it, as it is a cross party campaign.

Lastly there is this on supporting local groups:

"Grants to the CAB increased due to campaigning form (sic) the Lib Dem Town Cllrs. Lib Dems argued for more help for community groups. Steve Griffin says "All this can be funded from within the present budget without the need for tax rises"

What he does not say is that it is Liberal Democrat policy in the town to give town councillors an allowance, or where that money will come from!

Still, that is what I have come to expect from Liberal Democrat campaigns.

On the Campaign Trail!

It has to be said there is an awful lot of walking in a campaign, so many people to see, and so many leaflets to deliver.

Still, in the ward I am standing in, Ashenground in Haywards Heath things are looking interesting. We are seriously out delivering the Liberal Democrats on leaflets and what is more the canvas returns are very positive.

We shall have to see how the election goes on May the 3rd, though we will not know the result until the count on May the 4th.

I expect I will have worn out some shoes by then!

Are we getting poorer?

One of the factors that governs how people vote at a general election is how the economy is doing. "It's the economy stupid" to borrow a cliche. Except that it isn't the economy as parroted in economic statistics that people notice, it is how they feel in their pockets that counts.

According to this report in the today's Telegraph disposable income is growing at its slowest since 1982, whilst the budget will make 5.3 million people worse off, mostly at the lower end of the pay spectrum. In fact disposable income dropped in the last quarter of 2006 dropped by 0.7%!

We then have to factor in things like higher fuel costs, mortgage costs and council tax .

Mind you the ever rising council tax is another issue! In Mid Sussex the district council now has to provide more services than it did in 1997, but on a £6 million budget has £100,000 more now in cash terms than it did in 1997. It makes it very hard to keep council tax at reasonable levels.

Hat tip to Witan on Politicalbetting.com.

Politics is good exercise!

Yes it is. I have just been out delivering some more leaflets in Ashenground ward in Haywards Heath, and I can say that it certainly is good exercise.

I just wish it was warmer, and not drizzling. Still the clocks go back forward tonight so at least it will be lighter for the rest of the campaign.

Thanks for the Anonymous correction!

Post Office closures, it does not have to be this way

This may be old news to some but it still concerns many.

In short it looks like the government wants to close down 2,500 post offices. Well, they are being subsidised and yes that is with tax payers money.

Is that justifiable? On the face of it no.

However is that the question? Do they need subsidising?

Well, under current rules and restrictions yes. This situation has arisen over a number of years as the Post Office network has lost major parts of its business, like for example the processing of giro's and pensions and the latest, TV licenses, which you can no longer pay for in a post office but can in a number of shops.

Maybe the market has moved on. Fair enough.

However the reason why the post office can't compete is because the government has failed to loosen the rules on what the post office can and can't do. Whilst government is removing services from the post office network for what may or may not be valid reasons, the dead hand of government is failing to allow it to evolve, move on and attract new business.

I work in Burgess Hill. The main Post office in the town center closed there a number of years ago. Then it had a bit of a post office inside a large shop, and now it has by popular demand got a new post office. Good. There are a lot of people in Burgess Hill, and it would be odd to only have a few sub post offices dotted around. I can't help but notice how busy it is with regular business quite a lot of it generated by eBay.

This success story aside though what we are actually talking about is sub post offices, as well as main post offices. It is a fantastic branch network that can provide a lot of services.

Instead we have plans to cut the network back to save money. I am happy with saving money in principle, but closing post offices is not the only way to do it. Letting the post office network compete would save even more money. Alas that does not seem to be on the cards.

The Post Office needs help from the Government to generate new business ideas and opportunities, not closures. It provides a lifeline to the local economy and community and we have launched a petition rejecting these planned closures. We need your help to secure the future of these vital services. It just does not have to be this way.

NHS, Yet more chaos

This time concerning maternity services in Sussex. Apparently on Friday night Emma Mackrory-Jamieson went into labour. She got in touch with the local hospital's maternity unit at the Princess Royal to be told there were not enough beds. Brighton and Worthing also had no space so the Mackrory-Jamieson's had to drive to Eastbourne, some 45 minutes away.

Clearly this is ridiculous. The maternity unit at the Princess Royal is under threat as is the one in Eastbourne, (See here). If either or both close this will cause capacity problems in the county. If then someone had to go to Brighton and it turned out to be full, and Worthing also a pregnant woman could be faced with an uncomfortable hours drive to Hastings (assuming it to had space) in good driving conditions or much longer during rush hour.

Sometimes labour is quick. Very quick. It can be over in an hour or two. Clearly you would not want to spend most or all of that time chasing beds across the roads in Sussex.

This story follows hot on the heals of other stories of chaos in the NHS, like this one from Wales about Ambulances queuing (as has also happened at Redhill Hospital), an 8 year old boy having 3 ambulance transfers to get a broken arm treated here, and a rise of 21% in the maternity mortality rate (see here)

We arrive at this chaos after the most colossal amount of money has been spent on the NHS. Where has all the money gone?

For more articles on the NHS see here.

Lib Dems want to rip flowers up!

Well, almost. Here is the background.

Muster Green is a green in Haywards Heath, legend has it King Harold mustered his troops there on his way to the battle of Hastings. It is a triangular green with a war memorial at its point, and has been a conservation area since 1979. Not only that but it even gets a mention on the Royal Horticultural Society website here.

From spring onwards it gets it's flower beds planted with a colourful display of bedding plants. Looks very good. What is more, as the old flowers die, they are replaced.

Well, apparently that is not what the Liberal Democrats on Haywards Heath Town Council want. They don't want flower beds any more, they want a Shrubbery. Well that is fine for the Knights who say Ni, but frankly for the rest of us it would be a bit dull, a bit like the Liberal Democrats.