Twerp of the Year Award

 This year I shall break with tradition and name a group as my Twerp of the Year.  A drum-roll for the Conservative Group on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council.  The Group 'succeeded' in losing control of the council to a motley bunch of Labour, Liberal  Democrat and Alliance councillors with an Independent thrown in for good measure.  I expect the Tories to lose more seats in May 2022.

What happens then will be interesting.  Doubtless squalid secretive negotiations will take place to decide who gets the plum jobs and the policies to be followed.  The effect will be that the negotiations will render irrelevant whom an elector votes for should that vote be cast for a non-Tory candidate.

So how is it that the Tories have lost control to this group?  Perhaps it was a loss of nerve when a group of local foghorns, social media users amd political chancers united to oppose the theatre proposals.  Instead of taking them head-on the Tory Group took the road of appeasement in the hope of saving themselves from losing seats.  It hasn't worked.  It has been a shambles.

Royal Victoria Place

 Today I visited the Royal Victoria Place shopping centre in Royal Tunbridge Wells for the first time since March 2020.  The new flooring is impressive as is the spaciousness now most of the stalls cluttering the walking areas have been removed.  Reminded me very much of the look of the centre when it first opened.  I suspect the stalls will return and that will be a sad event as they diminish the character of the centre.

The number of empty shop units was not a surprise and I fear for the long-term future of RVP as shopping habits are changing with more people using on-line shopping and out-of-town retail parks.  Should it close you could build a lot of domestic properties on what would be a brownfield site.

HS2 Eastern Arm

Rumours are circulating in the press that the government is about to announce that the eastern arm of HS2 is to be deferred indefinitely.  There has been months of speculation that this will happen.  The eastern arm is (was) planned to run from Birmingham to Leeds with a station at Toton to serve Derby and Nottingham and then on to Leeds together with a loop line to Sheffield utilising existing track.

The proposed line did not serve Leicester and was miles from Nottingham and Derby.  So, what should happen now?

 

A few suggestions: 

*  The Midland Main line electrification should be extended to Leeds via Nottingham, Derby and the Erewash Valley.  The line between Leeds and York is planned to be electrified as part of the  Liverpool-Manchester-Leeds-Newcastle improvement scheme.

* A fast London - Leicester-Sheffield- Leeds -York service.

 * Electrify the Bristol - Birmingham - Derby line.

Refuse collection

 Some years ago I was a governor at a local school.  Meetings of the governors held to one guiding principle namely: the less important an issue was the more time would be spent discussing it. And so it is in respect of local politics.  The electorate will be tempted to vote for parties on the issue of refuse collection (or lack of it) rather than the major issues.

However one can understand the frustration of being subjected to an abject refuse collection contractor. The men who collect the rubbish are not to blame, indeed I find them very helpful.  No, the problem is with the management of the company they work for and the supine councillors and officers of the council who have failed to deal with the matter.

Asylum Seekers/Illegal Economic Immigrants

 Perhaps those EU loving Liberal Democrats can tell me why, if the EU is so wonderful, so many people are desperate to risk crossing the English Channel in small boats and dinghies to reach our shores?  Surely our EU loving sycophants should be clamouring to cross in the opposite direction quite apart from seeking to make it easier to return those who are not genuine asylum seekers back to EU land.

No change at the Town Hall

The Tories lost seats in Tunbridge Wells at the local elections and now hold half the seats (24).  The Lib Dems have 13, Labour 5, the Alliance 5 and there is one Independent.  Prior to the annual meeting of the council members of the opposition parties and the Independent met.  What happened at that meeting behind closed doors is not in the public domain but doubtless they were intent on sharing the spoils of mayoral, leadership and cabinet posts.  Naturally manifesto policies are compromised and deals done of which the electorate has no prior knowledge or say in the matter.  It smacks of squalid politicking.

In the event the retiring Conservative mayor (who had not stood for re-election as a councillor) used her casting vote for mayor in favour of the Conservative deputy mayor.  Thus the Tories retain control of the council.

 

Chapelard is the Lib Dem leader.

 

Rusthall's electorate: a sophisticated people.

It may be said of the Rusthall electorate that they know a dud when they see one.  In recent years the good people of Rusthall have elected to serve on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and UKIP candidates.  In the process they have voted out a Leader of the Council and have not been hoodwinked by spurious claims by candidates as to the likelihood of their being well placed to win. In 2021 the Liberal Democrat candidate claimed that the electorate knew Labour could not win, but as we know she did.

The electorate has taken a dim view of the parish council.  Since its formation and the first election in 2011 not a single vote has been cast for a parish councillor.  All elections have been unopposed and vacancies filled by co-option.  At the last election there were six candidates for nine seats.  The parish council has spawned four committees has a clerk and a deputy clerk, an office and a community centre, the latter for which there was and is no real need. The pity is that it is almost impossible to disband a parish council.

More on the dubious Liberal Democrat electoral claims

 In my previous blog I commented on the disgraceful tactics of the Liberal Democrat candidate for Rusthall.  She claimed it was a two-horse race between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives and that Labour could not win.  Labour won.

She should have known better, after all her husband won the seat in 2019 and Labour was second.

2019

Lib Dem:  547

Labour:    346

Con:         283

 UKIP:      144      

 

2021

Labour:     572

Con:         455

Lib Dem:  436 

Green:      141

Never trust Liberal Democrat electoral claims.

Lib Dem candidate stuffed by Labour in Rusthall

The Liberal Democrat candidate in Rusthall, one Angela Funnell, claimed in her election address that it was a "two horse race" in Rusthall between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.  The Liberal Democrats were "the only chance to stop the Conservatves in Rusthall" and furthermore "everyone knows Labour can't win here".

Sadly for Angela the electorate disagreed.  Labour won deservedly and Angela trailed in behind the second placed Conservative.  Did she believe the rubbish she had published in her name?

Election Time

Tomorrow we may vote for candidates for borough and county council elections and for the Kent police commissioner post.

 The current holder of the latter post has done a sound job and I shall be voting for him.  I shall be voting for our current county councillor as he responded well to an issue I raised.

 The problem for me is whom to vote for at the borough council election.  The Green Party has not delivered a leaflet.  

 The Tory candidate tells us nothing about himself, not even where he lives. The election address is a mess

 The Liberal Democrat candidate lives up (or down) to the Groucho Marx comment.

 

 The Lib Dem leaflet has the usual dodgy diagram and claims of support which on its own is a sound ground for rejecting the candidate.

 The Labour Party has produced the best leaflet and has the best candidate by a country mile. Probably will get my vote.

A better bus service.

 
Central government has pledged to improve bus services in the interests of better connectivity.   About time.  The idea is to work with local councils and bus operators to achieve this using funds from central government.   Locally two proposals stand out.

The first proposal is for a dedicated bus service between Lewes and Uckfield railway stations to connect with Uckfield rail services.  This is far cheaper then re-opening the railway line between these two places.

The other proposal is for an hourly express bus service between Tunbridge Wells and Brighton stopping only at Crowborough, Uckfield bus station, Lewes, Falmer and Brighton.

RIP

 In the last year three former colleagues and friends have died.  First was Len Horwood the chairman of Tunbridge Wells Mental Health Resource Limited.  Second was Bob Wykes a former chairman of the Bridge Trust.  This year witnessed the death of the Revd. Michael Dent a breakfast and drinking companion over many years with whom I worked at Kent Industrial Mission.  Three quite different characters with one thing in common, a passion for helping the less fortunate in our society.