Launch speech, 22nd March
Thank you for coming this evening and supporting me on this special night. I would like to that my fellow councillors who are here, and also Gerry and the team hear at Oliver Cromwell’s, for making us so welcome.
Three years ago, we made history in this town and began to live the dream.
Three years ago we had our own Egypt moment in St. Ives.
Three years ago we told those who believed that they were here forever, that we no longer wanted big national parties controlling what happened and telling us what was best for us.
Three years ago, you elected a group of men and women to represent you, who were free of the constraints of political parties.
Three years ago you voted Independent.
Much has been achieved for our town in those three years.
You confirmed that just six weeks ago by voting for Britain’s youngest e3lected representative, Tom Bletsoe. The Town Plan is moving on, we have secured toilet facilities for the town, which had been axed by Huntingdonshire District Council, we have extended the cemetery, we have relooked at the way in which the allotments are managed and the way in which those who work up at Hillrise so tirelessly are involved in the decision making, we have opened up Town Council meetings, enabling the public to speak and ask questions for the first time in years, and we have renovated the Town Hall, making it fit for purpose in the twenty first century.
All these are things that should have happened much earlier. And, right in the heart of St. Ives we have resorted and opened the jewel of our town, our beloved Corn Exchange.
However, there is a feeling of unease. People are worried. Because when we look at the bigger picture, we see that things are not right.
We still have the big parties trying to control and manage.
Our District Council is failing us, my friends.
Only last week someone said to me how greatly he felt that things had improved in our town, but that we now needed a voice at District Council to represent us.
Haven’t we got able and experienced Councillors doing that already? Maybe we do, you may well argue. But are they really representing the interests of our town?
Let’s look at some of the concerns we have and some of the issues facing us.
Those of you, who work out of town, know how difficult it is to travel at crucial peak times, with the volume of traffic increasing as the town continues to grow.
The construction of a further 400 homes has just begun.
Whilst this community is always welcoming of new and friendly faces, we are concerned about the volume of traffic, and the total lack of thought that has gone into planning this. How can you place the entrance to a huge housing estate right on top of the entrance of one of the biggest secondary schools in Cambridgeshire? When 1,800 of our children are streaming out of the school at the end of the day, and are competing with construction traffic, and eventually cars coming in and out at rush hour, surely that is an accident waiting to happen?
Why did nobody see this and question it?
What will happen when we get ‘unprecedented’ rainfall next time, and the water cannot drain into the soil?
We have a huge increase in ground that is simply run-away ground, and that water will run straight into the river.
But the river is already full to capacity, because no one will dredge it.
We need a written pledge that there will be no flooding!!
And we need to lobby hard to get our river dredged!!
And all those trees being destroyed!! Councillor Davies’s phone was red hot when the developers started the carnage of this habitat. He was very concerned about the trees.
But why were our District Councillors not fighting to save those trees at the same time as they were eagerly giving out planning permission to build all these new houses?
Friends, I am delighted to tell you that we need have no fear about all the extra vehicles in our town, as the County Council has already given us the solution!
Our wonderful new Guided Busway!
Have our District Councillors been voicing their concerns about the endless delays in its opening?
Have they been voicing their concerns about the increase of traffic into town for the Park and Ride?
Have they been voicing their concerns about the traffic lights that are just going to add to the gridlock that grips our town when the A14 is shut?
Oh the A14! Have they even thought about that one?
Oh, of course they have. The answer is a northern by-pass for St. Ives.
Well there won’t be time to build that before the developers have finished building the new houses. That doesn’t solve the problem of the A14.
But maybe, just maybe, we will have a northern bypass for St. Ives in time for the grand and eagerly awaited opening of the Guided Busway!!
Have no fear, because when the Busway does eventually start to bring all those visitors to our town, what will they find?
What does our town have to offer?
Well, at least after their journey here, they will find a toilet at the bus station. But that is only because our Town Council decided to keep it open. Our District Councillors decided to shut it, along with the rest of the public toilets right across Huntingdonshire.
They will find a thriving Farmers’ Market on Saturdays, one of the best in the country. But that is because our Town Council has decided to buy new stalls, after the District Council have decided to get rid of the current stalls and not replace them.
So how about the range of shops? Very many of us are sad to see the closure of yet another independent retailer in our town. Our District Council keeps raising car parking charges in our town whilst out of town retail outfits are able to have big free car parks.
How can the shops in our town compete in that climate?
You would have thought, wouldn’t you, that when the gas works started in town, they could have eased up some of the Cattle Market parking and made it free?
They have made it clear that eventually they want to get rid of all free parking in our town.
I tell you now, if elected, I will fight that tooth and nail.
Three years ago, our District Council presented plans to us, that would have resulted in the wholesale digging up of our town for at least a year, in the middle of one of the deepest recessions in living memory, as well as getting rid of almost all the parking from the town centre. They had consulted with the traders in town, who were all happy with the plans. My friends, 90% of retails did not even know!
I made sure that there was a proper consultation of the traders. I was not popular with our District Councillors. I was a thorn in their side then, and I am willing to be a thorn in their side again. We do need to improve our Town Centre. It’s not enough to complain about paving stones being cracked, especially if they are only 10 years old, and were probably the cheaper option in the first place, when the whole of Market Hill needs a proper re-surfacing and potholes need filling!
Where is that million pounds now?
They are even taking away our ability to pay our council tax at a local office. So if you are elderly or disable, you will have to get the bus to Huntingdon, but it won’t be the Guided Bus!#
And when you get to Huntingdon, what is waiting for you?
Yes, gleaming new toilets in a gleaming new office – Pathfinder House, the new Pathfinder House, built at a cost of some £13 million, an architectural masterpiece, airy and spacious, built like a modern cathedral. The office has to go in St Ives, so they can be able to afford the heating in the new offices in Huntingdon!
My friends, on May 5th, it will be time to chose,
Today I submitted my nomination papers, and I am now declaring myself as an Independent candidate for election to Huntingdonshire District Council.
I am offering you a choice between the past and the future.
I will not be subservient to any political party or political masters apart from you the electorate.
I will not be perusing a career to become a portfolio holder on the new cabinet system which we now have.
Now is the time to grow our dream
Now is the time to chose,
Now is the time to tell our District Council, that we do not want to be dictated to by the big parties.
Now is the time to say that we want an elected representative free of party constraints, who can freely represent the voices of the people of St. Ives, who will publish expenses regularly and who will serve the people of our town rather than rule over them
Now is the time to vote Independent.
Now is the time to vote Independent for St. Ives.
St. Ives deserves better.
You deserve better.
The people of St. Ives deserve better.