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Say NO to a Unitary Devon
Exeter
Labour Party opposes the Boundary Committee's draft proposal to abolish
Exeter City Council and absorb it in a single unitary authority
covering the whole of Devon except Plymouth and Torbay.
The
proposed council - four times the size of Greater London and with a
population exceeded by only Birmingham and Leeds - would result in the
interests of Exeter's citizens taking second place to the majority
rural interests of the rest of Devon. 800 years of self
government would come to an end and Exeter would disappear from the
political map of Devon.
Devon proposes to replace local
democratic accountability in Exeter with a partly appointed board,
giving our city less powers that a parish council. Councillors would
become remote from the electorate with each representing about 7,500
people (currently it is less than half that).
Thanks to over two decades of effective management
by Labour, Exeter currently has the lowest Council Tax in Devon (and
fifth lowest in England) and the higest levels of customer satisfaction
(19th highest nationally). Exeter has been rated as 'Excellent'
by the Audit Commission while performance standards in Lib Dem run
Devon has fallen. In a unitary Devon the residents of Exeter
would find themselves paying more Council Tax for poorer local services.
Opposition
to the Unitary Devon proposal is not limited to Exeter Labour Party.
Exeter's Conservatives and Liberals also oppose the proposal, as
do many (but to their shame, not all) of Exeter's Liberal Democrat
Councillors. And we are joined by a variety of community and
business groups including the University of Exeter, the Exeter Chamber
of Commerce and Industry, Unite, the Exeter Tenants and Leaseholders
Association, the 'Exeter Memories'
local history website and numerous local businesses. In a
recent online poll by the Express and Echo 96% of respondents voted no
to a Unitary council for Devon.
If you support the campaign to retain local democracy in Exeter please sign the online petition here. You can also send your own comments to the Boundary Committee using the form here.
Lib Dems prevented from derailing Exeter Unitary Bid
Labour, Conservative and Liberal councillors on Exeter City Council have supported the establishment of a special council committee to deal with all matters relating to Exeter’s bid for unitary status, so they would not be dealt with by the Lib Dem run council Executive Committee. The Council elected Labour Leader Pete Edwards to Chair the committee and Yolanda Henson Tory Leader as Vice Chair.
Cllr Edwards said: "The majority of councillors simply don't trust the Lib Dems on this issue. They are run by their Devon County Council masters and put the interests of their party before those of our City. We want the citizens of Exeter to run their own affairs, not to have the city managed by a powerless "community board" subject to the control of rural councillors and their appointees.
“The Lib Dems didn't mention the matter once in any of their election material and at the Council meeting their leader said "we didn't mention it because we don't think it is important". Democratic accountability in Exeter may not be important to the Lib Dems, but it is to the majority of Exeter’s councillors and, we believe, to those who elect us.”
1 May 2008 elections: Labour in Exeter buck the trend again!
Thank
you to
everyone who voted Labour in the city council elections this year.
Labour polled
27.8% of the vote, down from 30.2% in the comparable elections of 2004,
while the Tories improved their share of the vote, taking 34.5%. The
Lib Dem vote dropped marginally. In the wards which make up
the new
Exeter
parliamentary constituency (which excludes the wards of Topsham and St
Loyes) there was a 3.7% swing from Labour to the Tories.
Compared to 2007 there was a swing to both Labour 0.8% and to Tories
2.35% from the Lib Dems.
In Exwick Hazel Slack achieved a small swing of 0.1% from the Lib Dems to Labour from last year but this was not enough to hold the seat which Labour lost by just 20 votes. Although we lost Pinhoe (Val Dixon) there was a 5.8% swing to Labour from the Tories since the seat was last contested in 2006 and the story was the same in Polsloe where Rachel Lyons achieved a 4.3% swing to Labour from the Tories.
In Newtown Cllr Richard Branston saw a Tory swing to Labour of 6.05% since the seat was last contested in 2006, resulted in Labour having an overall majority in the Ward of 54.7%. In Priory, Cllr Marcel Choules was reelected with a swing from the Tories of 2.15% Labour gained a new face on the city council with the election of Tony Wardle in Whipton Barton. In St.James Paul Bull ran a positive Labour campaign which resulted in a reduced majority for the Lib Dems and a 3.8% swing from the Lib Dems to Labour.
The City Council now comprises: Lib Dems 13 seats, Conservatives 12 seats, Labour 11 seats, Liberals 4 seats. Ironically the Lib Dems have become the largest group because of Tory gains, and what they will offer the people of Exeter is anyone’s guess as, unlike the two main parties, they did not offer the electorate a manifesto for these elections.
Link to Labour's Manifesto for Exeter City Council elections 2008
Labour's Merit Award for Exeter's First Lord Mayor
In March City MP Ben Bradshaw presented a Labour Party Merit Award to former city councillor Granville Baldwin to recognise the excellent and committed service he has given to the Labour Party over seven decades.
Granville
joined the Party at the age of 15 in 1945 at Farnworth Labour Club in
Bolton—the chief attractions being a good dance hall, table tennis
tables and lots of girls!Coming
form a mining village he was steeped in Labour politics. However Granville did not
go down the mines but became a bespoke tailor and worked at Burton’s. He became a member of the
National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers, and apart from his
period of National Service was a union activist all of his life. Working as an organizer
for the NUTGW brought him to Exeter in the 1970s.
When
he and wife Dilys came to Exeter they soon became active in Countess
Wear Labour Party, which at the time had 3 members!
Countess Wear was a Tory stronghold, so nobody was more
surprised than Granville himself when he took his seat in 1995.
Granville
spent twelve years on the Council representing Countess Wear and then
Priory wards. In
1997/98
he served as Deputy Mayor, and went on to be Mayor in 2001/2002. Just before his term
finished Exeter was granted the status of having a Lord Mayor, so
Granville was the first to hold the new title.
Exeter Airport: Lib Dems let down City residents
Last year Exeter Airport was sold by Devon County Council to the owners of London City Airport. This operates a restriction on night time flights, unlike Exeter Airport
Labour County Councillors, recognising local concerns about the effects of extra noise and pollution on residents, organised a task group of councillors whose work resulted in a number of recommendations about the airport and the county council’s commitment to environmental matters.
Sadly, the sale has gone through WITHOUT any restriction on night flights. As for Devon County Council, whose Liberal Democrat administration wishes to make this “England’s Greenest County”, its commitment to the well-being of its residents living under the flight path must be in some doubt. The task group’s ideas were not even discussed properly at the council’s Scrutiny Committee, as their report was rubbished by a senior Liberal Democrat Executive Councillor from North Devon.