More Threat to Standish

Being controversial as I am, well so I am told :-), has it's benefits. People who may have some knowledge on issues feel able to come to me. Today I have had three different people contact me over different issues. The one that is a threat is planning - surprise surprise. The Council I am told has to have a rolling program for houses each year. The number is to build and complete 1000 houses per year. Completes means not only built but someone paying Council tax. However, if the developers get their way what they do is get planning permission then don't start building but then just sit on their planning permission as they have three years before they need to start. After the first year if the Council hasn't completed their 1000 then the developers can come back and say we want to build in the areas like Standish. Even though the number is restricted to 1000 and the Council are even allowing more than that any way.

I have now written to the Council and asked where they are up to with the numbers this year and hopefully they are not short. As soon as I know more I will as always update you, but if this is true, which I believe it is, then we have more to worry about. One thing that we will be asking the Council is how they will be handling this issue and not allowing the developers get away with their games.

Is Cameron smiling at the Euro Election results?

Prior to the Euro elections David Cameron is was saying to get a renegotiated deal and then put that to the UK people. However UKIP say just a simple in out referendum. The results in the European elections showed a surge for UKIP with them topping the polls. So whilst all the major parties are licking their wounds one must ask if David Cameron is smiling at the results. This is because not just the UK delivered and anti EU party to Brussels but France, Netherlands, Germany and the list goes on, also delivered anti EU parties, so now the whole of Brussels have to re-look at this and play into David Cameron's hands. If they don't they too will get defeated more and more in their elections in their country's.

The first test will come today when the EU will look to the next EU President will it be a pro European or one that is more open minded to change.

Food Caddy Bags

During the election campaign one of the issues that many spoke about was not being able to get the caddy bags in Standish. The Council have a number of outlets that give these out but none in Standish.

I have now written to the Council and the initial signs are good for them to looking at this and seeing if they can get them in the Library, which I have asked for. as soon as I know more I will post on here so you know when and where you can get them

Thoughts on UKIP

This election we had the European Elections on the same day as the local elections and it is obvious that there is a strong feeling and support for at least a referendum on Europe, if not to get out of Europe altogether. This election UKIP had a large media coverage nationally. In some parts of the Country they did well, however in Wigan they failed to win a seat but did score some high numbers.

In my opinion they either tried to fight too many seats and therefore spread their resources to thinly or they have failed to transfer the excitement from the national campaign to the local area. This could be because they thought that the national coverage would win them a seat or seats but in Wigan Labour are a formidable force and there are no easy seats to beat Labour. I know some might say we did it easy in Standish because of the majority that we have but this is far from it. The amount of leaflets and door knocking plus the hard work the Cllrs have to do is enormous.

Back to UKIP to win they have to engage with grass roots themselves rather than hoping national coverage will do it for them.

However they did gain some real credible figures throughout the borough where they fielded candidates but the question many are looking at is where did they get their vote from? Labour or opposition?

Election De-Brief Update for Standish

So here we are the day after the election. Whilst I guess most candidates are resting and gathering their thoughts I thought I would give you the low down and some thoughts.

The first thing to mention is that yet again Standish got the highest turnout again with a turnout of 36.2%.

With it being the European elections as well this election that confused a number of people. Obviously UKIP had a strong march on the euro mission and whilst they had a strong national campaign their local campaign was much lower. The candidate did a few leaflets but as the Tory's found out last year when someone comes from Ashton, the people of Standish don't like it and their votes suffer. This year they had someone that lived in Standish and to be fair only got an extra 112 votes than last year (2012 they got 589 - 2014 they got 701).

UKIP was always an unknown to most parties and especially this year with the European Elections being held at the same time. This year they got 590. It would seem to me that they took some of our vote but more also Labour votes too. Labour struggled this year and came in behind the Tories which no doubt the Tories are happy with but UKIP were close to knocking Labour into fourth place which would have been even worse for Labour. The Labour candidate although conducted herself during and after the election with dignity and was humble in defeat unlike the Tories have a serious case of sour grapes. Have a look here for more on that.

The Tories went much on a negative campaign against us but that clearly didn't work for them. Whilst they got 701 votes which like I said earlier is 112 more than last year I would expect that is because of the European elections. But even with that very small increase in came no where close to our vote of 1543. They probably did the negative campaign as they lost their seats years ago and that is because they did little for the community and still now they cannot put what they would do if elected so just went negative. Whilst some negative might work just doing because you have no ideas yourself is clear to voters and they will never back such a bad campaign which they did.

So on our campaign Debbie did a good clean campaign and talked about not only housing issues but other too like the state of the roads and Ashfield Village Green application. Debbie connected and resonated with residents and that showed in the vote that Debbie got which was more than double than the person in second place. Debbie got 1543 which was a landslide and that is down to the residents of Standish backing her.

So going forward if Labour continue to ignore the people of Standish they will slip further and further back. I know that next year on the same day as the local elections there will be the general elections too and Labour will be hopeful that they can get more of their vote out as generally more people vote in General elections. I doubt that even with a general election they will win the Councillor seat as people will and do have faith in the Standish Independents and especially Cllr George Fairhurst who is up for re-election net time.

Message from the Tory Candidate

On the blog I get a lot of private messages. The latest one is from the Tory Candidate in Standish, who has obviously got a serious case of sour grapes. In the message he says that I am full of bull blah blah blah and that he will be standing again and he will become our worse nightmare.

Whilst it is also obvious that the Tory's do this for personal issues. for us he can;t become our worse nightmare because our worse nightmare is like the worse nightmare for the rest of Standish Residents and that is all the houses that are being planned. Unlike the Tory's who want to become a nightmare for others we will be fighting the houses and representing the people, at least the Labour Candidate has the humility to accept that she lost and can be gracious in defeat unlike the Tory Candidate who can't!

Election Update

With the election tomorrow I will be giving an update on Friday morning with a full low down and the results too. I will obviously put my views along side plus what happened at the count.

For those on twitter follow me on @cllrgwfairhurst as I will be updating that too during the night.

O well the time is nearly upon us and it will be over to you soon.

Election Update

So with just a few days to go till to Thursday when voting starts I thought i would give an update.

Standish Ward
So Labour have done a A4 two colour leaflet. I would suspect that this went out to all the ward. The quality wasn't that good and their main issues was saving the A&E. Does anyone know when it is closing? They have just released another leaflet A4 full colour. It mentions us, bless, and says it's all the Tories fault that the houses are coming but then goes on to say she wants houses in Standish - what a strange statement just days before an election where residents don't want houses.

The Conservative's have finally put out a two colour leaflet and serious so out of touch. They say they are against the development but yet their candidate is a property developer himself. He said if elected he will oppose the development and the link road. Why does he have to wait. He can and should be opposing NOW. Sounds to me that he's saying if I don't get in I don't give a stuff about the houses. Then on their leaflet they show the results of 2010 saying only they can win. Have they not seen the results of the last two elections where their vote has decreased?



I have seen a leaflet for the union party and I believe Labour Cllr emma McGurrin is putting a letter out but not to all the ward. She has put up a 10ft banner on the Shamrock pub.

UKIP had a lot of hype but to be fair there has been no substance and one policy that caught my eye was if they won they would have a referendum on all major housing developments. Really? Just imagine residents having to vote numerous times each month? It is not practical and that is the whole point of electing Cllrs so you didn't have to keep going to vote on things. Might be a good idea to have a referendum on Europe but each housing application - not practical and shows to me that they are not ready to win.

For ourselves we have had a decent campaign and I believe we have done enough in the campaign, although we will be doing a couple of other bits and pieces and hopefully the residents agree with us and we will take the seat from Labour. We have done 2 leaflets and some postal vote letters and the response has been tremendous. The leaflets have been glossy and full colour.

Shevington Ward
Now this is an interesting one. It is apparent that UKIP are taking Labour's vote in Labour's Core area and Labour are now worried that our core vote is turning out and supporting Angie Bland. It seems that she has struck a real cord with residents and people know her from her work as a Cllr before and Parish Cllr at the moment . Labour are getting Lisa Nandy out on the estate door knocking asking people to vote Labour. this demonstrates that the seats is up for grabs.  Also he has said he will work for free if elected. Here is that story.

I would have said that the seat could go one out of three ways, Labour, UKIP or ourselves, however it does seem that Labour are trying to win the UKIP vote back to try and keep Angie Bland out. Time will tell but I predict a close call and would urge people in Shevington to vote Angie Bland.


All our leaflets will be available to view on this blog on Thursday, should you want to see. them.

Is an election coming?

Well with a week to go things will no doubt hot up over the next 7 days. I know our candidate's election campaign is stepping up with banners and garden signs going up around the village. Have a look for yourself and if you want a garden sign or banner let us know.

Desperate or honest- you decide?

Desperate or honest?

Labour Cllr Mike Crosby has said in his latest leaflet, in fact it's his only leaflet that if he wins he will, spend his Wigan MBC allowance in the Ward each year. It seems that he is willing to give up his allowance and spend it instead in the Ward. To me desperation that he knows he is on the ropes and the knock out blow can be coming. Some may say it could be an honest gesture but I doubt it. I guess it's more lies from this person as he once put a leaflet out saying Mere Oaks isn't closing (yes I still have the leaflet) and we all know what's on the site of Mere Oaks and it's not the outstanding school that we all knew.

Also why is it now after 4 years in office has he decided to give it up? Call me cynical he knows he is in trouble with the electorate.

Proxy Votes

I have learnt of a number of people have applied for postal votes and for what ever happened they did not get them. If you are unable to vote on the 22 May you still can get a proxy vote so long as the form is back in by Tuesday 22 May at 5pm. You can get a form from the Town Hall or you can download one from here.


I know a few people have said I have always had a postal vote but this year I have not had it. There could be numerous reasons for this but one possibility could be every 5 years the Town Hall has to refresh to make sure you, a live at the property still and b your signature is up to date. I guess it makes sense. If you haven't returned this form your postal vote would have been cancelled. So you can download a postal voters form here, but this year's election deadline has passed so your postal vote will start from the next election after you return the form.


Hope this is helpful.

Police Public Bravery Awards

I have learnt tonight that a number of Standish residents have been nominated and also award a Police Public Bravery Award for an act of bravery.

I would like to say well done to each and everyone of them. I know there is going to be a ceremony at the Greater Manchester Police HQ, where the members of the public will be present with their certificates by the Chief Constable.

Have a great day. For those that want to learn more about the awards have a look at the link.

Response to Labour's Quango Standards Committee

Wigan's Labour Quango has met recently to consider a complaint that Labour Councillor Clive Morgan has put in against me. This relates to me going on to a Internet forum site which I go in a personal capacity. The complaint from Cllr Clive Morgan was I put on that a Labour Cllr had been sacked as a postman and I hoped postal votes were not involved. Then another person asked who it was and said that Clive Morgan had been sacked. I replied by saying I guess you have answered your question there. I later replied minutes later and said I have found out more and no postal votes had been involved.

It is important to say that when I was told about the hearing I said I work, which the Town Hall knows, and I asked for the meeting at night. They refused to do this saying they can hold it when they want and put simply if I didn't like it tough.

The Labour Quango said that I was on the website in my official capacity as a Cllr and I had therefore brought my office as a Councillor into disrepute. I disagreed saying what I do in my free time is up to me. Labour don't want to recognise this.

They think I brought my office as a Councillor into disrepute. I refute this strongly as I believe the time I was on the internet when I wrote the post were 2 minutes past midnight, at the weekend. Not 100% of the time but certainly at night and weekend. Just like the Ken Livingstone case (here is a link) what someone does in their time is their time. I even got a legal opinion from a fully qualified solicitor that specialises in this area and they too support this and say I was on the internet in my own personal capacity. Labour Cllrs refused to take this on board and decided to find me guilty, Well fancy a Labour Cllr complains and Labour Cllr's find me guilty.

Isn't it funny that this Labour Quango are finding opposition Cllrs guilty just before an election. Call me cynical! However they fail to show you a Labour Cllr case where she has been found guilty of complaint that I put in against Cllr Emma McGurrin for saying she has worked with Persimmon Homes to get houses built on the Golf Course. My camplaint is that any Cllr, certainly on planning, should not be helping a developer. I do have the report to back this up and if they fail to have a hearing before the election I will be publishing the whole lot on this blog and if the Labour Quango want to find me guilty of that to that is fine but the people of Standish will find that much more appropriate then this trumped up charge.

The Labour lot want me to apologies and go on their training. Many know me for being straight talking and calling it as it is. Labour can go and whistle for an apology and their training. I hope the people of Winstanley, the Ward that Cllr Clive Morgan represents and up for re-election elect someone else this election. Someone who has not been sacked for being lazy.

In the main will the people of Standish be bothered about this? No is the answer Labour are merely trying to hold out some desperation that this mud slinging will help them win Standish in the election but the people in Standish are intelligent people and will think this has nothing more than Labour wasting yet more tax payers money and if they think I broke the law or made defamatory comments why don't they waste their own money and sue me?

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Message from Debbie

I know hundreds view Gareth's blog and he has worked hard to get the coverage he does. So I have asked if he will post this message to the people of Standish.

I would like to thank the people that I have met so far on on the doorsteps whilst campaigning and delivering leaflets. It is obvious that people are really sick to death of this Labour controlled Council using Standish as a cash cow.

The houses are a real big issue, which we know and we know that the people of Standish don't want them along with the traffic that will come with it.

Another issue being anti social behavior and I agree that this is a growing issue and if elected I will be working with the other Ward Councillors to stamp this out.

I hope to meet more of you out over the rest of the campaign and hear what your concerns are.

Thanks

Debbie Fairhurst
Standish Independents for Standish Ward 2014