Nominations for the district and parish council elections closed yesterday. The Vale of White Horse District Council (VWHDC) has been using Old Abbey House for vetting nominations. Candidates, or political parties, turn up with their nomination papers, and wait to have them checked over to make sure all is correct.
Candidates for the District Council have already been published. The Abingdon candidates with known parties are:
10 Conservative
5 Green
5 Labour
10 Lib-Dem
1 NHS Action
2 UKIP
There is also one Independent. This is Marilyn Badcock who up to now has always been one of the core Conservatives in Abingdon.
But an even bigger suprise, for me at least, is the emergence of 4 ROAR Candidates. I first heard ROAR yesterday at the hustings when Peter Jay, their chairman, asked a question, and he did roar.
ROAR stands for Rural Oxfordshire Action Rally. They are ‘an independent group of residents and action groups committed to stopping the indiscriminate and speculative land grab from unscrupulous developers using the guise of sustainable development’.
However the real ROAR have just commented ‘ROAR has NOT put forward any candidates. This is a rogue organisation NOT endorsed by ROAR and using our name against our express request.‘
The Rogue roar group have 2 candidates in Caldecott where the 158 houses recently got the go ahead, and 2 candidates in Dunmore where the District Council plan to build on the Green Belt.
The full list of District Council candidates are at http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/elections/elections-2015/district-council-elections.
I wonder how many realise the plans to obliterate virtually the whole of the Bridleway from Abingdon to Sunningwell, a Bridleway that crosses Green Belt land and is an inspiration to so many of us.
After crossing Dunmore Road,instead of farm fields on the right and young woodland on the left, there will be wall to wall housing, (But not if people band together to stop it happening). On leaving the housing and crossing the A 34, what will happen to the magnificent open fields stretching to Sunningwell? Well, how about a Park and Ride, half as big again as that at Redbridge? And where will the lorries Park? In the same area, taking up almost all the remaining land.
Invasion of the Green Belt is supposed to happen only in exceptional circumstances and then only if the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.
And all his development is supposed to be the price we have to pay in order to get the 4way interchange at Lodge Hill. I’d sooner do without.
After all those years of campaigning for the diamond interchange we are now manoeuvred into a choose and lose situation.
…what campaign was that?
22 years ago I stood with others in the precinct getting signatures from people who agreed with having the Lodge Hill exit from the A34 to be upgraded to a diamond interchange as a means of reducing traffic going through Abingdon. Since then many of us including the Town and Vale councils have lobbied the relevant agencies to consider this and it was on the AbITS (Abingdon Integrated Transport Strategy) wish list.
…just to help me out, what with it being election time and all…but what does ‘lobying’ mean in this context? When one does ‘lobby’…what do they actually do?
Mostly it meant sending letters and petitions to County Highways, and to the relevant government ministers . It many proposing motions to the 3 tiers of local councils, councils to write to the relevant Government a departments, it meant getting the MP on board who then raised it in The House.
Over the years various councillors and local people have been involved. I’m not trying to score election points. I was just one of many, You asked the question.
The request for the diamond interchange was refused by John Prescott when he was the deputy prime minister on the grounds that Abingdon residents would use the A34 as a rat run just to get from one end of Abingdon to the other.
Daniel – I think it means what I have been going on about on here for what seems like years – actually having a go directly at the decision-makers rather than just sounding off among ourselves and hoping they are reading the blogs!
If we do that before the election comes along, they know that it is important to voters and it focuses their minds….
Apologies for the many typos, I expect you can work out the sense of it
Well that’s a relief! When ‘politicians lobby’…I thought they did something special. Turns out….when I write a letter….I’m lobbying too!
Depends on the letter!
…couldn’t agree more Angela!
Of course it’s not all letter writing, and it wasnt only letter writing for the Lodge Hill Diamond Interchange. You take what opportunities you can to lobby verbally, at meetings and with the decision makers, and when you can’t, you write letters.
ROAR has NOT put forward any candidates. This is a rogue organisation NOT endorsed by ROAR and using our name against our express request.
Official announcement below
https://www.facebook.com/roartoday/posts/803808913029240
So, is there a fundamental problem then, with this ‘lobbying’ malarky? It doesn’t seem to ever bear much fruit.
Lobbying, or not lobbying….I would be keen to hear of any decision that has gone ‘our way’ recently; or even ever!
Radley Lakes were saved from being filled in with ash from Didcot power station thanks to the admirable campaigning and lobbying of The Save Radley Lakes group, the outdoor pool was saved when threatened with closure several years ago, hospital beds at Marcham Road Hospital were saved from closure several years ago to name but a few.
Well, that is reassuring to hear. Thank you.