Happy Easter
We wish you all a Happy Easter and hope you have some quality time with those you love. Although we are eager to begin delivering for the election, we are waiting until Tuesday so we don’t intrude. We are grateful for all your messages of support. We wish to thank Glenda Baum and Trudy Glew who have been part of our Group on Selsey Town Council for the last four years; Glenda (who first stood with Donna for STC in 2015) is retiring and Trudy has rightly opted to spend more time with her young family.
We also hope that the people of Northern Ireland have a peaceful Easter because Monday is the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and there is concern there may be some dissident attacks.
Our About page now has details of all our candidates in the May elections.
Please remember that you now need Photo ID to vote in person at your polling station. If you do not have an acceptable form of ID you can get a free Voter ID Certificate from CDC or register for a postal vote (before April 18th.)
On Tuesday the District and Parish election campaigns officially began when the candidate nominations were published here. In the election for Selsey Town Council, there seems to be something strange going on: the Local Government Association are clear that Independents are not Conservatives, Labour or Liberal Democrats. Most of our nine 'opponents' seem to have a strong connection to a local, high profile charity and/or the Chichester Conservatives. All nine have asked to have the label “Independent” added to their ballots, but two are Conservative candidates for CDC, another is a retiring Conservative CDC Councillor, a fourth’s partner often enthusiastically shares our MPs posts, and one other has stood many times before without ever adding a label to his name.
Our success in advocating for Selsey and the Witterings housing allocations to be zeroed proves the need for Local Alliance Members on CDC, backed by a majority on Selsey Town Council which, after the City, is our District's largest parish. We changed the political landscape in 2019 and ensured that Selsey wouldn't be ignored again. The City and Selsey are the only two parishes being contested, which suggests the national party deriving a quarter of its donations from property developers wants to regain its unchallenged control of our District, and the scale of development the Peninsula has borne since we moved here in 2003 only too clearly illustrates why this may not be a good thing.
Another reason why this election is so important, locally, is illustrated by this BBC report about sewage entering our rivers and seas on average 825 times a day all year - Southern Water need to be challenged more vigorously about the outflows into Chichester Harbour.
This is our first election, when on top of teaching full time I have had my case workload, and Donna has had WSCC, which is mid-term and continuing as normal, plus her CDC and STC caseloads - as this post demonstrates:
"Short rant - I had a very sad email yesterday from a young mum. She asked me where the nearest family centre was, and I had to explain to her that she would have to go to Chichester. She had depression after the birth of this child, and also has another child with extra needs. Really, she needs the 'one stop shop' that was the Family Centre, but of course ours is closed. Like me, she doesn't drive, and I know the palava it is using buses with little ones. Government made available money for Family Hubs, but yet again, we had a competitive bidding process, - the Department for Education is the lead department - and some local authorities (not West Sussex) have been selected for funding these Family Hubs. How incredibly sad, that at a time there is National recognition for this provision that West Sussex decided to close ours, and that the ability to put in a good 'bid' is more important than real, local need. Rant over."
Whilst discussing caseload, Donna has also shared an update about the petition for potential Manor Road, Selsey traffic calming. Copies are now available in the Village Florist, Beauty Bake, and Totally Flooring, High Street, Selsey and at the East Beach Shops, in the Fruit Basket and Jabir Indian Takeaway. There are also copies at Thrive Gym, including their cafe. This is the first stage to judge if there is enough community support to try for a Community Traffic Order. If you think traffic should be slowed down, please consider signing the petition so we have an accurate estimation of support for WSCC Highways.
We spent last weekend finalising our leaflet. I also went round and got the team to sign their nomination papers so I could deliver them first thing on Monday. Fortunately within an hour they were all accepted so Donna and I used the rest of the day to visit Midhurst and show solidarity with their affected traders. The shops are open as normal, and until the end of the holidays you can park for free in either the CDC car park where the buses are (approached from Petworth) or the Grange Sports Centre (approached from Chichester.) The Angel Hotel is in the middle of the High Street and at that point the pavement on its side and the actual road are fenced off. The burnt smell is still very noticeable, which demonstrates just how bad the fire was. If you are able to go, please do so because every little helps.
A Member of CDC representing part of the South Downs National Park, met me in Midhurst for a coffee before the fire, to discuss tourism. As a national party person he was curious to learn where we were on the political spectrum, not having realised we span its entirety and that our focus is Selsey and the Peninsula. He was unaware that localist groups are widespread, as shown by there being over 300 registered parties in the UK:-
One example is Radcliffe First who were founded by 3 people in 2019.
Another is in Tunbridge Wells who shared our post about Voter ID.
There are also these free parks if you want a budget-friendly day out.
Please keep your eyes open for ticks. Years ago Donna was bitten by one when we were out walking without even realising. She only noticed she had been bitten later that day as her arm swelled up. She ended up being rushed to hospital because she was exposed to Lyme Disease.
Tick-borne encephalitis is now in the UK.
The Independent has revealed the cheapest and most expensive seaside towns in the UK to buy a home.
Finally: -
As always, from the whole Team, stay safe.
Tim
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