I'm back

I've just returned from a weeks holiday on the island of Vis, off Croatia (booked some time before the elections!), to a mountain of mail and email to get through - there are a huge number of briefings and key documents to read for new members of the Council, but my key priority is to try getting some action on the now long outstanding issues list from around the ward. There does finally seem to be some progress, and some meetings with key people at the Council needed to fix things are being put into the diary.

Vis is about a quarter of the way across the Adriatic from Croatia to Italy. Due to its strategic location, it has long been the scene of military action - in 1811, an outnumbered Sir William Hoste, who had served with Nelson, had a decisive naval victory against the French just off the Island, in one of the last naval battles of the Napoleonic wars. In World War II, an airstrip along the valley in the middle of the island was used as a stop off point for British planes. But its hard to believe now that in such a peaceful place unspoilt by hoards of rowdy tourists, men on the island were fighting a war in modern Europe on the Croatian mainland in the early 1990s.

Looking at my pile of paperwork, I'm thinking of the Croatian word Pomalo, which seems to be a bit of key word on Vis, but there's just too much to do!

First with the News

The Cambridge Evening News is reporting that Cambridge muslims are looking to build a mosque on the former Robert Sayle site on Mill Road. Cambridge Conservatives hope to be in touch with leaders from the Cambridge muslim community to discuss the plans and investigate if these plans can be used to build links between the muslim and non-muslim communities in Cambridge.

Remember, you read it here first, nearly a month ago!

Congestion Charging Consultation

This morning at a packed presentation including Councillors, Council Officials and Press, the County Council announced results of the consultation exercises undertaken relating to congestion charging. I asked some questions about how the surveys were conducted, but have many more left to answer!

For me, the key result was from the question asked in door-to-door interviews (i.e. not a self selecting set of people), to what extent do you support the principle of congestion charging: (MRUK report, p56):

Strongly support: 7%
Tend to support: 24%
Neither support nor oppose: 19%
Tend to oppose: 16%
Strongly Oppose: 33%

I.e. opposing 49%, supporting 31%, in a statistically valid survey conducted across Cambridgeshire. In Coleridge whilst door-knocking, we found approx two-thirds against, one-third in favour. We also found that a lot of those in favour in principle became anti in scenarios in which they would be affected by the charge.

The Council's online survey (i.e. self selecting respondents) was even more anti-Congestion Charging, so those less happy with the plans were more likely to go out of their way to make their view known.

Despite these results, I also believe the questionnaire was designed to make it as hard as possible to disagree with congestion charging. The in 'principle' question was followed by the question: if all money raised was spent on improving transport, would you be in favour. Of course, more were then in favour, but the question is nonsense - there won't be any money raised, it will all go on administering the scheme - it may even cost money to operate. Why not ask, if the Congestion Charging scheme involved your car number plate being constantly tracked as you drove round Cambridge, would you still be in favour, or if the scheme didn't cover its costs and Council tax had to go up as well as paying the charge, would you still be in favour.

To me the result is clear - Cambridgeshire residents do not want congestion charging, and any politicians going to the polls next May still supporting it could be in for a rocky ride with the electorate - we must drop plans for Congestion charging now.

There was a slightly conspiratorial air to the meeting - the next big step for the Congestion Charging debate is the County Conservatives group meeting on Friday, when a new leader will be elected - this could trigger a change of tack from the County. I could tell you the gossip, but I'll be sensible...

Meanwhile I'd be interested to know what brief the market research company was given, and who came up with some of the blatantly biased questions. I feel some Freedom of Information requests may be coming on...

Full results and reports should be available from 5pm here.

Farming subsidies

During the election campaign, I was struck by the thought that in these times of high and rising food prices, there is no need for the government to subsidise farmers such as in the EU Common Agricultural Policy.

It seems the Economist this week has come round to the same way of thinking - I think there could be trouble ahead for the EU on this issue, as more and more people suffer from high taxes and high food prices, there is going to be fury and rightly so if farmers are enriching themselves as a consequence.

Officially a Councillor

I didn't get quite as much sleep as planned after the count on Friday morning because I was at the Guildhall just after midday on Friday to sign my acceptance of office and officially become a City Councillor.

It has to be said I have been disappointed with the response (or lack of) from both the City and County Council to my questions and requests over the last few months. In particular, earlier in the year, the planning department refused to meet with Conservative representatives including myself to talk about the major planning sites around the City, where in the planning process these sites were, and what influence members of the public and Councillors could have on the process going forwards. I took the opportunity to ask the Chief Executive why this was the case, and he confirmed that there are still some key posts unfilled. This is all worrying stuff, in view of the sheer amount of development that is planned, and I'll be raising this issue again.

The Verdict

At around 2.15am after several recounts, and discussions over dubiously marked ballot papers, the result was finally announced that I won the election in Coleridge by a mere 14 votes. It was an amazing night of results in Cambridge City - the Greens winning Abbey ward to win a seat on Cambridge City Council for the first time, Labour retaking Arbury, but losing by a fair margin in Kings Hedges.

I would like to thank everyone who voted for me yesterday, and in particular my team of helpers, many of whom performed heroics to find those extra votes needed to win. Also, my sincerest commiserations to Tariq - to lose by such a small margin at a time of such (rightfully) huge Labour losses across the Country is no mean feat, and as much as I disagree with the Labour solution to many of Coleridge's problems, on many local ward issues I will doubtless be following up where he left off.

The title of this blog will change to reflect the new situation, and I hope to use it to keep residents informed of the issues affecting the ward, and what I have been doing to tackle them. Now I think some sleep is long overdue.

UPDATE: Full results available here.

Polls Open

Polls are now open in the City Council elections. You can vote today up to 10pm.

You can find your polling station on the City Council website here - but be warned the Council appears to have completely ignored my complaint that the postcode is wrong for the Lichfield Road polling station...