STEVE GALLANT and BRIAN STOCKDALE the Labour candidates in the Hedon Town Council election have published their election statements on the Hedon Blog.
Labour have accused Hedon Town Council of “prioritising cuts over investment”. In complete opposition to the council’s stance of freezing the precept (the element of Council Tax spent on local Hedon services), the Labour candidates have made the case for extra spending.
Steve Gallant says that extra spending per week, per household of “Just 10p a week would generate £11,000 funding for improvements.” He accuses “Tories masquerading as independents on the Council” of pandering to the Conservative-controlled East Riding Council.
Brian Stockdale continues the theme in his statement and condemns “the many cuts the Tories on Hedon Council voted for last week” and blames council leaders for shelving or postponing plans for a shuttle bus service and a powerful gritter which he says “means that older people on Inmans and Leaf Sail will find it difficult to even get out of the house when its icy for fear of a fall!”
Read the candidates full election statements at Stephen John GALLANT, Labour Party Candidate and Brian STOCKDALE, Labour Party Candidate
There are four candidates standing in the election:
♦ Colin BILLANY, Independent.
♦ Stephen John GALLANT, Labour Party Candidate
♦ Brian STOCKDALE, Labour Party Candidate
♦ Terry WEST, UK Independence Party (UK I P)
The Hedon Blog will aim to bring you news from the campaign at BY-ELECTION Thursday 6th February 2014.
Reading some of these comments reminds me why the town council should remain non political, seems we have labour candidates spend spend spend attitude, and the stand in Tory mayor with a ridiculous comment about some leaflets obviously delivered in error to the wrong street. Oh by the way isnt Farrand road Hedon ????
Seems to me the in fighting has already started and the election hasnt even took place yet…. looks like more of the same
This is why i say to the residents vote for a change ..ukip and independant haven’t we seen enough of this petty back biting between parties that really are hard to separate these days…full of rich business men who have no idea what its like in the real world with bills we cant afford to pay.
Find it amazing the mayor can find time to comment on this yet continues to ignore the people regards the recent controversy that will continue to haunt the council. I say again stand down and let the public have there say with a full election.
If the council should remain non-political why vote UKIP?
At least the Labour Party don’t have extreme views on immigration and they’re not sending out anti immigration propaganda that has nothing to do with Hedon Town Council.
I welcome Labour creating debate and the fact they are giving a kick up the backside that the Town Council need.
i think you should look around you, they are hardly extreme views ,most people think its ridiculous to have an open border policy with eastern European countries whose economy’s pay salaries not in line with our own, its pretty obvious whats going to happen. The current leading parties are now adjusting there policy’s to take into account these extreme views, in fact i was only saying last night …it shows how out of touch they are as they debate the number of Syrian refugees we are going to take in so as not to offend the electorate….the electorate are worried about economic migrants , not political refugees, we should take as many as we can.
Terry the ukip candidate as openly said he wont be talking party policy at town council meetings, i think he is just being open about his politics so as not to be seen as hiding it. Hence my comments yesterday.
Thanks Phil, I hope you will vote for Brian and I to give them that kick up the backside. Its a sentiment many people I’ve spoken to share ! Voting another independent on doesnt seem a good idea. because Its 12 “independents” ( some genuine, some Tories) that have been have been in charge, And I’m sure Terry is nice chap, but if he;s in UKIP he’s keeping company with some odd people.. So even if you dont normally vote Labour, lend us your support to bring some change.
Taken off the Hedon Town Council website just for Steve:
The Town Council’s responsibilities include the following :
The Town Hall building
Grass cutting – Far Bank, Market Hill, Twyers Lane, West Lane, Greville Road, Watson Park* plus all the amenity areas.
Market Place and the Market
Cemetery
Church yard and wall maintenance
Church clock
Distaff Lane store
Play area – Greville Road
Land
Two fields in Ivy Lane adjacent to the cemetery
Ivy Lane – Horsewell
Red Cross and Scout Huts
Army Cadets (Far Bank)
Watson Park*
Elsie Gate Field (Trustees)
Allotments : Sheriff Highway
Provision of seats, litter bins and dog bins
* Watson Park, situated on the corner of Magdalen Lane and Station Lane, is now in the ownership of the Hedon Town Council and is to be left as amenity land for the town. Its upkeep is obviously the responsibility of the Town Council – part of it is to be left wild and the rest of the area will be rough cut. As some trees have had to be felled, a planting programme is in place.
In regard to the winter hand gritter, mentioned at the precept meeting, there is no reason to purchase another as the Council already own a perfectly good one, all that needs to happen is someone to push it around the Town, as I did two years running to help the residents. I think it is the councils intention to pay people to use it. I don’t think ERYC grit on the estates, Hedons own emergency plan would have to be altered to grit streets other than in the centre of Town.
I wouldn’t normally have wanted to get into the election debate, preferring to see the candidates fight it out among themselves, but seeing how Steve Gallant is so keen to have a swipe at the existing council, I wondered how the floating voters will react to this little gem.
So Steve, Is there any truth in what I’m hearing? Have your Hedon Town Council election leaflets actually been delivered to homes in Preston South?? Do you perhaps think that Preston South is a part of Hedon? Surely, as a candidate for election to its Council, you know where Hedon’s boundaries lie.
I agree with your comment below that ‘Hedon should be run, for ALL its residents’ but just how many are you going to be expecting Hedon to be funding outside of our boundary?.
And for the record, your selective version of what went on at the Precept Meeting (ie capital projects to be shelved indefinitely) is mischievous and misleading. These projects are still ongoing but as they are only at the embryonic phase, much work is yet required before moving to the next stage. Therefore, asking Hedon’s residents to pay out over £100,000 now, would have been completely wasteful and irresponsible, which, as one of the most prudent East Yorkshire Town Councils, we are definitely not..
John, Of course I know where Hedon’s boundaries are. With help from family and supporters we have managed to deliver leaflets to the whole of Hedon already.
(apart from Ivy Lane funnily enough) as so many people have postal votes these days. Perhaps one of my helpers strayed into Farrand Road ? But its a petty point.
Some of budget cuts are not long term. Horsewell Pond or a better gritter are relatively small one-off items. And as such are not going to recurr in future years. I have not suggested £100,000 increase, 20p/week would have given the Council £22,000 more income and enough to start addressing issues.
Putting everything on the back burner as you have done is only postponing the work and (if its ever allowed to go ahead), lead to a big increase to pay for it. .
We should be tackling what can be reasonably afforded NOW.
As Mayor and Chairman of the council,,and as a Conservative, you have chosen to freeze the precept at such a low level, (which you brag of ) that the Council cant find the money for take care of the town’s short tterm needs, let alone address the bigger ones like traffic and parking.
So much for prudence. I think the residents would like to see more action and would pay 20p a week to see some !
Traffic and parking are nothing to do with Hedon Town Council. If you get voted on you are in for a big shock as to exactly what the councils responsibilities are.
Hedon Town council should be able to press EYRC on traffic, parking and other issues.
In regard to leaflets getting delivered to the wrong areas, the UKIPpers have also sent their bile to homes in Preston.
Steve it seems to me you probable know more than most on the council
Hi Jim, I do have 30 years experience, much of it at board level running businesses. I’ve managed budgets in the millions. So while transparency is not the council’s strong suit you can get to the root of the issues. I have a different view on how Hedon should be run, for ALL its residents. I hope you’ll vote for me.
A shuttle bus driving round Leaf Sail Farm would be a non started, a bus wouldn’t get round the parked cars, how did Beal Homes get away with the lack of parking and narrow streets (and such wide grass verges) and not build the bridge accross the the Holderness Drain as promised. Also the majority of people on LSF are young families rather than old folks. It would be better to spend money on gritting the roads and paths as the whole estate becomes an ice rink in winter and building parking bays on those ridiculous grass verges.
I wouldn’t mind paying more for better services, I used to live in Hessle, where the town council added a minimal amount to bills to pay for another PCSO.
Hi Neil .. The East Riding grant is £2/head is PER ANNUM, not weekly. ..or £6.18 / household.. so thats less than 12p/week per household, or 3.5p/week per person The grant is made this year because the town didnt increase the precept last year.
So ANY increase this year would be an upside… or instead of the 10p I mentioned, say we said 20p/week/household that would have generated an extra £22k this year, and more than offset the £13k East Riding would no doubt “penalise” us in 2015, but still giving the town £31,000 more ( £22k this year and £9k next year) over the next two years to make some improvements.
Hope thats clear !
could someone please explain the precept for those of us that dont really get it…im informed that if the council raise the precept by any amount they will lose the £2 per head grant which they get from ERYC…so would i be right in thinking ….any rise of 10p per head would really be a rise of £2.10 per head as they would lose the grant and have to make that loss up…?????