Who will you vote for? More of the same Tory policies? Or will you put your hope in a long term better future by taking an Independent view on this bi-election?
Only a year since I was thinking about having a go in the local elections and a key Tory seat is up for grabs, what other kind is there in the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead? Andrew Jenner, past Mayor is off to sunnier climes and so his seat on Maidenhead Riverside is up for grabs.
You can bet your bottom dollar that the 53 incumbent Tories will be rostered in to bash those doors. It wouldn’t surprise me if Cameron doesn’t pop up on his way to the EU to show his support for their candidate. I’m sure Theresa May MP will definitely be saying a few words, being her patch.
Labour, Liberal Dems & UKIP are also putting up candidates to fight the seat with no real hope. What’s blue will never be red but perhaps pastel 😉
The only real and youngest contender is Jeff Lloyd who is flying an Independent flag. Actively involved in the local community for many years and whose campaign flyer says he’s a Parent, Resident Businessman with the word politician crossed out! Love that…
Reading his Facebook page he is obviously passionate about taking on the role and his only hope is that the many of the 7000 residents get to press his flesh in the next two weeks and the majority like the cut of his jib.
He’s going to need all the help he can get. If you have a few hours spare between now and the 10th March then put your hand up… send him a message via Facebook or tweet him…
My recommendation for Jeff, with so little time available, is that he posts a list of places where people can come and meet him on his Facebook page and he spends time walking the streets of Maidenhead Riverside saying hello to as many people as possible. There is no substitute for the face to face meeting… the energy that is shared is way deeper than the words that are used.
Knocking the required number of doors in the time frame would be impossible, as I know how hard it was for me when I knocked Park Ward for a month before the 2015 elections!
Using Facebook & Twitter to reach out and show his smiling face with a short video about him that sits at the top of his social media pages for those that don’t, can’t get to see him in person.
Luckily he has recent history on his side, what with the Tories running rough shod over the local population in their traditional “hay making” period!
Jeff Lloyd says on Facebook, “I think it’s my job to tell you why you should vote for me not why you shouldn’t vote elsewhere. You’re clever enough to work that out for yourselves.”
So I figured if he’s not going to bitch about the others then perhaps I should refresh your memory on what the Tories have done in their first flush of the new term… how community minded they have been, listening to the people!
If I’ve missed anything out feel free to add it as a comment…
What have the Tories done since the last election, let’s take a look… obviously only if you have a strong stomach and don’t want your blue rinse to get all over your hands as you pull your hair out… what did you do voting blue?
- Tories awarded hundreds of thousands of pounds of Section 106 money to an Independent School who’s Chair of Governors is none other than Conservative Councillor for Maidenhead Riverside Simon Dudley, Cabinet Member for Finance and Deputy Leader. And then ignored the public outcry that resulted in a record breaking number of people, 1600+, voting in a council petition (most are lucky to get 10!)
- They’ve earmarked Deerswood Meadow for housing development despite another petition with 1400 signatures. I thought the area was protected by European environmental policies ?
- The sale of Maidenhead Golf Club building 1600 houses with no additional affordable rental housing in the manifesto, just help to buy starter homes that will be out of reach for local people, even though there is a long waiting list!
- Selling control of the leisure centres… prices going up…
- No more Free Sunday parking in Maidenhead (churches / retail not happy) season tickets going up 20%.
- Being a year behind in producing the Borough Local Plan – fall out includes not being able to collect developer contributions (CIL) for any extra infrastructure requirements ( roads/schools/playgrounds) for any development until it is in place.
And what is the underlying cost of all the above, including what goes into the coffers from the £250m town centre development?
Well my sources tell me they need to make savings of £50,000,000 over the next 4 years (even with a 2% council tax rise each year) because of the reductions made for political headlines over the last 6 years…
An unnamed source from Conservative Central Office told someone who whispered in my ear the message that was sent back,
“Great work, we’re proud of you but you’ll have to do better if you want to fight a real Parliamentary seat you little shits!”
And while that might bring on the cold sweats, memories of being bullied at boarding school for those with grandiose ambitions, I do hope it’s not you and yours missing out on public services that will be hacked away to smooth their way to power…
Well, on reflection, I guess they thought they had 4 years to do the best to fill their boots. After all, we, the general public only have the mental capacity to remember what happened last week, giving the new interns 3 years of doing whatever they like before they have to wean off the ego for a year, help a few grannies across the road, while taking selfies and kiss a dozen babies, one from each nation represented in the borough to secure their seats for next time.
Pic: Me and Franco during the spring of 2015… happy days!
I do hope the people of Maidenhead know and recognise the self serving nature of Tory councillors and they start changing their allegiance to local people who actually give a shit about local population and not more of the same old, same old.
Good luck, #votejeff
We’ll know on March 11th.
Thank you.
Jon
P.S. After seeing Jeff’s flyer shared on Facebook yesterday morning and my passion for Independent representation being ignited please like and share this story as I missed the rugby yesterday and most of match of the day this morning putting this story together… let’s see the wind of change in RBWM 😉
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