Cheltenham Borough Elections 1 May

I'm not standing this May so it's interesting to sit back and watch the election leaflets pour through my letter box and read them with some detachment, albeit with one political bias (I accept that), but fairly objectively as a non player this time.

So far I have one leaflet each from the local LibDem FOCUS team and another from the sitting Conservative Councillor.

Both were A3 size introductory leaflets, telling us a little about the candidates and their priorities for our area.

What strikes me about the Conservative leaflet? Well, a few things.

Their candidate is once again described as the popular local councillor, yet he doesn't live here and ironically can't vote for himself. The LibDem candidate on the other hand does live here, so score 1-0 LibDems.

Why do I make this point each time there is a Borough election? Simply because I would want my elected representatives to walk the same streets as me, to drive over the same pot holes and trip over the same uneven pavements. It's all very well popping into an area every so often but there is nothing, absolutely nothing quite like living in a Community and seeing, and feeling ,first hand what that community experiences. You know because you live there. Not because you drove through one day.

The other thing that hits me are some of the Conservative statements about their "vision for Cheltenham"

They say they will "continue the funding of youth services", yet the local paper reports a funding cut.
They go on to state that they will continue to keep Council Tax increases "under inflation", yet the rise for me as a Band D householder this year is twice the rate of inflation.
And the biggest slight of hand. They maintain that the LibDems plan on building thousands of houses on the Green Belt yet their planned Northern Distributory route would have bulldozed thousands of acres of Green Belt under a road, and the LibDems scrapped that idea as one of their first actions when they took power the last time.

So, we shall wait and see what other little pieces of economical truths come through the letetr box.

My first blog post

Welcome to my blog. I am a bit of a novice when it comes to these sorts of things so please bear with me.

I will try to include information about my area and efforts I have made to improve the quality of life for residents in my area. Yes, it may get political but everything in life is political but one thing I will say from the start is this.
I feel very strongly that elected representatives should be honest, have values and principles and always put the needs of their electorate before their own. Do not enter public service for what you can get out of it or thanks. The thanks you receive is knowing that you have helped people, not helped yourself. Sounds like motherhood and apple pie but I think too many people seek elected office to get something for themselves.