Meeds North By-Election 2012

Exciting times in Burgess Hill for there is to be a By-Election for the 'Meeds North' Ward on Thursday 10th May 2012 - this is because sitting councillor Neil Lawrence had to resign due to a work relocation.

Meeds North was a new Ward introduced for the first time in 2011.
Due to an administrative cock-up last May, residents had to vote at a later date to decide their councillor with the Conservative candidate Neil Lawrence defeating the Lib Dem's Lesley Cartwright by 179 votes to 138.

Only 20.1% of the 1532 eligible people turned out to vote, this may have been because they couldn't be bothered to walk to the polling station twice in quick succession, however if there is a similarly low turn out next month then it could be a right old scrap with every vote being vital.

Last week the candidates were announced, rather surprisingly, there are 7 of them vying for a seat on the council where they will get to sit alongside the likes of Publicity Pru Moore and Ansty's Emily White.

The seven are....
Conservative Party - Dan Airs
Green Party Anne Eves
Independent - John Bray (Author:A Persistent Campaigner Against Injustice)
Independent - Tom O’Hara
Labour Party - Janet Smith
Liberal Democrat - Kathleen Willis
UK Independence Party - Chris French

A few early observations.
Dan Airs was a LIB DEM candidate fighting for a seat in the Victoria Ward last year, he lost. Is this a case of 'If you can't beat them, join them'? Is he really a genuine supporter of the Conservatives or just a realist that knows the voters choose the party and not the person?

Kathy Willis was a defeated Lib Dem Candidate in the Victoria Ward in 2011. Will the Lib Dem's even worse reputation hinder her?

John Bray lives in Haywards Heath! It could end up being another Emily White saga, although his byline of 'A Persistent Campaigner Against Injustice' seems there could be an interesting reason for his nomination.

Not much is known about Anne Eves, Janet Smith and Tom O'Hara so no comment can be given although O'Hara has served as a councillor before (not sure for which party)

Finally we come to UKIP's Chris French, what's so notable about him? He's the only candidate living in the Meeds North Ward! AND he has a Twitter account @chris_french although that must be some sort of a mistake. Traditionally, elected councillors disappear off the face of the earth. Having a Twitter account is just plain wrong and that will have to go if Mr French is elected!

Who Will Win?
With so many minor candidates, the voters disillusioned with the Conservatives and the Lib Dems will find their votes split between the other 5, meaning that a Conservative victory is most likely, especially considering the previous sitting councillor was a member of the Conservatives. However, if either Bray, Eves, French, O'Hara or Smith put together a stonking campaign, there could be chance for an upset.

*****Coming Soon*******
We'll be analysing the candidate's election literature
(more like tearing it to shreds!)

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Oh Dear! Mayor to switch on Christmas Lights

Burgess Hill's Mayor, Christopher Thomas-Atkin (the one we didn't get to choose) clearly thinks alot of himself, for on December 1st at 6pm its been decided that he is the best person to be switching on the Burgess Hill Christmas lights in order to draw local residents into the town centre.

Christopher Thomas-Atkin's role these days is to promote the town, whereas the juicy work is handled by Andrew Barrett-Miles as the council leader.

Can someone please explain how the Mayor switching on the lights is a good way to draw people into town for this festive event? Burgess Hill is not a tiny little town anymore. Such an event needs some sort of a celebrity to be switching on the Christmas lights.

How difficult is it to pick up the phone or to send an email to potential candidates? At the very least some squad players from Brighton and Hove Albion with a few of the Gully's Girls could have been lined up.

Kings Lynne with a population only around 25% bigger than Burgess Hill are having both Letitia Dean AND the X Factor's Johnny Robinson turning on their lights. We get the Mayor.

So, its a choice between the Simpsons on Channel 4 at 6pm on Thursday 1st December or to go into town to watch the Mayor turn on some lights.

Stand aside Publicity Pru, It's all about Mandy now!

There has been a change in the media whore stakes since the May elections. The new poster child for the Conservatives appears to be Mandy Thomas-Atkin.

'Publicity' Pru Moore must be devastated, Since becoming the cabinet member for leisure and sustainabilty, barely a week would go by without Pru's face being thrust upon us, but now it seems that Mandy has pulled rank in her role as MSDC Chairman and will be taking on the publicity duties.

Here are just some of the photos in which Mandy has appeared in recent weeks:

I think we'll invite Mandy round to the Burgess Hill Uncovered Offices for the grand opening of a toilet seat.

It's rather boring seeing 'high profile' councillors pictured in the local press at various events. Does anyone actually care that they attend? Why not get in some pretty girls(and boys) instead? What's with all those stupid chains that councillors wear around their necks? It's a rather dated thing, are we supposed to think that they are royalty and treat them accordingly?

With Mandy's husband Chris conveniently being the Chairman of Burgess Hill Town Council, expect to see this 'power couple' pop up all over the local media over the next 12 months *yawn*

Can we have Pru Moore back please?

2011 Burgess Hill Local Election Predictions

Congratulations to the Conservative town council candidate Steve Hansford and the current Lib Dem town councillor Robert Eggleston. They are the only two that had the testicles to visit the Burgess Hill Uncovered offices whilst out canvassing for tomorrow's elections.

There are nine different people seeking to be elected in this ward, yet only two came to visit. The others must have looked at the names on the electoral roll and thought better of it.

It was nice of Mandy Thomas-Atkin not to bother. In 2007 when she canvassed, she said "Vote for us, I promise we won't disappear after the elections" Guess what readers, she got elected and duly disappeared. I won't be making the mistake of voting for her again. I hope that her husband misses out too. He strikes me as someone that thinks he's on a higher level than everyone else. Let's get some more real people elected this time shall we, oh, and make them LOCAL people too, not like Emily White, who Burgess Hill Uncovered have done their little bit to let people know not to vote for her at all. You can read our page with the aim to lose her some votes here


Publicity Pru Moore Vs Simon Hicks
The highlight of the election for Burgess Hill Uncovered is the prospect of seeing Pru Moore losing her place on the MSDC Cabinet as she is up against our favourite councillor Mr Simon Hicks! You may have noticed Simon leaving comments on this blog now and again. He is of course a blogger himself which means everyone in the Leylands Ward should be out in record numbers tomorrow to ensure Publicty Pru is defeated, but how will the Mid Sussex Times cope without her? They'll have lots of column inches available that were previously set aside for Pru's photos and stupid quotes!

I hope that the Lib Dem Leylands Ward team have been campaigning hard, it would be a fantastic victory if they can pull it off. 2007 results show it's a ward with similar number of supporters for both parties so anything is possible.

If there is a victory party taking place, hopefully Burgess Hill Uncovered are on the guestlist. Afterall we have written on our Facebook Page that voters should snub Publicity Pru in favour of Simon. Every little helps!


Election Result Predictions
For Burgess Hill Town Council I think that the Lib Dems are in with a sniff of getting a majority, despite having a lack of candidates in some wards. In the Dunstall and Franklands' Wards they are only putting up one candidate in each against a full quota of Conservatives. Let it be known however that the Conservatives also failed to gain full representation in every ward, they are short of candidates in the Leylands and St Andrews wards.

The parties had their chance to recruit the Burgess Hill Uncovered team to stand as candidates but we weren't wanted, very odd. It could only be that the local party leaders feared that us renegades would come in and ended up running the show!

Having looked over the candidates and reviewed the voting of 2007. I believe that it will end up being 9 seats each. However, independent candidate Tony Balsdon could scupper things depending on how hard he's worked to win votes again this year. If Tony does win a seat, I think it will be at the expense of a Liberal Democrat which would result in the numbers being exactly the same as they were in 2007!

As for the Mid Sussex Distict Council elections, I can't see anything other than a Conservative victory, and they'll probably increase on the 31 seats won in 2007.

It's going to be another grim 4 years of Gary Wall and his chums running the area as they see fit with his cosy cabinet making all the decisions which makes a mockery of democracy!

Finally, Anne Jones
When Anne Jones defected to the Conservatives I said that it was political suicide. In 2007 she was elected as a Lib Dem candidate in the Leylands Ward. Residents in this area are split between the two parties. However, for 2011, Anne is standing for election in the Meeds Ward. The people here are major Lib Dem voters. Will Anne's reputation and her work in campaigning against the special needs school be enough for voters to look past that she's a Conservative candidate? I'm not so sure as Janice Henwood has also come across from St Andrews Ward and she also worked hard against the plans for the special school and she's standing for the Lib Dems, and I can't see Kathleen Dumbovic missing out.

Bye Bye Anne?

Friends of The Green Circle Network Vs The Town Council

Exciting times in Burgess Hill, for a feud is developing!

The Reason
Burgess Hill Town Council have released plans for how they see potential development in the town over the next 20 years. It involves the construction of 4,000 new homes in the north and east of Burgess Hill. These new dewellings could raise as much as £40 million from the developers in order to improve the town's services. New sporting facilities, civic buildings, vastly improved bus infrastructure and most importantly, drastically revamping the town centre in order to accommodate some big name retailers.

This sounds all well and good, based on what seems to be a solid financial plan which is more than can be said for the sorry state of affairs when the district council hooked up with Thornfield properties.

The opposition
There are a group of people that have publicly declared their dislike for the plans. This group are The Friends of Burgess Hill Green Circle Network. They have a lovely website - http://www.bh-green-circle.org.uk/ on which you can find out what they're all about.

The Green Circle aren't happy with the number of new homes that this grand scheme will require and that they will be built mainly on greenbelt land.

They think that Burgess Hill may only need to accept 2,000 new homes to meet their quota for the district.

Additionally, the group point out that the completion of the Green Circle will only cost thousands and not millions of pounds like other parts of the project will require, thus they see no need for all the extra houses.

What makes them think that the Green Circle will be top of the list when it comes to allocating the funds? It could be that the Green Circle money is near the bottom of the list, and that all 4,000 new homes will be needed for them to get what they want!

The Council Fight Back
The Council wrote to the Green Circle Committee. The letter says that by rejecting the plans, the Green Circle may never be completed. The council have said that by asking it's members to vote 'No' to the plans, the Green Circle group is being unfair on the bulk of residents that want to benefit from a revitalised Burgess Hill. The letter also points out that the chairmain of the Friends Group went on record as giving a thumbs up for 8,000 homes back in August 2010!

Basically, the message was, don't bite the hand that feeds you.

You can read the full letter yourself via Simon Hicks' wonderful blog

Annual Town Meeting = The Big Fight?
This coming Tuesday (8th March) is the annual town meeting at Cyprus Hall, the action kicks off at 19:30. Can we expect a large contingent of members from the Friends of the Green Circle to attend and cause a heated debate? I'd like to think so!