So who will win the York Council elections

Heworth Without and Holgate reviewed

Heworth Without

The Heworth Without ward is home to 3,933 residents. Average incomes are lower than the City average. 89% of residents own their home.  7% rent privately and 3% are social tenants. There are no Council homes in the area. 1.3% are out of work. Crime levels are significantly below average.  94.12% of residents are satisfied with their local area as a place to live (York average 88.6%). 18.75% believe that they can influence decisions in their local area (City average 26.2).  Source

Elections

This area had been held by the LibDems for most of the last 20 years and longer. The only interruption came in 2007 when, following a change of LibDem candidate, the late Bill Bennett won the seat for the Conservatives.

His triumph didn’t last long as he sadly passed away a few months later. The resultant by election saw Nigel Ayre elected with a substantial majority.

The ward has been solidly LibDem ever since.

Neither the Tories nor the Greens have found a local candidate while Labour have not revealed where their candidate lives.

Nigel Ayre is popular in the ward and has worked hard to free it from the threat of development. He may be less well regarded in some other parts of the City where he has fronted the Councils, sometimes divisive, leisure polices. He was also one of those, together with Keith Aspden, who was unjustly accused of breaking standards rules.

The LibDems will expect to retain this seat.

Prediction

1 LibDem seat

Holgate

The Holgate ward is home to 12,786 residents. Average incomes are lower than the City average. 23% of residents own their home.  23% rent privately and 12% are social tenants. There are 476 Council homes in the area. 1.5% are out of work. Crime levels are slightly above average.  90.32% of residents are satisfied with their local area as a place to live (York average 88.6%). 30.0% believe that they can influence decisions in their local area (City average 26.2).  Source

Elections

This ward was won by the LibDems in 2003. It has been Labour since 2007

.. & that is the problem for the LibDems both here and in nearby wards with a high proportion of social housing. For many years in York the LibDems were the natural alternative to Labour in the poorer parts of the City. The 2003 success was based on attracting large numbers of votes from Council tenants and those living in smaller terraced properties in the Leeman Road area.  The by election campaign, which should have been easy fodder for the LibDem machine, seemed to falter in those areas. Some blame an influx of “Middle England” strategists into the local party for the failure.

The trend figure disguises a freak poor performance  for the LibDems in 2015 probably as a result of the General Election taking place on the same day.  A by election  in February 2018, which saw the LibDems fielding a credible local candidate, saw the parties share of the vote return to 32.3% – but still well behind Labour.

If the party has now got its act together, it should win seats here. It has arguably got the best candidates (local, experienced, committed to the area).

If the lessons have been learnt, then, starting from a strong second place, the LibDems should overhaul Labour. Labour have sacked two of their existing Councillors. They join Sonya Crisp who quit earlier and caused the by election.

In their places are two new youthful candidates only one of whom lives in the ward (The other is one of those who declines to reveal her address).

She is less frank than one of the Tory candidates who admits to living in Beverley. That is an 80 mile round trip and probably some kind of record! Her fellow Tory candidates decline to say where they live.

Prediction

2 Labour seats, 1 LibDem seat

So who will win the York Council elections?

Haxby and Heworth wards reviewed

Haxby and Wigginton

The Haxby & Wigginton ward is home to 11,923 residents. Average incomes are a little lower than the City average. 88% of residents own their home.  6% rent privately and 5% are social tenants. There are no Council homes in the area. 2.0% are out of work. Crime levels are  below average.  93.6% of residents are satisfied with their local area as a place to live (York average 88.6%). 45.1% believe that they can influence decisions in their local area (City average 26.2).  Source

Elections

This area had been a LibDem stronghold for decades. However a gradual decline in support resulted in 2 of the 3 seats being won by the Tories in 2015. The remaining LibDem (Ian Cuthbertson) is defending his seat and is joined by two other candidates, both of whom live in the ward.

Things are more chaotic on the Tory side where the, at the time, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group Tony Richardson was de-selected. He is now standing as an Independent. His abrasive style meant that he won few popularity contests at West Offices. Whether villagers are warmer towards him remains to be seen. There is also one other Independent on the ballot paper (Neil Wyatt) who also contested the seat in 2015 but without, at that time, seriously inconveniencing the vote counters.

The Tories have parachuted two new candidates into the ward. Neither claim to live in the area. One (Joe Pattinson) last surfaced as a by election candidate in the Holgate ward a couple of years ago. The third Tory candidate (Roy Watson-Smith) came a disappointing 5th when contesting the Haxby seat in 2015. He does at least live in the area.

The LibDems have been astute in selecting new candidates who live locally and have backed this up with a revived doorstep campaign. They will expect to regain the seats that they have lost over the years.

Prediction

3 LibDem seats

Heworth

The Heworth ward is home to 14,461 residents. Average incomes are a lower than the City average. 54% of residents own their home.  21% rent privately and 23% are social tenants. There are 1,123 Council homes in the area. 1.7% are out of work. Crime levels are slightly below average.  86.96% of residents are satisfied with their local area as a place to live (York average 88.6%). 31.8% believe that they can influence decisions in their local area (City average 26.2).  Source

Elections

This area has been Labour for several years. Ward boundary changes make trend comparisons more difficult but in 2015 there was a marked drop in Labour support – mainly to the benefit of the Green Party (although they remained in third place).

This is hard left Labour territory with the existing 3 Labour Councillors – mostly moderates – being ousted.  Dafydd Williams, having been a Councillor in Plymouth and then for four years in Westfield, moved over to this ward in 2015. He is understood to be leaving the City. Barbara Boyce has moved on to contest the Fishergate Ward.

Only one candidates has any previous Council experience. Liberal Democrat Jonathan Morley was formerly the representatives for Osbaldwick. He lives in the Heworth Ward. He faces an up hill task in an area where the party’s fortunes have been in the doldrums.

The chances are that inexperienced Councillors will be returned.

Electors in the ward have a couple of novel choices. There is a Women’s Equality Party candidate, while Nigel Fenwick describes himself as the “Socialist Alternative”. If he is to the left of Momentum influenced Heworth Labour Party, then he will find little breathing room.  History suggests that fringe candidates do poorly in Council elections in York

There are still huge problems to address in this ward and the task facing the new Councillors will be challenging.  Whether the Labour candidates can live up to  their self publicity may become clear before the end of the year.

Prediction

3 Labour seats

Council election manifestos compared

3. Environment

A rare outbreak of unanimity on the 4 parties environment policies. All promise to make York “carbon neutral” by 2030. The temptation to break ranks and go for a 2029 date must have been strong.

Most are keen on clean air zones but, like the carbon commitment, are very light on what this would actually mean for residents as they go about their daily lives. The key opportunity to declare the York Central “teardrop” site a ultra low emission zone seems to have passed all the parties by.

The LibDems seem to have ditched their commitment to the introduction of a “salvage and reuse” facility with only the Greens offering a “reuse shop”

All parties commit to fortnightly bin emptying. None are specific on how recycling rates might be increased. (Central government is mandating separate food waste collections)

Surface water drainage problems are only mentioned in passing although the Tories promise an “annual gully cleaning schedule”

Council election manifestos compared

2. Crime, economy and education

All parties are keen to drive up wage levels. None can say how a local authority might achieve this worthy aim. Labour make the bogus claim that wage rates are falling in the City (they aren’t, although overtime earnings reduced last year).

Some see the way ahead being for the Council to give a monopoly to local suppliers for goods and services. What the knock-on effect on Council Tax levels would be is anyone’s guess.

Labour want to slow the York Central project taking it out of the hands of “developers”. Quite where they would get the investment for a pure public sector approach is also anyone’s guess.

There are clear choices on a Tourism Tax. Such a Tax could not be introduced unilaterally. It would either require central government facilitation or a voluntary agreement (chickens/Christmas anyone?).

The Council has little influence these days on local schools, which are funded directly by central government and have their own independent governing arrangements. Similarly, the Council has little direct influence on policing activities. It could however be stricter with its licensing rules.

York Council election manifesto promises

So how hard does your York Councillor work for you?

The York Council has published a prompt response to our annual request for information about Councillor issue raising numbers. This allows residents to see how many issues have been raised during the last 4 years by individual Councillors.

The information is published at the end of each year. All Councillors have access to the central complaints handing service at the Council. Some have claimed in the past that they choose not to use it. One or two say that they use the “report it“ on line system, although this is limited to certain types of issue.

As well as monitoring public service standards and pursing local problems, Councillors have other roles. These include attendance at a range of meetings.

Either way, York enjoys the services of some hardworking local representatives who will legitimately hope for re-election on 2nd May.

Number of issues reported by local Councillors in York

Great Foxwood Spring Clean makes progress

…but more people need to heed the “Keep Britain Tidy” message

4 volunteers from the Foxwood Residents Association collected 8 bags of rubbish from the Thanet Road Sports Area today. While some could be put down to “litter drift” many of the items had clearly simply been carelessly discarded. These included dozens of cans and bottles.

These sorts of clean ups shouldn’t be necessary. There are several litter bins in the area. Its time for the Council to be more proactive in enforcing anti littering laws. Residents were promised that mobile CCTV cameras would be deployed to litter hot-spots but this hasn’t happened.

Only 5 individuals across the whole city were issued with fixed penalty notices for littering last year

Volunteers have clean up the area near the Thanet Road cycle track

There is also too much fly-tipping of garden waste on amenity areas. The Council needs to get to grips with this while fitting more vandal resistant street furniture.

Dumped garden waste
Need metal railings in vulnerable areas

Plenty of issues for Council candidates to get their teeth into

The new Scarborough Bridge cycle and footpath is due to open next week. Several of the paths linking to the bridge require resurfacing
Many other roads need to be resurfaced including Lady Road near Clifton School
The cycle path on The Mount is in particularly poor condition
Damaged fencing on Dame Judy Dench Walk near the “Inn in the City”
Corroded steps leading up to Lendal Bridge need a coat of paint

York Council election manifestos (Updated)

Postal voters in York will start to receive their ballot papers next week in preparation for the Council elections taking place on 2nd May

Some details of policies are emerging with the Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat parties now having published their manifestos “on line”. Click the links below to access them. Apparently the Conservatives haven’t published a 2019 manifesto. The link below is to their 2015 effort.

LibDem

Labour

Green

Conservative 2015

There are also 10 independents standing all with their own unique views. Those views vary from soft left to extreme right wing. Its anyone’s guess what policies they might pursue if elected. Most, however, lack active supporters, so just the task of getting an election address through everyone’s letterbox may be a challenge for some of them.

The Greens web site is a confused array of policy links with brevity and clarity a bit lacking.

NB. One presentational matter unites the parties. Most have opted to photograph their candidates “en masse”. The LibDems and Labour hold up placards or leaflets like a group of chauffeurs waiting outside the “Arrivals” gate at Manchester airport. The Greens – in the absence of placards – have hands to spare with most opting for a left handed version of a salute awkwardly reminiscent of that made famous by an Austrian some 80 years ago. The Tories don’t appear to have united their candidates yet to the point where individual or collective photos can actually be taken.

Shy Council candidates refuse to reveal where they live

We publish below a list of 55 candidates in the York Council elections who are refusing to reveal where they live.

It is only recently that the government changed the rules to allow home addresses to be omitted from candidate nomination forms. Council officials still check that potential candidates are on the electoral register or are qualified to stand in some other way. But there is no transparency about whether a candidate lives in or particularly close to the area that he or she hopes to represent.

The Dringhouses ward fares particularly badly. 7 of the 14 candidates there decline to say where they live.

This is important because many electors will expect their Councillors to regularly check on the quality of public series in the area. A good maxim for Councillors has always been the three “C”’s.

Consult residents, Campaign for improvements and Communicate what you have done.

This can most easily be done if a Councillor lives in or very near to the ward that they represent. From the moment they leave their home in a morning they can be scanning public services like roads, street lights and litter collection to check that everything is OK.

That’s much more difficult if you live several miles away. There is evidence to suggest that, after the first few enthusiastic months, communication with residents declines (until another election comes round).

So, electors have a right to know whether a candidate lives in the neighbourhood.

The government changed the rules in an attempt to protect public servants from intimidation. That’s’ fine. There is no need to publish the house number of a candidate. Just the street name, and confirmation of which ward it is in, would suffice, at least until someone has been elected.

Four of the “shy” candidates are currently sitting Councillors.

  • Cllr Boyce doesn’t provide either her address or personal telephone number on the Council web site
  • Cllr Michael Pavlovic also doesn’t provide an address but he has listed a mobile phone number
  • Cllr Margaret Wells doesn’t provide an address but does list a phone number
  • Cllr Stuart Barnes does list both his Strensall address and a personal telephone number.

A quick look at the Party websites reveals that they are no more candid about where their candidates live.

All candidates should, before the 2nd May poll, publish details indicating which polling district they live in, and provide a contact email and telephone number.

Such details will be required by residents if candidates are fortunate enough to get elected.

Great British Spring Clean success in Foxwood and Woodthorpe

Volunteers have been busy over the weekend with both the Foxwood and Woodthorpe shopping area forecourts have been cleared of weeds and detritus. Makes a big difference.

Foxwood Residents Association members helped clean up the Foxwood shops area on Saturday
Woodthorpe shopping area also looking good following the efforts of volunteers.