Election Update No.5

Watch my new video (above) featuring loads of local people – I think you’ll enjoy it!

It’s becoming increasingly clear from conversations and email exchanges that many people are still confused about the mechanics of this May’s elections, as well as which institutions they are electing candidates to and what the division of functions and responsibilities is between those institutions. And it’s not just me who’s experiencing that – the same point was made by local journalist Alya Zayed made this week, despite the ongoing efforts by Cambridge News and Cambridge Independent reporters to clarify what’s going on.

Literature from several political parties suggests that the way to deal with this complexity is simply to instruct voters to “give all your six votes to their party”. This is an approach which leaves me feeling very uncomfortable.

What happens if you have zero familiarity with the credentials of one or more of the candidates wearing a particular colour rosette? What happens if you do know them and haven’t been very impressed by them?

It’s exactly this kind of demand for unthinking and un-nuanced tribal loyalty which made me determined to stand as an Independent in the first place: vote for the person who you believe will do the best job, not the person who can best parrot the party line!

I hope my most recent leaflet demonstrates my real and long-standing commitment to our community and my familiarity with the really relevant local issues which we’d all like to see resolved. It’s been a great pleasure to meet so many people on my delivery round – thank you for the positive feedback.

Topics I’ve posted about on social media this week include:

• How the lack of investment in maintaining our pavements flies in the face of all the commitments given by every layer of government about supporting ‘active travel’, as well as restricting people’s freedom of movement and quality of life. This is one issue which really requires some joined-up thinking
• How S106 contributions (money from developers to “mitigate the impact of development”) is spent in locations which are well outside Queen Edith’s and unlikely to be used by QE residents. I think it’s important we understand more about how these decisions are taken and what opportunities we have to flag up our priorities
• How the efforts of residents and local businesses to improve the area around the shops at Wulfstan Way needs to be matched by the City Council if it’s going to deliver on its potential as an attractive living heart to our neighbourhood
• How I want to see better enforcement of existing policies and stronger new policies in the next Local Plan to protect our existing local trees and prioritise future planting in order to protect the green character of our area.

Finally, it has been a pleasure to put together the video above, in which some familiar faces from across Queen Edith’s say why they’re choosing to vote for me on 6th May.  The reasons they give all feed directly into my three themes of community, communication and co-ordination.  And those three qualities also characterise the amazing volunteers who have been criss-crossing the ward to get my message out – it really has been a team effort, thank you very much. Give it a watch, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!

Wishing you all a happy and healthy week.

This week’s campaign videos:

Wulfstan Way Shops

…in which I explain how the Wulfstan Way Shops area should be a vibrant heart for the community, and how as a City Councillor, it would be a major priority to get the investment the area needs.

Helping the Community help itself

…in which I explain how hundreds of people in the Queen Edith’s community have come together over the last year to help each other, and how as a City Councillor, I would be able to support more voluntary initiatives.

Keeping the money in our community

…in which I go on a walk from Queen Edith’s to Trumpington, to see how far away “Section 106” development compensation money is being spent. Should you elect me as your City Councillor, I will fight much harder to keep money within the community.