Double Standards

Many people have been following my ‘Double Standards’ theme on Twitter which has highlighted some great examples of how a certain political party seems to be speaking with a forked tongue (see the lower right hand column on this page)

The latest one is related to Corsham’s Hustings event we organised last week through the Community Partnership CCAN. As I have mentioned in my previous blogs a joint statement issued by the Tory and Labour party made it clear that neither of them were prepared to appear on the same platform as the BNP candidate. Lib Dem, Green and UKIP were prepared to debate with any legal candidate but we were nevertheless forced to come up with a compromise which split the event into two halves to appease these demands made by two of the major parties. In the event it all went fairly smoothly but it did give the BNP another opportunity to gain yet more unnecessary publicity.

So how is it that at yesterdays Independent newspaper public debate at the Morley and Outwood seat in West Yorkshire (Ed Ball’s seat) we see a line up consisting of UKIP, Lib Dem, Labour, Conservative and BNP all debating together?

At the Corsham Hustings our conservative candidate Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones said that he refused to share the platform with the BNP because it would ‘legitimise’ their views. The Labour party candidate, Greg Lovell for Labour said he was showing solidarity with Wilfred’s views. So what is going on in Morley and Outwood?

I firmly believe that the best way to expose crackpot political views such as those of the BNPs is simply to debate with them in public - it really doesn’t take much to show them up for what they are as their flimsy arguments, despite what they say, are clearly based on racial and social inequality.

A Challenging Democracy!

Thank goodness that’s all over! You have to be a bit mad to try and arrange a hustings event – particularly when you have to deal with various shapes and sizes of political egos bouncing around and making various demands on the order, content, arrangements and structure of the evening.

As it happens it went fairly well with Allan Bosley doing a valiant job in chairing the evening. Not everyone in the packed community centre was entirely happy - but many were very impressed by the way CCAN had attempted to create an event which enabled all six of the candidates present to answer questions from the platform for at least part of the evening.

The BNP candidate did play ball in the end which was a positive for all of us and earned him a place on the platform in the second half alongside the Green, UKIP and Liberal Democrat candidate.

Splitting the evening into two halves with all candidates who wished to be on the platform except the BNP in the first half and having previously submitted questions helped dilute the potential for the BNP issue to dominate. However, as soon as a question was posed which asked why the Tory and Labour candidates had refused to share the stage with the BNP candidate it was clear how much unease there was beneath the surface.

The lesson, if there is one, is that yes it is perfectly possible to defeat the BNP arguments if they are presented as part of a fair and open debate - surely the ONLY way forward in an open democracy rather than a blanket refusal to engage at all.

The hustings have undoubtedly helped raise the profile of CCAN in this area and has no doubt gone some way in informing the local electorate of the strengths and weaknesses of their candidates - but I hope we don’t have to do a re-run in the near future!

Chippenham Constituency Candidate Hustings: This Friday - 23 April at 7pm - Corsham Community Centre

This Friday’s Hustings will be the only opportunity for the local electorate to meet and question the candidates from the new Chippenham Constituency.

I didn’t expect being involved in organising the CCAN candidate hustings to be easy but nothing had quite prepared me for the tightrope we have had to negotiate this week to organise this Friday’s event.

Our key aim in the spirit of an open and fair democratic system was to provide a platform to present the candidates for the benefit of the local electorate. We had decided we needed to invite all legitimate candidates to our hustings and give them the opportunity to respond to questions from the audience – some prepared and some spontaneous.

As I know myself from last year’s Unitary Council elections, when you throw yourself into the political arena you expect to have to justify your views and challenge those of others – often in a forum of public debate – and almost inevitably with people who hold the opposite viewpoint.

I believe that in a democracy all candidates must be treated fairly as they are legally equal. In addition, all have a legitimate right for their individual views to be presented – whatever our individual viewpoint. It is for the electorate to decide whose views are most valid – and whose are not.

It has been a real challenge to get agreement from all the candidates to enter into these hustings whilst still holding onto these basic principles. What we have arrived at is something of a compromise which reflects the respective expectations and demands of the individual candidates and it will require a level of give and take from all candidates to ensure the event is of real value to the electorate.

However, I an confident that the evening will enable all candidates to answer questions directly from the audience and be able to debate with each other. Above all I hope the outcome will make it clearer for the electorate to decide who is worth voting for on May 6.

Off the buses!

An article in Corsham People (7 April www.corshampeople.co.uk ) makes a strange assertion that 'better buses would mean more housing'

As a result of the current deregulation of bus services we have a system where virtually anyone can set up a bus service to run wherever or whenever they like. This will clearly be driven by commercial considerations as they would hope to make a profit. Yes this is more difficult in a rural environment compared to a more urban one – although there will be more competition in the urban context.

However the local authority (Wiltshire Council in this case) may chose to provide a subsidised service if there is evidence of demand or hardship – or if there are gaps in a privately run service.

In the Corsham People article Mr Taylor the councillor for Gastard has quite rightly referred to the deplorable No72/73 subsidised service from Corsham to Melksham which goes through Gastard. There are virtually no timetables or bus stops along the entire route, local residents have reported the service to be unreliable and sometimes failing to turn up, and if you go to the traveline website: www.travelinesw.com the service does not even exist! Combine that with a published timetable (if you can find one in Gastard) which offers a very fragmented service. There is little wonder the passenger numbers are low with the perception of a service which is next to useless.

So it is all boils down to priorities and what people feel is most important. As I see it there are several routes we could go down if we genuinely do want a better bus service:

• Getting those who use buses to pay more for it - hardly an incentive to increase bus usage and really hits those less able to pay
• Increase the allocation from local authorities to provide better subsidised services – increasingly difficult in a time we are told there must be greater efficiencies and higher savings.
• A more creative approach to bus provision in rural areas such as the wigglybus service now called Connect2Wiltshire which is essentially a dial-a-ride service - although we do not have one of these in the Corsham Area except to get to the RUH
• Increase the power given to local authorities to allow them to have stricter agreements with bus providers – that would require a considerable change in political will as it would be meddling in a currently ‘free’ market.

Strangely, I bumped into Theresa Villiers, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport in Corsham High Street today and asked her what she would do to change our failing deregulated policy on bus service provision – I reminded her it was a measure brought in by the Tories under Margaret Thatcher. I was told that the Conservatives would support partnerships between local authorities and bus providers so they could talk to each other to solve problems. Rather a simplistic solution methinks!

As for the 'better buses would mean more housing' statement we began with you only have to look at Katherine Park to see that more housing has nothing to do with better buses - there is not a single bus stop in sight!

Perhaps the Area Board IS listening!

What an interesting Corsham Area Board meeting last night:

• A U-turn on the traffic lights on the A4 and other associated road improvements
• Funding support for Transcoco to develop its organisation and work towards a more sustainable future
• A unanimous vote of endorsement for the our CCAN / Transcoco recommendations to improve public transport information and awareness across the community area
• A presentation on waste and recycling and an opportunity to engage in the debate about its future management by Wiltshire Council
• A commitment to engage in a new debate about the possible reopening of Corsham Station

What is fascinating is that when the Area Board came into being last year there was a sense that they had all the answers and would be telling us what was going to happen – now they are starting to make decisions in response to community driven evidence that people want to see thing differently.

I was really pleased to be able to present the Corsham Community Area Bus Stop Audit last night. It may not sound like a ‘must read’ piece of literature but I knew it was real evidence of how a well researched and structured piece of community driven work cannot fail to be taken seriously when it addresses common sense issues and reveals clear weaknesses in public services.

There are 115 bus stops across the community area and there are some alarming statistics in the report including:

• Only 71% of bus stops identified with a sign
• Only 33% of bus stops have a timetable
• Only 36% of bus stops have shelter
• Websites and timetables often contain inaccurate and out of date information

I am really delighted that the phase 1 recommendations from this report were endorsed by The Area Board with the chairman praising the work which had gone it developing it. A Cabinet member has now been tasked with taking this forward and to work in partnership with CCAN, Transcoco, bus providers and the town and parish councils across the community area to ensure there is accurate and up to date information about bus services on bus stops and on websites and to raise the awareness of public transport in the area.

This can easily lead to some quick wins for the community area. By improving public transport information and awareness more people will be inclined to make use of bus services, bus services can improve and that can all help to contribute to a reduction in cars on the road – an aspiration of the vast majority of individuals, pressure groups, governments, shadow governments and environmentalists everywhere.

This may be a small step but I believe it is significant as it opens doors for dialogue and getting like minded people around the same table. Let's hope it continues!