IT is interesting to discover through canvassing and meeting people just how much some voters believe a Taunton Deane councillor can achieve.The usual issues which come up in the doorstep include Council Tax - “It is too high and keeps going up and we can’t afford it”; the state of the roads – “They (Somerset County Council) keep patching bits where there are potholes but it doesn’t last and they have to keep doing it when they should be resurfacing the whole road”; heavy lorries – “The roads are not good enough standard to take them and they destroy the verges and gouge out the surface”; recycling – “Why can’t we have plastic recycled as well”.
I agree on the Council Tax – I have to pay it as well, and I can only afford it with difficulty – and I point out that they are only paying £1.47 a week to Taunton Deane, while 90p in every £1 goes to the county council, and if you look at the record you see the Conservatives have kept any increases at well below half of the whopping hikes imposed each year when the Liberal Democrats were running the council into the ground.
I agree on the road maintenance, and although it is a matter for the county’s Lib Dems I will be seeking to understand why they throw away money like this instead of doing a decent job first time around which will last. It seems rather like having a leak in your roof and hiring a builder to come and replace a slate, and then getting him back to do another slate, and another, etc, rather than replacing the worn out roof.
I agree on the heavy lorries. It does not make sense to ban the lorries from the Corfe road and then send them up Blagdon Hill when the hill has the same geological profile and weaknesses as they have at Corfe. Why not at least share the burden rather than dump it onto one road.
I agree on the recycling – and take pleasure in telling people “Yes, you can, and cardboard as well.” The pledge is in the leaflets I hand out to residents. When the Conservatives get back in, plastic and cardboard recycling is also coming in. There are, of course, reasons why it has not been done earlier, which my opponents will not explain to you. But if you look what happens with plastic, it is in reality not so green a process when it is recycled. Nevertheless, it is a step we need to take and we can then address the issue of making the process more green.
However, when canvassing in Churchinford, there were a few issues on which I found myself out of my depth.
Yes, I understand them and can discuss them, but there is not a lot I am going to be able to do from the Deane House about taxes on deep sea fishing, nor about the Spanish trawlers which breach European Union fishery laws and pinch UK fish stocks.
And I will not be able to do a great deal about the issue of higher taxes on 4x4 vehicles which many people in the Blackdown ward rely on for transport, especially in the deep of winter.
Nor will I be able to make the Labour Government index-link pensions now instead of 2012 as they say they are going to do.
Neither can I “take the UK out of the EU tomorrow” as many people would wish, including myself.
I also, unfortunately, cannot create more jobs locally in the NHS to help those who have to travel far and wide to find work.
But, yes, I can help to get Tony Blair and Gordon Brown out of office and bring in a change of Government.
Because every vote I receive at the local election on May 3 is a Conservative vote and every one counts towards the opinion polls and forecasts which show David Cameron is going to be the next (elected) Prime Minister.
The more support the Conservatives receive now, the greater will be their support when the General Election comes, as voters will have more confidence in voting Conservative and actually seeing them take power in Westminster.
So, one small vote for me on May 3 is one giant leap forward toward a Conservative Government.
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