Discovering a Deane microcosm in the Blackdowns

IT is a lovely place, and I met some lovely people as I finally managed to canvass homes in Bishopswood, a day later than planned.
There was also the bonus of all that walking up and down the hill helping to improve my fitness, which has been suffering badly as I have not been able to do any football refereeing this season for the first time in 17 years.
Bishopswood turns out to be something of a microcosm of the whole ward, probably of the whole Taunton Deane as well.
There was the ‘staunch Labour’ couple - only the second I have actually met in the ward - but unfortunately for them, Labour does not have a candidate here. Their choice would presumably have to be the Lib Dems, because they are more Left than New Labour.
There was the lady who ‘does not vote anyway because they are all corrupt’ - I have met quite a few more of those than I have Labour supporters - but at least she accepted local council work was rather different from Parliamentary affairs and so she agreed to have a read of my leaflets and have a think about it.
I hope she does vote one way or the other. Everybody should at least have their say in a positive way about who runs the council rather than accepting by default whomever their neighbour has voted for.
There was also the ‘no point, we are voting UKIP’ lady - a first for me in this campaign. However, I had to break the news to her that she cannot vote UKIP because they are not putting anybody up.
I believe they might have one candidate somewhere in the whole of the Deane. But even if they ran the council, I find it hard to believe that Taunton Deane Borough Council would be able to pull the UK out of the European Union.
Still, I fully understand the sentiment, and, as a very long-standing Democracy Movement member and even (I say it quietly, in case I get into trouble with my Party bosses) having voted UKIP in Euro elections, I strongly share the sentiments.
So, for any UKIP voters out there, believe you me, I am the closest thing you have.
There was the lady who has built her own home single-handedly with her bare hands, who puts me to shame as my DIY skills are legendary for all the wrong reasons.
There was also a fellow blogger, but in my desire to impress him with political know-how, I forgot to ask what was his blog site. Perhaps, if he reads this, he will forward the address for me to have a look.
I found a great mix of people living here in Bishopswood, which must contribute hugely to the dynamics of the community and I look forward to learning more about them.
Only one resident point blank turned me away from their doorstep, using polite hand signals and a brief ‘no, thank you’, not even accepting the leaflet which will tell him how to get hold of me if ever he needs my help.
Others, even those who I cold sense are unlikely to vote for me, at least took the trouble to look at the literature which will tell them more about who I am.
With the election campaign now in full swing, I have been inundated with literature to give out to voters - two different Conservative newspapers, two different leaflets, and a slip for those who were not in to let them know I was sorry to have missed them.
I could not help noticing that this morning is recycling day, and almost everybody was putting out their green recycling bins.
The thought did occur that if I came back in the morning and had a look, I could find some of my literature had quickly made its way into the green bins.
If so, would it indicate the residents of Bishopswood have taken speed reading lessons, or that, rather like me, they do not have the time for all this ‘bumf’.
I try to read all the leaflets that the different parties deliver to my home because I think I should be able to understand what different candidates stand for before I cast my vote, but unfortunately even I have a rather large pile of them which I have not gotten round to finishing over the years.
It is easy to see what the Lib Dems stand for, having read some of the leaflets they have been delivering in the ward – ‘no’ to this, ‘no’ to that, ‘no’ to the other, and ‘yes’ to all the things the Conservatives are doing anyway.
I see they are even trying to claim the credit for the green recycling boxes, which the Conservatives introduced anyway. They want plastic recycling – the Conservatives are giving it to them.
They also rather deceptively complain about the things that their Lib Dem chums who are in charge in County Hall actually have responsibility for – not the Deane Conservatives - and which they could resolve if they so wished, such as speed limits and quarry lorries.
I have a good mind to fill out their ‘grumble sheet’. It would read something like: “Dear Lib Dems, why not try to do something constructive, why not try to be positive, why not tell people what you have actually done for them.” I already know the answers: “We can’t, we don’t know how, we haven’t.”
Perhaps my Lib Dem leaflets will quickly reach the recycling box instead.
At least the Conservative messages I have been delivering to people are positive and constructive – we have kept down the Council Tax, we are bringing in plastic and cardboard recycling, we are building more affordable homes for local people, we are supporting vital rural services such as Post Offices.
And as I trekked up and down the hill in Bishopswood, these were all issues that came up on the doorsteps time and again.

As dusk fell, I had to call it a day and realised I had left no time to take any photographs, as my gloomy photograph above shows.

Parish council election results announced a month early

MY first Otterford Parish Council meeting, and what a pleasant one it was.
After a stressful day handling a work crisis in West Somerset, I was running late and found no time to actually canvass in Bishopswood ahead of the meeting as we had planned.
Instead, it was a mad dash just to get to the village hall on time.
But something appeared to be not quite right, as the hall was filled with young children, mostly girls, aged around eight to 10 years, enjoying quite a loud birthday disco.
Not being familiar with the building, I ask if there is a separate room somewhere for the local councillors to meet, although I cannot believe a meeting can be held anywhere in the vicinity against the thumping background of some ageless disco favourites.
The answer is negative, so I reach for the mobile to ring the council chairman, Cllr Tony Beaumont, only to discover that, once again since switching from Nokia to Motorola, I do not have a signal and cannot make a call.
Then, a lady appears who, not being unkind, does not look like mum collecting a daughter and who is clutching some paperwork and a large torch, indicating she may be arriving for a meeting which will finish post-dusk.
She turns out to be Cllr Rosemary Viant and she leads me to a committee room to the rear of the hall where other councillors and some members of the public are already waiting.
I have attended parish council meetings of one sort or another, of various sizes, in all sorts of isolated communities across the Westcountry, and wearing a number of different ‘hats’, for the past 30 or so years.
So, although I am a new face for Otterford, I know my stuff and hope to be able to work closely in support of them long into the future.
It turns out they do not have a public participation item on their agenda, in Otterford they call it ‘community time’, which I quite like.
A few verses of ‘Happy Birthday’ are sung in the adjacent hall and the disco then fades away for the parish council business to begin.
I take the opportunity in ‘community time’ to raise some of the parish issues which have been coming up on the doorstep and I am conscious that although I am coming to such matters fresh, the parish councillors will no doubt have heard them time and again.
I am correct - the danger to horse riders from speeding traffic, the absence of pavements to shelter pedestrians from speeding traffic, the problems of heavy lorries on unsuitable roads, have all earned the councillors the proverbial T-shirt in the past.
The ‘I’ve stopped because it hurts’ feeling is common among parish councillors everywhere after they have spent a long time banging their heads against the wall.
However, to their credit, the Otterford councillors do agree to again look into the issue of warning signs for drivers to alert them to horse riders.
They also throw some light on the mystery of the missing signs which ban heavy lorries from a stretch of road, as it turns out there is no ban.
It seems the county council have only told quarry lorries to use a diversion, and in the absence of formal prohibition they cannot put up any signs.
So it is a completely voluntary arrangement. I am not sure why the county think only one type of heavy lorry might be a nuisance and why, if those should use a diversion, others should not.
No doubt I will discover more in time.
The results of the May 3 local elections are announced. Yes, it is only April 10, but all five candidates for the five vacancies in the parish have been returned unopposed.
In fact, there will be no elections in any of the Blackdown ward’s three parishes, as it is the same story in Churchstanton, where seven vacancies have been filled unopposed, and in Pitminster with six candidates for six seats.
So, the only vote local residents will have on May 3 is whether or not to elect me as their Deane councillor.
What it says about local democracy, I am not sure. I know the picture is the same across large parts of the Deane, with only a handful of parishes being contested.
It is not the fault of the candidates, all of whom I am sure have the best interests of their communities at heart.
But if anything is to be done to address the issue of falling participation in English democracy, especially when it comes to a General Election where Governments are elected to decide on issues such as going to war in Iraq, Iran, Syria, or anywhere else, it surely needs to start with healthy competition at the grass roots of democracy.
It turns out to be a last parish council meeting for Cllr Irene Campbell, who is not standing again. Her place is being taken by Charlie Field.
There is some food left over from the disco, so it is passed through at the end of the meeting to accompany a couple of bottles of wine which have been brought along to toast Cllr Campbell farewell.
Being a journalist by profession, I spot the community news potential for the local newspapers and - not because I am invited to share the refreshments – I grab my camera and take a photograph of the occasion, which I will send to the papers shortly.
The photo (above) shows Cllr Campbell seated (right) beside Cllr Viant with (standing, left to right) Cllr Beaumont, Cllr Paul Williams, and the council clerk, Barbara Simpson, whom I have already met as she is (and will be again) a parish councillor in Churchstanton, where her husband Brian is the clerk.

Diversity is alive and well on the natural Blackdowns

A FINAL evening canvassing on the Blackdown Hills before Easter and the weather has continued to be kind with sunshine following us wherever we go and enhancing the beauty of the environment here.
One of our first stops of the evening throws up a fairly widespread issue with concern about the speed of modern traffic on a rural road.
This time, it is the road which runs past the Holman Clavel public house and, as we are canvassing at a time when quite a lot of people are driving home from work, I decide to walk part of the road to experience the problem for myself.
Scary!
Walking just the short stretch from the caravan park to the public house with cars, lorries, and a towing caravan flashing past not too many inches away from my shoulder is a steep learning curve.
It is all very well listening to people telling you how dangerous something is, but when all you do is drive or stand and watch from a safe vantage point, you just do not feel the real danger people are exposed to.
And that was in the early evening when the light and visibility was excellent for drivers to be able to see me as I dodged on and off the little strips of grass verge which kept me out of harm’s way.
I am not going to be on the county council, which is responsible for the roads and pavements, but I shall certainly be taking every opportunity to let the powers that be know of the safety issue here.
If every highways engineer lived in a rural community and had to walk to his or her local pub, I am sure there would be more money spent on providing pavements for pedestrians.
Only a few minutes later I come across a bizarre situation where the highways people on the county council have banned heavy lorries from a stretch of road - but they appear not to have told the drivers of the heavy lorries.
As I stand at the side of the road and chat to a local resident about to walk his dogs, a large tanker trundles by. I say trundling, but the slipstream seems more like a train rushing by.
It is pointed out to me that such large vehicles are not supposed to use this road but should use a detour.
I ask why drivers who ignore the signs are not pulled up for this by the enforcement people and discover that there are no signs.
It seems hard to understand why, but anybody who has experienced the layer upon layer of county council bureaucracy involved in doing anything, even putting up a simple roadside sign, will have a good idea of how such apparent cock-ups happen.
The Lib Dems on the county council are currently trying to abolish local councils and seize all local government power for themselves with a unitary authority which they say will save us all money.
If they want to save money for Council Taxpayers, there are plenty of ways they could do so at the moment just by taking a look at how they themselves actually work, or do not work.
I tend to think that any money they think a unitary would save, would actually just go into the pockets of Lib Dem councillors who would want even bigger pay allowances than the tens of thousands of pounds they are already paid from the public purse.
The diverse nature of communities and their issues on the Blackdowns is illustrated in just a few hours this evening, as we move from running a caravan site and battling traffic to speak with couples who are retired, couples with young families, elderly people living alone, people who have only recently moved out from Taunton seeking a quieter lifestyle, and others.
There is the farmer who has had to move out of dairy farming because of the dire state of that agricultural sector despite what Tesco might tell you about the price of a pint of milk.
‘Out of the frying pan and into the fire’ comes to mind as he tells how beef and arable farming is hardly any easier.
A possible planning application for a house on a plot of land seems to be the only way out of the financial mire, but I cannot help wondering for how long it will help.
Farmers need to be able to sustain their living and not rely on generating lump sums from property development every so often. Sooner or later, there will not be any room left for such lump sums, but the need to look after the countryside and manage the environment will still be there.
Then, we meet a remarkable elderly couple who are trying to restock the River Otter with salmon.
They tell me how they hatch thousands of baby salmon - parr, I believe, is the technical term - which they distribute at different points in the river and how the water here is full of the foodstuffs baby salmon love.
There is something about the thought of salmon in a river which creates a feel-good feeling, if there is such a thing.
‘Salmon’ equates to pure, clean waters and the natural cycle of Mother Nature, so it must mean a better environment for us all.
The trouble is, the young fish have been killed by pollution which apparently came downstream from a farm some distance away.
Now, they are trying again with a new batch of salmon eggs and hope eventually to be successful.
I sincerely hope, too, that they do succeed and that I will be returning later as their borough councillor to see how they and the salmon are getting on.