Why I will never vote UKIP again

WELL, that’s that for another four years. I’ve already been told ‘don’t worry, you’ll obviously win in 2013’.
It has taken a couple of days to reflect on the disappointment of not being elected as a Somerset county councillor by just nine votes.
However, I am certainly not looking four years’ ahead, so those sorts of comments, well meaning, I know, do not do anything to lessen the disappointment.
What does help is to see that elsewhere in Somerset, one of my Conservative colleagues defeated a Liberal Democrat by only six votes, even closer than in my division.
I can understand how the beaten candidate must feel, and in some ways it helps to know that others are probably sharing the same emotions.
The only thing is, I cannot feel too sorry for him, because he was actively engaged in closing small schools such as those in Blagdon Hill and in Nynehead.
I recall attending a Lib Dem executive meeting where he justified the closure of Blagdon Hill School on the basis of the higher costs of educating pupils there, when compared to educating them in a bigger school.
He, along with the others on the executive at the time, showed a total disregard for the social value of rural small schools, so in the end he got what was coming to him.
I suppose up and down the county there will now be defeated candidates who will be thinking to themselves, if only I had done this or that ….
Yes, I’ve been thinking the same.
But when the election results are analysed, you can see that in fact more Conservatives voted than Lib Dems - it was just that they voted for the wrong party.
UKIP’s county council candidate took 332 votes and it was these votes - mostly, I believe, from Conservatives angry about the European Union increasingly dictating how we live our lives in Britain – which cost me victory.
So, there was not really much more I could have done, as to make a difference to the result it needed UKIP to concentrate on what they were created to do, which is to work to take the UK out of the European Union (note, not out of ‘Europe’).
Which leaves me feeling very bitter and twisted about UKIP.
UKIP were never going to get close to gaining even one seat on the county council, let alone taking it over. And even if they did, the county council would never be in a position to take Somerset out of the EU, let alone take the UK out.
It struck me as pure opportunistic politics, putting up county candidates because the elections were moved to be on the same day as the European Parliament elections and it would help to raise their profile.
I could understand it perhaps if they targeted divisions where they saw candidates who were pro-EU, but no, they were selfishly indiscriminate and through their actions individual UKIP candidates showed that they really do not care a jot about local politics.
As somebody who has often voted UKIP in the past because of my strong anti-EU beliefs, I can now state I will never vote UKIP again.
Many Conservatives (and quite a few Labour voters) I met on the doorstep during the campaign expressed their dislike of the EU and how they wanted David Cameron to take a tougher line on it rather than just promising a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty which we all know will be too late because Gordon Brown will have sealed our fate before he is finally kicked out of No 10.
I pointed out that I was passionately anti-EU, that I am a member of the cross-party Democracy Movement and have been for more than 10 years and that I have financially contributed to the DM and even marched through London with them and stood next to the widow and children of the late Sir James Goldsmith while listening to the late Peter Shore.
I suspect I’ve done more to promote the anti-EU cause than the majority of those who voted UKIP in the county elections last week.
The irony is that those Conservative voters are now represented at County Hall by a councillor from the most pro-European Union party.
Still, enough of the self-indulgent pity.
I really am extremely grateful to everybody who voted for me in the county council elections and to the many people who actively helped in the campaign, however small or large the assistance.
We really do have a great team working within the Conservative Party locally, and looking at the bigger picture, it is confirmation that my present sorrow will turn to joy next spring when Mark Formosa is elected as Conservative MP for Taunton Deane.
In the meantime, I wish Councillor Henley well in the coming four years as our county councillor and now that he won’t always have to do what he is told by his former Lib Dem executive bosses, I hope he will do his best for the people of the Blackdown and Wellington East division.
As to 2013, I’ll continue to work hard locally as the Taunton Deane councillor for the Blackdown ward and I’ll make my mind up about a county council campaign probably in 2012, if I can drag myself away from watching the London Olympics on the television.

Village gateway pledge to tackle Blagdon Hill traffic

A VILLAGE gateway scheme is urgently needed to help tackle the danger from speeding traffic in Blagdon Hill.
Despite the traffic problems which have existed for years in Blagdon Hill and Pitminster and which have gradually worsened, the County Council has ignored the situation.
With the ban on lorries using Corfe Hill, more heavy vehicles have been using Pitminster and Blagdon instead, while commuter traffic has increased dramatically.
I am therefore promising to ensure a village gateway can be built for Blagdon Hill to ease the problems and improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and horse riders.
A gateway scheme would slow down approaching traffic and make drivers more aware that they are entering a sensitive stretch of road where there will be hazards such as people walking alongside.
It is a comparatively low-cost idea and could have been done a long time ago but the County Council has not had the political will to do it, something which I want to change if elected as County Councillor on June 4.
Each county councillor presently has allowances totalling £20,000 to spend on local projects - so the gateway could easily have been built by now just by using such funds.
Once elected, I will use this budget to ensure Blagdon Hill’s gateway can be constructed.
Do not be fooled by claims that the Conservatives want to abolish these funds, as that is not true.
What we want to do is end the system where councillors can simply use the money to curry favour with voters by giving out grants as if it was their own money and not taxpayers’ money.
The funding would still be available to support such causes, but corporately, so people can see it is County Council money - their money, in fact - which is being spent in a particular way.
Blagdon Hill should have had its gateway scheme years ago to help protect people.
It is a disgrace that the County Council has turned its back on the parish for all these years, even refusing to do anything about the heavy lorries which use the roads since Corfe Hill was closed to them.

• The photograph shows John Thorne (centre), with Blagdon Hill resident and former Deane councillor Chris Robinson (left), who first came up with the village gateway idea years ago, and Ken Maddock, the County Council Conservative group leader, who is supporting the project.

What future for Churchstanton School - your views count

I AM carrying out a public opinion survey in Churchinford and the surrounding area to ask what people think about the future siting of the village school.
I hope nobody misunderstands this message and that they do not think I am suggesting the school is under any threat at the moment.
It is an excellent small, rural school serving a wide catchment area from its idyllic location and engendering passionate support from parents and other local people.
Yet, we stand at a crossroads regarding its future.
Somerset County Council has started closing small schools such as in Blagdon Hill and in Nynehead to save money, and we know that other schools are under threat.
We currently face a situation where the county will not commit the funding Churchstanton needs in the long-term for permanent facilities because it does not believe the site is sustainable in the long-term future.
At the same time, an opportunity to develop a state-of-the-art new school in Churchinford village centre has been on offer, but this could soon be lost.
Developers who have planning permission to build some new homes on the Newberry Farm land could facilitate such a new school at comparatively low cost.
The wider benefits would be greater footfall in the village, bringing new vitality and financial support for facilities such as the shop, Post Office, and pub.
But there is a strong feeling the school’s magnificent rural site offers extra-curricular benefits to children and should not be given up until it really does have to happen - although by then the parish could lose its school completely if funding for a new one was not available.
There has never been a proper public consultation on what people really think about this subject.
It has divided opinions among the parish councillors and it has already generated heated discussion at a public meeting.
As the Conservative candidate for Blackdown and Wellington East in the Somerset County Council elections, I want to hear your views in a calm and collected manner.
I will then be best-placed to represent the wishes of the community once elected to County Hall, as opposed to allowing the wishes of finance-driven officials to decide the issue.
Some survey forms are being delivered door to door, and some have been placed in the village shop. A straw poll is also being held here on my website.
I strongly believe in the value of rural facilities and services, rather than looking only at their cost.
I have a track record of supporting rural schools, as I was the only local councillor to actually stand up against the closure of Blagdon Hill School, support the staff and governors, and attend the County Executive meetings where the Lib Dems made their decisions.
In Churchinford, I opposed the Post Office closure and also served on the voluntary committee which set up the Community Interest Company to create a new community shop.
Whether or not I am elected to the County Council on June 4, I will make sure that the views which come out of this survey are made known to the powers that be.
After reading my survey form, the school’s headmaster, Simon Mills, has voiced his concern to me that some parents may misread it as suggesting that the school is at risk of being closed, and he is naturally anxious to allay any such concerns.
That is why I am also separately writing letters to parents at the school to reassure them that I am not suggesting there is any immediate concern which should alarm them.

• The photograph above shows John Thorne outside Churchstanton School.

A tribute to my dad

I HAVE been neglecting the campaign trail for a few days now, the reason being that my dad died yesterday.
My dad, Bryan Thorne, had been in St Margaret’s Somerset Hospice, Taunton, after falling badly at home and suffering a knock on his head.
The fall triggered the end of his battle with cancer, which began in February, 2007, and seemed to have been won after undergoing emergency surgery to remove a large tumour from his bowel.
However, about 12 months ago, it became a battle with liver cancer and we were told it was inoperable and the end result was inevitable.
After the fall last week, my mother could no longer continue to care for him at home and it was agreed the only course open was to admit him to the hospice.
We were told he might last no more than a few days, but he held on for six days in total and passed away shortly before 9 am yesterday. He was 79 years old.
As the eldest of his five children, I was with him holding his hand at the end.
It is the most distressing and emotionally disturbing thing I have ever, ever, ever had to do.
Many of you reading this will probably have already gone through something similar in losing a loved one.
I now know how you felt and how you may still feel today.
I write this not for sympathy, rather just to try to clear my mind and try to refocus on the next few weeks.
My dad would have been upset if he knew he had disrupted my campaign. He always only ever wanted me to succeed in anything I did, and was always willing to help if he could.
I know my dad was very proud of me being a councillor although he was never a Conservative.
My dad was a lifelong Labour supporter, even defending Gordon Brown because he thought he was a Labour Prime Minister.
He said he would never vote Tory because of what happened in Suez in 1956. I could never understand the logic of his attitude.
My family have a tradition of helping others, a tradition steeped in trade unionism and I have been told accounts of my great-grandfather handing out union money to workers to help them through the hardship of strike action while they fought for a better quality of life.
In my younger working days I was also a trade union officer, albeit a right-wing one and often I found myself voting in a minority of one.
It therefore surprised my dad when, in the autumn of 2006, I told him I was standing as a Conservative candidate in the Taunton Deane Borough Council elections of May, 2007.
But he knew that in my own way I would be doing my best to help people, like generations of my family before me, and he supported me fully, despite the arguments we would have when talking politics between ourselves.
He often used to really annoy me with his attitude and it would require my mum to intervene and get us talking about something else.
Football was my dad’s passion, and he was a lifelong Arsenal fan.
Being a Liverpool fan myself, there were again many heated discussions - much more so than when talking about politics. One thing we had in common, however, was that we both disliked Man Utd.
He served in Navy and was stationed in Malta for some years, and my younger brother was born there.
In his latter years, my dad would take my mum back to Malta for holidays, staying several weeks at a time. He loved the country and I think if he could have afforded to do so, he would have moved there to live.

• The photograph shows my dad, Bryan Thorne, on holiday in Malta in 2005.

A visit from Shadow Chancellor George Osborne

GEORGE Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, was in Taunton Deane today, and briefly chatted with me.
I think I had about 20 seconds with him during a reception at The Castle Hotel to launch the Conservative manifesto to which I have signed up as a candidate for the County Council elections on June 4.
Brief though it was, George Osborne made a lasting impression on me - I was still thinking about him while driving home afterwards!
Seriously, though, he was an impressive politician.
Actually getting to meet him and to be in the same room and hear him speak brought home just how good he is going to be when he sits at the Despatch Box next year as this country’s next Chancellor.
I think it was probably George’s first visit to Taunton Deane, but he had been well briefed by Councillor Ken Maddock, who is the leader of the Conservative group at County Hall and who will be council leader if we win the elections on June 4.
George knew all about the fiscal mismanagement of the county council under the Lib Dems and how they have doubled our council tax and landed us with a mountain of debt.
As well as launching the manifesto, George Osborne highlighted how important Somerset is to the national political scene.
It is one of the few areas where Conservatives are principally up against Liberal Democrats rather than facing a contest with Labour.
This means the election battle will be very different from other areas.
Against Labour, it is possible to talk about how their Government has ruined the country, brought about the worst recession we have ever known, and created the fastest-growing unemployment queue ever seen.
With the Lib Dems, this cannot be done as they are not, and never will be, in Government, which means they can - and frequently do - say anything they like about what should be done with the country, without any concerns about how it would actually be done if they were running the economy.
The drawback for Somerset electors is that this Lib Dem national ‘it doesn’t matter what we say because we’ll never be held accountable’ attitude rubs off on their Somerset councillors.
It results in Somerset Lib Dems telling the electorate many things which are not true by any stretch of the imagination in the desperate hope that they will not be kicked out of office for doubling our council tax, tripling our county debt, and making a mess of our roads and pavements.
A case in point is the £25 million of council taxpayers’ money which the Lib Dems have lost in Iceland.
The Lib Dems tell us that the money is not lost, because there is a slim chance some of it may be recovered.
They also say that even if it was lost, it won’t make any difference to council taxpayers.
They must think people like you and I are stupid.
If you lose your wallet in the street, then the money is lost, even if you hope that maybe you will be lucky enough that it will be found and handed in.
And to say that £25 million makes no difference to the county is plainly daft. The list of what services the council pay for with £25 million is huge.
The tragedy of the Lib Dems’ gamble on risky investments in Icelandic banks is compounded by the fact that not only did they make a bad investment, they also made a bad choice of bank.
For, the bank they gambled on is not even one of those which has since said it hopes to return substantial amounts to UK councils.
Another case in point is how Lib Dems tell us that they are committed to improving education in Somerset.
Yet, they have started a vicious round of closures of small rural schools and have ignored the protests of local communities.
They also say the school closures are not financially motivated.
Yet, they quote the higher cost per pupil of educating children in a small school and point to how the money will be better spent in a bigger school.

• The photograph shows George Osborne holding a giant credit card to symbolise the high spending and high borrowing nature of the Lib Dems at County Hall, with Councillor Ken Maddock symbolically cutting it in half. They are watched by county council candidates, including John Thorne (second, left).

Manifesto pledges which just don't stack up

MANIFESTO season is upon us, the time of year, or, rather the time of the quadrennial, when local politicians make all sorts of claims about what they have achieved for you during the past four years and what more they will do in the next four years.
All you have to do is give them your vote and everything will be okay.
I never cease to be amazed at how these manifestos and claims of achievements can twist the truth to a point where what is being said is unrecognisable when actually compared to what was done.
One local politician who comes to mind must be nothing less than a superhero if they have single-handedly done all that they claim.
In fact, you wouldn’t need any of the other councillors at all, as they are so wonderful.
In truth, though, a single councillor in the political system we have at the moment can only work as part of a team and should share collective responsibility for both achievements and failures.
That is one of the reasons why you won’t find me saying that I have single-handedly saved, for instance, a phone box or a Post Office, as it wouldn’t be possible to do it on my own.
What I will say, is that personally I have done what I can and that it is the Conservatives (plural) who have achieved it.
Take the much-trumpeted zero council tax increase at Taunton Deane Borough Council as an example.
The credit for this rests with the Conservative opposition group of councillors, although most of the work was done by our group leader Councillor John Williams.
It was his alternative budget which was cherry picked by the Lib Dem administration on the very day they were proposing a 2.7 per cent council tax rise – with the effect that they then agreed with the Conservative zero increase proposal and put that to us at the evening budget meeting.
I played my part as a Conservative councillor by inputting to the alternative budget, but I’m not claiming any superhero powers and saying I did it alone so therefore you should vote for me.
Looking at the manifestos which have been published, it is interesting to read the ‘key facts’ the Lib Dems want you to remember when you go to vote, and then to compare them with what the ‘real facts’ are.
Lib Dem ‘Key fact’ – they ‘will continue to keep council tax increases among the lowest of any county’.
True fact – they have already doubled your council tax during their reign of power and are now so worried about losing control that they are trying to appear to be matching the Conservative pledge to ‘freeze’ your council tax.
Lib Dem ‘Key fact’ – they ‘have plans currently being actioned to invest in jobs and businesses’.
True fact – they have just been forced to publicly admit their claim to be investing £5 million in the Somerset Economic Recovery Plan was a crude spin doctor deception because all but £280,000 is money from other organisations or was already in the budget.
Lib Dem ‘Key fact’ – they have achieved the highest recycling of any county.
True fact – they have broken their promise to give us plastics and cardboard recycling and it will be 2011 before most people actually get it, if at all.
Other examples of bending the truth can be found in the Lib Dem 2009- 2013 manifesto published on their website.
It claims, for instance, they will ‘protect village schools’.
Well, we are in the middle of a savage Lib Dem cost-cutting exercise which is closing village schools such as Blagdon Hill and Nynehead and others, and leaving many others under threat.
Only Conservative councillors, including myself, have fought against these closures.
The Lib Dems claim, for instance, not to have closed any special schools – but they don’t say it is not for want of trying and that if Mark Formosa, the Conservative Parliamentary candidate, had not battled them in Wiveliscombe, then Kingsmead School would have lost its special needs unit.
They claim credit for the successful 'Handyperson Service' – it is actually called the Handyman Service, which shows how politically correct they cannot help being – but they don’t give any credit to the Taunton Deane Conservative administration which actually started it some years ago.
They claim to have eased traffic congestion on the Silk Mills road by building a railway bridge.
But in truth they have ruined the good work of installing the bridge by creating a mess of traffic light-controlled junctions and different vehicle lanes which now cause as much, if not more, congestion than before.
They promised to roll out 120 new transport schemes and to improve road safety, but they have done nothing to progress a new railway station for Wellington, or a northern distributor road for the town, while we have seen those yellow signs on 'Red Routes' advising of safety amendments to come in 2008 amended to read '2009' - and we are still waiting.
I could go on, but I suspect few people have even read this far.

The great plastics and cardboard recycling con - yes you can have it, no you can't

YOU may have heard that I recently seconded a call-in of a decision to continue with plastics and cardboard recycling trials.
A call-in is a process where a decision by the Executive or one of its members can be put on hold for a short time while it is challenged and looked at again to ensure the right decision has been made.
The call-in was proposed by Councillor Tony McMahon, who is the Conservative shadow executive member for environmental services and who is also standing for election to Somerset County Council.
However, we withdrew the call-in after receiving an explanation and more information from one of our most senior officers about what was actually intended.
It was disappointing to note that the Executive member himself did not respond – and interesting to note that it was the officer who wrote up the decision for him as he seemed unable to do it himself.
Despite what some may say, this was not a Conservative attempt to have the trials withdrawn.
Far from it.
In fact, we were anxious to ensure the Lib Dems kept to their word this time and actually delivered to the public what they promised during the election campaign.
We are now almost two years on from the 2007 elections and I clearly recall how the Lib Dems promised they would give people plastics and cardboard recycling – mind you, so did the Conservatives.
I recall speaking with one couple in Stapley who were already taking their plastics and cardboard to the recycling centre as they wanted to do their bit as good citizens and not wait until the council got around to it.
I told them that on this particular manifesto issue there was not a lot to separate the two parties, it was just that the Conservatives would do it quicker.
How right I have proven to be.
Two years on, and all that has happened is that the Lib Dems have started some trial collection rounds.
Even that decision took 12 months to reach and, the cynics will note, was finally taken when the Lib Dems faced a difficult by-election campaign in Comeytrowe - which, of course, just happened to be one of the first areas to be given the trial collections.
A lesson in ‘how to win votes and influence people’.
Fine for the residents of Comeytrowe, but not so good for everybody else, who, like myself, has to stack up the plastic bottles and cardboard in carrier bags in the garage until there is enough to lay down the back seats of the car and take it out to the Poole recycling centre.
Anyway, the point is that we are now in a situation where both the Executive and the Full Council have voted to ‘phase in’ the full roll-out of plastics and cardboard recycling across Taunton Deane this financial year.
Naturally, like me, you will no doubt be looking forward to receiving this service before 31st March next year.
So, when Councillor McMahon and I saw the Executive member’s decision to continue the trials this year until such time as the Executive takes a decision on the full roll-out to all properties, alarm bells started ringing.
It seemed they were only going to do the trials and nothing else this year - hence the call-in was triggered.
Now, I find that is not the case.
It was a badly-worded decision and one which lacked any explanation for councillors like myself who are battling to provide the best possible service to the people we represent.
It turns out the Lib Dems simply made a mess of the decision to introduce the trials, because they only approved them until 31st March this year and the trials would have been stopped, leaving people with nothing until the ‘phasing in’ began.
It also turns out that the talk of phasing in plastics and cardboard recycling is little better than a ‘con’.
All they are going to do is expand the collections this year to another 2,000 households on top of the 3,000 who already receive them.
By the end of the financial year, they hope - and the emphasis is on the word hope – to include a total of 20,000 households.
Now, given that there are 43,000 households in Taunton Deane, you can see that more than half of all households will not be getting the plastics and cardboard recycling service which they thought had been promised them.
The so-called promise made by the Lib Dems means the majority of households in the Deane - more than 50 per cent of them in total - could be waiting until 31st March 2011.
And, of course, in May, 2011, we will be having another round of Deane council elections which I am sure will focus the minds of the Lib Dems who will be desperate to ensure the service is delivered beforehand so they can tell you how good they are when they are asking for your votes.

Highway maintenance budgets cut despite roads getting worse

IT is official - Somerset’s roads are getting worse under the Liberal Democrats.
County Council highways officials have stated in official reports that roads in the county are deteriorating fast.
Only months after the County Hall Lib Dems slashed their highways maintenance budgets, their own officers have admitted that the number of safety defects has increased significantly.
They also admit the condition of both major and minor roads across the county has been deteriorating.
Councillor Anthony Trollope-Bellew, who is the Conservative county council group spokesman on highways, said: “It gives me no pleasure to say I am not surprised to hear this news.
“I warned the Lib Dems that any cuts to these essential budgets would lead to a worsening in road condition and misery for road users, and this is exactly what has happened.”
Councillor Ken Maddock, the leader of the county council Conservative group, said: “Yet again, another Lib Dem cut hits a vital service and has a real impact on the lives of the people of Somerset.
“The Lib Dems have constantly denied that Somerset’s roads are getting worse, even though everybody else in Somerset knows how bad they have become.
“But now that their officers have painted such a bleak, honest picture of their condition, I hope that the Lib Dems will finally sit up and take action.
“Conservatives will rescue our roads and make Somerset a better place to live.”

• The photographs show some examples of how bad Somerset’s roads are becoming.
  

Our pavements are officially the worst in the Westcountry

PAVEMENTS in Somerset are the worst in the Westcountry - and that is official.
My Conservative colleagues at County Hall have reacted with shock after seeing the latest performance figures showing that Lib Dem Somerset’s pavements are the worst of any council in the South West.
A report from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) collated data from the Audit Commission which showed the condition of Somerset’s pavements is almost twice as bad as the national average.
Somerset was also placed bottom of the list for South West local authorities.
CSP figures show that 42 per cent of pavements in Somerset are in need of repair, almost twice the average for the whole country.
The situation nationally has only marginally improved since last year, when the CSP called on local authorities to urgently address the problem of broken pavements, which can increase the risk of falls, especially for older people.
No wonder my county Conservative colleagues were so dismayed by the news of Somerset’s failings.
The CSP report showed that almost half of all footways in the county are in need of repair.
The practical reality of the situation is that every day, thousands of Somerset residents have to take their lives into their own hands just by walking down the street.
This needs action before any more residents injure themselves.
We must take action as a matter of urgency to put this right.
If we leave it, then it will only end up costing the county council - that means us council taxpayers - more in the long-run.
There will be more injuries, more claims against the council, and more misery for local people.
We deserve better.
The CSP wants councils such as Somerset to make 2009 the year for carrying out repairs to broken and uneven pavements, which will improve safety and help to protect people from unnecessary falls.
Lynn Sutcliffe, a spokeswoman for CSP and vice-chairman of AGILE (Chartered Physiotherapists working with Older People), said: “Once an older person has fallen, it can seriously affect their physical and emotional wellbeing.
“It can make them anxious and limit their enjoyment of activities they previously enjoyed.
“Walking on uneven ground requires older people to be fit and strong, and able to withstand disturbances to their balance.
“If local authorities act sooner rather than later to fix the pavements that need repair, many unnecessary falls could be avoided.”
The subject of broken pavements was the theme of National Falls Awareness Day 2008, run by Help the Aged.
The charity carried out research showing that 2,300 older people fall on broken pavements every day and nearly 80,000 of those who have fallen each year are subsequently afraid to leave the house.
Pamela Holmes, Help the Aged healthy ageing manager, said: “These new figures released by the CSP show that broken and damaged pavements still represent a significant problem for older people with mobility problems.
“Our own research suggested that councils are caught in a vicious circle.
“On the one hand they are required to sit on large sums of money to cover legal fees and compensation, and on the other they are cash-strapped when it comes to repairing pavements that may cause falls in the first place.
“It is vital that councils invest more money in keeping public walkways safe, as falls are a leading cause of death for over-75s and at the very least, one fall can shatter an older person’s physical and mental well-being.”
Mark Formosa, who is the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Taunton Deane, has already helped to collect a large petition in Taunton which complains about the state of some pavements in the county town.
Mark has presented the petition to the county council because it is responsible for maintaining the footways.

• The photographs show the state of some pavements in Taunton, and also Mark Formosa with two residents with whom he worked to collect a petition protesting at how the county council was failing to properly maintain the pavements.

Conservatives freeze Taunton Deane council tax bills

SOME good news at last for the Deane's council tax payers after the doom of gloom of the recession setting in.
Your council tax bill from the Deane council has been frozen this year and there will be no increase in it.
You can thank the Conservatives for this achievement, even though we are only the opposition group.
Our group leader, Councillor John Williams, together with our shadow executive members produced an alternative budget to the one which the Lib Dems put forward.
While the Lib Dems tried to claim they were going to have the lowest increase in Somerset at 2.9 per cent - later revised down to 2.7 per cent when they discovered it was not the lowest – the Conservatives produced a budget which showed no increase at all.
So, as we find happens quite often, the Lib Dems quickly plagiarised the Conservative budget and adopted the innovative measures we proposed for raising additional funds to pay for services.
Then, they agreed a budget which showed no increase in the Deane’s share of the council tax precept.
Unfortunately, you may not notice it as the County Council, which is also run by the Lib Dems, have continued to put up their council tax precept, and so have the Police.
In fact, the County Hall Lib Dems have more than DOUBLED your council tax on their watch, while you now pay more council tax to the Police than you do to the Deane council.
Despite the Deane’s Lib Dems taking all the best bits of the Conservative budget, we were not able in principal to support the budget as they presented it on two important areas of difference between us.
These were the so-called ‘free swimming’, where, as we know, the Government will only fund it for two years and after that time we are not going to have the money to continue and will be faced with taking away from people something that will undoubtedly be popular with them.
There are in any case already discounts in place for the elderly to be able to swim at little cost, and there will be a lot of restrictions on when youngsters under 16 years old are able to swim, so the real benefit for the Deane’s swimmers is only slight.
The other difference was on plastic and cardboard recycling, where Conservatives were setting out the real situation and biting the bullet for the greater good of the community.
While the Lib Dems were making very blurred promises to introduce it some time or other over the next two years, we were saying that given the bottom falling out of the market and given the fact the council has little money, it would be better to delay it until next year when the financial situation would hopefully be better.

Another achievement by the Conservatives at last night's budget meeting was to reduce the size of the council house rent increase which the Lib Dems tried to impose on tenants.

The rent increase was cut from the Lib Dems' near-seven per cent rise to 6.2 per cent.

It was still a large increase but at least we have managed to save tenants some money.

David Cameron comes to town

YOU know how you see some people on television, and then, when you actually get to meet them in person, they seem very different?
Well, today I met David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader - and he turned out to be exactly the same person whom I have seen on television many times.
He was just as tall as I expected him to be, he had exactly the same skin complexion, he was just as smartly dressed, he smiled in the same manner, he spoke in the same tone of voice, and his message was exactly online.
It was a little bit like being on the set of a TV show and somehow not quite real.
Here was the man who is going to be the UK’s next elected Prime Minister - in about 15 months’ time unless Gordon Brown messes up even more than he has already - and here I was saying hello to him and shaking hands with him.
I wonder if he will remember me, should I attend the Party conference in the autumn and bump into him again.
Probably not.
It was an interesting and rewarding experience and one which raised the hairs on the back of my neck, even despite the fact that as a journalist I have been used to meeting leaders of the different political parties, as well as Ministers, celebrities, sporting stars, diplomats, and captains of industry, and have been up close with the Queen and members of her Royal family, including the late Princess Diana.
David Cameron’s visit to Taunton brought home how important to the future of this country is the need for Conservatives to form the next administration at County Hall.
If the electorate go out to vote in the Somerset County Council elections on June 4 and throw their support behind the Conservatives in large enough numbers, it will surely hasten the next General Election.
In turn, this will see David Cameron installed in No 10 as Prime Minister, and he will change the course which this country has been taking under Gordon Brown.
Labour have shown their ineptness at running the country and have plunged us headlong into economic chaos the like of which we have not seen since the war.
David Cameron now needs to get into Government as quickly as possible to appoint the Conservative Ministers who will turn things around and steer the economy back into calmer waters.
And Conservatives need to get into power at County Hall to freeze council tax bills, reduce the county’s debt mountain, save our small schools, mend our roads and pavements, and bring much-needed change to Somerset.

• The photographs shows (TOP) John Thorne (left) with David Cameron and other county council candidates, and (BELOW) John Thorne (third, right) with David Cameron supporting the Conservatives' pledge to freeze council tax at the county council.

Roundabout is needed to improve Wellington relief road safety

MARK Formosa, our Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Taunton Deane, has joined me in calling on the highways authority to create a roundabout on Wellington’s relief road to ease rush hour traffic congestion.
I showed Mark one morning how traffic builds up at the staggered crossroads with Pyles Thorne Road and Ford Street.
We saw how it results in some drivers becoming impatient and taking risks by pulling out in front of other vehicles.
Others crossing from one side to the other were pulling out and stopping in the middle of the road to indicate a right turn and causing oncoming vehicles to hit their brakes.
It can be a dangerous situation and we already see county highways signs at the side of the road quoting statistics about the number of casualties who have been injured in accidents at this crossroads.
Mind you, those signs promised road improvements would be carried out in 2008 and here we are well into 2009 and all the County Council have done is to stick a number ‘9’ over the ‘8’.
Mark is now asking the County Council to look at converting the junction into a roundabout which will ease the queues of traffic at peak times and greatly improve safety for motorists.
I do not think it requires a huge engineering project at great cost to improve this junction, as I am sure a fairly simply mini roundabout would be sufficient.
It would mean that drivers have to approach with a little more care than perhaps some do at the moment, and they would have to give way to vehicles coming from their right, so traffic flows should improve.
I have over the years witnessed a number of near-misses at this junction and it is clear that the traffic situation is gradually getting worse as more people seem to be driving over the Blackdowns to work in the Chard and Honiton areas or are coming from those areas to work around here.
That is why I went along to one the Tuesday morning surgeries Mark Formosa holds in Wellington Community Centre and raised the issue with him.
The surgery is held every Tuesday between 10.30 am and 12 noon and has become very popular with local people who need help with all sorts of issues.
Even though I am a Conservative councillor, I still had to wait my turn and queue to see Mark.
So I was pleased that Mark Formosa so quickly took up my offer to come and have a look for himself, and also delighted to see that he is now taking such prompt action in pressing for something to be done to improve this junction.
Mark Formosa has a terrific track record of taking up local issues which really matter to people and getting something done to help.
He regularly raises issues which other local politicians have either refused to look at or have not even considered.
He is going to make a brilliant MP for Taunton Deane when the General Election finally comes along next year.

• The photograph shows Mark Formosa (left) with Councillor John Thorne at the Wellington relief road crossroads.

Ridealong gives first hand experience of front line policing on the Blackdowns

I HAVE just spent a bitterly cold night shift on duty with the Blackdowns beat officer PC Maria Jennings.
It was part of a Ridealong scheme the police are operating for local councillors to experience front line policing at first hand, and I was pleased to be one of the first councillors to take part.
However, sub-zero temperatures straight after the New Year celebrations ensured it was an exceptionally quiet night as most people seemed to have stayed at home in the warm.
The ‘lack of action’, which I am assured is extremely unusual as Friday nights generally see a lot going on, means I will repeat the exercise later in the year when there is warmer weather.
It was still a very interesting experience and one which gave an insight into the workings of the police and how they tackle crime and the potential for crime.
I learned quite a bit about what to look out for in terms of suspicious behaviour, and how criminals tend to act.
The big lesson was the realisation that although I frequently hear people complain that they ‘never see a police officer’ any more, there are, in fact, always police on duty at any time of day or night somewhere close at hand.
Our patrol covered an area stretching from Bishopswood and Churchstanton to Burrowbridge and Stoke St Gregory, and going into central Taunton as well.
I also met the three PCSOs who work with PC Jennings to provide police cover in the area.
It quickly became apparent that while people may be asleep in their beds at home, there was always a police presence out and about somewhere nearby and ready to respond to any incident.
We started the evening by attending a reported ‘firearms incident’ which immediately brought to mind images of armed response police officers surrounding a hostage situation, but actually turned out to be a case where PC Jennings simply needed to talk to some neighbours about the law which covers the use of a shotgun.
Over the radio, we picked up reports of a missing teenager, and then, later, another missing person even younger, as well as the ‘usual’ incidents of fights and public disturbance.
But they were all being dealt with elsewhere and we were not required, again illustrating how many police must actually be on duty even though it was now late at night.
We checked on isolated properties where there had either been previous attempted break-ins or the owners were away and had notified the police that there should be nobody about.
A group of lads climbing out of a roadside hedge just outside one village raised suspicions, but it was quickly clear they were just out for a midnight walk for ‘something to do’.
The other big lesson I took from this Ridealong evening was how the people of the Blackdowns are in good hands with PC Jennings as their beat officer.
She has 20 years’ experience behind her, all of it in front line policing, including many years in the Metropolitan Police.
She has a wealth of experience and I think the residents of the Blackdowns are very fortunate to have such a high-quality officer looking after them.
All in all, the Ridealong was a tremendously interesting experience and one which I look forward to repeating some time in the summer.

• The photograph shows Councillor John Thorne with PC Maria Jennings and her Land Rover police car.

Mystery of the Blackdowns phantom bus shelter 'artist'

I HAVE been investigating the mystery of a phantom ‘artist’ who appears to be making some kind of statement about rubbish on the Blackdown Hills.
A couple of weeks ago, I received a report from Otterford Parish Council that rubbish was being fly-tipped in the bus shelter at Culmhead Crossroads, making it impossible for bus passengers to use the shelter when the weather was poor.
Naturally, I alerted the Deane council’s environmental health team to the problem and asked them to clear it up and also look for evidence of who might be responsible so that we could prosecute and/or recover the cost of the clean-up.
Then, I went to have a look at the bus shelter for myself and, strangely, I found that the rubbish had been cleared and the shelter was lined with silver foil.
A clothes rail had been put up - as you would find in a wardrobe - and a variety of items of clothing hung from it.
There was a sign on the outside reading ‘The Changing Room’, a roadside crossroads sign was stuck on the top of the entrance, and inside was a notice which read something like: “I am a million different people today and the next day...”
I am told since that I have not remembered the quote properly, as it seems to be a line from a song by The Verve which actually reads: “But I’m a million different people from one day to the next...”
The Deane council staff quickly cleared the bus shelter but could find no trace of who had put the clothing there.
I wondered if perhaps it was something to do with Somerset Arts Weeks - now renamed Somerset Art Works (SAW) - as it appeared to be some kind of artistic statement, although a little bizarre out in the middle of nowhere.
However, I spoke to somebody at SAW and they had absolutely no knowledge of it.
At this point, the bus shelter was clean and tidy and fit for use again, so I left it at that.
Then, a few days later, I discovered that the phantom ‘artist’ had returned – and so had the rubbish.
The bus shelter was strewn with black bin bags and carrier bags containing items such as empty cans of lager and cardboard and plastic bottles.
On the outside were posted three signs on white boards reading ‘rubbish….’, ‘art ….’, and ‘rubbish…’.
The signs are in exactly the same style as ‘The Changing Room’ signs, which makes me think that it is the same person.
I do not mind admitting that I am ‘culturally challenged’, and therefore whatever artistic statement they may be making goes over my head.
It is all rather bizarre, and I would like to know why this is happening.
I am sure that whoever the artist is, they were not responsible for the rubbish in the first place and it may be that they actually cleaned it up before embarking on ‘The Changing Room’ project.
To add to the mystery, somebody has also painted in big white letters on the road opposite the bus shelter “SAW No 42”.
I assume again that this is a reference to Somerset Art Weeks, and I was told that No 42 apparently refers to an artist who lives in Watchet.
I will continue to try to get to the bottom of this.

• The photograph above shows me examining the rubbish which has reappeared in the Culmhead Crossroads bus shelter along with signs indicating it is some kind of artistic statement.

Exmouth - now in the foothills of the Blackdowns

ON what seemed like a summer's day - almost unheard of this year - I attended the Celebrating the Blackdowns event held at Churchinford on Saturday.
The public attendance exceeded everybody's expectations with several hundred people visiting during the day.
It was an opportunity to see where some of the £1.9 million LEADER+ funding from Europe has gone during the past six years.
The Blackdowns AONB Partnership, on which I represent Taunton Deane Borough Council, has used the cash to support a wide range of activities and events during that time, and now the fund is coming to a close this year.
It is being replaced with a £2.4 million 'Make it Local' fund over the next three years, of which more details were promised at the Celebrating event.
I was a little disappointed, then, to find that we have not actually, definitely, been given the money.
Despite the recent public announcements of the success of the Partnership bid, it seems we still have to jump through some hoops before we know for sure that the money is ours.
From what I have seen so far of the way the Partnership is funded, we are going to need that money if we are to continue supporting the community of the Blackdowns.
One snag, though, is that in order to get the money, we are having to extend the 'Blackdowns' borders as far as the edges of Exmouth and Seaton so that we can say we have a large enough population base which will benefit from the fund.
Assuming we get the money, then the grant scheme will start next year.
Applications will especially be welcomed if they concern culture, tourism, recreation, using sustainable natural resources, or network building/bringing people together.
There was lots to see at the cricket ground just outside Churchinford, and everything there had received funding from the LEADER+ programme.
It was nice to see lots of children with their parents, and the kids seemed to like having a go at making punkie night lanterns or doing some wood carving, while inside the Camera Obscura they were able to 'spy' on what their parents were doing elsewhere in the field.
I discovered when I had a look at the Camera Obscura that they had been 'spying' on my son George, who had taken his bicycle along and was whizzing around the field on it.
I think George will soon be competent enough for the stabilisers to be taken off, and then he will be whizzing around even faster.
I was looking forward to having a burger from one of Nick Strange's barbecues, which always seem to be at these events, but instead the Partnership had laid on a hog roast, because the equipment was funded through the programme.
I would not have minded, except that by the time I arrived, the hog had all been eaten and there was nothing left.
Some of the other activities to see were hedgelaying skills and apple juicing, while I found Nick Strange inside the marquee with his meat produce stall, along with items such as alpaca wool socks, a BHaam (Blackdown Hills Artists and Makers) display, and much more.
Incidentally, I learned that the Camera Obscura is looking for a permanent site, which needs to be secure and enjoy good views. I believe Culmstock School has been suggested, but if anybody has any other ideas, they will be welcomed.

• The photos above show (in descending order) me having a look at some of the punkie night lanterns; a display of alpaca wool socks, and the BHaam stand.

'Ring and book' bus service coming to the Blackdowns

I AM delighted to learn that some of the gaps in bus services covering villages in Taunton Deane are going to be plugged thanks to an initiative led by my Conservative colleague Councillor John Meikle.
‘Demand responsive’ buses are being introduced and Blagdon Hill will be on one of the routes.
The route will also serve Staplehay and will link the two communities with Taunton.
The initiative has come out of a council task and finish group on sustainable transport which has been chaired by Councillor Meikle - whose, son, of course, is the Duncan Meikle who has helped to pioneer the new community hall plans for Pitminster parish.
A ‘demand responsive’ bus is one which runs on a regular route but which people can ring up and book a seat in advance if they live nearby and the bus will then detour and pick them up.
The proviso is that it will only be during certain times of the day, and also passengers have to be within a reasonable distance and the roads need to be wide enough for the bus to be able to reach them.
I am not quite sure how this is different from the Slinky Bus that Somerset County Council has been supporting, but I am sure it will be a welcome initiative.
At this stage, I am still waiting to be told just when the service will start, and who will be operating it.
The project is a partnership between Taunton Deane Borough Council and the county council.
The Deane council is putting £25,000 towards the set-up costs of scheme, which will run for three years.
Other communities which will benefit from the service include West Monkton, West Hatch, Hestercombe, and Curry Mallet.
Councillor Meikle told me: “We are beginning to infill the bus service gaps in Taunton Deane.
“This compliments a similar ‘ring and book’ magnificent voluntary community transport which Wiveliscombe have been running for some years covering 26 parish areas to the west of Taunton.
“All this positive thinking and action helps the quality of life for everybody.”
Councillor Ross Henley, who is the leader of the Deane council, told me: “I am very pleased to be able to implement the recommendation of this task and finish review.”

Free swimming 'con' attempt by the Lib Dems

HERE we go again. More untruths from the Lib Dem SatWav pioneers.
This time, they are peddling untruths in an effort to con votes out of people in Ruishton and Creech St Michael.
You may know that there is going to be a by-election in the ward on October 2, due to the death of one of my Conservative colleagues, Councillor Gwyneth Leighton.
Obviously, the Lib Dems have made themselves very unpopular locally with their callous decisions to close sports centre crèches, axe discounts for pensioners using leisure services, and demolish the only two proper pay-as-play public squash courts in the county town.
Decisions which, I am sure I do not need to remind you, they took in secret and without any consultation with the public or those who use our leisure services.
So, in a blatant bid to try to redeem themselves in the eyes of the public, their leader, ‘Reckless’ Ross Henley, has told the voters of Ruishton and Creech St Michael that ‘his’ council is going to give free swimming for everybody under-16 and everybody over-60 as from next year.
This crass claim has been shown by the council’s chief executive to be an untruth.
So, ‘Reckless’ Ross has been humiliatingly forced to put a retraction in their next leaflet telling people that in fact all the Lib Dems want to do is take up Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s previously-announced policy of free swimming for young people and the elderly as part of the UK’ build up to the London 2012 Olympics.
The Lib Dems have not yet even got as far as putting a proposal on the subject to the Deane council, where it will be properly debated before any decisions can be taken.
Of course, Conservatives support the idea of free swimming in principle.
But, unlike ‘Reckless’ Ross, we are not prepared to sign a blank cheque drawn on council taxpayers money.
As yet, nobody has any idea of the costs of meeting the free swimming promise, as we do not know how much take-up their would be, nor the impact on other paid-for swimming sessions, nor how much Gordon Brown is actually going to give us to help pay for it.
These are all things which ‘Reckless’ Ross should have been looking into before rushing headlong into print with false promises.
I hear that he is apparently blaming his agent for getting it wrong in the leaflet – funny that, as he was previously quoted as saying virtually the same thing in the Somerset County Gazette and Wellington Weekly News, and I am pretty sure his agent does not edit either of those publications.
Incidentally, it will not be ‘free’ swimming, it will be swimming that is paid for by people aged between 16 and 59 years.

'Local veto' stops phone box closures - for now

I AM pleased to hear that the Deane council is formally objecting to the proposed closure by BT of many public telephone boxes in the area.
BT wants to remove four call boxes from the Blackdown ward which I represent, and two more in Ford Street, Wellington, and Sampford Moor, an area in which I am campaigning to become the county councillor next year.
I am pleased the council has taken up my suggestion of using what is known as ‘The Local Veto’ to object to BT’s plans, although I was a little surprised the council did not know about this power until I pointed it out.
All six of the above proposed closures are being formally opposed, and this effectively means BT cannot remove these public call boxes.
There is a protracted appeals process which BT could pursue, but their only argument is that they are losing money on these phone boxes - and that is not actually any grounds for closure.
When the regulating body, Ofcom, last reviewed BT’s ‘universal service obligation’ under which BT has to maintain public call boxes, it decided that the cost of doing so was not overly onerous.
Therefore, for BT to argue it is not making money out of the call boxes on the Blackdown Hills and the rural area around Wellington is simply not a good reason for taking them away.
When I asked BT for the actual financial figures in relation to these particular phone boxes, they refused to provide them.
As many people will discover when they visit the Blackdowns, it is very difficult to obtain a mobile phone signal, and if there was an emergency they would have to rely on finding a call box.
I have also asked the council to go one step further and look at making formal requests for BT to instead begin replacing phone boxes which have previously been removed, or to introduce new ones.
Bishopswood, for instance, does not have a public phone box anywhere in the community nor nearby.
I think that every community should have at least one public call box available for people to use if there was any kind of emergency or breakdown in the residential phone network.

• The photograph shows me at the public phone box in Stapley, which is on BT’s closure list.

Accident blackspot junction needs improving as matter of priority

IMPROVEMENTS are needed to Culmhead Crossroads, which is considered to be one of the worst accident blackspots on the Blackdown Hills.
I have had a close look at the junction after concern was expressed by local resident Robin Morris, who has frequently experienced cars crashing into, and sometimes through, his garden hedge, and who has also narrowly avoided being knocked down.
Matters came to a head for Mr Morris with a recent crash at the junction between two Audi cars in which some of the occupants suffered serious injuries.
Now, I am asking highways officials to improve the warning signs and rumble strips on the approaches to the junction, and I also want to see changes to the white lining which would make it safer for vehicles crossing the junction.
I have looked into the accident statistics for this junction going back over 10 years and there have been 17 people injured in that time, not including the recent crash involving the Audis.
On top of these, there have been many more minor accidents where, fortunately, people have escaped injury.
So, it is quite clear that there is a problem which needs to be addressed at this junction and I have therefore made some suggestions which I hope will improve safety.
If this was a more major road, then I am sure its accident statistics would have seen something done about the situation long ago.
I think people living and working on the Blackdown Hills deserve to see the county council putting just as much effort into making their roads safer as they do in the urban areas.

• The photograph shows me (left) at Culmhead crossroads with resident Robin Morris and some of the wreckage left from the recent double-Audi car crash at the junction.

Speak up now to help save Blagdon Hill School from closure

THE governors of Blagdon Hill Primary School continue to have my full support in their fight to save the village school from closure under Somerset County Council spending cuts.
I visited the school again yesterday with Mark Formosa, who is the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Taunton Deane and who is passionate about the need to maintain small schools.
We are urgently calling for everybody in the local community to send their comments to the county council before the public consultation process ends on Friday, June 6.
Interestingly, Mark discovered by coincidence that as a youngster he went to the same school in Cornwall as Blagdon’s chairman of governors, Jonathan Langdon.
The county council say they are talking about the quality of education in small rural schools - but we all know they are really interested in cutting money from a budget they have mismanaged despite doubling our Council Tax in 10 years.
Now, rural residents are being threatened with paying the price of the county’s blundering through the closure of village schools not just here on the Blackdowns, but across many areas of Somerset.
Blagdon Hill provides quality education for the children who attend it, and the small class sizes mean pupils can receive a high ratio of one-to-one attention from their teachers.
Pupils receive excellent sports tuition, every child goes swimming every week of every term, every child plays a musical instrument, there is a computer in class for every two pupils rather than a once-a-week session in an IT suite, and children with special needs are able to make huge progress in such an environment.
All this is reflected in Ofsted inspection reports which rate the school and its teaching environment as good, good, good.
Yet, the county council are contemplating closing Blagdon Hill School and they are already putting off potential pupils by not telling parents moving to the area that the school is there.
I was extremely impressed by the strength of local feelings which came out of the recent open meeting and drop-in sessions, which I think rather took the county council by surprise.
They were gravely mistaken if they thought Blagdon Hill residents would be a soft touch, and I hope that if enough people put sufficiently robust arguments to them before the close of consultation on Friday, then we may have a chance of stopping this closure.
It does not make sense to be closing any school at a time when schools in Taunton are already over-subscribed and we face thousands more homes being built in the town with a huge influx of new residents and their children.

• The photograph outside Blagdon Hill Primary School shows (left to right) acting head teacher David Hawkins, chairman of governors Jonathan Langdon, Mark Formosa, parent-governor Jayne Simpson, and Blackdown ward Deane Councillor John Thorne.