Southchurch Tories - A changing of the guard?

I am grateful to my blogging colleague Matthew Dent for the news that the Conservative Party in Southchurch will be fielding a new candidate in the 2016 Borough Council elections rather than veteran Councillor David Garston.

Having served as a Southchurch Ward councillor since 1970 (although I do believe he was defeated by the Independents in the Noughties), I would hope that the Tories will arrange for him to receive an OBE or a similar gong for his services to local politics.

I believe this may well be a gift to the Independents. In 2014, the Independents won the council seat in Southchurch Ward when the Conservatives ran a new candidate in the elections. As last year's Independent candidate, Keith Sharman, has announced that he will be standing again, in my view he has a very good chance of winning.

As the Independents are currently the largest grouping within the administration on the Borough Council, I think it is worth examining how they hold themselves accountable to their electorate. I did read in the Echo newspaper, earlier this week, that the Leader of the Council Ron Woodley will be attending a series of meetings to consult on the future direction of the Borough. My political antennae started to twitched, when the article reported that attendance at these meetings will be by invitation only. My initial suspicion is that the invitees will be drawn from local residents associations, from whom many of the current Independent councillors sprung forth. This caused me to look up the word tendentious in my dictionary, and its meaning is "calculated to promote a particular cause or viewpoint".

I suppose that as Councillor Woodley doesn't have a diverse group of people behind him, or dare one say a political party, he is forced to embark upon these meetings. However, simply consulting a narrow range of vested interests hardly makes for good politics and even worse policy-making. For instance, will a residents association offer any constructive advice on the crisis of homelessness within the Borough?

It is my dearest hope that following the conclusion of the leadership election, a reinvigorated Labour Party will be able to sweep away both the Independents and Tories, in Southchurch Ward and throughout the Borough of Southend.