The Hustings

On Sunday 2 May, our University of Buckingham hosted hustings for all the candidates for both East and West wards covering Buckingham and the nearby villages. My huge thanks to Dean Jones who pulled all this together, ably supported and sponsored by technician Matt Thompson, Student Union President Chris Sheard & VC James Tooley. Thanks to all who took part and made this happen. This is democracy in action! 

Dean has posted a link to the event on MS Teams - and soon there will be one on You Tube as well. Meanwhile here is the link to the MST recording. The recording is now also up on Vimeo and YouTube. Thanks Dean. 

Like all the candidates, I scripted my answers to the preset questions. Here is what I wrote and later said:

First - my 'pitch':

I want Buckingham and our nearby villages to be even better places in which to live, study, play, work, grow up, grow old and visit. I want our community to be part of a sustainable world in which everyone - and I mean everyone - has dreams and ambitions and the wherewithal to achieve them. If that chimes with you, then I simply request one of your three votes.

If I am elected I promise that I will work my absolute hardest as your local Buckinghamshire councillor to tackle the issues that matter to you - and which matter to me. Those concerns include:

• Sorting the damned potholes! (and I have new ideas on how to do that)
• More clean green energy and action to renew biodiversity
• The scourges of loneliness and low well being
• Making our streets and homes safer - and feel safer
• Housing that puts communities first not second (or even third)
• Boosting local businesses with council purchasing
• Inequalities and discrimination whereever they occur
• More transparency & more accountability
• Cleaner streets, parks and countryside

You may say - ‘how will you do this? What is it going to cost?’

To which I respond - I don’t exactly know yet because I don’t know what the new Council will look like and who will be elected. And so forth.

But I do know I am good at persuading people, coming up with new ideas and listening to the ideas of lots of other people. Just last week, our local MP presented a Bill in parliament that will go some way towards tackling power tool thefts. The original idea came from a local woman on Facebook. I saw it and thought - hah! That could work. So I sent it on to Greg Smith - and he thought so too. I am good at facilitating community ingenuity - and I am not bad at coming up with ideas myself. If you elect me - just watch this space!

And if you want to know more about my pitch and my ideas - please go to votejonharvey.blogspot.com. And if you want to know how hard I can work, please visit the blog I wrote about my two years as Town Mayor - just search on Buckingham Mayor Blog and you will find it.

Thanks for your support.

Q1. Why should/ and how can Buckingham do more to protect the Environment? ....

Like most people I have renewed my love of our countryside and municipal parks over the last few months. All this environment has added an immeasurable boost to my well being. I know I am not alone in this. So of course, we should protect, develop and enhance our wonderful environment!

And we must remember that our environment is limitless. To adapt John Donne, ‘never say for whom the iceberg melts, it melts for thee’. Protecting the environment also means preventing our world going up in the flames of gas and oil. We have to tackle the climate emergency - head on and with speed. The clock is ticking and we are at 2 minutes to midnight. So what is to be done?

We need to stop throwing litter away for starters! All our councils can help with this by providing plenty of bins (including in laybys like Oxfordshire does) and litter pickers too. I was on a beach in Cornwall a few days ago - and there was a box with plastic bin bags and pickers for people to borrow and help keep the beach clean. We could have those in our parks.

We all need to buy from local shops and farmers. We need to help farmers markets thrive? I don’t know the answers - but I think if we ask the farmers and consumers some more - we can find out.

As for reducing our carbon footprint - there are so many ways we are all trying to do this. But we need to do it more. And Buckinghamshire Council has a leadership role here. Much more of the Council’s newsletter needs to inform and educate people on how to make a difference. And the council needs to show by example by investing in public transport and reusable energy. Why don’t all council buildings have solar panels and batteries?

I am confident that with deep partnership working between the councils, our communities, local businesses and everyone of us - we can together make a real difference. Indeed, we must!

Q2. What actions will you take to deal with resident’s concerns about housing development and its impact on our small market town and surrounding villages? ...

My first action is always to listen and listen some more. And watch closely what happens.

I was part of the team of councillors and officers who debated the ideas and put together the Buckingham Neighbourhood Development Plan over many months. The plan is filled with local people’s hopes and ambitions for the future of our town. The plan is about to be revised - and there will be many more meetings to listen, learn and debate

The Neighbourhood Plan sought to balance the need for more housing with the need for this to be carefully matched with suitable infrastructure - roads, schools, drains etc etc. We also need local housing to be affordable for those people who need to move on or move out of where they are currently living.

I was also the person who wrote to the Housing Minister to ask him to stop the development of Moreton Road phase three as it was outside the boundary in the Neighbourhood Plan. Thankfully he did and AVDC were forced not to approve the planning application. Although the threat has not gone away.

Many of the problems in the past have been when the planning authority has taken its eyes off the ball as it were when it comes to approving the layouts and section 106 agreements. For example, why are there no street lights for people walking home at night to the new St Rumbold’s estate? Why did the town council have to argue and argue for there to be a proper path between the phase one Moreton Road development and the nearby bus stop? Minor details that can be sorted with the proper involvement of parish and town councillors.

So in sum - my main action will be to keep banging the drum to insist that local people have a real say in local housing developments - directly and via their parish/town councils.

Q3. How will you ensure all residents have the opportunity to thrive in our town and surrounding villages? ...

I love this question!

For me everyone thriving means everyone having dreams and ambitions and the wherewithal to achieve them. This is at the heart of my politics. That is the world I am working towards - indeed it's the world I have always been joyfully working towards - professionally, personally and politically.

As a Buckinghamshire Councillor - I won’t claim that I will be able to ‘ensure’ this though! But this is what I will do that I believe and hope will help:

I am going to do my best to shift the debate on fast broadband to all areas from - ‘how much will it cost to install’ to ‘how much will it cost our local businesses, the education of our children and ourselves, and the well being of our communities if we ‘don't install fast broadband..! I will be looking for ways to measure this and thereby build effective business cases for the expansion of our BB networks throughout the county.

Secondly we need to turn Buckinghamshire Council into an ‘asset aware’ council so that all of the council services compliment, harness and develop all the existing passionate energy in our town and local villages that is already aiming to create thriving communities. As taxpayers and residents, we are partners in this enterprise - not merely customers of council services - and we need to be treated as such. This is called ‘Asset Based Community Development’ and there is more on my blog about this.

Thirdly, I will carry on campaigning for the shire Council to use more of its purchasing power to boost local businesses and local not for profit providers. The legislation, in the form of the Social Value Act 2012 already exists to do this. I will be pushing for the Council to spend much more of our money inside the county so that lots of small local businesses will benefit.

And there is so much more that can be done to help people thrive but my two minutes is up!

Q4. What part does party politics play in a local council elections? Why is standing as a (conservative, Independent, Liberal Democrat, Labour, Green etc.) Important to you? ...

To answer the first part of the question: too much! Far too much.

As a manager I wouldn’t appoint someone to a job based on the colour of their jacket. Why should we do this as voters? In my view, people should vote for people not parties.

At the age of 16, for my O’level certificate in Spoken English, I argued that there is no place for party politics in local government. I got an A. It has taken me a few years, but I am now resolutely back to that position.

It seems to me, the only people who really benefit from party politics in local council elections are those in control of those parties. I happen to think the people should be in control.

It really doesn’t have to be this way. I have been a member of the Town Council for nearly ten years - and we make decisions after just talking about stuff. There are no pre meetings where different factions work out their party line - just straight talking passionate town councillors thrashing out what we think is best for the town. And guess what, most of the time we agree!

As we now wake up blinking in our post pandemic world, Buckinghamshire Council has some very important decisions to make - in order to help everyone thrive in what are going to be some very tough times ahead. The last thing we need are parties, tribes and factions arguing about the numbers of angels on political pinheads. Just like the Town’s swan, I will be not held down, hobbled and chained to hardened party rules, policies and positions

As your independent councillor I will be standing up for voices of local people and our local communities. I will be standing up for decisions that are evidence based and consensual. And I will be standing up for creativity, innovation and fresh thinking.

Because this is what we need right now - more than ever!