Elections in Gainsborough

Here in Gainsborough a sprawling rural seat where long walks and drives are necessary to reach voters, natural Tory territory, we had to fight off a serious campaign from Labour , something that we have not faced for some time. Led by David Prescott, son of John, he was able to get senior Labour politicians to appear such as his father (more than once), Alan Johnson and Dennis Skinner. He brought in workers from Hull to deliver and canvass. In the end they won three seats in an urban ward full of social housing.

In contrast to Labour our parliamentary candidate Lesley Rollings , a local teacher and councillor on town, district and county council, had, with a very small team of helpers, to work flat out. Despite requests to party HQ no appearances by any Lib Dem MPs or Lords were forthcoming. The result in the circumstances is amazingly good. We now have 7 councillors, two of which are new, to lead the opposition West Lindsey District Council, which is officer led anyway as the Tories are supine..

Hopefully our 7 district councillors will support Gainsborough Town Council which, as in 2011, is the real success. We have 13 councillors, there are 3 Tories (who declare themselves as independents on the town council) and one throwback to the pre 2011 town council who was responsible for significant malpractice. There remains one vacancy to be filled by co-option at the June meeting. That will then give Lib Dems 14 of the 18 seats. I expect the Tories will work with us, they did in the last council, so it leaves the one councillor from the failed pre-2011 administration out in the cold.

Over the past four years Lib Dems have turned the Town Council around from being on the verge of bankruptcy to financial stability and facing a future with a five year town plan and three year budget. Following the refusal of WLDC to work together with the The Town Council a Town Partnership of the Chamber of Commerce, the Lincoln Co-op and Town Council has been formed to attract inward investment . The Partnership will work in co-operation with Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire County councils to secure funding for a second Trent Bridge as our 224 year old bridge is now a major bottleneck and a barrier to economic development. Again WLDC has decline to participate. In fact they have designated the route for the highway to the bridge as a Housing Zone. We will of course fight this. The Town Council has an excellent track record of fighting the district council and winning every time.

In the past the Lib Dems especially those at district, county and at Westminster, has taken little notice of parish councils, but the time has come for parish councils to become the driver for political action by working in partnership with community organistaions. Its also a good place to recruit more members and introduce them to being a councillor as a good parish councillor will have more work to do than colleagues at district or county where there are serried ranks of officers to do their bidding.