| NORTH DEVON: candidate strides out |  |  |
| Thursday, 07 April 2011 11:06 |
| Gerrard Sables is the Progressive candidate contesting the Barnstaple Central ward for both Barnstaple Town Council and North Devon District Council. You can view his campaign literature here. If you are local and want to help contact us. Gerrard says, "It seems all three big parties are having difficulties in getting candidates. In the town council contest my ward has five seats. There are four Libdem candidates, one Tory and me so if Barnstaple Central acts like Barnsley we're in. For the district, which has two seats there are two Libdem, two Tory, one Labour and one Communist. The only ones who live in the ward are the Tory and I. Labour has not fought North Devon District Council since 1999. Now there are ten candidates for the 44 seats. The Libdems have had two high level resignations locally. Dave Butt a LibDem Distict councillor since 1987 and Malcolm Prouse former leader of the district council have both left the party. Two lifelong Liberals signed my nomination form and another supporter has offered help in my campaign. I have had unsolicited promises of votes from disillusioned Liberals. The cuts in public spending are the main issue. Barnstaple Records Office is under threat, the Tourist Information office has already had its budget slashed by 50%, support is being withdrawn for bus routes. A headline in today's North Devon Journal says "Homeless and can't afford to rent in the private sector." It is a scandal about former council houses which were sold by the former Libdem council, being used as temporary lets and the plight of those tenants on finding they are to be demolished. I used to live in that street. I had two offers of help today one from a disabled woman on her motor scooter who offered to write and stuff envelopes as she once did for the LibDems and one from a Bengali who has just been granted permanent residence. He is active among the migrant community and is going to take me to visit the workers at various Indian and Chinese restaurants. His first ever vote is going to be for me. |
