Not elected but the tide is turning!

Sorry for not reporting on the election result more quickly but had to leave for an expedition the morning after polling day.

The Result?
We lost but we did increase the Labour vote, reduced the Tory majority and we also saw the Lib Dem collapse.
Result 2007
Rushmere Ward - Ipswich
Labour- Alasdair Ross - 905
Tory - Eileen Smith - 1014 - elected
Cathy French - Lib Dem - 269
Brenda Cavanagh - Green Party - 165

So the Tory majority is now 109 and in 2006 it was 177 so we have reduced that by 67, our vote went up by 100, with the Tory vote only going up by 32- the Lib Dem vote went down by 361!
Turnout and percentages will follow in a further post.
So we did not see a Labour collapse in Rushmere, but an increase in our vote.
Ipswich
We saw a similar pattern all over Ipswich with the Tories making no gains, the Lib Dems gained Westgate off us by 13 votes but all the effort they put into this meant they lost Whitehouse back to us and they almost lost their flagship ward of St Margaret's to the Tories!
So the Council keeps the same shape and we are now ready to push onto 2008 where we make see all out elections if we gain unitary status.
Thank you to all those who have voted for me or supported me, I will continue this blog as we continue to campaign in Rushmere and all over Ipswich.
Keep the faith.

A CROSS FOR ROSS FOR RUSHMERE!

Not many posts recently as any spare minute has seen me campaigning in Rushmere and also all over Ipswich.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday saw me in St Johns and on Sunday it was off to Westgate to deliver a hard hitting leaflet which set out the many lies that the Fib Dems have been using. Monday it was back into st Johns. Rushmere has not been forgotten with leaflets being distributed all over the ward and also some door knocking. Many residents seem to be concerned about the Tory plans to build flats anywhere they can.
Now it is the last few hours, I am slightly worried about the postal votes that went out a week later than normal, it will be interesting to see what effect that will have on the vote.
You might not see many more posts before next Tuesday. Straight after the election, i am taking a group of children on an expedition to the Wye Valley. As the count has been moved till Friday morning, it will not be mentioned on here till Tuesday.
At least that will be able to give me time to analyse the results in Ipswich and nationally- just to finish by saying:

VOTE ALASDAIR ROSS ON THURSDAY!

A CROSS FOR ROSS FOR RUSHMERE!

Rushmere Campaign Update

Tuesday saw another early start as I delivered leaflets in Colchester Road and Shetland Close, found time during my lunch break to do some phone canvassing, a good response from the electorate. After work and saw more deliveries before heading off to St John's to help canvass. Wednesday followed the same pattern though I managed to also fit in some daytime deliveries in Westgate.
Today also started with early morning deliveries but no time to phone canvass, after school I finished off a couple delivery routes and then managed to canvass most of Sidegate Lane - strange though as they had been canvassed by Mrs Smith the Tory candidate the night before who went on about being a 'local' candidate. Not sure how you can be local and not even live or work in the ward!

Cleanest town in England- can't have walked down Bramford Lane on a Sunday!

Sunday saw 17 of us (including our friends from Ealing) hit the streets of Westgate. This ward is the Lib Dems main target so it is one of only 4 wards in the town that has seen a yellow leaflet! Martin Cook our candidate has put everything into the campaign, including highlighting over 150 locations of graffiti in the ward. This does not sit very well with the Tory/Lib Dem council who have been celebrating winning the cleanest town in England award -now I am very proud of Ipswich- my home town but this award is one it is hard to be proud of when you see the state of the streets in Westgate. It must make local residents wonder what the Lib Dems are on about as they take all the praise for winning the award- forgetting to credit the council workers who do the hard work. They also forget that the town could be even cleaner if they (Tories and Lib Dems) hadn't wasted over £100,00 on a botched attempt at trying to privatise the Ipswich street cleaning service.

Graffiti in Rushmere

Whilst out delivering leaflets this morning I was shocked by the rise in locations where graffiti can be found, a whole fence has been covered in Aberdeen Way.In the lower end of Sidegate Lane there are six locations where graffiti has been sprayed. I will be supplying a list of the locations with a full set of photos to the Borough Council’s Streetcare Department and will demand that an urgent clean-up plan is started immediately.I’ll be checking progress regularly with Council staff to ensure that the graffiti I have found is tackled as quickly as possible and I’ll be reporting back to residents over the coming weeks.It’s quite clear that the Liberal Democrat and Tory run Council is losing the battle against graffiti, fly-posting and vandalism. It’s taken them months to sort out less than a dozen cable TV cabinets but it’s obvious from just Sidegate Lane that this is just the tip of the iceberg.It is obvious that this is becoming a serious matter within the whole town, in Westgate ward the Labour Councillor, Martin Cook has found over 150 locations where graffiti has been placed!

This has to stop now and the Council needs to turn back the tide before things get even worse. Unfortunately the focus on keeping the town clean has slipped since the Liberal Democrats and Tories wasted £106,000 on a failed attempt to privatise the Streetcare Department and started a programme of staff cutbacks.

The attached photos show a couple of places in Sidegate Lane where graffiti has been located.


You can report graffiti, fly-posting and litter using the Council’s Cleaner Ipswich Hotline on 01473 433000.