Grove Conservatives

Bill Melotti will be standing as our candidate for the Grove and Wantage by-election for Oxfordshire County Council. Polling day is 13th March. Bill has lived in Wantage all his life and knows Grove well. He has been working with some residents about risks associated with flooding from the new development, and shortly after his election to the District Council back in May, lobbied OCC to ensure the correct decision on the future of secondary schooling in Grove.

The Liberal option for secondary schooling was one that would have forced the current King Alfred’s to shut and re-form into two schools, which would have been simply disastrous. Indded if Liberals had of been in charge of OCC last June, then KA would probably now be fighting OCC in court to prevent the closure.

He attended the recent meeting by Grove residents about the development planned for the airfield and you can watch his first campagin video at YouTube, or via his website www.billmelotti.me.uk

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Hello again! Long time no post. Well, we’ve agreed to keep this blog going as a comment on Grove and an update on what Conservatives are doing locally. I may not be an elected councillor, but you’ve not got rid of me yet….

I do however have good reason for my long absence. Since the elections last May, my husband and I have bought a house in and moved to Grove, and in November of last year, our baby daughter was born. This gives me even more of an interest in doing what I can to make Grove the best it can be.

You’ll be hearing from me again soon…  In the meantime, please remember that you can contact us via the site at any time.

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As I’m sure you are all aware, Jim Moley, one of the Lib Dem County Councillors for the Wantage & Grove ward, and District and Town Councillor for Wantage, sadly passed away last week. Although I did not know him personally, I knew of him, and it is clear that Grove has lost a committed politician as well as a colourful and active local figure. We would like to express our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

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After a long wait to fix my computer, add a connection and then learn the wonders of modern technology ( thank you Jeremy ), I’m now able to keep this fantastic web-blog thing up and running. There’s so much to say and so few lines to write it on without boring you with politics. Firstly a BIG thankYOU to all who voted me onto the Council. At 20 I’m the 2nd youngest Councillor in the country. Something to tell the grandkids if nothing else!It’s been an interesting, yet eye opening few months. I’ve spent evenings out with the Police, geared up in a stabvest ready to take on the whole of…. Wantage & Grove. I’ve campaigned hard with fellow collegues Cllr. Bill Mellotti and Cllr Iain Brown for a much needed secondery school in Grove - something that we have needed since the early 80’s at least. The schools result ( after typical liberal opposition ) was granted. These are just a few of the BIG representaions we have made to Council so far, and I can assure you, I shall continue to russle up Liberal feathers for a long time yet!

Cheers.

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The Lib Dems have been putting round rumours that I’m intending to leave Grove to go to Uni. This is categorically not the case. I have never had any plan to leave Grove, whether it be for educational purposes or otherwise.

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13:29 The Grove result is in and a bit disappointing. Your councillors are Zoe Patrick, Sue Marchant and James McGee.  The full result is:

Mcgee 1067

Precious 859

Renwick 819

Marchant 895

Sewell 794

Patrick 1127

Ackers 294

Davenport 196

Parker 186

Other results are not going our way across the district either, so it is another 4 years of Lib Dem administration from Abingdon.

12:58 Bill Melotti has got in in Wantage unfortunately replacing Eddie Goldsmith. We’re down one in Abingdon at the moment

12:50 Counting has finished for Grove and we’re waiting for the result. Nervous energy forces me to do something with my hands and blogging seems like the best alternative. We haven’t made the gains we were looking for in Abingdon and overall the Labour vote is holding up better than anticipated. Pretty certain James has topped the poll in Grove but the other seats are too close to call.

11:00 Blogging from the count (and yes I’ve checked that I can)

We’re all hopeful that we can replicate the results in Windsor and Maidenhead and Bournemouth, where the Lib Dems were nearly wiped out, but inital impressions are that it is much much closer. In Grove itself it does look like the Labour vote stayed at home and that it is very tight between us and Zoe Patrick.

Turnout at the polling station was between 35 and 40 % depending on which bollot box you were voting in. There are postal ballot to add to this approx 200 or 3%

More later….

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Is over!! It is all done bar the counting.

Many thanks to our team of helpers, particularly the Hills and Sue Wolage.

High points included the impromtu hustings when a man stated that he would give his vote to the party that promised to clear up his part of Grove. Immediately we promised to, inevitably and a well mannered discussion started about the Lib Dems track record on the local environment which I managed to turn onto their record on recycling (see other posts).

I took this picture which rather amused all of us, the hall was being used by other groups at the same time….

..

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Noticed on a Lib Dem leaflet recently: ‘Don’t believe the Conservatives when they say you’ll pay less council tax. The Conservative-run County Council charges you more tax than the Lib Dem-run District, and look how much it increased this year!’

Look at any council tax bill anywhere in the country under any council and you will see that it is perfectly standard for the County component of a council tax bill to be higher than the District component. The County typically has responsibility for a greater number of council services than the District, and this explains the difference. Strike number one against the Libs - despite having had control of the Council for the past few years, it looks like they haven’t figured out how it works yet.

Secondly, the County component of the council tax went up just 4% for 2007-8, compared to 5% for the District component. The Conservative-led County increased their council tax by less than the Liberal-led District, despite having more to fund. Strike number two - they seem to have forgotten how to add up as well.

One very possible reason for this difference in the rise in council tax is efficiency. The Conservative led Oxfordshire County Council is rated ‘excellent’ as a local authority. The Liberal led District is merely ‘fair’.

For me though the third and biggest strike against the Libs from these few lines in their leaflet is that …. they must think we’re all stupid. It doesn’t take a lot of research to see that this particular claim is nonsense.

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Canvassing today I heard a lot of concerns about the future of youth facilities in Grove. In particular, parents are concerned about venues for the Sweat Box youth group, and the local Scouts, both of which could be set to lose their current venues. The Conservatives have pledged to support local voluntary organisations, and especially those that work with young people. It is therefore a concern to us that two youth activity groups of such importance to the local community are at risk. Certainly we will work, in conjunction with Grove Parish Council, to find a solution to both problems if we are elected.

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Local MP Ed Vaizey has raised the question of Grove Station in parliament as a written question for the Dept for Transport.  Thanks, Ed!

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