Lib Dem power grab bid 'shockingly unpopular'

PLANS by Somerset County Council leader, Councillor Cathy Bakewell (pictured), to abolish West Somerset Council and for all local government services to be taken over by her Liberal Democrat group have been given a massive vote of no confidence by the public.
Across Somerset, people opposed Councillor Bakewell’s plans for a new super-size council by more than three-to-one, according to a public opinion poll conducted by the YouGov polling company.
The survey showed that for every person who thought the scheme wouldl lead to lower Council Tax bills, a staggering 10 people believed it would actually lead to higher council taxes.
The result compares with one of Councillor Bakewell’s main arguments in favour of the super-size council, which she says would save money.
Key findings from the YouGov poll included:

• 67 per cent of respondents thought it was a bad idea to create a large, single unitary authority for the whole of Somerset
• 61 per cent thought local services (such as street cleaning, road maintenance and refuse collection) would be worse under the county council’s plans
• 63 per cent thought the county council’s plans would weaken democracy in Somerset
• 74 per cent thought council tax would go up if there was a unitary council

The poll findings dealt a serious blow to Councillor Bakewell’s power grab ambitions as the recent Government White Paper on local government reform said any proposals for change had to carry popular support.
Given the likelihood Councillor Bakewell’s proposals would lead to a migration of jobs away from smaller towns in Somerset towards the regional centre of Taunton, respondents were also asked if they thought the plans would be good or bad for the economy of Somerset outside of Taunton.
Seventy-one per cent of respondents 4thought the plans would be bad.
West Somerset Council leader, Councillor Christine Lawrence, who is opposed to the unitary bid, said: “This poll is the most comprehensive and independent test of public opinion that has been held in Somerset.
“It shows quite clearly that the county council’s plans are shockingly unpopular.
“You really would have to try quite hard to come up with proposals that were more unpopular than this.
“Against this background, I simply cannot see how the Government could allow the county council to proceed with these reorganisation plans.” Photo submitted.

Bus and car vandals leave trail of damage across Minehead

WITNESSES and information are being sought by police after a series of cars and buses in Minehead were damaged by vandals.
It happened on the town’s Mart Road industrial estate and in nearby residential roads some time between 12 midnight and 4.45 am on Saturday, March 17.
The offenders entered a compound in Brunel Way, where buses were parked overnight and stole emergency hammers from the vehicles.
Three buses then had their windows smashed and the same culprits are believed to have gone on to damage cars which were parked along Hawksworth Road, Fownes Road, Alcombe Road, Field End, and Whitegate Road.At the time of writing, 18 vehicles had been reported to police as damaged.Police have been carrying out house to house inquiries in the area, but are keen to hear from anybody who may have witnessed any of the damage taking place, or who might know the offenders involved.
Anybody who can help should contact police through the secure Crimestoppers contact form at https://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/crimestoppers/ContactForm.aspxOr, they can call the Crimestoppers freephone line on 0800 555 111, where they do not have to give their name and where they could receive a reward.

• Our photo shows the Mart Road industrial estate. Photo submitted.

West Somerset Railway wins travel trade award

THE West Somerset Railway has won a travel trade award after attending the British Travel Trade Fair, held in the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.
The exhibition helped the railway to make new contacts in the travel industry and allowed useful face-to-face conversations with management and representatives of existing customers of the line.
The railway’s stand also won the exhibition’s award for best overall participation, which was given on the basis of the quality of the stand, the staff’s approach, and the amount of work carried out before the show to make contacts and seek new business.
WSR general manager Paul Conibeare said: “Given the size and resources of some of the participating companies and organisations it reflects very well on the WSR and the commercial department that they should be so highly thought of by a gathering of hard-headed tourism trade professionals.
“Apart from the certificate, we are confident that this will lead on to more business coming to Somerset in the future.”

• Our photograph shows railway commercial manager Martyn Snell and tours officer Samantha Minter at the Minehead Station with the certificate.
  Photo submitted.

Quaker banner reminds people slavery exists 200 years after abolition

A BANNER is going on display in Minehead’s public library during April to commemorate the 200th anniversary of a Parliamentary Bill being passed to abolish the slave trade in the British colonies.
It has been made by a number of Minehead Quakers, who chose words to represent the human right to a life of freedom and then made panels to illustrate them.
An embroidered section is based on pictures drawn by children to show some of their favourite activities, which would have been denied to children in slavery.
The project was the idea of Angela Birch, of Watchet, and will normally be displayed in the Quaker Meeting House, in Bancks Street, Minehead.
It will also be exhibited in other places during the year, and postcards of it will be for sale from the Under the Rainbow shop, in Friday Street, Minehead.
The bicentennial is on March 25, but, 200 years on, Chris Lawson, co-clerk of the Minehead Quaker Meeting, said: “Many forms of slavery still exist.
“It is hoped that the banner will help people want to work for freedom and human rights today.”

• Our photographs show the banner itself, and the banner being held outside the Quaker Meeting House by (left to right) Maggie King, who helped to make it, Jamahl Cummings, one of those whose pictures is at the foot of the banner, and project originator Angela Birch. Photos by Chris Lawson.

Sir Ranulph conquers Eiger North Face for charity

EXMOOR-based explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who admits to suffering vertigo, has scaled the North Face of the Eiger after a five-day climb of one of the most difficult and dangerous mountains in the world.
The mountain in the Swiss Alps is 6,000 ft of mainly sheer rock face and ice, giving it a daunting reputation among the world’s climbers.
Sir Ranulph, aged 63, who lives near Exford, only took up climbing two years ago and has already also attempted to climb Mount Everest in a fund-raiser for the British Heart Foundation.
He undertook the Eiger challenge to raise £1.5 million for the Marie Curie Cancer Care Delivering Choice Programme.
He said: “This will revolutionise end-of-life care in the UK and aims to double the number of terminally ill people who can be cared for and die in their own homes.
“I have watched my nearest and dearest die of cancer and I understand the huge difference this choice can make.”
With Sir Ranulph on the Eiger Challenge were UK climber Kenton Cool and mountain photographer Ian Parnell.
They followed the classic route which was pioneered by members of a German-Austrian expedition who were the first to conquer the Eiger’s North Face in 1938.
On his MySpace blog, Sir Ranulph wrote: “It felt pretty good to reach the summit. We started yesterday with the Traverse of the Gods.
“Had I known that ‘it’ was part of the thing, and that it was, I won’t use a rude word, but ‘bloody’ difficult, I don’t think I would have done it. Not even for Marie Curie.
“I knew it was going to be a difficult climb. But I thought it would be more like the practise climbs I have been doing with Kenton around Chamonix and the Alps - just a more difficult version of that. Not the nightmarish thing that it actually was.
“So, much as I am very pleased that we succeeded in getting to the top, and I am really hoping for big money for our charity, to be honest it is more than I would have wanted to have taken on.
“I think I will have nightmares for a long time over the Traverse for the Gods. My policy of not looking down just was not possible. There was nowhere but down. I had to look down to find the next foothold because it is so totally vertical.”
Ian Parnell said he was particularly proud of Sir Ranulph’s achievement.
He said: “It is quite inspirational for somebody who, when he was first interested in the project two years or so ago, you would not call a climber in any way.
“For him to then do a route like the North Face of the Eiger, which by any climber’s reckoning is one of the big tough routes of the climbing world, it is impressive.”
Anybody who wants to support Sir Ranulph’s Eiger challenge can go to www.mariecurie.org.uk/eigerchallenge or http://www.justgiving.com/EigerChallenge.
His Myspace blog is at http://www.myspace.com/ranulphfiennes.
The Eiger Challenge was made possible by the following sponsors: HIGHSTONE Group Ltd, Motorola, Mountain Equipment, Grand Regina Hotel in Grindelwald, Swiss International Airlines, Switzerland Tourism, ARA (Artists Rifle Association), Europcar, Air Glaciers, Jungfrau Railways, The Met Office (UK), Meteotest, The Swiss Weather Bureau, Sutter Druck AG, and Grindelwald Tourismus.

Photo submitted.

Modern-day 'pitchfork rebellion' goes to Westminster to save West Somerset

WEST Somerset Council was among a delegation of councillors, trades unionists, and chief executives who lobbied MPs in London on Wednesday, March 14, as a campaign was stepped up to defeat Somerset County Council’s unitary authority plans.
Liberal Democrats at County Hall, Taunton, want to abolish local district councils in Somerset and take over all local government services in a move which would see their ‘salaries’ jump enormously to match the extra responsibilities.
But the political move by Lib Dem county council leader Councillor Cathy Bakewell, who already earns more than £40,000 a year from her role, has attracted strong criticism from people who fear planning decisions in, say Porlock, would be made by councillors in Frome.
Councillor Bakewell, who has so far failed even to secure the support of all of her Lib Dem members, would head one of the largest unitary authorities in England if the Government approved the reorganisation.
Local Conservative MP Ian Liddell-Grainger and Euro MP Neil Parish are among those who oppose creating a super-size council.
Representatives from all five of Somerset’s district councils joined forces with members of the local government union UNISION for the delegation trip to Westminster.
They delivered a dossier of evidence against Councillor Bakewell’s proposals to Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
The delegation was met by members of the Sealed Knot, light-heartedly invoking the spirit of the ‘Pitchfork Rebellion’ of 1685.
The rebellion, which was led by the Duke of Monmouth and supported by the county’s farmers and peasants, was, in some senses, the first battle for democratic rights in Somerset.
Councillor Bakewell’s proposals follow a decision by the Department for Communities and Local Government to explore the development of more unitary authorities around the country.
The government favours unitary authorities if they save money and have popular support.
In Somerset, however, Councillor Bakewell’s super-size council ambitions have been independently calculated to cost ratepayers £7 million.
West Somerset Council leader, Councillor Christine Lawrence, said: “The county’s plans are ill thought out and badly timed.
“A single unitary authority for Somerset would be bad for local democracy, bad for local services, and bad for the local economy.
“These plans really ought to be withdrawn immediately. Rural areas will not get the representation that they clearly want, need, and are used to.”
Nigel Osborne, from UNISON, said: “It is clear from the county council’s proposals that many jobs will be lost and many more will move from local towns into the regional centre at Taunton.
“My real fear is that a single, super-size council in Somerset would have no alternative but to cut council services as it fought to pay the huge costs of becoming a unitary authority.”
A Government announcement on which unitary proposals will be allowed to proceed to the next stage of the process is expected by the end of March.
Photos submitted.

Top-performing recycling centre in sudden closure for revamp

THE household waste recycling centre in Minehead - one of the top-performing in Somerset - is closed for three weeks.
Residents who use the centre in Mart Road from time to time suddenly found a printed notice attached to a bin outside the gates this week announcing the closure.
But Somerset County Council, which runs the centre, denied it had failed to keep the public informed of the impending closure.
The site is undergoing safety works and will have a new lay-out when it reopens.
In the meantime, however, there was no information available to the public on where to take their waste.
County council spokesman Jan Hookings told The Crier the closure was so ‘essential safety works can be carried out and a new site layout introduced’.
Mrs Hookings said: “Notices have been up on site for the past month and visitors over the past three weeks have been given flyers when visiting the site.
“Efforts are being made to keep disruption to a minimum.
“Local recycling banks for cans, paper and glass will remain available at Alexandra car park and Tesco car park, and at similar sites in the town.
“We have made every effort to try and keep people informed of this disruption and apologise for any inconvenience caused to people who only visit the site occasionally.”

• Photo by Mark the Photographer, ref M010106. Order image reprints online at http://www.tcpbymtp.co.uk/.

'Purple Alliance' poll bid to take over district council

A CO-ORDINATED bid to wrest control of West Somerset District Council from the present Conservative administration will be launched at the quadrennial elections due to take place in May.
Around 20 ‘Independent’ candidates will stand for election in a co-ordinated campaign echoing the television comedy-drama The Amazing Mrs Pritchard.
In the television series, a supermarket manageress decides to run for election as an Independent MP, then suddenly finds herself leading a Purple Alliance party, and becomes the Prime Minister.
The parallel West Somerset scenario is being led by retired Dulverton shopkeeper Keith Ross (pictured), who is a sitting district councillor, with the backing of Minehead shopkeeper Graham Sizer.
They have rallied people to put up as ‘Independents’ at the May elections, although the group is closely linked with the Liberal Democrats.
Mr Sizer was formerly chairman of the Lib Dem-created pressure group Direct, and he also nominated the Lib Dem candidate, Ian Galloway, in the controversial Somerset County Council elections of 2005 when sitting Conservative councillor Colin Hill was ousted from his Minehead seat.
Councillor Ross admitted to The Crier that the ‘Independent’ group of candidates had been called together for a first meeting which had been hosted by a Liberal Democrat.
However, Mr Sizer denied being involved in any interviewing of potential ‘Independent’ candidates or screening of them to select candidates in order that they did not stand against each other in a particular ward and split the vote.
Mr Sizer said:” It has been blown up out of all proportion. There is no politics involved.
“There is a group just like any other group of politicians. There are a lot of people out there who are fed up with how the council is being run at the moment.
“They are good people. They just need a help in getting around the protocols of things. There has never been any screening. It is a hell of a broad platform.
“There has been no agenda in anything as far as bringing the ‘Independents’ together under one umbrella.”
Mr Sizer said he did not know how The Crier columnist Dudley Seale had formed the impressed that he had been asked to go before a ‘selection panel’ when he expressed an interest in standing for the council.
Councillor Ross said the next ‘Independent’ group meeting would be on neutral ground at the Queens Hall, Minehead.
However, the premises are owned by former Labour councillor Marcus Kravis – and Labour members at County Hall have helped to keep the Lib Dem administration in power.
Councillor Ross said the meeting on March 21 was for anybody ‘with a mind of their own’, which meant ‘somebody who is not led by a political party’.
He said: “We will give them our support to get them elected, ‘we’ being the existing members of the council who are Independent.
“There is help readily available through the Independent group at the Local Government Association, which is there to help councillors and candidates to get a foot on the ladder.
“They do not become an Independent political party. There are no group meetings. All decisions are made in open debate in front of the community, not behind closed doors as political parties do, and it will include all members of the council in that initial debate.
“Many of the people I have been talking to will be quite happy not to be a controlling group. They are happy for the best person to do the job.
“If that means Roger Webber (Conservative) is the best person to run finance, then that will be his job – if he gets re-elected.
“We have about 20 candidates at the moment. It will be interesting to see if another 11 come out of the woodwork on the 21st and we can cover the whole district.
“We are also keen that people represent the community in which they live. Somebody living in Dulverton, for instance, would not do justice representing the Quantock Vale ward.”
Photo submitted.

Red Nose Day needs you on March 16

Taste of the Continent comes to Minehead market

A TASTE of the Continent is coming to West Somerset with up to 40 French and European stallholders joining the Minehead Farmers’ Market to offer a feast of fresh produce to local gourmets.
West Somerset Council has liaised with Amber Markets Ltd, a specialist organiser of markets for French and other European traders, and has arranged a four-day trial running from Thursday, March 29, to Sunday, April 1, inclusive.
The council’s economic development and business portfolio holder, Councillor Nick Messarra, said: “The local farmers market has been very successful and we hope that by offering local people a wider choice of produce, the markets will attract even more shoppers to Minehead.
“People will be able to buy superb local food and enjoy a new range of excellent Continental foods in one big market.
“If this trial is successful, we hope to run more of these joint markets on an occasional basis.
“We hope it will continue to encourage people from the surrounding villages, as well as tourists, to come into Minehead to shop.
“Extra customers will boost sales for local traders and that is great news for the local economy.”
The market will take place from 8.30 am to 5.50 pm daily in the middle section of The Avenue, which means closing the road from the Summerland Avenue car park entrance to the corners of North Road and Tregonwell Road between 6 am and 7.30 pm.
Traffic will be diverted and residents’ parking made available in the North Road and Summerland car parks, while the bus stop outside Woolworth’s will be temporarily relocated to Blenheim Road.
The council’s market towns regeneration officer, Pete Vallance, said, “We are aiming to bring a wider range of produce to local residents and encourage visitors to stay in Minehead longer, which means they will spend more money in our local shops.
“The local economy will also receive a boost because the new stall holders and their helpers will need accommodation in the area.
“We are working with highways, the police, private and public transport providers, Minehead Chamber of Commerce, and local businesses to minimise any traffic flow problems, and we hope to work with local residents to see how we can minimise any disruption to them.”
Pedestrian access to all properties in the area will remain and it is proposed to make residents’ parking available in North Road and Summerland car parks.
Deliveries for traders and businesses will be accommodated, and although there is scope to temporarily relocate the bus stop outside Woolworth’s to Blenheim Road, the Bancks Street bus stop will be unaffected.
The proposed alternative route for traffic from the eastern end of the closure would be to divert it along North Road into Blenheim Road, and back to The Parade, and vice versa.
Mr Vallance said: “Taunton has a pedestrianised area that naturally lends itself to these markets.
“We do not have that luxury in Minehead but we are sure that by working together, we can minimise disruption and provide all the benefits that these markets bring to our local residents in West Somerset.”
A representative of West Somerset Council will be on-site or in the immediate vicinity of the market throughout the four-day trial, as will a market co-ordinator from Amber Markets.

Photos of Minehead Farmers' Market submitted.