Oldham East & Saddleworth – elections & election law

UPDATE (half an hour after I wrote this): Phil Woolas’ appeal dismissed, the full judgement can be read here. Byelection expected in New Year. First a brief history, although this has already been covered in the media. There was a general election in Oldham East & Saddleworth in May. The Lib Dem candidate came 2nd … Continue reading “Oldham East & Saddleworth – elections & election law”

UPDATE (half an hour after I wrote this): Phil Woolas’ appeal dismissed, the full judgement can be read here. Byelection expected in New Year.

First a brief history, although this has already been covered in the media.

There was a general election in Oldham East & Saddleworth in May. The Lib Dem candidate came 2nd to the Labour candidate Phil Woolas by 103 votes (with 14,083 votes).

Following the result the Lib Dem candidate took the Labour candidate to court and won over lies he’d told about the Lib Dem candidate over the election campaign. This court case was held in November (after Phil Woolas had been an MP for 6 months). The election was declared void, Phil Woolas was thrown out as an MP, barred from standing as a candidate for three years (and banned from the Labour party).

So for the last month the people of Oldham East and Saddleworth have not had an MP because Mr. Woolas decided to drag things out (supported financially by Labour MPs). Interestingly the legal argument being used is anyone should be able to say anything they like in a leaflet (even libellous) to win an election.

Whereas I believe in freedom of speech; this country does have laws to prevent people being elected through lies, “buying an election” imposed through spending limits and all sorts of other restrictions. However for some time political parties of every colour have turned a blind eye to electoral malpractice (especially the “grey areas”) as legal action following an election is rare & expensive. For a case similar in ways to what Phil Woolas did one only has to look at ex-Labour Cllr Miranda Grell and the lies she spread about her opponent which helped her win her seat.

The police and CPS are from my past experience always reluctant to investigate crimes surrounding elections due to accusations that they’re taking one political party’s side over another. The view I got from one police officer after pointing out a breach years ago was that it was for political parties to police themselves. His view was that it wasn’t a crime to break the law and as such shouldn’t be recorded as such.

When is it not in the public interest to investigate crimes against our country’s democracy?

The only time I’ve known crimes be investigated is either when it’s extremely flagrant such as when Labour councillors tried to rig the vote in Birmingham, when the media shows an interest or similar situations where the police feel they have little choice.

Of course some of the complaints each year are down to official error. I know of a story of a person going to vote, to be told they’d already voted. A polling clerk can quite easily cross the wrong name off the list.

However this year I was not only told in my local polling station I wasn’t allowed to vote on polling day in both the local election & General Election (that took about 3 hours to sort out) but when I got the list of people that’d voted in the election after I finally got to vote I wasn’t on it!!!

I brought this up with the Returning Officer (who’s recently been awarded Freedom of the Borough), he said that there was a list of postal voters and those who voted at a polling station. However those who handed in a postal vote at a polling station weren’t recorded on either list!

At the end of polling day, eight people had voted this way and there are six polling stations in this ward. How can the public know where these fifty or so votes appeared and who they were from? How can we tell if anyone voted by post twice (eg voted then asked for a replacement ballot pack which they took to their polling system) under this system?

Clearly there are problems that Wirral Council has with elections ranging from postal votes that weren’t received this year. These people were then told at their local polling station they weren’t allowed to vote or to go to Wallasey Town Hall to get a replacement ballot paper.

The strangeness of the situation was that between 7am and 9am the polling stations were open, but Wallasey Town Hall wasn’t; so how could people get replacement ballot papers?

There weren’t enough people at the count to count due to the increased turnout.

My agent also tells me (which is a legal requirement) that she wasn’t invited to the opening of the postal ballots.

Initially at the counting place (Pacific Road Theatre) there were no people to count the votes for Bidston & St. James ward as they’d been diverted to count Prenton ward! It was only thanks to my agent being persistent that the count wasn’t held hours later.

These problems desperately need to be sorted out by next year if anyone is going to have confidence that the result reflects how people voted.

I can fully understand the view of the police (although when I made a complaint the inspector pointed out the policeman hadn’t followed procedure); however all parties are unlikely to take their own elected members to task over illegal practices, but such practices need to stop if people are going to have confidence that our councillors, MPs and other representatives are elected legitimately.

Planning Committee – 1/12/2010 – Part 2C – Birkenhead High School Academy

Cllr Brian Kenny said he had attended the site visit. He said the list of concerns of local residents were covered by the conditions. He welcome the condition regarding the Multi Use Games Area. The games area was used all year round which explained the need for floodlights. Agreement had been reached between the school and a local church to use the church car park. The headteacher had been involved in brokering this agreement.

Matthew Rushton pointed out the floodlights would be angled. Cllr Gilchrist asked about conditions 7+8 specifically line 3 of condition in relation to trees. He asked if it was a standard form of wording. The answer given was that when the report was drafted it allows officers (in this case the Tree Officer) to pick between a number of clauses.

Cllr Mitchell proposed that the plans be approved, Cllr Elderton seconded. The vote was unanimous in favour and the application was approved.

Planning Committee – 1/12/2010 – Part 2B – Birkenhead High School Academy

The Chair, Cllr Dave Mitchell asked officers to address the three issues raised by councillors. The first two were the loss of view for residents & disruption. Mr. Rushton answered that sunlight and views were not protected in law and it was also mentioned that the School Travel Plan included School Keep Clear markings.

Cllr Kelly said asked what could be done to encourage the construction traffic to avoid residential routes. Could a condition be added to achieve this? He said it was “chaos at the moment”.

The answer given was that the school travel plan could be “joined up” to the one for Redcourt & St. Anselms College by the school travel plan co-ordinator. Construction traffic could use any route they wish.

Cllr Kelly asked about the condition limiting the time of use from 8-8 and whether there was flexibility over the times although it was limited to school use. He expressed concern over the use of floodlights in a residential area.

The Chair said the floodlights were allowed to stay. The answer given to Cllr Kelly was that the times were requested by the school. The Highways representative went on to say that there could be benefits of working together on the school travel plans in the area. He said the construction traffic was controlled by the Road Traffic Act, Health and Safety at Work Act and regulations. The route of construction traffic couldn’t be specified apart from those controlled by a Traffic Regulation Order.

Planning Committee – 1/10/2010 – Part 2A – Birkenhead High School Academy

As Birkenhead High School is in Claughton and Oxton ward, two local councillors addressed the Planning Committee with resident’s concerns over the proposals agreed by Cabinet last week.

Cllr George Davies, Claughton addressed the committee first. He talked about a public meeting held at the school at which he felt residents hadn’t been given enough information. His three main items of concern were:-

a) traffic as the roads had been built in the days of horse and carriage and concerns over an increase in traffic including construction traffic and off the site. He wanted any speed reduction measures to take into place the other nearby schools
b) sports pitch concerns – which was now only for school use
c) concern over the size of the building

He finished with asking that they make sure they work with residents.

Cllr Alan Brighouse, Oxton then addressed the committee. He said it was one of the largest capital expenditure programs in Oxton and would make an impact on the local area. He had spoken to Oxton residents next to the school and 90-90% were supportive. However they did have concerns about traffic. Birkenhead High School is one of many schools in the local area which causes traffic problems. He said it was a nice part of Oxton but with a Victorian road system not designed for its current usage.

He also said that the proposed site for the multi-use games area was an unofficial car park. The proposals would lead to an extra two hundred pupils and take away the unauthorised car parking. He went on to mention the hockey pitches and the new music/cycle area. He compared it to Birkenhead Lawn Tennis Club which has floodlit courts till 10.30pm. He mentioned the protection for the trees on the site and that he’d like to see more work with highways about road safety. He said the school travel plan should encourage walking and less dependence by 6th form students on cars. He thanked the committee for listening to him.