Borough and Parish Council Elections for West End

Today is close of nominations for both the Borough Council and Parish Council elections in May. The news from the returning officer in Eastleigh is that there will be both contested elections in West End for the Borough Council and for the first time in nearly 15 years for the Parish Council as well.

The West End Parish Council consists of three wards West End North with 6 seats, West End South with 7 seats and Kanes Hill with 1 one seat giving a total of 14 Parish Council seats. At the close of nominations there were 6 candidates for West End North, 9 candidates for West End South but none for Kanes Hill. So in West End North all six candidates will be elected unopposed and in Kanes Hill the Parish Council will have to re-advertise the vacancy after the May election.

However in West End South the election will be contested this is important because the Parish Council does raise money directly from the people of West End and so they should be accountable to the people of West End for the taxation and spending decisions that they make. This is why the National Association of Local Councils only award Quality Status to Parish and Town councils that hold contested elections.
The Parish Council looks after very local amenities and as such is essentially free of party politics unlikely all others levels of elected government, as there are no political groups with group standing orders as other levels have and so councillors do not vote on a party line basis. However members of the Parish Councils are often members of the political parties and it is for that reason that Liberal Democrat Party members declare themselves as Liberal Democrat on even at Parish Council level. Commenting on this local councillor David Goodall said :-
“Declaring yourself as a member of a political party even at Parish Council level helps to indicate to the electorate a person’s political philosophy. Therefore if someone declares themselves as an independent even at Parish Council level it should indicate that they are not member of any political party and so are free from any party political influence.”
So the Liberal Democrat candidates for the contested West End Parish Council – South ward seats are :-

So the Liberal Democrat candidates for the uncontested West End Parish Council – North ward seats are :-

For Eastleigh Borough Council the Liberal Democrats have candidates for both seats :-

The Election Day is Thursday 3rd May 2007 and it is important that a many people as possible vote. The freedom and right to vote is something which people have fought and died for over the years. So I would urge everyone to exercise their rights and vote to have a say in who runs our public services.