News reaches the Voice of the Lib Dems taking a council in unusual circumstances.
Two resignations from independent and Conservative members of Wareham Town Council led to two vacancies intended to be determined by by-elections on 1st May.
Nominations closed on April 4th, and when the dust settled it became clear there were only two candidates nominated for the two vacancies, who were therefore elected unopposed.
The two new Lib Dem councillors give the Lib Dems a majority on the Town Council, so we’ve already won our first council before the polls even open.
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3 Comments
Goodness gracious me, that is unusual. Has it ever happened before?
Getting desperate heralding gains of parish councils
Our Tory troll friend is under the strange impression that Wareham is a village. It is very much a TOWN; indeed, one of the oldest towns in Britain.
One drives round Wareham when one visits Corfe Castle, Swanage, Studland, Worth Matravers and other bits of Purbeck (around its excellent bypass) and fails to see it, so I suppose Jim can be forgiven for his ignorance.
Believe it or not, Wareham can teach us a thing or two about urban planning. Here is a town that has largely contained itself within its Anglo-Saxon ramparts, has no ugly shopping malls, no conspicuous blocks of flats, and has open countryside right the way up to the town centre on its south side. Indeed, my father took some B+W pictures of the town in 1956 and it is hard to tell the difference – apart from the traffic.
My one quibble is the local council’s (Purbeck?) meanness in charging for parking on Sundays. Well, those in the know park for free round the corner, so it is hapless tourists who get fleeced. This is something the new Lib Dem Town Council will doubtless address.
Yes, Chris Paul. Something like this has indeed happened before. In 1979, the Tory Party failed to submit its nominations for Leiston Town Council on time, thus handing power to Labour.