I'm looking ahead with interest to the forthcoming Unitary elections for Wiltshire Council, where the new council will be about twice the size of the old one (in terms of elected members), but with the elimination of the districts there will be fewer people elected by local voters to look after their interests, and there's potentially a bit of a scramble for 'good' seats in the new organisation.
Melksham has five wards, each single member ... "North Without", "North", "Central", "South" and "South Without" and at lunchtime today I visited the town hall (to get a list of candidates for 3 seats) and the offices of the Without Parish Council - just across the Market Place - for the other two. Here is the candidate list (E & O E)
North Without
David Bolwell - Lib
Gregory Coombes - Lab
Mark Clifford - Con
North
Andrew Clayton - Lib
Rod Eaton - Con
Margaret White - Lab
Central
Philip Alford - Con
Steve Petty - Lib
Jo Sibley - Lab
South
Jon Hubbard - Lib
Jane McGee - Lab
Richard Wiltshire - Con
South Without
P Carter - UKIP
M Kennedy - BNP
M Sankey - Independent
Louise Smith - Lab
Terri Welch - Lib
Roy While - Con
Elections take place on 4th June. There are some excellent people standing ... and some who I wouldn't rank quite so highly. In at least one ward, there are difficult choices and there are going to be some good people who don't make it. I'm not going to post any individual support here, but I do find it interesting to see who's in support of decent local provision such as an appropriate rail service (see here), and who supported it last year (see here) but hasn't signed up again this year for some reason.
For the division of Melksham Without North
Details for 2009 election
Results finalised at 15:50 - Candidates for Melksham Without North Candidate Party Votes
BOLWELL David John Liberal Democrats 536 (33.7%)
COOMBES Gregory Anthony Labour Party 126 (7.9%)
GRIFFITHS Mark Rupert (Elected) Conservative Party 906 (56.9%)
Turnout and statistics Turnout 46.4%
Spoiled votes 24
For the division of Melksham North
Details for 2009 election
Results finalised at 15:31 - Candidates for Melksham North Candidate Party Votes
CLAYTON Andrew Robert Barnett Liberal Democrats 425 (40.7%)
EATON Rod (Elected) Conservative Party 535 (51.2%)
WHITE Margaret Ethel Labour Party 66 (6.3%)
Turnout and statistics Turnout 31.5%
Spoiled votes 18
For the division of Melksham Central
Details for 2009 election
Results finalised at 16:04 - Candidates for Melksham Central Candidate Party Votes
ALFORD Philip Conservative Party 534 (43.8%)
PETTY Steve (Elected) Liberal Democrats 554 (45.4%)
SIBLEY Jo Labour Party 110 (9%)
Turnout and statistics Turnout 32.7%
Spoiled votes 21
For the division of Melksham South
Details for 2009 election
Results finalised at 15:47 - Candidates for Melksham South Candidate Party Votes
HUBBARD Jon (Elected) Liberal Democrats 1117 (63.9%)
MCGEE James Labour Party 87 (5%)
WILTSHIRE Richard Conservative Party 536 (30.7%)
Turnout and statistics Turnout 44.2%
Spoiled votes 8
For the division of Melksham Without South
Details for 2009 election
Results finalised at 15:51 - Candidates for Melksham Without South Candidate Party Votes
CARTER Paul Robert UK Independence Party 162 (11.7%)
KENNEDY Mark British National Party 92 (6.7%)
SANKEY Michael Independent 116 (8.4%)
SMITH Louise Anne Labour Party 73 (5.3%)
WELCH Terri Liberal Democrats 361 (26.2%)
WHILE Roy Sidney (Elected) Conservative Party 571 (41.4%)
Turnout and statistics Turnout 37.3%
Spoiled votes 5