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LOCAL
COUNCIL ELECTIONS
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Pat
Doyle wishes to thank everyone who turned out and voted. The election
result for Knottingley and Ferrybridge was
Pat Doyle, Labour 1673
Nathan Garbutt, Conservative 937
The turnout for Knottingley was 26.1% which was lower than the district average, the Average turnout across the Wakefield District was 33% of which 68% were postal votes.
Wakefield Council lost three Labour seats to the conservatives, one of them in Pontefract South, which was hardly surprising with national events and people like Charles Clarke and John Prescott making the headlines.
It does seem unfair to me that good local councillors can lose their seats for something that is occurring nationally and which there is very little local control over, I think local elections should be about what an individual is doing or can do to improve their area.
It is clear to me that the Government does need to listen to the electorate and take on board their concerns; I know for instance amongst other issues that illegal immigration is a real worry for most people and hopefully now this government is taking those concerns on board.
It is not just Governments that have reshuffles; annually following the May elections the council elects the Leader, Deputy Leader, Cabinet Members and Chairs of Scrutiny Committees.
This year some of the council service areas have also changed. Education and Social Services were merged to form Family Services, to reflect the findings of the Climbie report which is a national report aimed at addressing child abuse following the Climbie case where a young girl was murdered by relatives that were supposed to be looking after her.
Changes have been made to the Resources portfolio in order to gain efficiencies. Property Services which includes public buildings, land, markets, facilities management (repair staff), has been divided up between Regeneration and Environment Service areas, Twinning has been moved to Culture and Sport, Finance and Human Resources service teams have been corporatised and brought into Resources.
To reflect these changes the Resources Portfolio has changed its name to Corporate Services and my position on Wakefield Council is now Cabinet Member for Corporate Services.
On a lighter note I have been accustomed at the counting of votes to seeing every year that someone votes for Mickey Mouse, this year the individual must have had a change of heart as the ballot paper came up with a vote for Michael Jackson’s monkey. I suppose if the individual has no concern about politics at least it could be said that at least they are utilising their vote.
