The People's Republic of South Devon

Ivybridge is undergoing a bit of a political re-invigoration – not only is the town up in arms about the siting of an incinerator less than a hop, skip and jump away from the town centre, but they are also finding out about the importance of active political representation – shame on you Cllr Croad! Not surprising then, that a by-election for the town council has a massive 11 per cent turn out (still it beats not having an election, ehh, East Devon?). Frankie Dolan, who set up the EcoIvy site got in touch to explain why she stood

Frankie told the PRSD: “I’m afraid I didn’t win, but am delighted to say that 180 people did come out and vote for me, which was incredible since I figure I only know about 20 people in the area, and didn’t even start campaigning for myself until last weekend. Thanks a million to those people that were supporting me and the kind emails and texts I received wishing me luck.”

It was Jim Lloyd who bagged the seat, with 226 votes.

But what got Frankie involved in local politics?

“Until recently I did not have any interest in local government or local politics, personally taking a much greater interest in international affairs and humanitarian causes, with the attitude that I didn’t really care that much about how the local buses were running, whether our roads were being well maintained, what was happening to my rubbish, etc. As far as I was concerned all that was quite trivial, was probably all being dealt with somewhere pretty efficiently and I had my own life and problems to deal with,” she said.

“But then I had a nasty visit from the Swine Flu that made me very aware of my own mortality, and worried sick for my children too! Maybe it was that, or some kind of mid-life crisis, but whatever it was I suddenly decided that I should take more of an interest in the decisions that are taken all around me every day, and I should start to make the effort to have a positive impact with all that I do. It was no longer OK to live my own life, keeping myself to myself. We only get one shot at this life, and I would like to be able to say with a clear heart when I am on my death bed that ‘I did my best’.

Frankie took that attitude to the world of local politcs and started talking to some local politicians.

“It was then that I discovered that an application for planning permission to build a large incinerator at Lee Mill, less than two miles from my home, was about to be submitted,” she said.

“None of my neighbours knew anything about it, and yet if planning permission was granted they would not be able to do anything to stop it. This I thought was wrong, so I set up EcoIvy, started knocking on doors to tell people what was going on and organised a public meeting to tell people what was being planned.”

Now that the debate had been made public, people flocked to get their views know, and after one public meeting the MP has taken a look at the issue, and is organising his own.

• A political career doesn’t mean holding office? Comments below, please

(image: Frankie Dolan)

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• North Devon incinerator plans ‘mothballed’
• Will Vivien Pengelly, Plymouth’s imperious Tory leader, be toppled? Luke Pollard thinks so

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