The People's Republic of South Devon

There’s a district council by-election in Ivybridge on Thursday, February 18. The Confused Conflicted Cllr Croad still ‘represents’ the Filham ward, but isn’t it about time to move away from the middle-aged man love-in of local politics? Labour candidate Helen Eassom gives her take on the by-election. Over to you Helen…

In a week Ivybridge will have a new councillor. The town has a choice between two middle-aged men and me – the only woman on the ballot paper and the only person to stand up for Ivybridge on one issue alone – the incinerator.

I don’t doubt there are many more things we need to be concerned about in Ivybridge – the roads, the empty shops, the buses, the paths and safety are all important, but I’m putting myself forward to give a voice to the hundreds of people I’ve met in the last few months who feel let down by those who represent this town because of the incinerator.

Like many people in Ivybridge I feel my trust in my local councillors has been betrayed. I’m not a Tory, but I thought that our local councillors would be looking out for our area and doing what’s best for this town. Since the incinerator issue came to light – and not because our councillors told us – I’ve come to understand more about what our councillors actually do and what they’re not telling us.

Because the Conservatives have been so strong in Ivybridge for so long they have effectively engineered a situation where there is no elected opposition of any sort. They have every single councillor, the district and now the county council and let’s not forget they also hold the Parliamentary seat by a comfortable majority. They have, effectively, no elected opposition. That’s probably why they’ve been able to sit on their hands about the incinerator for so long – because no one was asking them any difficult questions at all and no one was holding them to account.

Like many people I understand that the Tories inherited the incinerator proposals from the Liberal Democrats who previously ran Devon County Council when they won the county council earlier this year. That should have been the perfect time for Ivybridge’s councillor to come clean and say ‘look what the Lib Dems have been doing – they’ve identified Lee Mill as a site for an incinerator – I will fight for my constituents or at very least consult with them about burning rubbish’. That’s what should have happened. It didn’t.

So we find ourselves here. Viridor have now submitted their planning application and the campaign against the incinerator seems largely to be one-sided. I’m standing for the district council because I want to mix things up a bit and be the person who asks some difficult questions of the local Tories and someone who will fight tooth and nail to stop this planning application and fight to stop our Tory town councillor working for an incinerator behind the scenes.

Whatever happens in this by-election the Tories will still control the district and county councils. So, instead of having yet another establishment figure from the Tories – let’s elect someone who will ask the Tories why they’re still not consulting properly with local people about the incinerator – and will ask why Cllr Roger Croad thinks it is ok to be running the search for an incinerator rather than representing Ivybridge in opposing incineration.

I don’t like using my gender as a reason to vote also but I’m on a ballot paper with two middle-aged men. Wouldn’t it be good for once to shake our politics up a bit – let’s elect someone who will ask some difficult questions, who will oppose the incinerator and who is, unusually for Ivybridge, not a middle-aged man.

Helen Eassom
Labour’s candidate in the Ivybridge Filham By-election

(image: Helen Eassom)

• Older men dominate local politics up and down the country. How do you ensure a wider – rather than just middle-aged – spread of representation? Comments below, please

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