and lastly, my favourite.....

Well the seat we originally gained for Labour when I took office in 1995 has stayed Labour, but we lost a few others and as a consequence the Tories now have a working majority on Hastings Council (final tally 17 Tory, 10 Labour and 5 Lib/dems).  I popped in the town hall on Friday to claim my telephone expenses, the Tory agent was busy negotiating facilities for champagne storage - presumably anticipating the rapid arrival of the new Torys plus the county set.

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I think I was very fortunate during my time in office, I won three consecutive elections and then made my own choice to stand down. I had time to get used to the idea of not being a councillor and to some extent felt in control of my own future on Thursday night. That’s not to say there wasn’t a lot of collective disappointment, just that others have ended up leaving the council in a far more brutal way than I have had to experience. I got the smiles and farewells over several weeks from other councillors and officers, they got something closer to an episode of The Weakest Link (please remove all thoughts of the returning officer as Anne Robinson from your minds this instant).

Still, its worth us all remembering that this was the first time ever that Labour ran the council in Hastings, and with the active support of some really good officers, it used its time to shape the future of our town in a way which no other party had really done before. It has put a marker down for what we want to see a local authority doing and that 40 years of lacklustre performance is no longer an acceptable option for a local authority. Many people spent a sizable proportion of their lives campaigning for Labour in Hastings without ever seeing the party gain power. Something I draw quite a lot of strength from, particularly since its only two years until the next set of elections.

Beyond the deep South, a lot of those political changes are also reflected in the political blogging world. Stuart Bruce from Leeds – who really pioneered councillor blogs - is no longer a councillor in Leeds, and Andrew Brown, who probably ran the most informative 20six blog has now also gone. I’m sure there were lots of others who also tried blogging as an additional way to augment their councillor role, but for me these were the best of the pioneers.

Anyway, life goes on down on the allotment, I’ve planted the first of the sweet corn out, plus some tomatoes in a cold frame and some climbing French beans that I started in the propagator. Sunflowers are up (in pots) and the asparagus need a framework built for them.

Blackcurrent cuttings struck last October 

I also think I’m going to start rock climbing again soon, I've missed sessions on the local climbing wall and all those summer evenings at Harrisons Rocks over the past few years.

I don’t know if Hastings is the first town to have the leaders of all 3 political groups turn up to produce some of their views on webcast, but it’s the first town where I have heard of it happening. If you want to view the webcasts before casting your vote you can see them at:

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Hastings Free TV

For anyone voting in Central St Leonards, the Labour leader is also the candidate in this ward. I’ve known Jeremy for about 12 years and can honestly say that he is without doubt, the best choice for Central St Leonards. He lives in the ward, has a track record of achievement for the town and is probably the hardest working candidate – a vote for Labour tomorrow, is a vote for regenerating our town.

South Coast Blogger is still providing plenty of entertainment, giving a good analysis of how the local political terrain is shaping up, even to the extent of street by street poster counts!

South Coast Blogger

I’m up at about 5.00am tomorrow to deliver ‘dawn raid’ leaflets, then its right through until maybe 1am at Horntye Park, where I’m acting as Labour counting agent for Central St Leonards.

I’ve just been sent a copy of a media release from Michael Foster MP, which says the campaign to maintain the Hastings service to Gatwick and Victoria met with success this week.

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It continues :–

The Department of Transport informed MP Michael Foster that the reason for the change was no longer valid and they would no longer require the train operator to withdraw the service.

 

The campaign, which has been led by passenger groups supported by Hastings Borough Council and the local MP, highlighted the need for a direct service particularly to Gatwick given the regeneration status of Hastings and the difficulties for disabled people in changing trains. The end of the link which was to have taken effect in May 2007, would also have meant a reduction from three coastway trains each hour to Eastbourne to two.

 

“I was told that the late running Hastings to Eastbourne link was clogging up the busy London to Brighton line and that this was why the change was necessary. Since the new trains have been in place, however, there have been very few late runnings and I am delighted that the Government have therefore agreed that in those changed circumstances, the rationale is to continue the service.

 

Hastings Borough Council leader Jeremy Birch said “This is an important decision for Hastings. The idea of a town with such potential as Hastings having no direct link with the major airport was not on. I am pleased the Department for Transport have listened to the Council’s voice which I know very much represented local opinion.”