Comment: Generosity of Political Spirit in Short Supply in Ash Parish

Published on: 16 Jul, 2020
Updated on: 18 Jul, 2020

By Martin Giles

Ripples from the fracturing of the Conservative group at Guildford Borough Council (GBC) are disturbing the waters in Ash, the true blue corner of Guildford borough that refused to go with the flow and stood firm against the ebbing tide of Tory support.

And receding tides do allow light to shine on dark corners.

Some disgruntled residents are saying Ash Parish Council (APC), chaired by borough Cllr Nigel Manning, acted “inappropriately” in the way they gave notice of the vacancy caused by the resignation of Cllr Paul Spooner as the parish member for Rowan Field ward. The charge is rejected by Cllr Manning and GBC officers confirm the parish council has done nothing unlawful.

From correspondence seen by The Guildford Dragon, Cllr Spooner initially, it seems, notified his decision to resign (strangely unminuted by APC) to officers at the borough council before Cllr Manning was informed.

The GBC website states the process should then be:

“The Parish Council will notify the Proper Officer of the vacancy. The Proper Officer will send the Parish Council a notice, which they have a duty to display for 14 working days, telling residents about the vacancy.

“An election will be called if ten residents, who are registered to vote in the area where the vacancy has arisen, write to the Returning Officer asking that an election be held. If the parish council is warded, the request must come from ten electors within the relevant ward.”

The notice announcing the vacancy at Ash Parish Council

So on April 14 a notice was sent by GBC to APC for display until May 4, informing readers that a minimum of ten residents from Rowan Field ward was required for a by-election to be called.

Although the notice was posted on the GBC website it was not posted on APC’s otherwise well-managed site. But that is not a legal requirement because the 1974 Local Government Act long pre-dated the internet.

Instead, someone considered posting a single copy on the one notice board outside the parish office was sufficient, even during Covid lockdown, where few pedestrians were likely to pass.

Residents taking their one-hour’s exercise permitted at the time, and eager for parish council news, might have consulted the APC notice board by Ash Library, close to Rowan Field ward, or any of the other APC notice boards, but would not have known about the situation.

The vacancy notice posted on the main APC notice board. Photo courtesy Ash Parish Clerk.

So unsurprisingly, no one did ask for a by-election to see if voters wanted to break the Tory domination of Ash. If enough had, the matter would have had to wait until next spring when elections will again be allowed. Now APC can co-opt another councillor of their choosing.

Every one of the Ash Parish seats is taken by a Tory, even though no one voted for them. Not that it was their fault, the parish council election which coincided with the dramatic borough council election (a debacle for the blue team), was uncontested, along with all but a couple of Guildford parish council elections.

Ash Parish Council – solidly blue. Until the departure of Paul Spooner, all six Ash borough councillors “double-hatted” as parish councillors. Marsha Moseley is also a county councillor.

But no other parish council in the borough seems so obviously and determinedly a fortress for one particular political party. Simple internet searches quickly reveal the allegiance of each of the 11 councillors at Ash (12 until Cllr Spooner’s resignation), is solidly blue.

Now it seems, Chairman Manning is taking his party’s unopposed “election” victory as a mandate to appoint another Conservative to fill the vacancy, so unobtrusively advertised.

When questioned by a resident at the July 13 parish council meeting he said: “Ash Parish Council is a political council” and he was looking for someone with the “right” qualities.

Between the lines, part of the message could be that there’s room for only one silverback in Ash or fur will fly, as Mr Spooner discovered.

But Carla Morson, a Lib Dem who wishes to climb into the cage as an Independent, believes parish councils are not the place for party squabbles. She has won plaudits for organising community support for the vulnerable in Ash during the pandemic lockdown (after some delay, her scheme was eventually granted £5,000 by APC from their £1 million-plus reserves).

Will Manning, Moseley and Co finally recognise that it is not democratically healthy for one party to represent Ash Parish, exclusively, at every level of government, MP, county councillor, all borough councillors and all parish councillors?

Today (July 16) Cllr Manning said: “Ash Parish Councillors are elected under a political banner and since 2003 the entire Ash Parish Council has been elected as Conservatives. There is no reason why the elected councillors should not wish someone with the same values to be part of the council.

“In fact, when the Liberal Democrats had control of Ash Parish Council in the mid-1990s they did exactly the same thing. It seems this does not suit them now the ‘boot is on the other foot’.”

Alas, no party colleague was willing to volunteer [but see Cllr Spooner’s comment below].

Cllr Manning added: “Ash Parish Council has decided to advertise to the wider Ash community for someone who may wish to put themselves forward to become an Ash Parish councillor. This advert will be posted by the end of next week with a five-week response period ending August 29.

“Applicants will be required to complete a short CV and answer a few questions. The decision on who to co-opt will be taken by all Ash Parish Councillors in September.”

So the signs don’t look good but who knows? Perhaps Cllr Manning is fearful of the well-regarded Ms Morson?

And why is Cllr Spooner sparking up on his favourite social media again? The newly self-labelled “Conservative ‘independent’” is now complaining Ms Morson is sailing under false colours. Some say “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” but Mr Spooner seems to have a gift for only making new enemies.

Good luck to the moderators said to be trying to heal the Spooner/Manning rift and good luck to the Conservatives who want to restore the party’s image in Guildford while others keep shooting themselves in every Tory foot they can find.

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