Dear Residents,
By now you will all be aware that Leader David Monk has done a deal with 2 UKIP and 1 Independent Councillors to enable the 13 Conservative seats to become the controlling 16 against the 14 of Labour, Greens and Lib Dems.
On the 4th April we asked you to contact the candidates standing in the recent local election and ask their views on issues that are important to you. It would appear that that message was not heeded. https://wordpress.com/post/slurry.org.uk/1541
Many of you blindly voted for the tribe that you trusted to do the right thing with regard to the Environment, Housing development, Social housing, etc, etc. Unfortunately, many of you are now kicking yourselves for being so trusting of certain individuals to represent your views, incredulous that three of those candidates have now decided to join the David Monk cabal, leaving the newly elected Greens, Labour and Lib Dems in the minority.
David Wimble stood as an ‘Independent’ in the New Romney ward and easily won with 1032 votes. As an Independent did anyone bother to ask if he would metaphorically jump into bed with David Monk at the first opportunity to counter the Greens, Labour and Lib Dems?
As for the two UKIP Councillors, Ian Meyers and Terry Mullard, the same could be said of them, both siding with Monk, but why should any of you have been suspicious of their intentions in relation to mass development across the district, including Otterpool Town? The UKIP manifesto, pertaining to development, clearly states:
It should be possible to build one million new houses on brownfield sites. We will offer grants to bring this land into use.
• We will increase the supply of housing by identifying long-term dormant land held by central and local government that can be released.
• To ease the immediate problem, we will encourage the building of modular housing, made by British companies, which is inexpensive to build and highly energy efficient.
• UKIP will abolish Stamp Duty (see section on Taxation) thereby saving house buyers £16.2bn per annum.
This manifesto flies in the face of what the Conservative Party have in store for us by building over farmland, duplicitously purchased to the detriment of our environment and villages.
Do we think that Ian Meyers and Terry Mullard are renegades within UKIP? Will they ever be trusted again when the electorates’ vote was clearly a vote against the deplorable Leader David Monk. Should you wish to contact the 3 Councillors and ask why they have taken the action that they have, here are their contact details:
Romney Marsh Ward
UKIP
Leader – UKIP Group
Romney Marsh Ward
UKIP
New Romney Ward
Independent
Sellindge and District Residents Association 
Many of us are disappointed, trouble was there were no Candidates we could ‘hand on heart’ vote for, resulting in NONE papers being balloted!
LikeLike
Problem is, UKIP is just a bunch of independents looking for some help with campaigning.
LikeLike
Graham, Thanks for commenting on our post. The problem is, as you say, is that most Councillors and MP’s use a party as a vehicle for their own ends. A prime example of this was Craig Mackinlay who stood in the South West as a UKIP candidate then, jumped ship into the Conservative Party in Thanet to achieve power. Locally, we had a Labour Councillor who also jumped ship for reasons best known to her to join the David Monk cabal Conservative group. You may even know her: Claire Jeffrey. We all know that if any of the Conservative Councillors swapped their party tags for one of ‘Independent’ they would only pick up a handful of votes in any election.
LikeLike
Have just read the above, and feel exasperated, disappointed and dismayed that Myers, Mullard and Wimble should resort to such political chicanery to advance their own political ambitions. It is depressing that this treacherous behaviour mirrors what is going on in Westminster regarding Brexit and much else besides! Mr Myers, Mullard and Wimble, how do you expect any of the people you are supposed to be representing to trust you, given what you have just done? Do you actually care about anything beyond your own precious egos and personal and political advancement? It appears from the evidence that the answer to this is a resounding NO!
LikeLike
So this is councillors who actually don’t live in the areas involved. Its disappointing and disgraceful that they are interested in there own egos and what they can personally achieve. It seems what is happening in central government is rubbing off here. There seems no stopping this Monk still thinks its down to Brexit but what do you expect from deluded people
LikeLike
Well said Robin.
LikeLike
Mr monk’s excuse of blaming the election results on people being angry about Brexit just sums up the arrogance and inability of this group of Conservatives (and I have always previously voted Conservative) to really get that we’ve had enough of their decisions and handling of local matters. This was all about local issues for me, they’re not listening and this just proves that sneaky, secretive deals are still going on behind the backs of the electorate. Shame on the UKIP and independent Councillors, I think they should be held to account for their decisions. Let’s ask for them to be transparent and honest about why they did this and share with their voters who put them in power what deals have been made with Mr Monk’s team. Shame on them.
LikeLike
Well I certainly didn`t vote for any `Tribe` without due consideration. Sadly none of the parties wanting to win thought North Downs Ward was worth campaigning for. Only the Conservatives had any literature put through my door ( two in fact ) whilst the excuse I had from the Green Party was that they couldn`t afford the printing costs of leaflets. A serious political party ? And don`t tell me I could see all this `on line` because being pro-active in campaigns is all about persuasion and information, and that means meeting and talking to potential voters. The Greens certainly missed a trick here, as I think with minimal effort they could have one this and we wouldn`t be in the situation we are in now.
LikeLike
Thanks for your comment Tim. We had two flyers through our doors – UKIP and Conservative. Anyhow, the North Downs, East and West has always been, traditionally, a Conservative stronghold. The Greens picked up votes purely as an option against Labour and Conservative prevaricating on national issues. The two wards are difficult to leaflet with limited resources and foot soldiers, so the message isn’t getting across to the hard core Conservative voters. Yes, with hindsight, perhaps the Greens could have had an extra push to win the ward, but let’s not forget that the Greens are not totally opposed to Otterpool Park.. Perhaps that was their Achilles heel outside of Hythe where their stand against Princes Parade swept them to victory.
LikeLike