Claire Wright a real threat to Hugo Swire according to William Hill bookmaker

Press Release:

CLAIRE WRIGHT CONFIRMED, AGAIN, AS MAIN CHALLENGER TO HUGO SWIRE
Claire Wright, the Independent candidate for Devon East, has been confirmed, again, as the candidate most likely to oust the current MP, Hugo Swire in the General Election.

William Hill say that her odds are 7/1. She is followed by UKIP at 16/1, the Liberal Democrats at 33/1 and Labour at 100/1. The current MP’s odds are 1/9.

An experienced spokesman for William Hill said that she was the only independent candidate in the country with odds in single figures and the next best, the comedian Al Murray, had odds of 50/1. “This means that she has the best chance of any independent of being successful.

“I believe that it is unprecedented for a genuinely independent candidate, not already in national politics and not identified with a single issue, to have such odds.”

Earlier Ladbrokes quoted Claire Wright at 6/1 and said that she had the best chance of any independent in the country of success.

Responding to the latest odds, Claire commented “What a boost it is for the campaign to have such great odds on winning the East Devon seat. It is really motivating! I am talking to people every day during my campaigning and they tell me time and time again that they are looking for someone who is going to properly represent their views, with none of the excuses the current MP makes for not doing so.

“The positive feedback I am continually receiving feels as though there is an ever-increasing energy to get me elected. We will be working hard to ensure that, when the General Election comes, the people of East Devon will have an MP who will put their interests ahead of a party.”
Claire Wright is running a very active campaign across the constituency and her next public meeting will be on Tuesday 10th March, at the Unitarian Church, at the junction of All Saints Road and Sidmouth High Street.

Other events are already scheduled for Budleigh Salterton, (18th March at the Masonic Hall), Ottery St. Mary (27th March at the Institute), Sidmouth (Woolbrook) (1st April at St. Francis Church Hall) and Exmouth (16th April at the Rugby Club, Imperial Road). All the meetings begin at 7.00 except the one at Woolbrook which commences at 8.00.

Pity DMC’s concerns aren’t consistent

The agenda for today’s meeting of the Development Management Committee at EDDC includes an officer recommendation for a representation to the Mid Devon Local Plan consultation:

5. That potential commuting patterns, especially for work
purposes, of the future residents of Cullompton are
accurately assessed. This is especially significant noting the
ease of car travel from Cullompton to the strategic
employment sites in the West End of East Devon (e.g. a drive
time of 11 minutes from M5 Junction 28 to the Science Park).

There is quite a lot more including a reference to the A373 Cullompton to Honiton road being ‘narrow in places’.

An EDWatcher comments, “It’s intriguing that EDDC are so concerned about the traffic implications of commuting from Cullompton, and yet no similar concern was expressed for the impact of our 1400 job industrial estate between Sidford and Sidbury, where the road through the village is much narrower than the A373.”

EDWatch says, “We’d burst out laughing, if this were a laughing matter!”

Ottery General Election upset on the cards?

An increasing number of people seem to think so…http://www.heart.co.uk/exeter/news/local/ottery-general-election-upset-on-cards

Police and Crime Commissioner staff levels in the rest of the south west

See pist below – ours has 23 or 31, depending on who is counting!

Dorset: 15 plus 30 volunteers

Click to access OPCC%20Office%20Structure%201.10.14.pdf

Avon and Somerset:21

Click to access OPCC-Staff-Structure.pdf

Bristol: 21

Click to access OPCC-Staff-Structure.pdf

Gloucestershire: 16

Click to access Office-of-the-Police-and-Crime-Commissioner-as-October-2014.pdf

How many Police and Crime Commissioner staff does it take to change a lightbulb? 23 or 31 …

23! Or, according to a sharp-eyed reader, 31 (a recent newspaper said 23, the organisation chart below lists 31).

And see link below for the details of what the 23 or 31 (or more?) staff “do”.

Truly, truly shocking when you think we managed without him in the past with a panel that cost us a fraction of what he costs – not including the cost his £500,000 relocation to Middlemoor next year (something he said he would never do):

Click to access PCC-STRUCTURE-FOR-WEB-1.pdf