Category: UK Independence Party (UKIP)

BASILDON LOCAL ELECTIONS 2019 The dust has settled on Thursday night and there is no getting away from the fact that it was not a great night for the Conservatives. Nationally, the Tories have lost over 1,300 councillors. Labour also lost seats nationally and, although they lost less than 100, they have little to crow…

BASILDON LOCAL ELECTIONS 2019 Well, here we are once again. The wheel has turned and I am sitting down to write my annual ‘Runners & Riders’ blog for our seemingly ceaseless cycle of elections. Normally the main problem is ‘voter fatigue’ and apathy but this year’s local elections will be like none we have witnessed…

Thursday was an exceptionally good night for the Conservatives (much better than 2016). We held the five seats we were defending (Billericay East, Billericay West, Burstead, Crouch and Wickford North) and, in addition, won five more (Laindon Park, two seats in Pitsea South-East, Wickford Castledon and Wickford Park). UKIP, who were the second largest party…

BASILDON LOCAL ELECTIONS 2018 It’s that time of the year again and local elections are upon us. We have fifteen seats on Basildon Borough Council up for grabs to determine who will take charge of the Council, which has been in No Overall Control since 2014. The Council is presently led by a coalition of…

Regular readers will recall that I was vehemently opposed to the 2014 application to build a solar farm covering over 26 hectares on Green Belt land off Outwood Farm Road in Billericay. This was granted permission by the Planning Committee, despite an officer recommendation to refuse and opposition from Billericay Town Council, Chelmsford City Council…

“Since becoming a councillor in 2008, I have attended scores, if not hundreds, of council and committee meetings. Last night’s meeting of Basildon Council’s Infrastructure, Growth & Development Committee must rank as the strangest. The big news out of Basildon Council is the removal of the minority Conservative administration back in May 2017 and its…

The day we knew was coming finally arrived last Thursday at the Policy & Resources Committee of Basildon Council. Having ousted the Conservative Administration in May, we knew it was only a matter of time before the new Labour-led coalition now running Basildon Council came after the people of Billericay. Billericay residents are guilty of…

Okey-dokey. So clearly I need to say a few words about the Draft Statement of Consultation on the Local Plan that was published last month, which has inevitably generated strong opinions, a certain level of indignation, as well as the customary rumourmongering and imputations of misconduct against councillors. I shall start with a disclaimer. Firstly,…

I start with my customary apology. I have not had time to blog for a while and I never got around to writing up the July meeting of Full Council but I want to write up the meeting of Full Council held Thursday night. MAX WHITLOCK The evening started with tributes being paid to Olympic…

Well, that is all she wrote. It is 3:30am on Friday 6th May and I have just got back from the Count after what was a mixed night for the Conservatives. Heaven only knows why I am typing this up now but it is all swimming around in my head. Ultimately, the Tories won six…