Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Here's how the vote would be split according to a recent survey
Party 2010 Votes 2010 Seats Pred Votes Pred Seats
CON 36.97% 307 34.77% 243
LAB 29.66% 258 41.43% 360
LIB 23.56% 57 10.96% 18
OTHERS 28 29
This gives Labour a majority of 70.
No sign of UKIP
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
Things have changed since one year ago, Marek.
An opinion poll should be based on now, and not a year ago.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
alex
the poll is a new one, the problem is with alligning things on the page.
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Sorry its as Howard states due to aligning the columns.. this poll was taken over 2 weeks in March 2011 polling 8475 voters.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
We have a long time to go before an election and things will get worse for the government before they get better. This is what happens when you get a responsible government that is taking the necessary but unpopular decisions. 3 to 4 years at least to wait...
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
blue barry is right here. any government after a year(or nearly) would expect to be behind in the polls.
i suspect that moderately red ed would have expected a bigger lead.
having said that watch all the marginally blue councils change hands in a months time.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
The May elections will be interesting.
There is likely to be a lot of seats swapping hands but the trafic will not be all in one direction. The LDs will be the big losers and that will benefit the Conservatives, possibly even more than Labour, if you look at the spread of seats up for grabs, I speak here nationally not locally.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Well, I'm talking locally and there isn't much Labour support in the areas we've been talking to.
National politics always play a big part in local elections, but there is a strong need for us to separate the two and locally, the Conservatives have done well over the last 8 years.
Labour are desperate, I guess that's why they are putting out the drivel that is on the front page - scare-mongering.
Presumably they are against a Unitary Authority for East Kent ? Not that I'm necessarily for it, but with the shared services initiatives, it is the natural end-game - and you can't (sensibly) go Unitary without this natural progression of shared services.
If you want Dover to grow, not stagnate, don't listen, or be taken in by them.
Roger
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
roger,is that the reason dover has stood still for the last 8 years.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
You mean 30years.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
vic,no i mean 8 years.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
It hasn't stood still at all Brian, only the regeneration has stalled and that has had nothing to do with DDC. Everything than can be done by DDC in preparation for DTIZ has been done.
The Town Centre is tired looking; mostly attributed to some of the buildings needing tidying up and needs to be addressed - some urgently, but that's not all down to DDC.
Waste, bus services, Council tax and many other things have improved. I can understand people being cynical, but there is so much investment just waiting to happen - and it will, given the right circumstances.
Roger
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
bus services have improved due to investment from the last government.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
KCC more like
Guest 703- Registered: 30 Jul 2010
- Posts: 2,096
My predicition - when Gordon Brown resigns at the start of the next parliamentary session there'll be a dip for Labour from supporters who think he has sold out his principles.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
barry
it was money from the government, i think it was part of a "kick start" project.
it meant doubling the service dover/deal/canterbury, making the dover south coast run at 20 minute intervals instead of 30 and improving sunday services.
much to big an investement for k.c.c.
Guest 660- Registered: 14 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,205
Roger from the 600 houses I canvassed last week I disagree,yes there are some old Labour supporters who arent ready o come back but any undecided or those who changed fro Labour to Conservative are returning in thier droves,and this is in a Labour ward,and I think that things will focus the votes minds in the next 4 weeks with more bad news coming.
Waste is a problem in Tower Hamlets with a lot of people not being able to have Wheelie-bins and many or though not all see wheelie bins as a problem,they also have seen no improvement in waste collection now,I am always fighting against black sacks being thrown over hedges and down banks splitting the bags on the way and leaving rubbish.
Road sweeping which is costing this council an additional £300,000 from this year is still poor in some areas with no or little sweeping being done,most of the bin men and road sweepers are fine,but there are areas where it is not good enough.
That drivel as you put it is just some of the areas where you have gone wrong,people are also concerned about play areas especially in Tower Hamlets because the park is being run down and we know what happens next,they say it isnt being used very much( because the equipment has been taken away and not fixed) so we will shut it and of course we have the play area in Conaught or Pencester,too far away for Mum's with young children.
You didnt answer my question when you said about the balanced budget,did you find out you have lost £600,000 in 2 years,as I said anyone can balance a budget if you put in loss,but that one line on page 44 of the budget for 2011/12 near the bottom means something it means this year the Council has a deficit of £472,000.00 before the new cuts.
If you knew what I know,we would both be in trouble!
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Yes I did find out what the balanced budgets were John - and here is the answer:
Roger,
Thank you for your e-mail. As you will appreciate, we are now in election "purdah", so it is probably appropriate that I provide a very brief reply and refer you to the published budgets.
The full proposed budget is presented to Council in March every year, so that they can approve it and set the Council Tax, and this is on the councils web site, in the March council agenda. Although you have not specified, I assume that you are referring to the General Fund Revenue budget. That is always shown as Annexes 1 and 2 in the budget book provided to Members.
The Council's gross General Fund revenue budget for 2011/12 is :-
Gross Expenditure £69.586m
Gross Income and other adjustments £54.695m
Total budget requirement £14.891m.
Available financing from Revenue Support Grant, Council Tax etc is £14.960m, which means we have a budgeted surplus for 2011/12 of £69k.
Given the scale of the gross expenditure and income, I regard the £69k as being within the margin of error, as it is just 0.1% of the gross expenditure budget, and therefore we have a "balanced budget" by any reasonable definition.
For 2010/11 and 2010/09 the budgets approved by Council in March were £57k deficit and £35k deficit. So I would also regard these budgets as balanced.
You have referred to our level or reserves. I should draw a distinction here between "reserves" and "balances".
Reserves are generally "earmarked" or held for specific purposes. Annex 7 of the budget book shows that we forecast the various General Fund Earmarked Revenue Reserves to total £4.864m at the end of 2011/12.
The General Fund balance is forecast to be £1.794m at the end of 2011/12. This balance is there to cope with unexpected variances and therefore we aim to maintain this above £1.5m in order to provide a prudent buffer.
The outturn reports explain variances against budget and go to Governance in June, so they are also on the web site.
If you have trouble finding them let me know and we can e-mail the links to you.
That's official John, so don't shout about the budgets not being balanced; there is no political bias in the above.
Roger
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
If there are problems with waste collection John, or road sweeping for that matter, then either you or the good people of Tower Hamlets, should contact the waste department of DDC.
It is an improved wast contract and is cheaper to DDC and so the ratepayers.
Do you know officially that Northbourne Play area (I assume that's the one you are referring to ?) is to have the play equipment taken away, or run down ? What evidence is there ?
Roger
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
That is very informative Roger and puts the truth to John's spin.