The residents affected by this planning decision which was rushed through before Christmas are clearly in a mood to fight back. They have set up a local campaigning site on facebook, curiously called the 'Hammersmith Grapevine'. On that site the residents accuse our Council, which of course is conservative, of rushing the decision through against their wishes in order to facillitate this forthcoming visit of David Cameron to launch Shaun Bailey's election campaign. Ominously, they say:Ah...... now it all becomes clear! David Cameron is to kick off his general election campaign with an open meeting in Hammersmith to persuade residents of the progressive, green credentials of the Conservative Party - and to help get Shaun Bailey elected.
Of course they couldn't risk the strong local opposition to this very obviously anti-green and un-progressive development spoiling this key event. So they pushed it through in December presumably hoping it might all have blown over by the time of his visit.
Think again..........
It will be interesting to see what happens at Cameron's visit - cameras at the ready!
A resident's petition, numbering nearly 400, was handed to local councillors in opposition to the proposed redevelopment of green land right next to their homes into what the Council are calling in marketing speak a 'Mediterrenean Village' - or if you prefer plain English a 'high density housing block' which will make developers and therefore the Council lots of money.
Andy Slaughter MP has vowed to respond to any resident's request for help in getting the decision 'called in' (i.e. halted) by central government. But given the time we have left before the election I can't see this happenning.
More likely to happen, and I am absolutely not telling anyone how to vote, is that Shaun Bailey will find it ever harder to pick up the votes of people like these who he needs in order to win the newly created Hammersmith constituency. Shaun Bailey has not attacked this decision by the Council as he did their decision on the Goldhawk Block here. And yet David Cameron needs to win this seat in order to form the next UK government. So its high stakes to local residents - and to big time politicians - and actually all of us who live in the Bush, because you can be sure a similar planning decision may be coming to your part of the Bush some time soon..watch this space!
David Cameron does not need to win this seat in order to form the next UK Government.
ReplyDeleteyes he does! that's why it's been designated a 'target seat' by them
ReplyDeleteWhy else would he be coming?
ReplyDeleteTim is Correct.
ReplyDeleteThe Tories can still form the next Government and not win Hammersmith. If you want evidence of this then look to 1979 - 1997 when Hammersmith was represented by the Labour MP Clive Soley and we had 18 years of uninterupted Conservative Government
The fact David Cameron is coming here means he would LIKE to win it but doesn't mean he HAS to.
David Cameron will also be visiting a lot of places. Probably hundreds. It does not mean he needs to win every single place he visits to become PM.
David Cameron needs to 118 or so seats. No one seat HAS to be won.
This is simple Electoral Politics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_2010
I think we're talking apples and pears - the fact is that Hammersmith is exactly where the Tories need to be winnING in order to form the next government. Therefore they dont have the luxury to sit back and say 'hey, we can do without Hammersmith' - they have to - and are - focussing on spending huge resources on their top 200 seats - of which Hammersmith is number 129.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I meant!
All I meant was
ReplyDelete"David Cameron does not need to win this seat in order to form the next UK Government."
Which is exactly what Tim said. Hence the quotes.
Hammersmith IS a marginal. Its being fought over. But its not going to determin anything nationally. No seat is.