Page 75 - Phonebox Magazine December 2012

COUNCILLOR CORNER
A contribution from Cllr Debbie Brock and Cllr Peter Geary
POLICE & CRIME COMMISSIONER ELECTED
CHANGES TO YOUR REFUSE COLLECTIONS OVER CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR
From Christmas Day, Tuesday 25th December recycling and refuse collection
Normal collection day
Revised collection day
no change
Thursday 27th December Friday 29th December Saturday 29th December Monday 31st December
Wednesday 2nd January Thursday 3rd January Friday 4th January Saturday 5th January Monday 7th January
Tuesday 8th January Wednesday 9th January Thursday 10th January Friday 11th January Saturday 12th January
Christmas Week
Monday 24th December Tuesday 25th December Wednesday 26th December Thursday 27th December Friday 28th December
First week of January Monday 31st December Tuesday 1st January Wednesday 2nd January Thursday 3rd January Friday 4th January
Second week of January Monday 7th January Tuesday 8th January Wednesday 9th January Thursday 10th January Friday 11th January
dates will change as detailed
From Monday 14th January – all collections return to normal
Please note that these dates may be subject to change in the event of extreme weather conditions which could disrupt refuse collections. For all the latest news on refuse collections please visit www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/recycling and click on Collection Service Updates.
Alternatively you can sign up for free email and text messaging service via the Milton Keynes Council website which will remind you of the above date changes and also alert you if these are subject to further change due to events beyond the councils control.
Thursday November 15th was the first time we were all able to vote for the people who run the Police Force in our area. All Police Forces outside London (41) got to vote for a person who would replace the appointed and unelected Police Authorities. In the case of the Olney Ward this is part of Thames Valley Police area, one of the biggest in the UK that covers the rest of Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire as well as Berkshire. In total 1,698,041 people were entitled to vote at the election across the Thames Valley area and the turnout was a very low 13.3%. In Milton Keynes it was just below that figure at 13.27%. Some polling stations were very quiet during the day but the largest turnout of any polling station in Milton Keynes was in Weston Underwood registering 27%.
The election was done under the second preference system with people being
able to cast a second vote
so if their first choice is
eliminated in the early
stages, then they have an
opportunity to vote for
another candidate unless
one candidate achieves
50% of the vote in the first
round. At the end of the first
round Anthony Stansfeld
was in the lead but had not
reached the required total
vote so the voting did go to
a second round of counting
with the bottom 4 being
eliminated and after the second round Anthony Stansfeld was confirmed as the Police and Crime Commissioner and will take up his position on November 22nd.
In the first few months a budget will have to be produced for the coming year for Thames Valley Police as well as a Police and Crime plan. In the neighbouring counties of Bedfordshire, the labour candidate Olly Martins was elected, and in Northamptonshire the Conservative candidate Adam Simmonds was successful. In many areas of the country Independent candidates were elected.
On the final weekend in October an isolated farm in the parish of Ravenstone was the scene of a rave which was attended by an estimated 1000 people. Some damage was done on the site as well as residents being disrupted in nearby villages from the noise of both music and vehicles parking to attend the event. This led to many complaints by both the landowner concerned who had not given permission for the event to take place and also other local residents. The commander of Milton Keynes Police, Supt Barry Halliday and local area commander Inspector Roy Stringer attended Ravenstone Parish Council at itʼs November meeting to inform people what happened and also what the police did and why they acted as they did. The Police had little warning that a rave was likely to take place and they worked with both Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire Police to try to track down the location and when this was known, blocked roads to stop more people attending the event. They deployed the powers given them under the law to contain the incident and then to disperse the gathering which did not take place until early the following morning.
Results of the election after round 1 of voting:
Patience Tayo AWE (independent)
Barry COOPER (UKIP)
Geoff HOWARD (Independent)
John Orrell HOWSON (Liberal Democrat) Anthony STANSFELD (Conservative) Tim STARKEY (Labour)
14878 19324 31716 20511 76011 56631
Many of the details that were given are regarded as confidential however the Police reacted as quickly as they could to both contain and then disperse the event and are conducting further investigation into the organisers.
Spoilt Ballots
7445
Happy Christmas
After the second round the totals were Anthony Stansfeld (Conservative)
Tim Starkey (Labour)
94238 70403
At the time of writing Christmas seems a long way off but this is our last column for this year and we would like to take this opportunity to wish everybody a Very Happy Christmas and a healthy & prosperous New Year.
Following his election Anthony announced that Cllr Dave Carrol will be his deputy PCC. Dave has been on the police authority for a number of years and has a huge amount of experience in community safety.
Surgeries
Anthony Stansfeld
Rave near Ravenstone
As always our surgeries are on the first Friday of each month at 7:30 in the Olney Centre which is the 7th of December and the 4th of January 2013.
Phonebox Magazine 75