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ELECTION RESULTS: The Chalfonts and Seer Green
A BUCKS county councillor has criticised some of the 'dirty' campaigning in his ward after he beat off an Independent candidate to reclaim his seat.
Martin Tett (Con), BCC cabinet member for strategic planning, was elected in The Chalfonts and Seer Green ward with 3,112 votes along with Timothy Butcher (Con) with 3,451 votes.
Mr Tett had been involved with the county council's campaign to site an incinerator in south Bucks with Wapseys Wood, in Gerrards Cross, in the running at one point.
The council and Mr Tett came up against opposition from the Bucks Against Incinerators (BRAINS) campaign group who put up independent candidate Graham Smith in a bid to dislodge him.
But their efforts failed with Mr Smith only managing 586 votes and after the result was announced Mr Tett issued a clear message to his rivals.
Mr Tett said: "I am relieved with the result and I am pleased the electorate have had the faith to vote myself and Tim in.
"We have run a very good campaign and I would like to thank both Labour and Lib Dem candidates for running their issue based and clean campaigns in the right manner.
"It was clear that some people chose to run a personality contest and because of this I feel they got the result they deserved."
Other candidates were Michael Meakin (Lib Dem) with 1,178 votes, Anne Rafferty (Lib Dem) with 1,112 votes, John Archdeacon (UKIP) with 931 votes, Christopher Cooke (UKIP) with 839 votes, Gearoid De Barra (Lab) with 257 votes, and Mihir Roy (Lab) with 245 votes.
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Considering Graham Smith only decided to stand as an independent a mere four weeks before the election, to poll 10% of the votes in an electrical division where 56% of the electorate decided not to vote, one may get the feeling that Mr Tett is perhaps deluding himself. It seems to me there is still a significant strength of feeling in his division that does not agree with his and his colleagues ideas as to how Bucks County Council should manage our waste.
I do despair at the level of intelligence used by Civil Servants in their in ability to understand the legacy that burning waste will leave our children, and perhaps Upton Sinclair who said in 1932, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it” is still just as appropriate today.
The situation is that our county council is about to embark on an expensive folly that will leave us poor council tax payers even poorer. Furthermore the council intends to lock us into a 25 year contract without a break clause, which seems rather foolhardy, especially when one considers the way technology is changing and Man’s ability to find better ways to manage our waste. The drive for cheaper and safer ways to deal with our waste is moving at such a pace, that I can foresee in 5-10 years time burning waste will be seen as a foolish error.
However it may be an idea to have a look at who will benefit: The Waste management Companies (who will be running the Waste Incinerators), the Environmental Consultants (who are supposed to be independent) and of course our Banks who put up the PFI Money and will profit from their 25 year investment underwritten by the Government. I think it is this that is driving incineration, not the idea that the incineration is the only panacea to landfill. Looks to me as though someone may have been played like Doyle Lonnegan in The Sting!
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