I did not expect to be re-elected today. Indeed, I’d written a concession post but not a victory post for Facebook. I am genuinely pleased to be back on the town council, though I had come up with some fun ideas for what to do with the extra time!
Of the nineteen Huntingdon Town councillors, five are retiring – Steve McAdam, Audrey McAdam, Padrica Kennington, Ann Blackwell, and Mike Baker. Brian Luckham was coöpted to South Ward during this term and is standing for Stukeley Meadows ward in these elections. Everyone else who is restanding is doing so in the ward they currently represent. Juliet Cole and Sarah Gifford stood down during this last year, so at least seven of the nineteen will be newly elected (though some candidates have previously been on the town council). At least a third of the council changing feels significant to me.
Forty candidates are contesting the elections and there are no uncontested seats. Given how many towns and parishes don’t have contested elections, that’s a good thing. In 2022, there weren’t contested elections in Central, Hinchingbrooke Park, South West, South, or West, and there were coöptions at the start of the term.
Ward
Seats
Gre
Lab
Lib
Con
Ref
Ind
Central
2
2
2
1
E
4
3
4
1
HP
1
1
1
NE
4
4
4
2
SW
1
1
1
1
1
S
1
1
1
SM
5
2
4
W
1
1
1
1
Σ
19
1
11
3
14
1
10
E – East; HP – Hinchingbrooke Park; NE – North East; SW – South West; S – South; SM – Stukeley Meadows; W – West. Ind includes candidates with no ballot description.
Central (2)
Damilola ADEMINIYI – Labour Party
Muhhamad Shahzad AMIR – Conservative Party Candidate
Aparna VINODKUMAR PANAMPILLY – Conservative Party Candidate
Fardous SIDDIQUE – Labour Party
Karl Brian WEBB – Independent
East (4)
Aiwan ANTONY – Conservative Party Candidate
Kiran BALA – Conservative Party Candidate
Mark Neil FEARON
Tomin GEO – Conservative Party Candidate
Jo HARVEY – Liberal Democrats
Nathan HUNT – Liberal Democrats
Lavanya KRISHNAN – Conservative Party Candidate
Amanda NORTON – Liberal Democrats
Hinchingbrooke Park (1)
Karl Gordon BROCKETT – Independent
Rodel Carag DAQUIOAG – Conservative Party Candidate
North East (4)
David Landon COLE – Labour Party
Zara Louise Bobby DOLAN-ANSARY – Labour Party
Leedo GEORGE – Conservative Party Candidate
Hari Krishna GOPALA KRISHNAN – Conservative Party Candidate
Marion KADEWERE – Labour Party
Patrick KADEWERE – Labour Party
Alan NICOL – Conservative Party Candidate
Sreelakshmi PRADEEP – Conservative Party Candidate
I was diagnosed last year with ADHD of the inattentive type. It has not been a fun time and I’ve been struggling to articulate how I feel but I think I’ve found something that captures where I am and what I fear for the future in AE Housman’s poem, ‘How Clear, How Lovely Bright’, though possibly better known for its last line that was used in the Morse books and television programmes: ‘The Remorseful Day’.
I wrote the following as a draft for Huntingdon Town Council’s response to HMG’s consultation on local government reform in Cambridgeshire. It went through unamended except that I hadn’t included the answer on the question specific to Option D; it was added in as an amendment.
I know that not many people will read it and it will probably have very little, if any, impact on the decision made. I am nonetheless quite proud of it as a piece of work. For one, I believe it is valuable for towns and parishes to be engaging in the process. Secondly, Making the case for the Town Council’s preferred Option E while avoiding accidentally supporting our least preferred Option D, and putting it in language that would, I hope, appeal to decisionmakers was a challenge (and an enjoyable one).
As the year comes to an end, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what I’ve been working on as a town councillor, and what’s gone well, what’s been slow, and what I’ve learned along the way. This is a long post,so please feel free to skim or dip in and out.
I asked both Cambridgeshire County Council and Huntingdonshire District Council, under the Freedom of Information Act, for the data they’re using to inform the three options for local government reform that have been presented for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Their answers are basically that they are using publicly accessible data and they very helpfully provided links to the data they’re using. It all follows below.
