2nd July 2015

DORCHESTER: More than 700 sign petition calling for change in district council voting system

A petition calling for a referendum of West Dorset District Council’s “undemocratic” cabinet system was swelled by more than 700 signatures in Dorchester last week.

At times people were queuing to sign the Public First Group demand for a change to the committee system.

Organiser, John Grantham, said: “Most people said they had come because of the discovery for many that West Dorset was run by a Cabinet system led by seven people; also that not one of the cabinet was among the nine Dorchester councillors elected to West Dorset.

“Many said they now understood how the 93 per cent Dorchester Town Poll vote against the offices had been ignored by WDDC and how the county town had been blighted by the huge council offices placed on Charles Street car-park.”

Mr Grantham said some small slips of paper were delivered to some homes on Thursday night and Friday outlining the signing opportunity, which had helped swell numbers.

“We were utterly astonished, and delighted, to be besieged with the number of people making their way specifically to us to sign the petition.We had no less than 709 signatures on the day, with name and address details, between 9.30am to just after 3pm.

“Whilst we may have heard half a dozen dissenting voices in favour of the cabinet system, on the basis that decisions could be faster, there were over 700 signatures in favour of the petition requiring a referendum to be held in order to return to the committee system to give an improvement in democracy.

“People derided party politics in council matters and were also uneasy that the only political party represented on the cabinet got just 45 per cent of all West Dorset votes and a small fraction of this in Dorchester, with many calling for proportional representation nationally. “Some people said they used to get some information about Charles Street and other developments from WDDC’s newsletter to all homes, Community Link, but that this source of information had been cut off by WDDC in the last two years, as it has been discontinued.”

This Saturday, June 27th saw a further signings session in Bridport.

“There has been a massive awakening among people that there is at last something they can do to help,” said Mr Grantham.

“Public First’s role is to ensure the petition is valid so it can be verified and that everyone in West Dorset learns that WDDC is run by a cabinet system where the four main towns – Dorchester, Bridport, Sherborne and Lyme Regis are represented by half (19) of the elected 42 councillors, but that not one of these is in the cabinet!

“We can’t change the election result, but we can require, through the ballot box in a future referendum, that a committee system, removing the cabinet governance and allowing more influence, inputs, reason and debate to spread to all 42 councillors, can be re-instated, as it has been for instance in Fylde and Canterbury through the efforts of the public using the Localism Act 2011, as we are.”

DORCHESTER: More than 700 sign petition calling for change in district council voting system

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