Oor Sandy not standing in May

The stream of faithful readers heading into the Co-op tonight to buy tomorrow's Nairnshire Telegraph were soon digesting the shock news that Sandy Park, Convener of Highland Council, is not standing again in the forthcoming elections. Rush and out get your Nairnshire now (still thirty minutes at the time of writing this 9.30. p.m.) for the full story.

Earlier this year Sandy had indicated that he would be standing again. This observer would have had him pencilled in as one of the four candidates that would definitely get past the complicated PR quota system that is used for the Council elections. That leaves the field open now to six candidates (that have declared so far). That'll be Liz, Graham, Laurie, Colin, a Labour mannie and a mannie from Newton Gate who keeps writing letters to the Nairnshire that are very hard to digest. Of course others could emerge from the woodwork yet. In the meantime however pick 4 from 6.

Facebook election? Snp4nairnshire

Earlier today this observer mentioned the SNP beginning their campaign for the May elections in earnest with a leaflet drop. These days there's an internet side to politics however and Liz has had a prescence on Facebook and twitter for sometime. Now Colin Macaulay joins her in cyber campaigning. Here's Snp4nairnshire Colin J Macaulay. Will the other candidates join them knocking on the virtual doors?
Could Oor Sandy, Graham, Laurie or the unknown Labour mannie show up in Nairnshire cyberspace too? If you are a prospective candidate or a sitting councillor standing again for the Nairnshire ward and have an internet presence please tell the Gurn. We now have a wee box in the sidebar to link to you all.

Local Press Review – Standing again

Interesting to see that Laurie, Liz, Graham and Sandy are all standing for election again in May. The Nairnshire has quotes from the three Nairn members of the ruling administration so if you haven’t read the local paper yet you can read the “self-assessment” quotes from the LibDem and two Indy councillors. The Leopold Street Thunderer has also has been speaking to new contestant Colin Macaulay who will be standing on the SNP ticket with Liz. The voting system gives you the choice of list preferences so obviously the Nationalists feel that they have a fair chance of getting two members elected in Nairn. It is worth remembering too that last time round Liz got almost twice as many first preferences as Sandy the second placed candidate in the first round (Liz 1576, Sandy 855, Laurie 669, Graham 535). This observer will predict that Liz will increase her total of first preferences, even with one other SNP candidate in the mix. Many voters will still have her “sacking” as Provost by the other three existing councillors strong in their memory when they go to the polls. Here’s a couple of Gurn articles here and here that detail those heady days back in the spring of 2010 when a wave of indignation swept through Nairn over what many considered as a very unfair move by Graham, Laurie and Sandy. The Facebook group that campaigned to reinstate Liz attracted over 500 members and is still there.

In an indication of where perhaps local debate will go during the elections it is perhaps worth picking two key parts out of what Colin had to tell the Nairnshire: “I am well aware of the concerns and opportunities across our Royal Burgh,” and “ “…we will fight Nairnshire’s corner as a part of a strong SNP voice on the new Council.” Royal Burgh and Nairnshire – key words in a potential debate about the County’s identity in the face of the centralising machine that is the Glenurquhart Road administration? It is not only in Nairn that people are upset with the Highland Council, even in Inverness there are the stirrings of revolt over the use of the Common Good fund. Could the SNP pick up on conceptions across the Highlands that the periphery is disadvantage compared to the Inverness? It remains to be seen what the SNP will put in their Highland manifesto for the elections in May but a commitment to more localism could bring them many more votes. If they shy away from that in Nairn however, could it be that other candidates might emerge yet with a more robust “Nairnshire First” agenda. There seems to be a willingness out there to consider such an approach if the results of one of the Gurn’s current (unscientific) polls are taken into account.

click the image to enlarge

Elected by secret ballot...

...at the River CC last night by the eight members of the Council. The new co-opted members are John Dolan, Simon Noble and Freddie Holmes. Then there were eleven...

Graham Vine out in shock poll result!

One of the stars of West Community Council lost his seat earlier today as the count was held in the Courthouse. Graham received 136 votes. Another prominent member of the West came in 5th with 195 votes, enough to see him elected but this observer had thought Brian Stewart's recent prominence on planning issues might have seen him climb a little higher but the people have spoken.

However the women of the moment is the lady who kicked ass over the Regal and got results. Reports are coming in from the West End of Kalashnikovs being fired in celebration to honour Rosemary Young for topping the poll with 354 votes, she was nearly 100 votes ahead of the nearest contestant. There was a 49.84% turnout in the West area.

Meanwhile in Suburban Dick Youngson topped the poll with a massive 630 votes in a 35.11% turnout. In River all safely home with 0 votes apiece.

Elections - The usual suspects are going to go forth and multiply

When the dust settles on the 16th of November Nairn will be represented by at least 27 community councillors with the possibility that the new councils may co-opt further members too.

River will be returned without an election and will have nine members, you can see who got on there on this document*. The candidates for Nairn Suburban are listed here - pick any 10 from the 11 on the coupon. Over in the West pick any 8 from 11 when you get the ballot paper.

Here's the Cawdor and West Nairnshire list and Auldearn here too, East Nairnshire will not have a community council according to the Highland Council press release, there will also be some big gaps in Inverness where not enough candidates came forward. If this proves anything it demonstrates that Nairn is a caring community where sufficient people are willing to put themselves forward for these unpaid roles on the Community Councils. You can show your support for them Gurnites, by voting in the elections and supporting the councils in their work.

*The Gurnmeister notes that River CC have no members elected from those who live on the east side of the river, their territory takes in the Lochloy schemes, Broad Hill and Boath Park, so maybe there is the potential there yet for a couple of folk from those areas to be co-opted on to take the total number of usual suspects beyond 30? And if you add the other out of town councillors to the total too then it looks like there will be nearly enough Nairnshire representitives to fill a bus should the need ever arise.

Community Council Elections

River 11 nominations no election. Elections for West and Suburban with 8 & 10 nominations respectively. Cawdor and West Nairnshire no election with 9 nominations, Auldearn also uncontested with 8 nominations.

Still a few hours to wait for the local result

The count starts for the Highland seats at 10.00 a.m up in Dingwall. How big will the SNP landslide be here? Fergus with 50-60% of the vote perhaps? And just how far down will the LibDems go? At this moment (06.51) the BBC are reporting three of the eight regional lists declared and the LibDem share of the vote down to 3.5% with no list wins. Could they fail to get a list seat in the Highlands? Will the Greens get anything? So far they've only managed one member on the lists - will Eleanor Scott make it here?

Interesting times.

On this May morning...

Don't forget to vote today. It'll be a long wait for the local result but BBC Scotland think the first constituency results in the Central Belt could be in around 02.00 a.m.

Last minute Christian bandwagon building for a list seat?

Above you can see the latest prices on the political section from the Paddy Power bookies site. There is no change in the prices for the big four parties since we had a look last Wednesday with Fergus still set to storm it but note how the Scottish Christian Party and UKIP have entered the reckoning. You get better odds on the Christians than the Tories. Also coming up fast on Mary Scanlon are UKIP. Of course these are prices for the Constituency result but if that pattern is reflected across the list for the Highlands and Islands then the result could be very interesting indeed.
Remember too at the General Election this time last year the SCP beat the Greens when it came to crosses on the ballot papers. Interesting times.

First vote totally wasted?

Here's Davie standing behind the main man at the Save Lossie march and rally last November. Currently Davie is a 16/1 outsider to win in this constituency (Paddy Power Constituency bet as at 28/04/11). It looks like it's all about how big Fergus's majority will be but SNP activists in Nairn seem to be still going full out devlivering leaflets and Party newspapers, obviously they are not allowing complacency to set in.

May 5th - What the bookies think will happen in Inverness/Nairn

Here's what bookies Paddy Power think will happen here. This observer would put Christine Jardine way back beyond even the sad Labour odds but there you go. You can see what they think about other Scottish Constituencies here.

Gurnshire goes to the polls

There are currently four opinion polls live in the sidebar. A new one on the Single Community Council issue has been started recently to reflect the school of thought that believes there should be 2 councils instead of the status quo of 3 or those who are presently campaigning for one. We've been there before on the Gurn yes but it is only fair that all options are polled.

The Highland Council recently decided that there is not enough interest in Nairn for one single Council to go ahead. There has been plenty of hot debate about this recently in the pages of the Nairnshire Telegraph.

So please pass the word on the 1, 2 or 3 poll. Have your say!

The Highland Council election results in Nairnshire 2007 - first preferences

Liz 1576
Sandy 855
Laurie 669
Graham 535

A brief interlude before they start-up again

Today belongs to the voter not the politicians. Well that is to say up until 10 o'clock tonight when they and their legions of media devotees will kick off again.

Danny Alexander launches his election campaign - Will Nairn Swimming Pool get a mention?

The Lib Dem MP's site states

'Local Liberal Democrat MP Danny Alexander has today formally launched his re-election campaign - on the day that Gordon Brown finally goes to Buckingham Palace to call the election for May 6th. Mr Alexander will be campaigning this afternoon in Inverness with fellow Highland MP Charles Kennedy and Jim Wallace, former Scottish Liberal Democrat leader. Mr Alexander, Mr Kennedy, and Mr Wallace will be available for interview and photographs on the steps of the Inverness town house at 5pm today.'

Danny says: "On local and national issues, I have spoken out to ensure that the interests of the Highlands are heard at Westminster. Whether it is resisting Post Office closures, fighting for more affordable housing and more transport investment, pressing for fairer fuel and heating bills, or pushing for fairer taxation and to clean up politics, the Liberal Democrats have been on the side of local people.' More information on Danny's site.

Well Danny there's 652 people on a Facebook group and thousands more elsewhere in Nairnshire who would dearly love to see you speak out on a certain local issue! Does Danny support the campaign to save Nairn Swimming Pool?

Update 20.15: 754 people have joined the facebook protest group now - will it reach 1,000?

River CC election - Tommy Hogg tops poll - 28% turnout

Tommy Hogg chats with Nairnshire Reporter John Dolan prior to the results
The results were announced by the Returning Officer Louise Clark at the Courthouse this evening. A healthy 28% of the electorate in the River Community Council area returned their ballot papers and the following were elected:

Carol Clark 621 votes
Thomas Hogg 681 votes
Bill Murdoch 579 votes
Jeanne Tolmie 679 votes
Stephanie Whittaker 588 votes

Provost Liz MacDonald congratulated all reelected and newly elected councillors and wished them well for their term of office. A good result for democracy and an indication that many Nairnites show a keen interest in community council affairs, it bodes well for the future and a possible single Community Council for Nairn within the next two years.

Louise Clark prepares to announce the result , Jean Tolmie to her right

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