Nominations for Local Hero

The eleventh category in the Conservative Movement Awards 2007.

Your nominations and citations are sought for a hard-working local councillor, activist or social entrepreneur who is devoted to the community around them...

We are also a bit short of nominations for New Media and Best Book...

Comments

[Mark Loveday]

I nominate my colleague Stephen Greenhalgh, Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

After taking control of Hammersmith last year for the first time in a generation, the local Conservatives immediately put Conservative principles into practice.

* A 3% Council Tax cut this year (the biggest in the country by far) and a stated intention to cut again next year. On ConHome people discuss the theory of lifting the burden of taxation - in Hammersmith this is already happening.

* Service standards improved from a three star to a maxumim four star official rating.

* Cracking down on crime with the only New York-style 24 hour Council funded police teams in the UK in our town centres.

[Sally Roberts]

I thought I was going to be the first person commenting but Mark you've beaten me to it - and I was actually going to nominate the same person for the same reason!!!
I have lived in Hammersmith for many years and it is so good to have a competent council that provides value for money to its residents as well as decent services after so many years of Labour neglect. I am thrilled and delighted that once again we are to have a cut in our Council Tax. Stephen Greenhalgh truly deserves an award but I think ALL our Conservative Councillors should share in it - especially my hard working local representatives, Harry Phibbs, Lucy Ivimy and Eugenie White!

[H&F resident]

I second the nomination for all Tory Hammersmith and Fulham councillors. While other clueless tories may want to put up taxes and whinge about government grants, H&F tories have got stuck in delivering their mandated services whilst cutting taxes, proving the TPA right that you can cut tax and deliver good services.

[matthew]

I think this is a very good award. There are far too many old fogies in local government, Conservative by name, but not by nature. The one I witnessed increased the local precept, passed contracts to family members, and generally wasted money.

It must be difficult to attract competent people into local government. I would love to do it, but the thought of all the knocking on doors, council meetings, and so on, for little or no money, as I have to work to pay for the healthcare, education and so on, that the government doesn't provide.

If only we could get every council run the way that Wandsworth and Hammersmith are, the power of true Conservative policy would be viewed more positively at a national level as well.

[Graeme Archer]

I have two left-field nominations (and support the H&F councillors) related to our less fertile territory of north-east London:

Andrew Boff, for the work he's done on the Broadway Market Residents and Traders' Association - building up a power-centre separate to the municipal socialists, which has regenerated the once run-down E8 postcode. That sort of work is what will ultimately turn Hackney blue.

Justin Hinchcliffe, whom I don't know very well, but whose relentless campaigning efforts see parts of Tottenham being leafletted with the Tory message almost every week, and whose letter-writing campaigns keep the Tory message alive in the local paper. I think that level of energy and commitment, in a very unTory borough, is again what we need to do to get the green shoots of Toryism growing in the inner cities.

[Dr. James Orpin]

I would like to second Justin Hinchcliffe's nomination. As Treasurer of Tottenham Conservatives, I know at first hand the amount of time and work that Justin puts in for the Association. We're lucky to have him. Thank you, Justin!

[Gavin French]

I know both Andrew and Justin and they both have much to commend them. Tottenham may not be high on our list of seats for the General Election, but if we're to do well in the GLA/Mayoral and European Elections we need to maintain our profile even in seats like this. Whatever anyone thinks of Justin, no one can say that he hasn't achieved this!

[Machiavelli's Understudy]

I'd be really interested to see one or two in-depth articles on what the H&F councillors have done during their short tenure.

Unlike many other Conservative council groups (like my own), they seemed to have the vision of what they wanted to achieve from the outset and were quite organised in what they did.

A case study would be most welcome. It's really important that we share these sorts of achievements and the techniques used to attain them. Conservative councillors need to know why they are Conservatives and what it means to be Conservatives- too many of them are just people elected to local government under a Conservative banner without any real sense of commitment or ideology.

[Gareth Knight]

I would like to nominate Julia Heaton, Chairman (until Wednesday 5th December) of the University of York Conservative and Unionist Association.

As someone said about Justin above, maintaining a presence in an area where the Conservatives have not performed well of late is in many ways a bigger achievement than doing so in places we already perform well in, regardless of the attitude or controversial nature of the person who does it!

Julia Heaton was single-handedly responsible for winning 8 council seats in the City of York when previously the Conservatives had none at all. This happened by her dragging teams of students all over the borough for weeks in advance, providing the vast majority of all campaign work for the elections, encouraging all and sundry to help out despite the 'proper' campaign lacking on messages, support or momentum.

Things were so bad in York that even experienced campaigners were predicting another wipe-out but as the votes came in, the Tories won in every ward where Julia took students to help in large numbers.

She did this through sheer hard work, keeping the association open and free of cliques and getting dozens of members and alumni to help.

Obviously, other members of the Association, other committee members and alumni can take some credit too but Julia's work was astonishing, sacrficing a lot of time and effort for the cause, most of which she wouldn't admit to.

While student groups are rarely praised for their work, on this occasion, we have councillors in a city for the first time in 4 years and this should be recognised and held up as an inspiration to others.

[Catriona Mackenzie]

I would like to vote for Justin Hinchcliffe, the chairman of the Tottenham Conservatives. He is, in my book, an unsung hero. He does an incredible amount of work for the local community on behalf of the Conservative Party. He does a lot of house visits, visiting the elderly, on some of the sink estates in Tottenham, and he is a friend to them, helping them to resolve any problems they might have on the estate and also just visiting them as a means of supporting them, as many of them feel isolated and may not have relatives near by. He really is a very kind and compassionate person, someone who many people in Tottenham depend on.

[Jon Harrison]

I second the nomination for Julia Heaton. She has worked extremely hard in an area the tories fell to bits in 2003. Winning 8 councillors from nothing, and all in a target seat, is a huge achievement.

[Bexie]

Justin gets my vote for two important reasons,

First his tireless keeping the flag flying in the heartlands of the marxist project and second because his efforts do something more valuable, in keeping the mutual aid from going to marginal seats where it could cause damgage

For maintaining this rearguard action going in Tottenham he deserves a party medal, if not an honor.

[ak23566]

I would like to nominate Cllr Phil Thomas from Croydon.

Not only has Phil been the Croydon Campaign Manager for many years, successfully leading the campaign which resulted in the Party gaining control of the council in May 2006, but is also a permanent fixture in every local government and Parliamentary by-election in London and SE England for at least 15 years.

Not only does Phil work tirelessly in his own constituency - he and his team regularly "adopt" wards in neighbouring boroughs when there are no elections in Croydon, normally producing surprise Conservative gains where the local Association had given up hope.

Over the past 4 years my own marginal constituency, Chatham & Aylesford, has received 30+ car-loads of mutual aid organised by Phil Thomas (despite the fact it is an 80 mile round trip).

Phil doesn't waste his time trying to reduce Labour's majorities in their heartlands, nor does he massage his ego by building ever larger majorities in the strongholds. He does exactly what a decent campaigner should do - focus his efforts in the critical marginal wards / constituencies that decide the outcome of every election. He would be a worthy winner of this award.

[Nick Webb]

I'd like to nominate John Calway, leader of South Gloucestershire Council. John led from the front as the Conservatives became the biggest party on South Glos Council and seemed to be on hand during every leafleting or canvassing session in the run up to the election. Not only did we become the biggest party on the council, but in the previously 3 way marginal parliamentry constituency of Filton & Bradley Stoke we polled 52% of the vote and in the vitally important Kingswood constituency we took
around 47% of the vote. In short we won the council election and set two target seats on course for victory at the next election. John was involved in this campaign every step of the way from the planning to the leaflet dropping.