Independent candidates in May 2016

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re the new "Leader" of the "Sheffield region."

 

Is there anyone out there reading the Forum that can say with some certainty:

 

1) Has it or has it not been agreed with Westminster whether or not to proceed with a person to manage Sheffield & Co ? If yes, when ? I assume the Sheffield Council was involved and had a plan in mind on how to move forward ?

2) if an agreement has been made to select a leader for the Sheffield "Region" when will it take effect ?

3) What are the general terms of the agreement ?

4) how will the city, relevant towns and councils determine how potential candidates will be selected, and how the election and voting is to take place ?

 

A very big potential cloud for the future is if the Council itself wishes to appoint/vote in a candidate, without voting/consulting the various districts. If so they will bring in one of their own, and begin with the old program of power sharing "You scratch my back and I will scratch yours." A new game plan is necessary.

 

I hope an agreement has been made, or is about to be, to select a "Sheffield & Regions" leader. I agree with Anna B's previous comments that ideally it should be someone outside politics because of the massive loss of trust amongst the general population with politicians and civil servants in general. A leader with successful business experience, that's entreprenurial, and has fresh visions for Sheffield's future. Be nice if he/she were from the Sheffield region, but not mandatory

 

A simple Google search for Sheffield & devolution results with the following link at the top:

Sheffield City Region Agreement on Devolution

 

It may not answer all your questions but is a lot better than asking people on a forum to guess.

[Stoatwobbler]

A simple Google search for Sheffield & devolution results with the following link at the top:

Sheffield City Region Agreement on Devolution

 

It may not answer all your questions but is a lot better than asking people on a forum to guess.

 

Which brings us to another point, which is how aware (or not) most people are about what all this "northern powerhouse" stuff actually means.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-34787669

 

Two-thirds of people in the North of England have either never heard of, or know nothing about, the Northern Powerhouse, according to a BBC-commissioned survey.

 

The survey suggested 44% had never heard of the policy and 20% had heard of it but know nothing about it.

Edited November 19, 2015 by Stoatwobbler
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[InigoMontoya]

For the first time in memory there will be Independent candidates standing in Council seats in Sheffield next May. Much of the reason is about local democracy with regard to the tree felling program (I don't want to go over the arguments about this issue!), the Devonshire Green shops, and the imposition of the Sheffield region Mayor. Tied in with these issues is a general dissatisfaction with political parties and the political process. When thousands of tree petition signatures are thrown out by Councillors and over 80,000 votes against a Mayor are overturned by a deal with George Osborne then people are frustrated.

 

There are some decent Councillors, but votes are whipped through and the views of constituents ignored. I believe there are enough campaigners across the City to stand in selected seats and make an impact next May. I will be standing in Nether Edge and Sharrow and there will be others coming forward in other seats. Independent, campaigning, Councillors would have a strong mandate to put Council process under scrutiny and reflect the strength of feeling on issues from residents.

 

Were you the only independent candidate nominated in the end?

 

I can't see any others on the list published by the returning officer earlier this month?

[Annie Bynnol]

The Green Party site says "The local election candidate for Nether Edge in 2015 is Calvin Payne".

 

Perhaps prospective voters would like to know what the policy differences are between "Green" and former "Green" candidates and what time has elapsed between resigning from the Green Party and becoming an Independent.

 

Perhaps Independents should be more independent.