Author: Tim Prosser

Confirmed at about 5.30am… it was a long night. I am now the third Reform Derby Councillor for the Boulton Ward in Derby City. That takes us up to 6 councillors in the city. A great result. Unfortunately though not that surprising, I didn’t make Police and Crime Commissioner. There is always next time…..

The image is my latest leaflet but for the Police and Crime Commissioner election address download the following copy for your perusal…

Well it’s a busy year. I’m standing in Boulton Ward, Derby for Derby City Council Elections. So far the Conservatives have dropped out and the Labour party have put up Sarah Bolton to stand against me. A quick google will tell you all you need to know about the career politician. Boulton is where I grew up and went to school and where I’ve spent the last few years working hard in the community. The last year working with the local Covid response group caring for community members who are unable to get out or in difficulty. I’m standing for Reform Derby and Reform UK both of which have a no whip policy allowing councillors to do best for their communities.

I’m standing on May 6th for Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner.

Why? Well last year Derbyshire police decided to try and scare the population and manned every park entrance en-masse. They wrongly fined two women for drinking coffee, told my friends children that they couldn’t play with a football in the park and chased people across the peaks with drones even though they didn’t know who they were and had no evidence that they had done anything wrong. This political policing has to stop. We need to return to an effective, efficient force offering value for money and good service. All these points are so badly lacking. I will also cut the commissioners office down as the office budget has ballooned to over £1m with 18 staff.

Derby City Council have just voted to raise council tax by 4.99%. This year the government have raised the limit to accommodate extra spending. Reform Derby proposed a 2% increase to acknowledge the current difficulties but reduce the impact on local residents. Labour said they couldn’t go for a rise and gave empassioned speeches on the subject. They were so incensed that when it came to voting they all ‘abstained’ again. Bizarre.

The financial officer at the meeting was asked for his opinion of our 2% rise and this is where the root of the problem becomes apparent. Successive leaders in the council ALWAYS go for the maximum amount and claim a low tax base is the reason. The real reason is that the financial officer runs the show and the parties are spineless followers of his word. He sees it as his job to expand the council budget as much as possible. This eases his position, should make the council finances more stable and keeps the departments happy. He said at the meeting that he ALWAYS recommends the maximum lift and could not recommend any other budget. Derby has a low tax base and we must get as much as possible. We were also accused of harming the most vulnerable as a cut to the proposed 5% budget might impact the discretionary council tax awards that go to those struggling to pay for it. I believe that fund was quoted at £7 Million but I would have to confirm that number.

Lets break it down. Like every council in the land funds have been squeezed by central government which means that the council has to run as lean and efficient as possible. This is fairly standard Tory practice and I believe councils should give value for money but the government should not squeeze too hard. That is not an easy balance. Derby City Council still wastes millions every year on all sorts of crazy projects. They have a lot of work to do to be responsible users of our cash. The argument of a low tax base also holds little water. While Derby is largely made of cheap housing stock and the base is indeed low, Tax base is the value of assets and therefore the limit on how much you can tax, a low tax base can return more financially than a high tax base as density is the key. You see in a row of cheap terrace houses might be 50 taxable units where in a modern development you might only fit 20. Those 50 also have less cars and less infrastructure so are cheaper to maintain. A low tax base can be a good thing. This excuse is quoted every year because it sounds good and right but the reality is that the statement is a meaningless soundbite. The other thing about a low tax base is you have to be careful how you tax it. These are not wealthy people and it is very sensitive to taxation changes. raising the tax disproportionately hurts the vulnerable.

My final point, How do you know that the council tax is too high and the people are struggling to pay it? Well the discretionary fund has to get bigger. For every person in the city using the fund there will be another 10 that have never heard of it. The fact that the fund exists and is so large shows how crucial this decision is. Derby’s council tax is already too high.

For anyone local that finds this post.. send me a message, give me a call, email me and I;ll deliver you some stickers if there are any left.

The graphics for Reform Derby are done in house and this features a train. Other graphics include a Spitfire, Silver Ghost, Passenger Jet etc. If you have any ideas as to what images we should use to represent Derby then also, just drop me a line.

Often ignored or denied election fraud is actually quite a thing and in the UK it mostly seems to relate to postal ballots, undue pressures on the electorate or even just boldly walking into a polling station and using someone else’s vote. Derby has a history of this and it’s unfortunately mainly perpetrated by the Labour Party. Several people have been jailed and charges are now being brought against a previous Council Cabinet Member and 3 accomplices. With it so widespread in the Derby Labour party Alan graves points the finger in this tweet…

In 2016 The Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner Cllr Hardyal Dhindsa voted against piloting measures against voter fraud.
Now his friend(s) is charged with voter fraud.
Is he suitable for this role? The Labour Party cannot be trusted.https://t.co/XRDGk9PUaR

— Cllr Alan Graves (@CllrAlanG) February 15, 2021

During the COVID pandemic I’ve been providing some random assistance to the local response hub and also providing refreshments for the ICU Freshen up Fund which was funded by David Adams Copper Sculptures. For the people I regularly shop for, though my wife now does more than me due to changing circumstances, several have had no freedom for over a year. Afraid of going out and petrified of COVID some even mask up specially for my deliveries. There is currently no comfort in the governments plans. No comfort in their excessive and depressing adverts and no positive message given by the media. Even I refuse now to watch the news or even listen to the radio broadcasts that depress the nation. This cannot continue, the damage is off the chart and we must have a recovery plan. thankfully there are parts of the community providing this support with the hub and local food banks and it’s been a great benefit to me, assisting these residents. We all need to support our neighbours at this time and look out for each other.

Derby run’s a cabinet system for it’s governance and this means that just 8 Councillors make the majority of decisions for the city. Whilst most people will have no interest in this it has led to Derby running an unprecedented number of white elephant schemes and complete failures. Both the Previous Labour leadership and current Conservative administration have been power hungry disaster zones leaving Derby with, and I’m only scratching the surface here, the following

• an unusable waste incinerator in the middle of the City
• a loss making Velodrome that is not fit for competitions
• a swimming pool that was required a decade ago but is still being built
• public venues closed due to lack of maintenance and investment
• massive investment in the Market Hall made without any plan of the outcome
• the A52 works that cost multiple times it’s massive budget and took years

Derby is also facing charges of electoral fraud against former cabinet members and other leadership irregularities.

During previous local elections this situation was highlighted and system change promised that would adjust the cabinet system to a more democratic committee system. Personally I hate committees however in this case and for the City to flourish we need a system that stops the excess and avoids the mistakes. A modern committee system could do that for Derby. Because the Conservatives have broken their promise to introduce a committee system, Reform Derby and other city activists are launching a binding petition. If just 9,000 signatures can be obtained then a referendum on the matter must be put to the people. Please sign the petition at http://itsourderby.co.uk