Author Archives: admin

The Process of Mayor Making

I thought it would be interesting for residents to read how the process works for electing a Mayor or Mayoress in Haslemere.

Here is an explanation sent by the Town Clerk, Lisa O’Sullivan, to all Haslemere town councillors.

From: “Lisa O’Sullivan” <town.clerk@haslemeretc.org>
Date: 14 May 2019 at 10:17:26 am BST
To: All Town Councillors
Cc: <deputy.clerk@haslemeretc.org>, <admin@haslemeretc.org>
Subject: Thursday night’s meeting – process

Good morning,

I had a couple of questions last night after the meeting about the process for the election of Mayor on Thursday. Apologies, that is something I could have covered last night for those of you not familiar with how it works.

Thursday’s meeting is known as ‘Mayor Making’. It is a standard Council meeting, open to the public, with the exception that in May, the first order of business is to elect the Mayor for the coming civic year.

Process as follows:

Incumbent Mayor opens the meeting. First items on the Agenda are election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

Incumbent Mayor asks for nominations for Mayor.

Each nomination must have a proposer and seconder.

Traditionally the proposer spends a couple of minutes describing why they think that their nominee is the person for the job. The seconder is not required to say anything other than seconding the nomination.

At this stage a councillor may ask a question of the nominee or proposer.

The incumbent Mayor will then ask if there are any other nominations. If there are, this process continues until there are no further nominations.

If there is more than one nomination, the incumbent Mayor will ask for a show of hands for each candidate in the order that they were nominated. The new Mayor will be elected by a simple majority of those present and voting.
 
Once elected the outgoing Mayor places chain on the New Mayor. The new Mayor takes Mayor’s seat and is required to make the Declaration of Acceptance of Office followed by a short thank you speech.

There is a short presentation where the outgoing Mayor and Mayoress / consort are thanked for their service.  

The new Mayoress / consort is presented with their badge.

Mayor then presides over the election of deputy Mayor – nomination and voting process as for Mayor.

Meeting continues as usual.

There will be a short drinks reception in the Council Chamber after the meeting ends to which you are all invited.

Any questions please get in touch.

Kind regards,

Lisa

Lisa O’Sullivan
Town Clerk
Haslemere Town Council  

Haslemere’s First Critical Mass Bike Ride Yesterday

Two weeks ago, I was tagged in a Facebook post by David Elliott who works for The National Trust locally. The post was about a Critical Mass Bike Ride in Haslemere.

Advertisement for Critical Mass Bike Ride in Haslemere

I was delighted to join so many cyclists, including lots of children in the first mass bike ride organised by Transition Haslemere. Below are some photos from yesterday’s ride which began at Shottermill Ponds and ended in Haslemere High Street.

The aim of the ride was to both raise awareness of the desire of many Haslemere residents to make cycling safer for all, and also come up with practical ideas as to how this could be done.   I have been a keen advocate of cycling over my 6 years as a county and town councillor. I fully support and encourage this initiative. I look forward to working with the group to take their ideas to Surrey County Council highways team to explore what can be done.  Given the urgent climate change agenda, the need to reduce traffic pollution in our town and the added health and well being benefits that cycling can bring, I believe this is the perfect time to give cycling the highest priority.

Along the Liphook Road
Up Wey Hill, sharing the road with cars
Sharing the space with cars and pedestrians on Wey Hill
Looping through Haslemere Station
Finishing in Haslemere High Street

Thank you

This is the result of the Haslemere by-election for Surrey County Council, 2019:

  • Nikki Barton, Independent – 2,665 votes – ELECTED
  • Malcolm Carter, Conservative – 1,159 votes
  • Adrian Paul La Porta, Labour – 263 votes

This is the announcement:


Below is an interview with Rebecca Curley of the Surrey Advertiser.

Interview with Rebecca Curley after winning the seat

These are the results of the Haslemere Town Council seats for the Haslemere South ward:

  • Nikki Barton, Independent – 972 votes – ELECTED
  • Gareth David, Conservative Party Candidate – 466 votes
  • Simon Paul McMillan Dear, Conservative Party Candidate – 587 votes – ELECTED
  • David William Dullaway, Conservative Party Candidate – 480 votes – ELECTED
  • Kirsten Lisa Ellis, Independent – 505 votes – ELECTED
  • Jennifer Mary Radford, Liberal Democrats – 468 votes
  • Tom Van Den Broek, Conservative Party Candidate – 384 votes
Announcement of results for Haslemere South ward of Haslemere Town Council, 2019

Thank You

It is polling day tomorrow.

I’d like to say thank you to all the unpaid volunteers who have helped my local election campaign –  Whether you engaged on social media, gave guidance on messaging, erected and/or displayed a campaign signboard, delivered leaflets, knocked on doors, drove around town with a campaign magnet on your car, helped with leaflet/signboards input and design, manned street stalls, appeared in/helped produce videos and/or offered kind words (often in the supermarket aisle). Also, thank you to the local Greens and Lib Dems who stepped aside for me in the County by-election.

I also thank my husband and daughters who have put up with our home being a delivery centre and campaign HQ and who have also given invaluable feedback and support throughout the campaign.

Good luck to all candidates standing in the local elections. Whatever the results (Surrey County Council seat for Haslemere will be announced on Friday and the Haslemere South seat will be announced on Saturday), I look forward to elected politicians working with the community and putting Haslemere first.

Why Haslemere Library is So Important To Our Town

Surrey County Council is facing cuts across many of its services.

Documents published in March 2018 suggested the council was looking to cut the budget by around £2.3 million by 2021, chiefly by reduced spending on libraries, but the cabinet papers from October 2018 indicate a larger cut is now planned. (Source here.)

I talked with Emily from Haslemere Bookshop about why the library service is so important to her. Emily grew up going to the library and it started her love of books from a very young age.

Should Haslemere’s fantastic library be at risk at any time, we will of course work together as a community to save it.