Farming for votes

As a break from helping to clean up the Democracy Club local elections data, I thought I'd check in with the parish elections in Shropshire.

We don't need no town election, we don't need no parish poll

When the Notices of Election were published, we were expecting polls in a total of 276 parishes or parish wards. The Statements of Persons Nominated give us the true figures - 16 wards do not appear to have any candidates at all, including Burford and Stockton parish councils, which should have a full complement of 7 councillors each. In a further 212 cases the number of candidates doesn't exceed the total number of seats, so those candidates - 974 of them - will be declared elected without bothering the voters. The citizens of Albrighton will be doubly disappointed - they will have neither a parish election nor a county election (although congratulations to the Conservatives' Nigel Lumby, who has been elected to both councils without expending any shoe leather).

That leaves 279 candidates to fill 164 vacancies on 6th May - meaning less than 12% of all parish and town councillors in Shropshire will actually face an election. 60 of those candidates are in Shrewsbury alone, where the vast majority are also standing in the matching county divisions. Voters in 15 of Shrewsbury's 17 wards can see information on the town council elections on Who Can I Vote For?.

After the party

So what of the candidates themselves? At this level, the majority of candidates don't display any affiliation, although there are still a fair number who do - by my count there are 43 Conservatives, 33 for the Green Party, 31 Labour (including one under the Labour and Co-operative banner), and 21 Liberal Democrats. There is a sole UKIP candidate in Tilstock, who is also standing for the party at county level; and in Kemberton, sitting councillor Giles Greenwood has nailed his colours to the Official Monster Raving Loony Party's oddly-shaped mast (although to anyone hoping to cast a vote for the Loonies: sorry, that's another uncontested election).

But the fun is that you don't need to use an official party description in parish or town council elections - as long as it doesn't conflict with a registered party name, you can choose just about anything. There are a couple of ultralocal groups to choose from - Minsterley Residents Group are standing 7 candidates in one of the most contested parishes in the county (14 candidates for 9 seats), and We Are Whitchurch is on the ballot in all three wards of Whitchurch Town Council.

Some candidates emphasise their individual credentials. David Curtis in West Felton is "School Governor. Chairman Village Hall Committee", and Andy Stelman in Bishop's Castle is "Bishop's Castle Community Foodbank Coordinator". Valerie Whateley of Betwys-y-Crun Parish Council is taking no chances, and describes herself as "Current Chairman". This being Shropshire, there are no fewer than 11 candidates describing themsleves as simply "Farmer" or "Local Farmer". Several give some variation on the theme of "Retired", including David Spicer in Ruyton-XI-Towns who is a "Retired Barrister Specialist in Public Law" which will presumably come in handy during any dispute over the standing orders. Conversely, Tony Willetts in Craven Arms promises "No Fancy Qualifications, Just Common Sense!" In Ellesmere, Tim Hunter is known merely as "Mere Tim".

Finally there are those hoping that long residency will swing the vote. Lucy Beaumont in Whittington has been a "Park Hall Resident Since 2012", John Mattocks in Weston Rhyn has been "Resident 23 years", but the prize goes to West Felton's Pat Mabe, who simply states "46 Years A Resident". Even in the Marches, how many people can say that?