Heyhouses Ward Conservatives: St Annes Parish Poll

Keeping Residents In Touch

The role of District Councillor has changed dramatically since the year 2000. Government policy and public awareness has meant that Councillors need to be more accountable than ever before to their electorate. Technology has also moved on and in Heyhouses your Conservative Councillors are at the forefront of adopting e-mail alerts, Blogs and Newsletters such as the Heyhouses Harrier to keep you up to date. Our monthly mobile Ward surgeries are also a vital face to face opportunity for residents to keep in touch with us. Finally the Heyhouses Branch committee, made up of volunteers, plays a vital supporting role in campaigning and fund raising. If you would like to play a more active role in your area and would like to become part of the team, then please get in touch. We hope you enjoy the Blog.

Friday, 2 May 2008

St Annes Parish Poll - 1st may 2008

Residents from within the St Annes Town Council Boundary took the opportunity to vote on the 1st May 2008 over the issue of the proposed closure of St Annes Pool.

The only Question asked was:

"Do you demand Fylde Borough keep the St Anne's swimming pool open and operational" A simple Yes or No answer was required.

A total of 3,040 electors voted in favour of the question; 15 voting against and 3 ballot papers were classed as 'spoilt'. The eligible electorate for the poll was 21,641 which resulted in a turnout of 14.1%.

Although this has been an emotional issue the low turnout clearly shows that a significant majority (85.9%) of residents in St Annes on Sea either are not too concerned about the closure or are in support of the Councils actions and it's push to find a cost effective, long term future for swimming in the Borough.

It is vital however, that we do take notice of the 3,040 people, mainly parents with young children that took the time to vote. Councillors and Officers have been tasked with ensuring that there is no reduction in School Swimming and that we continue to explore the potential of local Hotel support in opening up their facilities to the local community.

I have personally taken charge of meeting with local business leaders to continue to find a possible solution to keeping the current pool open beyond the 31st July. Currently we feel we need to find over £13,000 per month to make this possible and I hope that the comments put forward in the LSA Express this week by Mr Tim Armit spark a revival in swimming in St Annes. The Council is continuing to monitor visitor levels to both pools on a weekly basis.