ELECTION THANK YOU

I huge THANK YOU! to the residents of Lordswood and Capstone for once again returning Alan Jarrett and David Wildey as your Conservative councilors for the next four year.

Although the turnout at 40.18% was identical to the last elections in 2007, we both increased our vote substantially:

Alan Jarrett - 1618 (majority 828)
David Wildey - 1446 (majority 656)

We like to think that this increase in support is in recognition for the huge amount of work we have done for residents in the ward. It is work we will continue with, and we promise to repay the trust you have shown in us.

Your comments and ideas are always welcome, and we will respond to them all in a timely manner.

Once again our thanks, and here's to the future

ELECTION UPDATE - GETTING OUT THE VOTE

During canvassing we have been helping residents to vote by collecting both postal vote forms and proxy vote forms, and delivering these to Medway Council before the closing dates for acceptance. It is too late to register for either now.

However we can still help residents to vote. We can arrange a lift to the polling stations for people on polling day - May 5th - and even take unused postal votes to the polling stations for you.

We shall be issuing reminders to vote both before polling day, and on the day itself.

Voting takes place at our three polling stations - Lordswood School, St. David's Church, and Shawstead House - between 7.00 a.m. and 10.00 p.m.

Anything we can do to help please let us know.

POLICING KESTREL SHOPS

Following complaints about anti-social behaviour in the Kestrel Shops area we contacted the police.

The police have promised "robust and ongoing action" to deal with this problem.

We shall be monitoring progress and working with both the police and Medway Council staff to ensure that residents can shop in peace at any time of the day or evening.

ELECTION UPDATE

A busy time canvassing in Lordswood & Capstone for us both, with very encouraging results. So far there has been no real drop-off in our pledge base, so providing we can get people out to vote David and I should be set for another 4 years representing the Ward.

Surprisingly perhaps - but comforting - people have not been raising major issues with the council. In fact there is widespread satisfaction with what we have been doing.

Main recent Ward issues on which we have been focusing include successful work on the following:

Major 46-space extension to the car park at Luton Recreation Ground
New play area at Capstone Country Park
Refurbished play area at Ballens Road
Resurfaced road junctions at Capstone Road/ Ash Tree Lane, and Capstone Road/North
Dane Way
Resurfacing work at Bower Green
New youth shelter at Kestrel Shops

Ongoing has been the fight to protect Capstone Valley from development.

David and I will continue to work for our residents once the election is over, and look forward to the Conservatives continuing to run Medway Council

NEW MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT

Lordswood & Capstone played its part in returning Chatham & Aylesford's first Conservative MP. Tracey Crouch was elected in the early hours of the morning of 7th May.

Alan Jarrett and David Wildey played their part in working tirelessly to help get Tracey elected, and the electors of Lordswood & Capstone turned out to pile their votes into the ward's three ballot boxes.

For the first time our ward has a MP who will be in touch with our constituents and help to champion the issues that concern people who live here.

We have worked with Tracey for 4 years leading up to the election, and know that she will do all she can make our area a better place.

With both of us as members of Medway's Conservative Cabinet, and now a new MP in Tracey Crouch, we have a high powered team to represent the interests of Lordswood & Capstone and all three of us look forward to improving the ward still further over the years ahead.

Well done Tracey

Play Area improvements

Two important initiatives relating to play areas are being brought forward by Ward Councillors Alan Jarrett and David Wildey.

Firstly will be the repair and refurbishment of the play area in the woodland to the north of Albermarle Road, after it was extensively damaged by vandalism.

Secondly the two play areas in Capstone Park will get a facelift, with repairs and new equipment.

These pieces of work follow on from other sports and play related work throughout the Ward that has been brought forward by the two Councillors.

Collecting Waste

When debating the new waste contract at Full Council last night the Labour Leader came up with even more implausible excuses for issuing a leaflet during the 2007 election telling lies about our plans.

Remember the Labour claim that we would introduce fortnightly collection of household waste?

Well, here we are over 2 years later: we still have weekly collection of household waste, and we are entering into a 25-year contract to do the same. As part of the package we will be introducing new recycling initiatives in Lordswood - so watch out for them over the next couple of years.

The moral: treat Labour election leaflets with more than touch of scepticism!

SAVE CAPSTONE VALLEY

Thought it time to breath life into our blog! What better time to do so than when Capstone Valley is once again under threat from developers.

Tracey, David and I, with all the Chatham & Aylesford Conservative team, have been busy delivering leaflets to every house in Lordswood & Capstone Ward, and the response from the public has once again been fabulous. Thousands of responses have come in to the office, and we will make sure that those views are heard during and after the current consultation.

Please write to Medway Council independently as well, as that will count as an additional response - whereas a petition or round-robin letter counts as a single response.

With your support we can save the valley for the third time!

Alan Jarrett

Tracey Crouch

Local councillors, Alan Jarrett and David Wildey, congratulate Tracey Crouch who has just been selected as Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Chatham & Aylesford constituency.

More details to follow.