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Council elections: ‘Hurt’ former Mayor of Peterborough told she won’t be candidate
Neighbourhood west panel meeting at the Ramada Hotel chaired by Cllr Pat Nash
The Conservative party have axed a former mayor and the current mayor’s consort as their candidates for the 2012 Peterborough City Council elections.
Cllr Pat Nash, who was Mayor from 2008 to 2009, and Cllr Ray Dobbs, who has been mayor’s consort since June 2011, have been replaced as candidates for their wards.
Cllr Nash (76) has been replaced as the ward’s Tory candidate by Dan Bird (24), and believes the decision was made because of her age.
She has represented North Bretton as a city councillor for eight years and was a parish councillor for 10 years before that,
As well as being a former Mayor, Cllr Nash was made an MBE for her services to Peterborough’s community and the sugar industry in 1995.
Cllr Ray Dobbs (66), who was first elected for Eye and Thorney in 2008, has been replaced as that ward’s candidate by Dale McKean.
Cllr Dobbs said he believes the decision was due to his perceived closeness to council leader Cllr Marco Cereste.
Both councillors were told on Saturday night through phone calls from Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald, who sits on the selection panel with Cllrs Matthew Dalton and John Peach.
Cllr Fitzgerald said: “We are in the lucky position where we have more applicants than seats. The fact somebody is a sitting councillor doesn’t give them an automatic right to be the next candidate. The decision was reached following due consideration of all factors and, of course, following proper process and a personal interview of each candidate.
“Neither councillor has been deselected. They just have not been chosen for that ward.
“They can always stand in another ward, and our selection process is still ongoing.”
Cllr Nash said: “If I wanted to represent another ward, I wouldn’t have applied for Bretton North. I am absolutely gutted about the decision, and it has hurt me.
“I am very upset and I have asked the party to write to me with the reasons for their decision.
“The only reason I can think of is because of my age, but I am still active.
“But I am not going to hide away – if I am going to go out I will go out fighting.
“I love representing this ward and I will campaign to do so as an independent councillor.”
Despite replacement candidate Daniel Bird being more than 50 years younger than Cllr Nash, Cllr Fitzgerald strongly denied that the decision was made due to her age.
He said: “Age had no bearing on this decision.
“There are a number of factors we consider but that discussion was behind closed doors, and will remain so.”
Mr Bird said: “I don’t think age comes into it, I am just really proud to have the opportunity to stand for election in my local ward.”
An angry Cllr Dobbs believes he is the victim of a perceived split in the Conservatives between people who support the leader Cllr Marco Cereste and those who don’t.
Cllr Cereste is not a part of the candidate selection panels.
Cllr Dobbs said: “I think 90 per cent of it is because they see me as a ‘Marco person’.
“I won the last election with a good majority, and have enjoyed my time serving the ward as a Conservative councillor.
“I was surprised to hear they don’t want me any more.
“The selection committee are trying to get their own people in. Everyone knows there are two sides in the Conservative party.”
Cllr Fitzerald admitted there had been a split in the past, but said that is no longer the case.
He said: “Three years ago he might have had a point, but now I am in Marco’s cabinet and we are a united group.
“To say the decision was because of our leader is completely untrue.”
Cllr Dobbs has not yet decided if he will stand as an independent, but has said he has no interest in contesting any other wards.
Invitation for a ‘mother hen’ to join Independents
THE longest serving councillor has branded the decision to not retain Cllr Pat Nash as a Tory candidate as a “smack in the eye for an excellent councillor”.
Cllr Charles Swift, who was first elected to Peterborough City Council in 1954, thinks the decision was made because former mayor Cllr Nash is 76 years old.
Cllr Swift (81), who is a member of the Peterborough Independents, said: “There are no words that can describe it.
“Pat Nash is a mother hen and she treats the residents as if they were her children.
“She has been a great servant for the people of North Bretton since she was elected, and has been a committed Conservative.
“Her party have got rid of her because she is in her 70s and they think she is too old, and they should be ashamed.
“These are the same people who want to spend £90,000 to celebrate the fact the Queen has been in her job for 60 years – I suppose they think she is too old for it as well.
“In Cllr Nash’s ward there are 8,000 people who are over 70 years old. Those people need representing as well.”
Cllr Nash has been invited by the Conservatives to apply to stand in another ward, but has said she would rather compete against Dan Bird, the new Tory candidate for North Bretton.
Cllr Swift added: “Pat would be extremely welcome to stand for the Peterborough Independents.
“I think electors should decide who they want, not a committee who selects who stands for the Conservative party.
“People are fed up with party politics, and it is more about the individual. I would be happy to go door knocking with Pat Nash.”
The candidate selection process is ongoing, but Cllrs Gul Nawaz (Ravensthorpe), John Peach (Park) and Colin Burton (Werrington South) have all been reselected to contest their wards for the Conservative party.
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Weather for Peterborough
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
