Four former-Mayors say goodbye to Town Council

Four former-Mayors are amongst seven current Bradley Stoke Town Councillors who have chosen not to stand for re-election on Thursday 5th May.

Cllrs Julian Barge (Mayor 2003/04, 2005/06 & 2007/08), Ronnie Conway-Haskins (2006/07), Mark Forsyth (2009/10) and Sandra Hobson (2005/06) have all chosen not to contest the upcoming Town Council election that sees a total of 29 candidates fighting the 15 available seats.

Cllr Barge, a Town Councillor since 1999, currently represents the Conservative party, having defected from the Liberal Democrats in 2006 when he accused his former party of “negative and sometimes nasty campaigning”. He was Mayor at the time of the Council’s very public bust-up with the Northavon Bowls Club in 2008, which ended with the club being disbanded and landed the Council with an ongoing £7,200 p.a. bill for the upkeep of the Baileys Court bowling green, previously paid by the bowlers.

Cllr Conway-Haskins has been a Town Councillor since 2003, initially as a Liberal Democrat – until a row in a row over a wrongly attributed quote led to her resigning from the party and becoming independent. She says she is giving up because she feels she has already given enough to the community (having previously been a Councillor in Newton Abbot) and because of deteriorating health.

Cllr Forsyth (Conservative) has been a Town Councillor since 2007. He has chaired the Council’s Finance Committee for a number of years and may be best known to residents for his multi-lingual “meine Damen und Herren” addresses over the PA at the annual fireworks display.

Cllr Hobson (Liberal Democrat), an actress with a scandalous past, was elected to the Town Council in 2003. Her attendance record in recent years has been particularly poor, with the Council’s latest Annual Report showing she was present at just two of the 20 meetings she was expected at within the last twelve months. Nonetheless, she apparently wishes to continue in politics as she is standing as a candidate for a South Gloucestershire Council seat in Downend.

Other Town Councillors choosing not to defend their seats on 5th May are: Morgan Baynham (Conservative, elected 2007), Ernie Brown (Conservative, elected 2009; standing this time for Stoke Gifford Parish Council) and Dr Elizabeth Todd (Conservative, first elected 1999).

Related links:

• 2011 Local Elections in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)
• Bradley Stoke People (The Journal)