Coombe Vale by-election – Lib Dem candidates announced

Kamala Kugan(l) and Rupert Nichol(r)

The Liberal Democrat candidates for the two vacant council seats in Coombe Vale, Kingston upon Thames have been confirmed as Rupert Nichol and Kamala Kugan.

Kamala Kugan will be familiar with the ground having stood for election in 2010, finishing 290 votes behind the third place Conservative. Rupert Nichol stood for election in the North Kingston ward of Tudor at the 2010 local election.

Some background on both candidates can be found on their 2010 election Lib Dem biography pages: Rupert Nichol and Kamala Kugan.

Candidates have until 12noon on Friday 18 November to hand in their nomination papers to stand.

Details of all candidates standing for election will be listed on the Coombe Vale election page once confirmed.

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Coombe Vale by-election – Lib Dems go on the attack

Kingston’s Liberal Democrats have started their campaign for the two vacant Coombe Vale council seats by questioning the circumstances preceding the resignation of former Conservative councillor Robert-John Tasker.

Lib Dem councillor Mary Heathcote issued the following statement on the St Mark’s Lib Dem website:

“Conservative Robert-John Tasker has resigned as Councillor for Coombe Vale ward in New Malden. As I understand it, he has been working in America for several months while still claiming thousands of pounds of public money in councillor allowances, including his shadow executive member’s pay. I can’t see how he has managed to perform his duties from thousands of miles away”.

Fellow Surbiton councillor Neil Houston clearly agrees. So much so, in fact, that he also issued the exact same quote, word for word, in his own name on his Surbiton Hill website.

Spot the difference

Meanwhile, Lib Dem activist Dan Falchikov suggests on his Living on words blog that  (working full time in the USA and not attending any council meetings since 14th July) ” Cllr Tasker still found time to claim £2,500 allowances from the taxpayer”.

I guess the Liberal Democrats feel that there’s some political (air?) mileage in this issue.

Coombe Vale candidates and election deadlines

Coombe Vale by-election – Conservative candidates announced

Coombe Vale Conservatives have announced details of their chosen candidates for the double by-election to be held on Thursday 15 December 2011.

Julie Pickering (l) and Lynne Finnerty (r)

The candidates are Julie Pickering, a Coombe Vale resident for 22 years, and Lynne Finnerty, who lists a new school in the New Malden and Coombe area as one of her main priorities if elected.

Full profiles are available on the Coombe Vale Conservatives website

Details of the other candidates will appear on the Coombe Vale election page as they are revealed.

Candidates have until 12noon on 18 November 2011 to submit their nomination papers.

Coombe Vale by-election – second councillor resigns

The Surrey Comet is reporting that a second councillor has now resigned his seat in Coombe Vale ward.

Following last week’s resignation of Mr RJ Tasker, Mr James White has become the second councillor in a matter of days to stand down. No details have been released as to the reason.

The election on Thursday 15 December will now be a double election to fill both of the vacant council seats.

Mr Adrian Holder remains as Coombe Vale’s sole councillor until 15 December (although perhaps someone should check with him if he has any plans he’d like to share!).

Planning on voting or standing in the election? Check out the key dates in the Coombe Vale election timetable

Coombe Vale By-election – Thursday 15th December 2011

Updated – The date of the Coombe Vale By-Election has been confirmed for Thursday 15th December 2011.

This follows the resignation of Mr Robert-John Tasker.

Information from the council for those standing or voting in the election is listed below.

For candidates

Anyone wishing to stand as a candidate must complete a nomination paper and hand deliver it to the Returning Officer before NOON on Friday 18 November 2011.

For information about standing as a candidate and/or to request a nomination pack, contact Gareth Harrington on 020 8547 5035.

For voters

The deadline for registering to vote at the by-election is Midnight on Wednesday 30 November 2011

The deadline for applying for a postal vote is 5.00pm on Wednesday 30 November 2011

The deadline for applying for a proxy vote is 5.00pm on Wednesday 7 December 2011

By-Election news: Kingston councillor quits following allowance pay while in USA report

A resignation letter from America?

How local is your local councillor?

Many of us would struggle to recognise the people that represent us if we were to bump into them in the street. However, some of the citizens of Kingston upon Thames, London might have had a harder time than most spotting one of their ‘local’ councillors over the past couple of months.

 

Following the Surrey Comet reporting that Mr Robert-John Tasker, Conservative Party councillor for Coombe Vale ward, had been representing his constituents from over 3,000 miles away, it seems Mr Tasker has resigned. Or has he?

 

Working in Philadelphia, USA and absent since the start of September, Mr Tasker had previously maintained that he could still represent his local residents via e-mail or they could opt to contact the party office or another councillor instead. According to the Comet on Friday, though he no longer claimed a ‘special responsibility’ allowance, he “continues to receive his councillor’s allowance” of £7,528.95.

 

However, it would seem that this innovative ‘call centre councillor’ approach, which had been in place since the start of September, was quickly ditched after the Surrey Comet broke the news of his absence. Though the council’s website has nothing official to say on the matter, Mr Tasker’s contact page (which the council have removed the links to from their councillors page) lists him as “not currently an elected Councillor” with an end date of 31/10/11.

 

Council website 1 November

So it would seem that the council knew of Mr Tasker’s resignation on Monday, they just don’t want their residents to know yet. When an official statement is finally released we will cover it here. In the meantime you can read the full story on the Surrey Comet website

 

As always, details of the Coombe Vale by-election and candidates will be displayed on the site once available.

 

Kingston Council Election Results – Your new councillors

If you live in one of the following places in Kingston, you have at least one new councillor:

Alexandra

Berrylands

Beverley

Canbury

Chessington North and Hook (all new)

Chessington South

Grove

Norbiton

Old Malden

St James

St Marks

Surbiton Hill (all new)

Tolworth and Hook Rise

Click on the ward names above to see who’s newly elected in your area.

Kingston Council Election Results – How each ward was won

The full election results pages for each of the wards in Kingston now include full details of the votes for each party and changes from 2006. To view the overall result click on the Kingston Council link below or select your ward from the list at the bottom of this post.

Kingston Council Election Results

	2010		2006		Change
	Seats	Vote	Seats	Vote	Seats	Vote
LIB DEM	27	42.5%	25	40.5%	+2	+2.1%
CON	21	40.0%	21	44.8%	–	-4.7%
LAB	–	12.0%	2	10.3%	-2	+1.7%
GREEN	–	3.2%	–	3.1%	–	+0.1%
CPA	–	1.4%	–	1.3%	–	+0.1%
OTHERS	–	0.9%	–	0.1%	–	+0.7%

 

Select a ward page below to view a breakdown of the election results and details of the 18 new councillors elected to Kingston Council:

Alexandra
Berrylands
Beverley
Canbury
Chessington North and Hook
Chessington South
Coombe Hill
Coombe Vale
Grove
Norbiton
Old Malden
St James
St Marks
Surbiton Hill
Tolworth and Hook Rise
Tudor

Kingston Council Election Results – Who won where and your new councillors

The results of the London local elections for Kingston Council are in. Kingston Council remains controlled by the Liberal Democrats with an increased majority of six. The election also saw Labour left without any representation on the council after losing its last seat in Norbiton ward to the Lib Dems.

Local Election Result 2010
Party		Seats	+/-
	Liberal Democrat	27	+2
	Conservative	21	–
	Labour	0	-2
Result: Lib Dem 6 Seat Majority

For full election results and the new local councillors representing areas in Kingston, Surbiton, Chessington, New Malden and the rest of the borough, check out the Kingston Council Election Results page.

Or, to go direct to your local election result, select a ward name below:

Alexandra
Berrylands
Beverley
Canbury
Chessington North and Hook
Chessington South
Coombe Hill
Coombe Vale
Grove
Norbiton
Old Malden
St James
St Marks
Surbiton Hill
Tolworth and Hook Rise
Tudor

Ed Davey holds Kingston & Surbiton, Zac Goldsmith wins Richmond Park

The national result may be up in the air but there’s no doubt about the local result for Kingston residents.

Residents in the majority of the borough returned Liberal Democrat Ed Davey for a fourth terms as MP for Kingston and Surbiton. Those in the northernmost part of the borough joined with neighbouring Richmond residents to elect Zac Goldsmith as their new Conservative Member of Parliament.

For the full election results click on one of the images below: