Voting in the Shipham village poll closes today…. So anyone wishing to vote needs to get a move on!
However, what is not clear at present is how open the vote counting will be and in what form the results will be announced. So far the Parish Council have not responded to our request to be present during the count and we have not been invited to attend any meetings to discuss the result.
Last week we went door to door around the village and spoke to as many villagers as we could to counter the negative bias in the information accompanying the voting form. The response was overwhelmingly positive, especially once we outlined the benefits of the scheme and assured residents that a full ecology study would be undertaken prior to the submission of a planning application. Sadly we met a few residents, who, after already voting against the scheme based on the parish leaflet, wished to change their minds. While its great that people can be persuaded by the positive argument, it shows how even something as simple as a local village poll can be influenced by bias – even if perhaps unintentional.
The community wind scheme that is projected to earn Shipham village over £20,000 per year will only get the backing of the quarry owners if the majority of the village are in support.
We feel strongly that everyone in the village has the right to know the actual raw voting results. If you feel the same way please make your opinion known to the Parish Council