An election with the volume turned off.

There is an election for a Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Staffordshire taking place in just over a week. Actually most counties are electing a PCC on 5th May, although you'd have been forgiven for not noticing since the temperature of the debate locally or nationally has barely reached lukewarm.

Trying to get a picture of what, if anything, was going on I headed to the Medical Institute in Hartshill to attend a debate between the candidates. There were four on the platform, challengers Paul Woodhead (Green Party), George Adamson (Labour) and Harold Gregory (Ukip) up against Tory incumbent Matthew Ellis, a fifth candidate Natalie Devaney (Independent) chose not to attend.

I got there early and stood around in the foyer bar outside the Wade lecture hall taking in an atmosphere that was as tepid as I'd been expecting. The organisers had predicted around a hundred people were going to attend, the final figure, by my estimate maybe seventy turned up.

Those of us who arrived early stood around in the foyer at what was supposed to be a 'meet and greet' with the candidates, only two of whom took part. Green Paul Woodhead told me he was 'confident' about how the debate was going to go and that his campaign was really all about 'raising the party's profile'. Harold Gregory spent the whole time sat at a table at the far end of the room with a name with name on handily placed in front of him being pretty much ignored by everyone. Every so often he would get up and slope off to the bar, giving the impression that he wasn't the man of the hour.

Matthew Ellis turned up fashionably late, strolling into the auditorium five minutes before proceedings were about to begin, exuding as he did so the relaxed, 'this is just a formality' air of a champion defending his title against an under-card of journeymen. That is unfair to two of the other candidates, but given the power of incumbency and the indifference of the public towards the whole business it may be a fair prediction of the outcome.

The sound quality in the large auditorium wasn't good to start with and got progressively worse throughout the evening. This made listening to the candidate's opening statements a little like trying to tune in an old LW radio.

Between the pops and crackles I was able to make out Paul Woodhead talking about his wide experience in, non police related, public service and his determination to hold 'professionals to account', no bad thing considering the mistakes and malpractices of senior officers in South Yorkshire Police highlighted at the conclusion of the Hillsborough enquiry this week. He also said that he wanted to 'involve' the public in deciding how they are to be policed through the creation of a 'community policing plan'.

Next up Matthew Ellis, doing the headmaster of a minor public school addressing the parents on speech day routine familiar to anyone who has seen him address PACT meetings at the same venue , defended his record since taking office in 2012. He highlighted the investment made in new technology during his watch and how many officers this had got back out onto the streets and concluded by saying that policing in Staffordshire was better now than when he took charge.

Harold Gregory built on the non-charisma of his performance during the meet and greet session. We found out that he was a former soldier and that he wasn't happy with how the police have changed in recent years, mostly you imagine because none of the officers he's met resembled dear old Jack Warner. He said that he wanted the police to work with schools more, they do a lot already but protecting that work from the attentions of the bean counters is no bad thing and that he's like to see more police on the streets, but if that was too expensive more PCSO's would do just as well.

George Adamson, himself an ex police officer, gave a speech that suggests he along with Paul Woodhead is one of two candidates likely to give Ellis something like a run for his money. He spoke about his opposition to cutting police budgets and support for neighbourhood policing, he also said that unlike Matthew Ellis he has no ambition to see the PCC take over control of the local fire service. What impressed most though was his understanding of the challenges faced by police officers at the sharp end and his determination to bring that into how decisions are made.

The questions from the floor saw the candidates address issues including the proposal that any future applicants to join the police would need to have a university degree, to their credit all opposed this bit of Whitehall silliness. George Adamson said that 'common sense' was the primary qualification a police officer needed, Paul Woodhead said there needed to be a balance between officers with academic and vocational qualifications and Matthew Ellis said that he opposed a requirement for officers to have degrees because it may be change their relationship with the public.

Asked about increasing diversity in the force all four candidates said more needed to be done to attract more BME recruits, to this Paul Woodhead added that work also needed to be done to engage with the LGBT community too.

As debates go this was a decidedly tepid affair, maybe that is part of the wider problem, there is little about choosing a PCC, essentially a senior manager, that excites ideological fervour; or even, it seems, general interest.

Matthew Ellis did have a couple of sticky moments later in the evening, he didn't play curve balls about the powers of PCSO's to hand out traffic fines and the cost of his well staffed back office at all well. Just for a moment the mask slipped and he betrayed, briefly, the annoyance of the entitled with the public for being so rude as to ask awkward questions.

Paul Woodhead and George Adamson had bouncers of their own to play in relation to their respective parties opposing the existence of PCC's but still standing candidates for the role. They managed to return them though by emphasising they would work to involve the public more and use the role to fight cuts to policing and other public services.

Despite the awfulness of the sound system this was a well organised debate and although, I fear, it did little to energise a largely indifferent electorate the intentions behind it were good.

Matthew Ellis emerged from an evening where he had looked by turns bored and annoyed as the nominal winner, that said Paul Woodhead and George Adamson showed themselves to be challengers capable of giving him at least a run for his money.

The whole event was though pretty much an anti-climax, this time round the turnout is likely to be higher than the dismal 11.9% achieved in 2012 thanks to being piggy-backed on the local elections, but not by that much. Ellis looks certain to be returned to office, but with a mandate that does little to make the role of Commissioner any more relevant.

Green stalwart Sean Adam launches bid to win in May Bank.

Long time Green Party activist Sean Adam has launched his bid to win a seat on Newcastle Borough Council.

Mr Adam, a trained engineer and active supporter of several local charities is standing in the May Bank ward.

In a newsletter to be sent to all residents of the ward he leads on the controversial plans to build a new civic hub on the site of the former St George's primary school. Highlighting the £15.4 million projected cost of the development, which has attracted criticism from residents and local businesses.

Chair of North Staffs Green Party Jan Zablocki says in the leaflet 'At a time of austerity and deeper cuts to basic services there could not be a worse time to waste millions on a vanity project for our civic leaders and Sean will, instead, do all he can, if elected, to ensure front line public services come first in public spending.'

Adding that: 'As a representative of the Green Party Sean will seek to protect the identity and resources of Newcastle Borough Council by modernising and refurbishing the existing building, and retaining its use for local people, rather than a shared facility of Staffordshire County Council.'

Speaking about his candidacy Mr Adam emphasises how having lived in the ward for many years and been active in local charities has given him a 'wealth of experience' he can bring to the role of being a councillor,particularly in the area of fighting against further cuts to youth services.


Campaign Coordinator for the North Staffs Green Party Adam Colclough said 'Sean is a stalwart of the local party, a man who truly lives our values. If elected to the council he will be a powerful independent voice for local people at a time when that is needed more than ever.'

Over the past year Sean Adam has been prominent in local and national campaigns against fracking and cuts to the NHS. In November last year he spent a night sleeping rough in Stoke town centre to highlight the problems faced by the homeless.

He has also been a prominent supporter of Green Party candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner Paul Woodhead.

Over the next week the Green Party will be announcing their full list of candidates standing in Newcastle.

New signs are symptomatic of the 'throwaway society' say local Green activists.

Last week Stoke-on-Trent City Council announced that it was to spend £16.000 on new signs welcoming visitors to the city.

Council leader Dave Conway told the Sentinel 'This is all about promoting and celebrating the city's identity and having fit and proper gateway entrances to Stoke-on-Trent.'

He added that the signs will ensure visitors to the city are 'given a proper welcome' and that they will 'see we have great pride in where we live.'

Also speaking to the Sentinel Ernie Clarke chair of Coalville residents association said that it was 'good that the council is investing in new signs and making sure they are maintained in future.'

One reason cited for replacing the signs is that some of them have become covered with dirt thrown up by passing traffic. The new signs, it is understood, will be maintained as part of the 'gateway strategy' being drawn up by the council.

The first of the new signs has been erected on Weston Road in Weston Coyney and it is believed that they will all be in position by the end of the year.

There have been a number of critical responses to the council spending money on new signs at a time when budgets are tight.

Writing on Twitter local music promoter and Green Party activist Annette Bellyou said the decision to replace the signs because they were dirty was condoning the 'throwaway society' and that this was not showing 'pride in the city.'

She added that unless the new signs would also get dirty unless they were 'totally mud deflective' and said the decision to replace the old ones was like the council having the windows in the new civic centre replaced when needed cleaning.

An anonymous source within the civic centre suggested that the decision to replace the signs was part of the council trying to use up funding before the end of the financial year, adding that buying new signs my also have been cheaper than getting a contractor in to clean the old ones.

North Staffs Green Party Campaigns Coordinator Adam Colclough said that 'although the amount being spent in this instance is, comparatively, small it is still an unnecessary cost. Things like that can easily mount up when the budget is as tight as it is now.'

He added that 'if the old signs being dirty was the problem, then surely soap and water mixed with a little elbow grease would have solved the problem for a fraction of the cost.'

The Green Party has sent a freedom of information request to the council asking whether the old signs are going to be recycled and if the new ones are made from recyclable material.

They will also be suggesting that the council consider using more natural and longer lasting materials to construct any future signs.

Campaign Coordinator Adam Colclough said 'if we're going to put up signs welcoming visitors to our city, then lets use to do so materials that honour our industrial heritage and celebrate our world famous creativity.'

The very model of a modern Chief Constable.

Last Monday on the first warm(ish) evening of the year members of the local PACT group met at the Medical Institute in Hartshill to hear the Chief Constable of Staffordshire Jane Sawyers speak.

As public events go it isn't, perhaps, in the first division, there certainly isn't the associated cachet of say a junior minister venturing north to where they probably think dragons are to be found, it would turn out though to be surprisingly rewarding.

The fifty of so people who has turned up were put in a good mood by the provision of coffee and cake, a tactic for winning over their audience in advance more public figures should adopt.

When she took the stage Sawyers looked the part, all silver braid and medal ribbons. I'm not quite so far into my dotage that I've started to think that police officers somehow look younger than they used to; but I do like the senior ones to look the part.

Her speaking style was confident but not exactly spectacular, no bad thing there is only so much watching people in the public eye work through their suppressed desire to be in amateur dramatics you can endure and keep your objectivity.

The interesting thing though was what she had to say, beginning with the story of how she had come to be the county's top police officer.

By her own account Sawyer had never wanted to be anything other than a police officer, more specifically she wanted to be a police officer in her home county of Staffordshire. A decision that, until the law was changed recently, would have prevented her from reaching the top of the ladder unless she was willing to move elsewhere.

Sawyers told how she joined the constabulary in 1984 and was pitched straight into a front-line role in Cannock at the height of the miners strike; some baptism of fire. Thereafter she served in various roles around the county rising rapidly through the ranks to become first an assistant then a deputy chief constable.

Throughout, she said, he commitment remained first and foremost to serving the people of Staffordshire. This was said without any of the 'side' you might expect, and certainly made a change from the attitude usually shown by ambitious public servants, where where they are at any moment is just so much scenery outside the office windows made steamy by the white heat of their drive to get ahead.

Speaking about the 'challenges' faced by the constabulary she leads Sawyers said the police had been hit by £32 million in funding cuts since 2010, although front-line policing had been protected the cuts had hit back office services hard. Things were, she said, looking a little better for the future, but savings would still have to be made and new ways of delivering the same level of service devised.

One example of this being the partnership Staffordshire Police have entered into with US company Boeing to provide IT services. There will also be more investment in early intervention in the hope that curtailing criminal behaviour early on will cut down on expensive recidivism.

Sawyers praised the work done by the Ethics Transparency and Audit committee and the Safer Neighbourhoods Partnership, both initiatives introduced by the Police and Crime Commissioner. They had both, she said, helped to make policing in Staffordshire more accountable and improved the way officers do their jobs.

The elephant in the room, of course, was the coming election for the county's Police and Crime Commissioner set to take place in May. By chance Natalie Devaney, one of the three candidates hoping to unseat Matthew Ellis was present.

Chief Constable Sawyers described her relationship with Mr Ellis as being 'healthy', saying the he did not interfere with operational matters, though he officers did at times feel the weight of the extra accountability he had placed on the service. She was, no doubt, too diplomatic to even think it, but having been at the sharp end of policing its hard to imagine that in unguarded moments she might not think the cost of having an extra, politicised, layer of management might instead have made a dent in the £32 million in cuts to the local policing budget.

Taking questions from the floor Sawyers said that funding for community policing would be protected because the public value a visible police presence on the streets, but the way it is delivered might have to change.

She also responded to a question from the floor on cyber crime, something she had alluded to in her speech, saying the force was working with Staffs and Keele universities to recruit staff with relevant IT skills. Earlier she had spoken about the difficult balance that had to be struck between the visible policing the public like to see and the fact that ever more crime takes place online. These days Dixon of Dock Green would need a tablet as much as a truncheon.

On the one hand Jane Sawyers came across as being the very model of the modern Chief Constable, capable of churning out management speak from the podium in a convincing way. On the other though she seemed to be a throwback to an earlier age.

One where public servants built their careers in one place instead of hopping from one opportunity to another and on the grounds of having a sense of purpose and wish to serve focussed on a desire to use their position to do good.

That's why even this cynical hack listened to her say that she wants to lead Staffordshire Police into an undeniable challenging future with 'confidence and optimism' and to 'embrace change and promote standards' and mostly believed it.

Ours will be a campaign about social issues not personalities says Green PCC hopeful.

Speaking at a meeting of North Staffs Green Party last night Paul Woodhead, the party's candidate in the Police and Crime Commissioner elections said he wanted to make his campaign about 'social justice and not the politics of personalities.'

The meeting took place at the New Vic theatre in Basford and was attended by party members from across the city.

Mr Woodhead spoke about the priorities that he says will guide his campaign for the election set to take place in May.

He wanted, he said, to be a commissioner who focussed strongly on social issues and who used his position to ensure the police were 'given the tools they need to do their job.'

It is also his intention to make the role more accountable to the public and to the officers who deliver front-line policing on the county's streets.

He criticised some of the decisions made by incumbent Matthew Ellis, including spending money refurbishing his office at a time when funding for policing is being cut.

Speaking about funding for the police Mr Woodhead said that it was worrying that the police have been hit by government austerity measures.

This point was amplified by several questions from the floor about the impact on local community of increased homelessness and the possible risk of terrorist attacks.

Mr Woodhead also answered a question on the ongoing debate over the county flag and the role to be taken by the public in choosing the version to be used saying, “It is a really positive outcome that the people of Staffordshire get to decide our flag and not just a few councillors. We encourage everyone get involved to vote and decide our flag, it should be the people’s choice.'

Although the Green Party did not support the creation of Police and Crime Commissioners Mr Woodhead said that it was important to contest the election in order to give voters an alternative to the two main parties.

He would, he said, be spending the next eight weeks travelling around the county meeting people and listening to their concerns.

Cannock Chase Green Party has created Facebook and Twitter accounts supporting his campaign and Mr Woodhead will be attending a number of hustings events around the county.







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EU debate short on facts and long on playing to fears and insecurities says Green Party Leader.

In her speech to the party's Spring conference in Harrogate this weekend Green Party leader Natalie Bennett attacked the 'Leave' campaign for playing on voters fears about the EU.

She said the current debate was 'short on facts and big on playing on fears of insecurity', the Greens were instead, she said, committed to 'arguing to remain in Europe by focusing on the positives of Europe .'

The 'Leave' campaign would, if successful see 'Britain turn away from its geography, away from its proud history of offering refuge to those in need, away from cooperation and friendship. As a result a decision to leave the EU would see 'Britain not just damaging itself, but damaging the rest of Europe, and the world.'

Commenting on the need for reform in Brussels and at Westminster Ms Bennett said 'We need many reforms in Brussels, but then we need many reforms in Westminster. That’s not an argument for giving up on democracy, despite the fact we’ve now got a government with the support of just 24% of eligible voters.'

She cautioned voters against using the referendum as a means of expressing their distrust of the government and politics in general saying 'We must not allow the “out” campaign to use general dissatisfaction, distrust for our undemocratic government, fear for the future – drive a vote to leave the EU.

Adding that 'the EU vote isn’t a vote of no-confidence in this government, much as that’s deserved. It's a vote on our long term future.'

Cited in an article written for the Huffington Post by Josiah Mortimer Communications Officer for the Electoral Reform Society several prominent party members gave their vision of what a reformed EU would look like.

Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion Caroline Lucas said ''The EU needs to be more transparent and democratic - as does the House of Commons'. We need democratic reform in all our institutions, which are creaking at the seams'

Green Party MEP Keith Taylor said the European Parliament needs to be strengthened and given greater power to scrutinize the activities of the European Commission and called for an end to the practice of moving the parliament between Brussels and Strasbourg.

In their 2014 publication 'Close the Gap' the Electoral Reform Society put forward a number of suggestions for reforming the EU, these include allowing parliament to scrutinize the government's negotiating position before meetings of the European Council, putting in place a mechanism for involving the public in developing EU legislation and for parliament to hold a Speaker's Conference on strengthening its role in European democracy.

Greens join the race to be Staffordshire's next Police Commissioner.

The Green Party in Staffordshire has selected prominent countryside campaigner Paul Woodhead as their candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner.

He will join Labour candidate George Adamson and incumbent Matthew Ellis on the ballot paper for the election set to take place in May.

In a press statement released on Wednesday Mr Woodhead said: “Green policy has a distinctive and unique message focused on addressing the causes of crime rather than coping with the symptoms and our policy area on restorative justice was established many years ahead of its time. We have a consistent message built upon social and environmental justice which will deliver real positive impact for our communities”

He added that he was” extremely proud and humbled to be selected to be able to offer the people of Staffordshire the opportunity to vote for a Green PCC.”

He has been a major force in the party's campaign against plans by Staffordshire County Council to sell off green spaces in the county, he has also been prominent in campaigns against austerity, the privatisation of public services and fracking.

In the press statement launching his campaign Paul Woodhead said:“We do not accept the premise of austerity. Cuts have consequences with Staffordshire having one of the lowest proportion of Police Officers,” adding that “We believe the Fire Service should remain independent of PCC interference whilst building upon a collaborative approach to better working.”

The Green Party does not he said “support the establishment of Police and Crime Commissioners, however he believes it to be “imperative that residents have the opportunity to vote for a candidate who wants to ensure democratic accountability of the police is returned to the community.”

The nomination process for the Police and Crime Commissioner elections requires candidates to put up a £5000 deposit, this usually paid by for by what Mr Woodhead describes ad 'vested interests', his own campaign will be paid for through crowd funding.

Concluding his statement to the press Paul Woodhead said:“ with the election system allowing for a preference vote for the PCC you can vote for your preferred Green voice ahead of your least worst choice of other party and hopefully this will give confidence to residents that they can indeed delivery the result they want at the ballot box”

Paul Woodhead has agreed to join fellow candidates Matthew Ellis and George Adamson in a debate to be staged at the Medical Institute in Hartshill on Monday 25th April.

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