6th May 2021: The Climate Emergency Election

Election Results

The results with a breakdown of votes, turnout and margins for each ward, can be seen on this LINK

Watch the Election Debates Here

Its been great to see several election debates that are dedicated to climate change taking place across Wiltshire. They are well worth watch to give you a feel as to what the candidates are saying about the climate emergency:

WCA Election debate can be seen on this LINK
Salisbury Transition City Debate on the LINK
Bradford on Avon on this LINK (you will need this password: %L=BYe&7 )
Transcoco (Transition Corsham) on this LINK
Royal Wootton Bassett debate can be seen on this LINK

Candidates Election Survey Results

Wiltshire Climate Alliance sent a request to all political parties asking them to forward the survey to all their candidates.

We have been delighted by the response rate shown by most parties and independents. The return rate has been as follows:

Response rate overall 37%

Green Party -64%

Labour Party -48%

Liberal Democrats -48%

Independents -36%

Conservatives -1%

To view the results of the survey that we have processed so far please click on HERE or on the image to the right

The scorecard summarises the responses into 7 areas to enable an overall picture to be painted for voters.

We have also produced a spreadsheet showing the comments that were made by the candidates. These are particularly interesting and valuable and can be seen on the LINK.

Candidate Scorecard

Candidate Comments

Survey Results - All-on-one-sheet 'scorecard

"This spreadsheet show how our volunteers rate all candidates' responses, except those not wanting their information published.

The responses, sorted by electoral ward, are analysed under seven climate-related issues, making a one-page scorecard for everyone.

Stretching to the right are the responses to our 21 original questions.

The colour scale is from green, showing high awareness, agreement and sympathy with our volunteers' take on climate issues, through amber towards red, for disagreement. In some matters, some respondents chose "Neither Agree nor Disagree" because they saw the topic as a Planning matter on which they legally have to remain open-minded, and be seen to do so."

The spreadsheet can be downloaded on this LINK

Results spreadsheet

Wiltshire Climate Alliance is resolutely apolitical, committed to working constructively with Wiltshire councillors of any party. However, this election really matters. The outcome of the council election on 6th May will determine whether Wiltshire Council delivers on its commitment to act on the climate emergency. We are urging all our supporters to vote for a candidate, from whatever party, who you know is committed to this goal.

There won’t be another election for four years, so unless the council implements a comprehensive carbon reduction plan this time, it will be too late to achieve the emission reductions required to avoid catastrophic climate change. Clearly we need national and international action to avert the climate crisis; but local government can do a huge amount to reduce emissions locally through decisions on housing, roads, commercial and industrial developments and land use.

The next national election isn’t likely until 2024, so this is a key moment to send a message to national government that the electorate are deadly serious about climate change, particularly with COP26 coming up in Glasgow in November.

Watch the WCA election debate - The WCA organised an online election debate where Party leaders were given the opportunity to explain what the climate emergency means to them and what action they plan to take. It is important that candidates know how important climate change is to the electorate. Click HERE for more information and to watch.

We urge everyone to challenge their councillor candidates on climate change, and to vote for those most committed to taking action. Voter turnout in local elections is low, and the majority in many divisions (i.e. local voting areas) is small. Not all councillors get it: the winning margin in the climate emergency vote two years ago was a few votes. Electing a few more of the right councillors this time could swing the balance decisively towards taking action.

Please think carefully about who you vote for, and encourage your family and friends to choose the right candidates. Together we can make a real difference at this crucial election.

Manifestos

The main parties have now published manifestos, see Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Labour and Green. We recommend that you look at the manifestos for the candidates most likely to win in your ward, and ask them questions like:

Do you accept that most decarbonisation needs to happen over the next decade to avoid the worst affects of climate change, and in what timescales will you take action to decarbonise Wiltshire?
What will you do over and above your manifesto commitments to ensure rapid decarbonisation?
Do you support a decarbonisation plan including decreasing carbon budgets and will you ensure that all council proposals are evaluated against these budgets?

Registering to vote
You may be already registered, but even if so, ask your local groups and neighbours to make sure they have. Deadline is 11:59pm on 19th April
The link to register is HERE

Postal Vote
To register for a postal vote the link for the form is HERE. You will need to fill it in by hand and sign it. You could encourage your neighbours to vote by post if they are reluctant to go in person.
Then email a copy to voting@wiltshire.gov.uk or via post: Electoral Services, County Hall, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, BA14 8JN. Deadline for receipt is 5pm on 20th April

Candidates for each ward

There is an open democracy website at https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/ . All candidates for the Wiltshire election should now be listed (as well as the Police and Crime Commissioner candidates - they have varying climate credentials too).

Please encourage your candidates to add environmental credentials to their profile here. Further, anyone can add missing candidate details that they know, from leaflets or public posts online. Please add any contact details you receive from public sources such as leaflets or websites - or let us know at WCA so we can contact them.

Marginal Wards - It is very interesting to see which wards were marginal as we will be concentrating our efforts in these area. Click HERE to see the marginals spreadsheet

Previous Election Results

Check out previous election results at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Wiltshire_Council_election . In some wards last time the results were very close.

Sadly in our archaic first-past-the-post voting system, you can only vote for one candidate rather than listing your preferences. So for your vote to affect the result you need to consider both candidate credentials and electability.

Voting history of WC Councillors on environmental issues

Here we have started to produce a spreadsheet which shows how our councillors are voting when it comes to environmental issues. You can download the spreadsheet and re-order according areas and political parties.

We have started off by looking at how they voted on the initial resolutions to acknowledge a climate emergency and one about walking and cycling. Here is a LINK to the original meeting agenda pack and their final agreed versions in the minutes.

When you download the spreadsheet, do have a look at the tabs at the bottom which will give you more details about each of the motions that were voted on.