Salisbury Parish Poll proposers respond to 'landslide victory'

Only 3.9 per cent of city voted in the poll, held to decide whether the people of Salisbury would support a five percent cap on future increases to the Salisbury City Council precept and a parish consultation if any proposed increase is larger than five per cent.

992 people voted yes, 206 people voted no, and four people spoiled their ballot papers. 

It was a turn out of roughly 3.92 per cent, out of an electorate 30,698. 

The city council leaders have it was "unnecessary" and that the low turn out "speaks for itself". 

Here are their statements in full.

Mr Darren Jennings said: "Firstly, an overwhelming 83 per cent are in favour of capping the City Councils precept rise, and if they wish to raise by a higher amount, the council should consult the parish first, this in any language is a landslide victory and it’s demonstrated the strong feeling of the public and local democracy in action.

"I would also like to address the misinformation provided by the Mayor, Cllr Tom Corbin from the very start of this process. He has stated from the very beginning that this has been Tory led with political intentions, he as well as the administration from the start have totally missed the point of this process and I fear that they still will not listen, going against the very mission that they advertise, to the people who they are supposed to represent.

"From the outset, this has been resident led, the residents have appreciated information provided to them by Cllr Wills and Cllr McGrath who have facilitated a very strained dialogue between residents and the administration but ultimately it has been the residents who have taken this forward, the proposer, myself has no political allegiance whatsoever, it was irrelevant who provided information and facilitated the interactions between residents and the administration.

"This has had absolutely nothing to do with politics, at this local level I and many others believe that politics should not come into the decisions made and the interests of the electorate should be put above everything else, sadly the administration have demonstrated the opposite.

"The purpose of this Poll has been to make the administration sit up and listen, the electorate will not simply tolerate any more, the lack of financial management which has and still is happening, the figures in the budgets are an astounding demonstration of public money being spent and not being scruitinised, there appears to be no accountability and the council are ignoring the glaring inefficiencies within its own organization which could have led to a considerably lower precept rise this year.

"The administration should now sit up and listen to the people of Salisbury, this Poll has come at a considerable cost of which it’s liable, it can be absorbed without any effect on services the council provide as it has a budget for public consultation, which it didn’t spend a penny of in the last financial year and its forecasted figures for income of the guildhall and other initiatives were double, if the administration say the money is not there, they are simply misinforming the public yet again.

"It's also worth noting that the administration could have contacted Wiltshire County Council and requested minimal staffing for the Poll, WCC received no such requests from the SCC administration."

Responding to the low turnout, Mr Jennings said this was due to many factors including: "The lack of voting facilities, the lack of advertising, certain councilors apathy to the poll which saw them not even inform their own wards it was happening and a serious road traffic collision on the ring road which gridlocked Salisbury."

He added: "In any case this was a conclusive snapshot of the feeling of the public and was certainly worth every penny going forward.

"This has highlighted that the public will ask questions and the administration will be held to account by the electorate, the current administration will now need to consider their options very carefully in the future.

"We, the public now know the process for a parish Poll and now that history has been made in Salisbury, I suspect that the public would be willing to call another one in the future should the administration continue showing the electorate the apathy they have demonstrated. If the administration, apparently led by Tom Corbin persist in declaring this to be political posturing then the administration has learned nothing and continues to be apathetic.

"While the process is not legally binding, it’s now up to the administration to decide whether they will honor their mission statement where allegedly ‘residents voices are heard’ which will reflect on them as individuals as well as a representative body for the public."

'The bare minimum was done to deliver the poll' 

Cllr Eleanor Wills addressing the first parish meeting (Image: Spencer Mulholland)

Cllr Eleanor Wills: "The parish poll was the first step in making local democracy healthier and moving Salisbury into the 21st century. This was a resident-led movement following the City Council's 44 per cent increase in council tax during a cost of living crisis and we were proud to support this.

"What can be a better way to take party politics out of local issues than to give residents a proper say in issues that affect them?

"Meanwhile, the current administration pretended the vote wasn't happening. Not a single Lib Dem, Labour or Independent Councillor promoted it or recommended which way residents in their Ward should vote. They sought to de-legitimise the vote and de-legitimise residents' concerns. 

"Disappointingly, the bare minimum was done to deliver the parish poll meaning no poll cards, no written communication to residents and just two polling stations.

"Despite all these setbacks, over a thousand residents came out to vote and a resounding 83 per cent said yes to both the future five per cent cap on council tax increases and genuine public consultation if a proposed increase was greater than this.

"We've gone from council meetings without any public attendees to a parish poll with hundreds of residents voting here in the Guildhall. Democracy is starting to shine just a little brighter in this city."

'Extremely low turnout speaks for itself'

Cllrs Ian Tomes, Victoria Charleston and Annie Riddle (Image: Newsquest)

Cllrs Annie Riddle, Victoria Charleston and Ian Tomes said: "This unnecessary poll has sadly cost Salisbury taxpayers thousands of pounds and the extremely low turnout speaks for itself. 

"Our joint city council administration will continue working hard to manage public services and to communicate with our residents in as cost-efficient a manner as possible.

"We have already indicated that we will begin public consultation over next year's budget in the autumn."