If you could spend five minutes doing something that would make a real difference to your community, would you do it? If five minutes work could give your voice a stronger voice would you make time?
Well, that’s what I have been asking people to do in the ward I represent in Plymouth. Moor view is a ward I have represented for many years as its Councillor both on the city council and previously on Devon County Council. I am very proud of the community I represent and proud to sit on Plymouth City Council on their behalf.
I cannot add to the words of my ward colleague Cllr Alison Casey about the boundary changes when she posted on this blog a few weeks ago. Like her, I was stunned by the sheer ignorance of the Boundary Commission is seeking to rip Moor View ward out of our city and give it to the MP who will be representing Tavistock and Okehampton.
I like Tavistock’s Panier Market and think Okehampton is a lovely place, but they have very little in common with the community I represent. Our issues are very different. Moor view is an urban community, not a rural one. The idea we would work together as a cohesive constituency is laughable.
That’s why for the last month I have been out on the streets in my ward asking local people to write to the Boundary Commission about the proposals. I must admit I thought this would be a hard sell. People in my ward don’t always feel close to politics and Alison Casey and I work hard with our MP, Alison Seabeck to make politics mean something to the people. But I was surprised by the response. People want to safeguard Moor View’s place in Plymouth. They value being Plymouthian as fundamental to who they are and what their community means.
It takes five minutes to write to the Boundary Commission to lodge an objection to our community being taken out of Plymouth and given to a rural MP.
Don’t let that happen, make a stand and spend five minutes this weekend doing something that will make a real difference to our community.
Cllr Mike Wright is one of two Labour councillors for Moor View ward in Plymouth.
