Rutland County Council Removes Political Poster in Oakham, Raises Concerns About Procedure.
Oakham, Rutland - Controversy has erupted after Rutland County Council dispatched workers to remove a political poster from private property situated along the A606. The incident, which transpired on Monday, has sparked questions about the Council's adherence to protocol and its prioritisation of resource allocation.
Initially, the Council asserted that the poster infringed upon public land. However, in a subsequent U-turn, they argued that the poster's size and "distracting" nature necessitated its removal. Notably, the Council has been unable to produce any official policy regarding limitations on poster dimensions.
The removal of posters from private land by local authorities is highly uncommon. Additionally, tampering with election posters is considered a legal violation. These factors have led many to raise concerns about the Council's motives, particularly given the poster's affiliation with a political opponent.
Furthermore, residents have questioned why the Council acted with such urgency in deploying staff funded by Council Tax to remove the poster. This swift action stands in stark contrast to the Council's reported lack of resources to address the concerns raised by local Parish Councils and Rutland communities.
In a statement issued by Conservative Candidate Alicia Kearns she said:
“It is difficult to see how this is not politically motivated, it’s clear the Liberal-run Council does not want my message to be conveyed to our communities. Several times I have requested reasoning for its removal and each time I received conflicting and contradictory answers.
“The Liberal Democrat leader has questions to answer, it is an appalling misjudgement to use Rutland resident-funded Council staff to take down a sign when the requests of Parish Councils go unanswered and ignored for weeks and months.
“As someone who has always run a positive campaign, focused on what I can offer to Rutlanders, and my determination to serve our communities; this is a worrying attack on democracy from a party with form for disregarding the will of the people.
“Sadly it’s no surprise they have resorted to such tactics when they have gone back on their local election promises, and issued fake newspapers to residents over the last few weeks claiming their candidate (who in 2015 stood to be a Labour MP) – who is a Local Councillor in Hinkley and Bosworth – is a local man. How can he be a Local Councillor in a distant corner of Leicestershire yet also be a local man?”
I wrote to Cllr Gale Waller (Lib Dem) the leader of Rutland County Council, she responded:
"I did not know Ms Kearns had accused the Liberal Democrats of complaining about her poster boards. I am therefore not in a position to comment. I am copying this to Mark Andrews who may know more than I do."
Gale Waller
Leader, Rutland County Council and Member for Normanton Ward
(Mark Andrews is the CEO of Rutland County Council)
Rutland County Council issued the the following statement.
SIGNAGE POLICY
Candidates and agents were made aware of Rutland County Council’s signage policy with respect to large campaign banners at a face-to-face briefing on Thursday 30th May.
The office of Conservative candidate Alicia Kearns was contacted by the Council’s Highways Service on Friday 14th June to advise that a banner being displayed along the A606, Burley Park Way did not comply with this policy, due to its size and location.
As part of our approach to managing signage along the highways, we take steps to remove and safely store banners and posters that are not policy compliant. All other banners and posters that meet the conditions of the signage policy are left in place.
My opinion: The actions of the council may or may not be politically motivated. Often the council's actions are simply based upon two things, do they like you? do they not like you? it does not matter how you are politically aligned but it certainly does help if you are a friend of the majority controlling political group. The council is well known for being very selective, when it removes event posters from roadsides, many organisations have complained of the councils biased actions. Some years ago the council was forced to return many A frames it had selectively removed from outside Oakham shops, after it was found it did not follow correct legal procedures.
The full list of candidates and links to received bios.
Alicia Kearns (Conservative)
Joe Wood (Labour)
Joanna Mary Burrows (Rejoin EU)
All Candidates were contacted and offered a post here. So far the Labour candidate has not responded, The Conservative candidate has acknowledged my request.
