Police were called to Shiptonthorpe polling station twice on Thursday. On one occasion people from one of the two factions in the village were reported to be hurling insults at the chairman of Shiptonthorpe Parish council Robert Ducker. They were called again later in the day for reasons which are not currently entirely clear.

Shiptonthorpe Forward Together have also accused others of being unkind, hurtful and disrespectful towards some of their candidates.

I went to see what was happening on Thursday afternoon and drove up to find three members of the ‘Shiptonthorpe Forward Together’ lead by Richard Waud perched in the open back door of a car outside the polling station. (earlier in the day there were 5 of them) I wondered if they were checking peoples ID’s before being allowed to enter the village. They said it was a free country and they could sit anywhere they wanted. I tried to find out why they were there and whether it was true that police had been called. They confirmed that they had spoken to Robert Ducker but wouldn’t tell me what had been said and did not deny that police had been called but not by them. They were very cagey and said they wouldn’t speak to me because I’d twist their words anyway.

I can understand why some voters might have felt intimidated by their presence. It’s almost as if they were there to record who had voted and who had not.

All of this comes on the back of poison pen letters being sent to members of the Parish Council and very boisterous Parish Council meetings when the village Hall committee accused the council of wanting to increase the rent for the Village Hall and being secretive about plans to build social housing in the village.

There was a very high turnout in the election with 56% of people in the Parish casting a vote.

The following candidates have been elected as Shiptonthorpe Parish Councillors.
Tim Bowron 147
Richard Waring 146
Victoria Lambert 142
Edward Bowron 110
Dave Gough 110
Stephen Powel 109
Robert Ducker 106
Sarah Smith 106
Neil Scott 105

Eight of the 9 councillors elected are members of ‘Shipthonthorpe Forward Together’.

Let’s hope that things calm down a bit now that the election is over.