Three-way fight in Lakeside ward by-election

Sarah Drake, Liberal Democrat candidate. Derrick Powell, UKIP Candidate. Ben Randles, Conservative Candidate.

The by-election for a vacant seat on Bradley Stoke Town Council will be a three-way fight between candidates from the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and UKIP parties.

The vacancy arose due to the resignation of former Mayor Charlotte Walker (Independent), who revealed in her letter of resignation that she has been “studying away from the town for some time” and now no longer lives in the area.

Ms Walker was elected under the Conservative banner to represent the Lakeside parish ward in May 2011 and served as Mayor during the administrative year 2012/13. Shortly after her term of office as Mayor had ended, she announced that she had dumped the Conservatives to become independent.

Sarah Drake, the Liberal Democrat candidate, works for Bristol City Council and is a governor at Bowsland Green Primary School.

Derrick Powell, the UKIP candidate, is Chair of the Lakeside Residents’ Association and also coordinates the Bradley Stoke Community Speedwatch group.

Benjamin Randles, the Conservative candidate, has lived in Bradley Stoke since 1997 and is currently studying Computer Security at a local university.

More information about each of the candidates can be found on our 2013 Lakeside By-election information page.

Voting will take place on Thursday 10th October.

The Lakeside parish ward covers part of south Bradley Stoke and includes roads such as Sherbourne Avenue, The Bluebells, Meadow Way, Lavender Way and Juniper Way.

Do you live in the Lakeside parish ward? Check out the interactive map of parish ward boundaries on our Contact your Councillor page.

Share this page:

33 comments

  1. Going by the Notice of Poll published on the BSTC website, it looks like there are 1,989 people entitled to vote in the by-election.

  2. Is Derrick Powell wearing a Virgin Media uniform in this picture? Is he going to sort out the BS Broadband? Is it wise or proper to wear company logos when representing UKIP or any political party?

  3. Dear Derrick, if I vote for you will you make my broadband faster so the Netflix and iPlayer stop giving buffering messages, also, how do I delete a whole folder of programmes on Tivo?

  4. Does this mean Richard Branson (via Virgin Media) is now openly supporting UKIP? Let’s remember that Branson famously turned up to the ‘New Labour’ celebration party in 1997…has he switched sides? If not I wonder what senior execs within Virgin Media would think of Derrick using corporate logos and identity in this way? I think the Bradley Stoke Journal should make enquiries. Go on Steve, make a few calls to Virgin…

  5. Dribull – why don’t you like any ‘normal’ person call Virgin yourself! This forum isn’t for you to start being a joker!

    Here you go…. 0843 506 8865 give them a call!

  6. Or more to the point KM maybe the Editor of this esteemed publication should ring Emma Hutchinson or Gareth Mead in the press office of Virgin Media to find out how Virgin Media feel about their corporate logo and image being used for political purposes by UKIP? As a concerned local resident and Virgin Media customer I’ve already spoken to their head honcho who is very annoyed with Derrick to say the least. You can call them on 0207 909 3290

  7. I would have to say I agree with D. Not wise to draw a commercial company or employer into an election battle. Wonder how the UKIP’s employers are viewing this?

  8. The photo of Derrick Powell referred to in the comments above has now been replaced by another, kindly provided by the candidate.

  9. Dribull, Check what broadband package you have then run a “speed check” you can do this by going onto Google and running a download. check with customer service to see what speed you have, they should advise you.

  10. D, photo has been changed and in no way has VM got anything to do with me standing for election. My apology if you thought otherwise.

  11. Derrick, thanks for your response, never offended, but know it’s not the done thing. Genuinely hope not to have caused problems in your employment, I may not agree with your politics but defend your right to have them, I have noted for a long time that UKIP press a lot of people’s buttons, have been saying the same thing to my fellow Labourites (yes I’m guilty of being Labour) and it’s something the national parties must acknowledge. I observe Bradley Stoke politics with much interest, and I personally like and agree with just some of Ben Walkers views even though he has fallen foul on this very forum, I prefer his company to some Conservatives I won’t mention. Anyway, all is fair in love and war.

  12. Not sure this matter has been resolved. The ‘new’ photo being used is quite clearly a ‘cut down’ Virgin Media photo – he’s still wearing the same t-shirt! Has Emma Hutchinson given you permission to use this photo as I’m wondering if this photo remains the intellectual property of Virgin Media? Just wondering why Virgin Media would allow such continued use for political purposes? Surely it would have been better to have just selected a completely different photo with no relation to Virgin Media? Or is that beyond the wit of UKIP?

  13. I’m not surprised it looks professional. I wouldn’t expect anything less of Virgin Media. The other candidates may not look as great on their photos but at least they’ve had the sense not to embroil their employers in politics.

  14. Thanks Derrick, you’ve got my vote 😉 On a more serious note I think that the level of involvement each candidate has invested in the local community should be a very important factor. This is local government and we shouldn’t be overly swayed by national politics, i.e. will they do the job effectively and will they stick at it rather than jumping ship as per the previous incumbent.

  15. Dribull, Many thanks for your comment and vote, very much appreciated. I hope that you get your buffering sorted out. I also had the same problem 18 months ago, and as a VM customer and NOT an employee (as others seem to think), they upgraded my broadband speed and installed a new wireless router and that cured the problem.

  16. Customer not employee? In that case there must be another Derrick Powell who is Senior Facilities Administrator at Virgin Media… I think you are learning politics quickly Derrick with your misleading comments. Fact is you ARE an employee of Virgin Media – not that that is a problem, just don’t understand why you need to deny such a fact? Makes you seem a bit dodgy like some of the other UKIP people I could mention.

  17. Mr Bellweather, If I choose to use a professional photographer that’s my prerogative,(only being professional) it so happens that this was in my family photo library and had to be sent in at short notice and was not taken for election purpose. As previously stated VM is not my employer, if I wore a shirt with a Vodafone, O2, Jaguar or a Ford logo on, it would not be the case that I was employed by them.

  18. I must admit to being very puzzled by Derrick Powell’s claim that he doesn’t work for Virgin Media. Odd given that VM’s PR Manager Emma Hutchinson has confirmed that he is part of their facilities team? Also his own linkedin profile shows him to work for Virgin Media. Seems odd that Mr Powell would deny this. Not a great way to begin a career in local politics.

    Here’s Derrick’s linked in profile just to show you what I mean:

    http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/derrick-powell/53/187/6b2

    Why are you lying about this Derrick? Why say you don’t work for Virgin Media when you clearly are part of their team?

  19. Derrick Powell.

    What a load of nit picking twits ! Derrick happened to wear a tee shirt with a logo on instead of a suit and tie.
    Millions of people wear tee shirts with logos on it does not mean they work for, attend, or sponsor what ever the logo states. Umbro or Texas State University being an example !
    Derrrick does not work for Virgin, but a sub – contractor , BUT WHAT DOES IT MATTER.!!
    He is an honest guy and you get what you see, but of course honesty is something that is alien to most politicians, whether it is in Whitehall or locally as I know from personal experience when locally elected Councillor’s vote against the interest of the people who voted them in in favour of Party Cronyism.

    Grow up ! for goodness sake and act like moral, mature, and honest adults, and work in the interest of the public that voted for you.

  20. You’re not wrong Fred, but it’s more a matter for Virgin being (mis)represented in the public domain, they probably don’t want to be overly associated with UKIP or any party for that matter, whether Derek is an indirect employee or not.

    I think some people think UKIP contain some racists as they have some strong views on immigration, however that is a box-ticker with much of the voting public, and UKIP are making inroads everywhere on that and Europe, except in Bradley Stoke! Must be a bit of a head-scratcher for them, will be interesting to see what effect they have on the FABS seat in 2015, if they split the Tory vote they might let Labour in through the back door.

    You are not wrong about the party cronyism though, just look at the clear party line voting patterns on subjects here at SGC, it’s obvious. I firmly agree with UKIPs Ben Walker there are far too many Councillors on SGC and cuts should be made there instead of local services, being on a minimum of 10k a year for starters means we are paying at least 750k a year for them, probably at least a million all in when all other costs and free lunches are added. No wonder there are so many couples and family’s involved, for a couple they are taking out at least 20k a year into their households, that’s a lot of money, and for what really, we know that’s a single vote instead of two right away, ever feel you’ve been cheated? Democracy? My arse!

  21. D, Labour have never had a strong following in Bradley Stoke and have never had a district councillor representing the town, so when you say that splitting the Tory will let Labour in you’re very much mistaken. Liberal Democrats on both the District and Town Councils steered Bradley Stoke through it’s developing years and are very much the 2nd (and are looking to the be the 1st) party again in the Town.

    Interestingly, I agree with Ben Walker that there are too many cllrs on the District (and the town, there only used to be 12).

    Unfortunately, saving £250,000 on a reduced number of cllrs, won’t make an impact on the millions of pounds the govt is expecting local authorities to cut.

  22. Hi JonBoy

    You’ve misunderstood my point.

    I was referring to Jack Lopresti’s seat in 2015.

    Aren’t the districts still in 2014? Whatever, no worries!

    Yes I know that about Bradley Stoke, Labour don’t even bother standing here, I was taking into account the other areas in FABS who are more Labour potential voters, Filton and Patchway for starters. Given that Labour came 2nd last time with the Lib Dems third then a Tory split vote to UKIP could seriously damage Mr Lopresti or whoever stands for the Tories, I suspect the Liberals will have to overcome some collateral damage to make inroads at that level and nationally.

    It’s a 7% swing for FABS so given the UKIP effect it may make a difference?

    Given the draconian continuing level of cuts here then in my view saving 250k where it’s really not needed on these self servers on SGC would be a start, and less damaging to communities and their services. The local authorities are being savaged, so let’s get rid of this dead wood. Just saying!

  23. Do away with this tier of unnecessary local government.
    What influence do theses councillors have anyway on what goes on?
    South Gloucestershire Council call the tunes in respect of many services and BSTC are merely consulted.
    So why do we need town councillors and do they need to be affiliated to a political party-No!
    They are because if you stand as an independent candidate you have to fund yourself. You can’t draw on the party resources -money and mates to help you get elected.
    It really will be interesting what will happen in 2015. My bet is if enough independent candidates stand then they will attract votes because people are fed up with the petulant and autocratic demeanour of the main parties.
    An independent candidate would get my vote!

  24. The third Conservative by-election leaflet has dropped on doormats this week. See it on the by-election info page.

    Voting takes place this Thursday (10th October) at the St Joseph’s Centre within the grounds of St Mary’s School, Juniper Way.

  25. Lakeside parish ward by-election result:
    1. Benjamin Randles (Conservative) 253 votes
    2. Derrick Powell (UKIP) 97 votes
    3. Sarah Drake (Lib Dem) 72 votes

  26. Looks like Derrick can go back to his day job now – wearing his Virgin Media T-Shirt. Bad form that he didn’t bother to turn up to the count, especially considering that UKIP called the election in the first place. Must have realised that UKIP have no chance in Bradley Stoke.

Comments are closed.