Help write a manifesto!

Eastleigh Borough
#1

Manifestos are usually written by political parties, but what if everyone could help write a party neutral manifesto for Eastleigh instead?

The Eastleigh Manifesto is an experiment to find out!

Imagine the possibilities now that anyone in Eastleigh can contribute their own ideas. For example, @afdy had already posted Street lighting - "sponsor a streetlight", give residents control here, which he has recently turned into a manifesto proposal.

If you’d like to find out more, including how to create your own proposals, I’ve written a blog post with a step by step guide. Just let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Or you could just leave a comment on @afdy’s proposal!

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#2

not sure how you can right a neutral manifesto but i like the thinking.

we need to be listened to more because actually we have a lot of eastleigh council not listening at the minute.

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#3

It would be good to stay party neutral to encourage ideas from people who might not normally work together. Admittedly it could develop a leaning depending on how the voting turns out. It’s pretty much a blank canvas at the moment so time will tell. What would your first policy be?

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#4

i think like you say its good. i don’t know much about political stuff bt I do think that actaully most political people want the same thing it is just a different way to do it.

Like I say I dont know much but in Eastleigh/Hedge end we need changes. the council (hants/eastleigh) has been taken a lot of liberties for to long (not going to just be negative for the sake of it it just needs change to be more fresh)

I liked at the election that the tory bloke stopped the building in bishopstoke that would damage the river but not much else been done by him. not sire if it is policy but i would like to see more money kept in the local area, business buy from local business and council use local companies. We can do most things here so why not keep it local!!!

#5

Shameless plug here but Eastleigh Labour Party are also in consultation for our local manifesto: Eastleigh Local Manifesto - Eastleigh Labour Party

I can appreciate this is different to a neutral manifesto but it’s being led by @Josh_Constable and we’ve got some real diverse feedback from across the constituency so far.

We’ve been looking at everything from streetlights to local economy and would welcome any input.

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#6

I know I’m being a bit optimistic but I hope it will be possible to get ideas from people who aren’t usually political at all.

It would definitely be good to know what changes you’d like to see.

Also, it’s probably straying into actual politics, but why do you think it was the MP who stopped building in Bishopstoke?

#7

I’m really excited about the Eastleigh Labour asking for help writing their own manifesto, and it would be awesome if other parties did the same. Looking forward to seeing what gets in.

The Eastleigh Manifesto is deliberately public domain so that any party can pick out policies they would like to support, so if you want to contribute to both, start here → https://manifesto.openeastleigh.uk/ :slight_smile:

@afdy talking of lamp posts, your proposal has got past the minimum age now, so it would be great to try and get it in. Is there any chance you could update it based on the feedback, and “sign” the contributor license?

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#8

I can’t see a modification that would get past- the only other voter wants centralised control of street lamps! I feel there are are too few logical minded people in the voting pool to make it viable right now. :slight_smile:

Also - suggest if someone votes against you change the colour from a green X to a red X to make it more clear, it looks like they voted for :wink:

#9

The voting pool is too small to work yet so I’ll be erring on the side of getting proposals in until there are enough voters. (Not sure what constitutes enough yet- answers on a postcard!)

I definitely think decentralised control would be a good policy to get in, although concerns about passing “users” of lamp posts needing to be considered seem valid to me, as well as funding- not everyone will be able to find £5 for something which arguably they’ve already paid the council for. I’m more than happy to leave funding considerations out completely though since it’s meant to be an aspirational manifesto. (Anyone who campaigned for any of the policies would have to worry about the money of course!)

Anyway, I still think there’s a really worthwhile policy which I hope goes in.

I’ll have a look into the voting symbols.

#10

Ok i’ve given it a blast. I feel sure he’ll just say no!

RE: Numbers of voters needed, Elon Musk reckons we need 1million humans on mars to be able to re-settle safely. Not sure that’s relevant here mind, just found it interesting. :wink:

I think that’s the problem; if your magic number of 100, they could all be from the same biased area. Think there’s a few gaps in the local manifest approach after using it;

  • People could take part from out of area too easily.
  • Technical barrier I think limits the solution to github users, or people dedicated enough to learn!
  • approval problem from such a small group. Somehow needs more seed voters!
#11

People could take part from out of area too easily

Why is that a problem? I don’t mind who takes part, or where they are, although I don’t suppose people out of the area are likely to be interested.

Technical barrier I think limits the solution to github users, or people dedicated enough to learn!

100% agree! It’s a work in progress and it definitely needs to be easier to use. Being able to log in with different IDs would hopefully help. Just need more hours in the day!

Somehow needs more seed voters!

Definitely, which is why for now proposals will get in unless there are stong objections.

Not sure whether it will overcome all the problems but I think it’s worth a try. If you’re interested it’s based on The OpenPolitics Manifesto but I think that started with a group of people who were all on GitHub, which isn’t exactly representative :slight_smile:

#12

I think it’s my fear of a gaming thing again. If someone doesn’t like something, it would be easier to find 50 people out-of-area to help me game it than it would find 50 people local.

I did actually have a nosy and a look at this. Love the concept it just needs to be a little more accessible. One day it’ll get there i’m sure. :slight_smile:

Between your manifesto’s and open discussion here, maybe we can start putting Eastleigh politics on the map!

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#13

Hopefully not in the same way as Handforth :slight_smile:

#14

Pahahaha. At least people in handforth will now be getting interested in local politics! :rofl:

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#15

hey how can you get people to sign-up to vote in the post?

this will be big this year and i think it needs to be high up in peoples thinking or we will just get the same people in at local elections.

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#16

Hi @JonDramas, if you mean who gets to vote on manifesto proposals, then that’s whoever has successfully contributed to the manifesto. Anyone can leave a comment though!

If you mean, how do you get people to want to vote, then that’s a trickier question! I think this year will be a big one for local elections as well- at least I hope so! Good ideas and discussions might help get people interested, and spread the word!

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#17

Thnks for the info Jtonline.

I’,m going to take a look.maybe i can share an idea first to make sure it all makes sense?. i think it is a good idea for local issues and also in making the council up to a standard that they claim they are.

have to say that the labour are doing more which is good so i will look at them at the elections. Im in hedge end as well.

#18

Sure, no problem sharing here first- that’s how the street light proposal started :slight_smile:

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#19

Jon you can make a submission to Eastleigh Labour’s local manifesto consultation here: Eastleigh Labour’s Local Manifesto We’d love to hear from you!

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#20

Heya James,

If the authors of the policies in your opensource manifesto would like to have their ideas included please encourage them to get in touch! Would love to include their ideas for our discussion but don’t want to run with them without permission!

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