I actually don’t think people know what councillors do!
And communication between candidates can be so rude that people become disengaged.
My other half said…I never vote because what difference does it make? Well today I saw that if 6 more households voted in a ward the outcome would be different (potentially)
But if people knew what a councillor can do for the community perhaps they would vote???
Another point:
Get every Candidate on here:
Wouldn’t it be great to have all candidates here, or even all Councillors?
I recall @Alexbourne saying that Wayne didn’t know about this forum, and @jtonline saying he didn’t know how to get hold of Mr Sukhdev Raj.
Wouldn’t it be great if somehow there was a drive from us to get everyone on here.
Also we may need to decide if this is the forum, or EBLP on Facebook. So far, I prefer this one (FB has too many bugs!)
So both of those candidates I know how to get hold of! Agree this is a better forum than FB!!
Some sort of hustings? 
The big ones for me are better journalism, and candidates setting a better example for political discussions.
Eastleigh News had a good spell for interviewing candidates a while ago but it hasn’t been as active recently which is a real shame. Hopefully the new local democracy reporters might help a bit.
One slightly wild idea I’ve been wondering recently is whether there’s any chance of crowd funding some sort of party neutral local politics 101 course, with the aim to encourage more candidates, and better election campaigns. It’s in our best interests to be represented by someone who can do the job well whichever party they represent.
There’s no one answer so anything anyone does will help. Actually feeling a bit more positive after years of very lonely gentle prodding with ESLHustings on Twitter!
Another way -
change the way we address Councillors
I’m just wondering how many people got tired of the Lib Dem bashing on Eastleigh Neighbours. Whether we like it or not, the LDs are in
I get it, they have their failings. But wouldn’t it be best to be seen working with the Council, like this?
Also
Maybe publish all decisions/meetings taken in every month on a media platform such as Facebook
And not just the big ones i.e. SOU Airport or Allington. Let everyone see how much this council and the Councillors they elected work (or not) for them.
I don’t think the leading-party bashing is unique to the group. I think this is mainly because party politics become involved so people become overly passionate about it. That’s a whole other separate topic!
I also don’t think it’s as simple as your screenshot makes out:
There’s a positive for publishing all decisions and meetings every month though - it is all there, its published on the council website!
The council do do this, and they do publish bitesize announcements on their facebook and twitter accounts, and news page. I think this has improved drastically in recent years.
I do think an external body could ‘humanify’ the communications and decision making there though and say for example post it here which could be shared and engaged with so people could openly discuss it. This links back to the point made by @jtonline of improved journalism. If you know of anyone who would be interested in doing something, get them in touch 
I kicked off a news aggregator for Eastleigh a while back which has sat quietly humming not doing much:
I love the idea of a neutral local politics 101 course, something hopefully all parties could get behind. Finding people to run such a thing would be challenging as anyone who becomes politically aware instantly is accused of bias.
I also think some sort of agreed guidance and operating ‘pact’ between candidates could help if implemented by an impartial body. i.e. “Don’t attack each-other”, “Don’t fuel hate”, “Don’t lie”, “Don’t manipulate and mislead”, “be responsive”, “be open to public debate”. The impartial body could then put up guidance containing all the candidates they publicly endorse?
Agree, I think this platform offers a much superior alternative for serious debate. Facebook focusses on encouraging users to comment, and constant engagement. This software mainly focuses on helping the transparent discussion, I think the reader to writer ratio on here is like 1000:1, whereas facebook it is much lower. 
Wowsers, welcome aboard @Unicornwonders! Brilliant first post, loved almost everything you said! “I could go on…” - don’t let us stop you - keep going!!
Only issue I could see would be on the goodiebags and free pens - candidates aren’t rich! I’m sure some are broke and have no money to fund such things. That and waste of course. It also gives more bias towards party politics than individuals with no finance. Agree though it would probably get people involved!
As to election build up - great idea! I’m sure candidates would love that build up to be made… the thing is its on us the community to help generate that build up. Candidates by default are isolated and on their own. Together, we could make something happen that candidates could get behind?
Councillors doing their area is a really good idea, i really like that and they could get support from small local businesses to come along and set up a stall or something make a day of it. Have some activities for everyone to join and show their councillors can have some fun to… Who doesnt love a game of limbo or giant snakes and ladders or something?! 
I have seen some replies to what i was suggesting dazza please don’t think what i am replying is just aimed at you but slowly learning my way through how this all works. So can’t remember who said what and when
The freebie idea was just an idea out the hat but who’s to say the council couldn’t help with it, you could have EBC on them could mean people may look at it ‘oh how did i get this again? Oh it was the day we met a local Councillor at that even they’d did, they made an impact on me’
We all have to remember not everyone online and like i said the old knock a door ask residents what would they like to see? What changes would they like made? Or catching up with residents on how things have been changed?
Obviously… All being covid friendly. Councillors really need to be getting out their not just when people need something or to get their face in the hampshire chronicle…
The more councillors get involved the better chance of an impact and potential gain so long as they keep their promise and or make changes where possible.
You could do a survey asking peopls do you know who your councillor is? What they do? Will people compare them to mps and say are they not like MPs and lie?
I know myself when i was younger before i really understood what i was voting for and im talking 18/19 my thought was i dont see them, i dont know what they do, i dont see any changes whats the point they all lie. But as I got older and took it a bit more seriously and understanding the differences and what impact i could be making and then i started a family and thats when i took ALOT more interest in politics and jargon because i wasnt just thinking for myself now i was thinking for my childrens future.
I hope i havent missed anything? And hope i havent rambled to much just get carried away.
That does seem to happen a lot round here
I’m sure there are neutral groups around who could put on some sort of workshop/course/something for prospective candidates but no idea what that would cost. Never got as far as investigating seriously due to life etc.
As for a pact…
Pretty sure the other issue is candidates aren’t allowed to give out gifts. The Eastleigh Politics 101 thing on the other hand would obviously need top tier swag!
@Unicornwonders definitely think more opportunities to see councillors/candidates as ordinary people (away from elections campaigns!) would be really valuable.
I think, given the narrative pushed locally to vote out the Lib Dem’s, it’s easy to look at the turnout and be disappointed. However, I do think Covid had an influence on discouraging voting on the day. Going forward, I am concerned at the government’s attempt to suppress votes, particularly for the younger demographic, by introducing first time voting photo ID. This may negate any attempts to increase voting amongst younger and first time voters. Perhaps one answer might be in the lead up to elections there could be neutrally advertised ‘drop in’ days where candidates are available in one location in each area for voters to meet them and ask questions. This could be informal as to not intimidate.
We tried to do a hustings but failed sadly - next time we shall be more prepared in the hope this will help!!
I think something less formal than a hustings would be far more appealing to people; particularly those who struggle to feel comfortable in a formal political environment.
I suggested town hall style debates.
Much less formal!
Deffo need a hustings as well though.
Something less formal sounds like a good idea. I wonder if doing something as part of/alongside other more fun/interesting/non-political events might help as well, instead of expecting anyone to make a special effort for politics. Can’t actually think of any examples- my brain has given up for the night already!
I think an “Eastleigh TED talks” would be interesting…
…could be hosted at the Point or something…
…each of us present on a different theme on a different night (or nights if some presenters are popular!)…
…could be any theme, national or local…
…make it interactive…/Q&A at the end…
…then drinks…
It’s an idea anyway.
Love how this ends with drinks Alex 
However I feel the audience would be those who want to know about politics.
We need to encourage those to engage who don’t feel politics affects them.
circa 30% turnout for local elections means we have thousands of people not engaged and who I feel we need to target to vote.
Does anyone have the population numbers at hand for each ward and the numbers who did not vote? Additionally surely we know what households did not vote so we need to ask them why…
Community engagement is what I feel is needed
Sorry Josh - even town hall debates I fear are too formal for the residents of eastleigh that don’t vote…
I think a big part of the lack of engagement is that some parties benefit off of it. Town Hall debates bring the candidates to the people and not via a leaftlet. I think something new would also boost the level of interest.
