05 May 2023

The 2023 elections have provided a significant step change for our locally routed political party, the South Devon Alliance. We tripled our return of Councillors from 3 in 2019, when we stood as independents, and on our first outing proper we are now the second largest party in Teignbridge District Council.

A few months ago our ambitions were to field 10 candidates, so with 9 elected and Independent Andrew Macgregor now choosing to sit within the SDA Group within TDC, that is where we have got to, a stunning success on those metrics.

When we put our call out for candidates we had so many wonderful local residents throw their hats into the ring to stand alongside us, it became humbling. We ended up with 26 on the ballot paper, mostly first time candidates, many who had chosen to stand on the final day of nominations. Nine of them were elected and many of the others almost ended the political careers of seasoned Councillors after only three weeks in politics. We missed other seats by 17, 41 and 65 votes respectively.

With the country dishing out punishment to the Tories for their woeful government record, the tidal wave Lib Dem success across the South West was decidedly muted in Teignbridge, with them returning the same number of candidates as in 2019. To have become the second largest party in Teignbridge District Council is an achievement we will all be proud of for years to come and also something we can build on. Like our campaign that helped #savethealex, the process has engaged us with the community in a way that a national party could never dream of. So now we go back into the fray, to fight for social and environmental justice on behalf of the district, without being told what to say or think by our national policy makers, or told how to vote by our local leader. And this time, we aren’t exposed on our own and we won’t be susceptible to the ‘dirty tricks’ we experienced as a group of three independent councillors. Grubby actions within the council that were repeatedly written about in Private Eye's Rotten Boroughs and saw Teignbridge District Council censored on SEVEN counts by the Local Government Ombudsman.

In the next four years, as SDA councillors., we will do everything we can to create a transparent and functioning democracy in Teignbridge, to make sure the declaration of climate and environmental emergencies translate into actions beyond words, to take some steps as an authority to challenge the obscene dumping of sewage in our rivers and seas and challenge the nationally set and overstated housing targets for the district. We also aim to lobby for plans for Newton Abbot town centre that the traders have supported and we will help create a cultural hub around the Alexandra Theatre, which we would also make a year round community owned theatre.

We are honoured to have received this massive public mandate from the electorate and we are looking forward to the next four years and beyond.