Grant Epsom's Local Regiment the Freedom of the Borough
- HelpSupportourLocalRegiment
- Closed on
- Target:
- Epsom and Ewell Borough Council
- Region:
- United Kingdom
Success!
When you signed up to the petition to grant the Freedom of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell to the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment, you may remember being told that we would e-mail you with the final result. This is that e-mail!
Last night, at the specially-convened Council meeting at Epsom Town Hall, the Residents Association Councillors performed the mother of all U-turns. Having previously voted against even holding a meeting to suggest granting this honour to our local infantry regiment, last night they voted unanimously to pass the motion.
We heard from several RA Councillors, all of whom stated that they had been swayed by the huge weight of public opinion in support of granting the Freedom. This opinion came in the form of literally hundreds of e-mails, letters, and constituents coming to their houses stating their disappointment in the result of previous votes. In addition, there was the 2,500+ strong petition that you signed up to.
We in the campaign team are obviously over the moon that the Council has finally decided to honour our troops. More than that, though, we are extremely grateful for the support that you gave the campaign with your letters, e-mails, comments, and signatures. This result would not have been possible without you, and we thank you sincerely.
The motion passed last night called for the Chief Executive of the Council to decide on the right way to present the Freedom of the Borough to the PWRR, and once we find out when/how this will happen, we will let you know. For now, it only remains for us to say thank you once again, and congratulations - this campaign is a perfect example of what can be achieved if the correct pressure is placed on our elected representatives. Well done to all of you!
Kind Regards,
The Campaign Team
++++UPDATE++++++++UPDATE++++
Dec 17, 2009
At a full Council meeting on Tuesday, Councillors in support of the campaign to give the Freedom of the Borough to our troops cleared the first hurdle to victory! In order for Freedom of the Borough to be given, a Special Meeting of the Council has to be convened to debate and vote on it. In the face of strong opposition from Residents' Association Councillors, one of whom behaved so disgracefully that parts of his speech had to be officially withdrawn from the record, a vote on whether to hold the meeting was won by a slim margin (16 vs 13).
This meeting will be held in January (date to be confirmed), and will be a debate entirely on the merits of our campaign. Although this is a small success for the campaign, our work doesn't stop there. It is now more important than ever that we convince our Councillors of the strength of feeling on this matter. For the Freedom of the Borough to be granted, two thirds of the Councillors will have to vote for it at the special meeting, so every vote will count.
Please continue to sign the petition, whether online or in person, and let's show the Council what we think of them...
++++UPDATE++++++++UPDATE++++
On Tuesday 10 November, the eve of Remembrance Day, the Epsom & Ewell Borough Council voted against offering the Freedom of the Borough to the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment - the local Regiment for Epsom and East Surrey, as well as the Regiment of Johnson Beharry VC.
The suggestion was made by Councillor Sean Sullivan, but was voted down by the Council, with everyone but him voting against it. If passed, it would have offered the Epsom & Ewell residents the chance to support their local troops by allowing them to march through the town when they return from Afghanistan. The full story was covered in the Epsom Guardian -
http://www.epsomguardian.co.uk/news/4732325.Army_unit__not_local_enough__for_freedom_of_the_borough/
and has recently been picked up by the Daily Mail -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1236484/Youre-worthy-Council-snubs-honour-British-Armys-decorated-regiment.html
We hope you will agree when we say this decision beggars belief. Regardless on anyone's thoughts on current conflicts around the world, we don't think that anyone can deny the immense sacrifice and bravery shown by our armed forces, and the need to give them our full support at this time - not least in the days following Remembrance Day. Snubbing our local regiment in this way seems petty and small-minded.
As such, we are setting up this petition, as well as campaigning in Epsom and Ewell, to ask people to sign a petition calling on the Council to overturn their decision and support our local armed forces. Let's show these mean-spirited local and Liberal Councillors just what the local residents of Epsom think of their decision.
Thank you for your support.
Campaign Team
Support Epsom's Local Regiment
We, the undersigned, call on Epsom & Ewell Borough Council to overturn their decision of 10 November 2009, and to grant the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment the Freedom of the Borough of Epsom & Ewell.
The Grant Epsom's Local Regiment the Freedom of the Borough petition to Epsom and Ewell Borough Council was written by HelpSupportourLocalRegiment and is in the category Local Government at GoPetition.