Ethnic 'Friend' not allowed to stand for council

A SINGLE mother of three complains that she is barred from standing for election to a position on Canal & River Trust (CaRT) council due to her ethnicity, writes Allan Richards.

The accusation follows a claim by the Trust that nobody in the ‘Friends' constituency had sufficient sponsors to stand for election. A claim which is now known to be untrue.

Nicola Benjamin

Ms Nicola Benjamin, who describes herself as a black single mother of three, has the five sponsors required at the nomination stage which allow her to stand for council. As the only one of three nominees in the ‘Friends' constituency who has the required number of sponsors, her place on council should have been guaranteed.

Despite this, CaRT have stated in relation to this constituency ‘Unfortunately none of the nominees had sufficient sponsors to stand in the election. The Appointments Committee will therefore consider co-opting a Friend onto the Council so that the growing numbers of individuals supporting the Trust have a role'.

Ms Benjamin feels that she has been excluded from standing due to her ethnicity with neither CaRT or the Electoral Reform Society providing an alternative explanation.

Election statement

Ms Benjamin's details have now been removed from the election website. However, following some effort a copy of the webpage has been located from the time nominations closed.

Election Statement:

I am a black single mother who has lived in Kings Park Ward since 1997, my three children have grown up around both the Nature Reserve and the Canal. We spent many a happy time walking/jogging and bike riding along the canal picking edible berries admiring the many barges and boats getting to know 'the Waterways Residents. I've seen many positive changes and would like the Association to be more accessible and representative of its community. Information and services should be celebrated our water ways keeping them clean and fit for purpose and available and accessible to all. I'd like to see more security around the Waterways I've witnessed some crimes and would welcome regular Metropolitan police patrolling the area, to date this has been Shomrim only also ensuring that proper licensing of boat pubs/businesses. Unfortunately, BME candidates are currently under represented!

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Any committee membership, officer, trusteeship, directorship or other official position held with any inland waterway organisation during the 12 months immediately preceding 14 October 2015:

none

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Supporters:

Lin Ingley

Jennifer Brown

Terence Maton

Mike Dilly

Christopher Duckett

No More Supporters Required

[By way of explanation, BME means Black and Minority Ethnic and is used to refer to members of non-white communities in the UK. Shomrim refers to a volunteer Jewish security group that patrols the area.]

Insufficient sponsors

Two other ‘Friends' nominees appeared but neither had sufficient sponsors to become candidates, David Lenton received four nominations and Roger Kagan just one.

Allan Leighton, CaRT's Chairman, is on record as saying: ‘We've a really strong list of people putting themselves forward for election ....'.

Presumably he made that statement before he found out that the list of ‘Friends' candidates had been reduced from three to zero.

Ruth Ruderham, Head of Fundraising, is being held responsible for the Trust's failure to engage with its ‘Friends' electorate and the débâcle of the Trust falsely claiming that none of the ‘Friends' nominees had sufficient sponsors to stand for election. Although no official announcement has been made, it is thought that she may have already left the Trust ahead of her new boss, Dr Sophie Castell, who is starting in December.