The Greens are bringing a Hellraiser to the council by-elections being held next month.
Nicholas Burman-Vince, the actor who played Chatterer Cenobite in Clive Barker’s cult Hellraiser movies, is the Green Party’s candidate for Woodside in the by-election being held on May 2 – the same day as the London-wide Mayor and Assembly elections are taking place.
Woodside resident Burman-Vince is among six candidates standing in the ward by-election, which is being held because Mike Bonello, Labour’s replacement for discredited council leader Tony Newman, had had enough of Town Hall politics after less than three years.
In what would usually be expected to be a strongly Labour-voting ward, the party’s regional officials imposed Jessica Hammersley-Rich (now helpfully subbed down to “Jess Rich” for the ballot papers) as their candidate, giving local members no say, in the middle of a vote-fixing scandal and police investigation into their parliamentary selection for Croydon East.
As well as LibDems (Jahir Hussain) and Tories (Titlope Adeoye), also on the Woodside ballot paper will be the Taking The Piss Party, who have chosen Shane Sobers as their candidate, and the Trade Unionist and Socialist Party, with Michelle Wall.
Park Hill and Whitgift: Croydon’s only one-seat council ward, much of the area is taken up with posh homes and Lloyd Park
The official, finalised list of candidates for the two by-elections on May 2 was published by Croydon Council today – four days later than promised.
In the Park Hill and Whitgift ward by-election – where the sitting Conservative councillor also discovered she had better things to do with her time than serve a full, four-year term – there are also six candidates, with former Tory MP and Labour councillor Andrew Pelling standing for the Liberal Democrats.
Andrew Price is listed on the ballot as “Local Conservatives”, presumably because he doesn’t want to have anything to do with the shower of shit that has been running the country into the ground for the past 14 years.
Ben Goldstone is the TUSC candidate, and perpetual independent candidate Mark Samuel is also on the ballot, along with Labour’s imposed candidate, Melanie Felten.
In Park Hill and Whitgift, the Greens’ candidate is James Cork.
Cork’s party’s local branch secretary, Burman-Vince, standing for election to public office for the first time in Woodside, has come into politics from perhaps an unorthodox route. He is an actor, author and film maker whose autobiographical drama documentary about the creation of Chatterer, called I Am Monsters!, premiered at the Empire Leicester Square last year.
He has written numerous short stories and is planning his first novel.
Whether it will include any scenes from the stump in Woodside, we’ll just have to wait.
Party piece: Nick Burman-Vince has acted in the Hellraiser movies
“It feels overwhelming sometimes when I look at politicians who ignore those who they’re supposed to support, who demonise minorities and who simply ignore the dramatic changes in our environment,” he said.
“Under the two parties who have run the council, we’ve seen disappearing bus stops, major failings in financial management at Croydon Town Hall, squandered opportunities to support local arts groups during the Year of Culture and all we hear is, ‘It’s the other one’s fault’.
“I joined the Green Party as I wanted to work locally to tackle the issues facing us, as I believe locally is where lasting change happens. I’d also realised that just shouting at the TV wasn’t helping anyone.
“There are solutions to the problems we face, from insulating our homes, allowing small groups and schools to generate electricity from solar panels – to sell to the grid – and more public transport to help clean our air. All the solutions will boost wealth and health.
“We need councillors who will listen to residents and work wholeheartedly to hold the Mayor of Croydon to account and that’s what I want to do. But it isn’t just about criticising the other parties, I also believe in dialogue to work out the best solution for local people.”
Read more: Labour admits serious breach of private data in Croydon East
Read more: #TheLabourFiles: MP Reed, Evans and the Croydon connection
Read more: A bit Rich: members bypassed as Labour imposes candidate
Read more: Muslim charity founder to stand in Woodside for the LibDems
Read more: Tories picked Price for Park Hill before Appleton had resigned
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
