I think one major problem with this election is that it isn't really a local election at all. Both Marple North and Marple South are absurdly large wards which make it very difficult if not impossible to people to really know the candidates. In a real local election, there would be far, far fewer electors per ward and the ward would be small enough so that the candidates could be know personally by all the voters. When you look at the map, or see where the posters are for Marple South for example, it's clear it covers areas which are not really Marple at all and have different problems and needs from areas at the opposite end of the ward. Perhaps dividing the ward into three single member wards would help. Maybe we even need more councillors, so wards can be sufficiently local that the views of local communities can be better represented.
