It is vitally important that the whole Planning Movement ensures that the top issue for both the local elections and the General Elections in 2005 is Health Concerns caused by inapropriately sited developments such as Phone Masts - Incinerators - Contamimated Land Sites - Nuclear Fuel Plants - Landfil Sites - High Powered Cabling and Sub Stations. This can be achieved and Planning Sanity will be looking to lead the campaign. This briefing sets out the issues and how we can achieve it. Before the election campaign gets under way other documents will be made available including leaflets and posters to be used by candidates and campaign groups.

The main thrust of the campaign will have two distinctly different but connected routes, the first by giving help and support to independent candidates standing on a 'Planning Health Ticket' (where there is no main stream candidate that has a proven track record on supporting the movement), secondly to run a campaign to establish where each candidate in any given contest stands on planning and health and then let the electorate know, in order that they can best decide where to put their cross.

We are constantly told by politicians that the way to protest is through the ballot box, this campaign is exactly that a campaign to ensure that only those that support the views of the majority of local communities affected by insensitively sited developments. What the campaign will not be is a party political campaign, no one party or candidate will be supported over another, where there are two or more candidates with a proven record of supporting the mast movement, similarly with comments issued nationally, no one party will be supported over another, instead we shall point to the strong policies, and the weak policies, as well as any statements of support, and statement of opposition. At the end of the day it is for the electorate to have the final say, and us to provide them with the information needed to enable them to make an informed decision.

There will be a series of media releases, these will be in two formats those that are of national interest, and those that can be adopted by local campaigns to local conditions. This media campaign will be concerted and prolonged, but to bring it off we need more people to volunteer to be spokespersons, that is people who will do interviews for local radio and television, these cannot be candidates for legal reasons, so if local campaigns are putting up candidates they should appoint another person as their media spokesperson.

Once the General Election date is announced we shall produce the time table, and calendar of action. Local electiions will be as always on the 1st Thursday in May. That date will be a useful warm up period for the big battle to follow. But is an easy route for activists to become involved, even stand for election, and potentionally become a councillor. Thereby giving you the opportunity to influence planning decisions.

What we will not do during the campaign is support any single political party, although it might be the case on receipt of the answers to the survey that we shall be able to recommend votes being cast for supporting parties but not for those parties who refuse to put in place robust policies. We will also look to demonstrate how the main parties have handled the issues. This does not mean that the support will have to be the same at national or local level for any given party, it may well be the case that a party that has offered poor support national has been the guiding force locally.

In the long term we shall be looking to use the results from these surveys to hold the parties and individual candidates to the pledges they give, which of course can be done locally and nationally.

The basic documents are all included on this forum, please contact us if you need our help in tailoring them to your local needs.

Any would be candidates should refer to themselves as Prospective Candidates until they have submitted their nomination forms and had them verified by the Returning Officer, as expense records must be kept for all activities after you declare that you are a candidate, whilst this is not that important to most campaigns it is for those who might spend above the maximum level prescribed by law. A proper record and declaration of expenses must be declared after the election, it is a criminal offence not to.

I attach at the end of this briefing standard nomination forms, although each local authority produces its own, more local authorities are using the standard format. The process of nomination for a local authority election is that the candidate must be nominated and seconded by local electorate, as well as having 8 local electorate supporters, that is 10 people from the ward you are a candidate in that are on the electoral register for that ward. Copies of the relevant registers are obtainable free from the election office of the local authority for those taking part in the election, the electoral numbers are contained in the register. It is very important that you ensure that the person signing the nomination paper signs with the signature that is in the same format as the registered entry - perhaps a normal signature might be A J Harknel, but in the electoral register you might be entered as Andrew J Harknel, thus the signature should be Andrew J Harknel, and not A J Harknel. Whilst this might not be a problem for some returning officers, others are very strict about this. If you are standing in a ward where you do not know ten people on the electoral register, then you must cold call by knocking on doors to get the signatures.

Unlike General and European elections there is no deposit to be paid to stand as a candidate in a local election (The General election will be 500), therefore it is possible to stand as a candidate in a local election without any cost being involved, although if you seriously want to win you would run a high profile campaign by delivering at the very least one leaflet, most likely more than one, with some additional targeting of those living close to phone masts. You would also contact the media on a regular basis, and if you were putting up a number of candidates issue a manifesto, this could be on the single issue topic of planning and health, or on a whole range of issues that affect your borough.

The activity that you do during the campaign will determine how the electorate view you, the majority will not know you, or be able to judge whether you would make the best candidate to represent them, therefore you need to reach out to the electorate. This is traditionally done by canvassing, knocking on doors and talking to people, and believe me this really does work, time over time you will hear that the householder has never seen a politician, but do not spend too much time on each doorstep, two minutes maximum, leave them leaflets, and other info, and promise that you will get somebody to call and talk through their concerns, and then make sure that one of your supporters does that. However, more and more candidates are using phone canvassing, and even the internet, and I dare say text messaging. All these methods would have a cost aspect and cannot make up for the door step canvass.

You might also try barnstorming, the political parties use this in their General election campaigns, but not so much in local elections due to the lesser number of activists, but single issue campaigns can make good use of the tactic to gain a highly visible appearance in a short time throughout the ward. This consists of as many people as possible touring the area in a group, with badges, balloons, leaflets, posters, manifestos and any other give a way's, they will stop and talk to everyone trying to gain their vote and support, this can also be a great moral booster.

You should allocate one of your team to getting posters up, the number of posters might indicate the level of support and encourage others to vote for you who might not do so, especially if posters are displayed by well known, and well liked local people. Make sure all your canvassers have posters in their door step info packs, these will already have double sided tape on them, so that you can make sure that the poster is put up straight away.

Never tell people what is good for them, as they will be turned off, let them tell you, and if it is something that you would support say so, never tell them you will support something that you would not, as that will come back to haunt you. On the planning issue, raise it, but do not preach it, be gentle and let them rant on about the health risks, but if they support mobile phones, do not enter into a slanging match, even if you win the argument you are unlikely to persuade the person to vote for you, save the time and move on to the next house. That is not to say that you do not persuade the person who is unsure, quite often they can be turned around.

When you are canvassing, make a note of all those that have stated that they will vote for you. On election day you will get supporters to take up position outside of the polling booths making a note of all those voting, by taking their electoral numbers, these are then checked against your stated supporters, and if things are looking close, and you feel that every vote might count, then you will send out your supporters to bring out those who promised to vote for you, but have not yet voted.

On polling day you will also have at least one car to take elderly or infirm people to the count (although this is starting to become obsolete with the postal voting being extended.

After the count whatever the result have a media statement prepared to emphasise the positive aspects of the campaign and result.

Best of luck in putting the planning and health case across to the electorate. Remember we are here to help and support.

• Labour
  Modernise the planning system and introduce new fast-track procedures for major projects of national significance Speed up decision-making, promote the most efficient use of land, and strike the right balance of environmental protection, safer communities and economic growth. Place urban renewal at the heart of the planning system and set a target of 60 per cent of new house building to be on brownfield land or provided through the conversion of existing buildings. Raise standards of urban design, with a quality mark to tackle cowboy builders.
• Conservatives
  Establish new local Regeneration Companies to drive the campaign to revitalise inner cities and outer urban estates. Streamline planning procedures, enabling new houses to be built on brownfield sites Empower local councils power to declare extra areas of local Green Belt
• Liberal Democrats
  Incorporate targets for CO2 emissions reductions into local authority structure plans Create a National Task Force to review arrangements for flood defence management and reduce future developments taking place on floodplains Introduce Regional Transport Plans and strengthen Local Transport Plans to set strategies for reducing congestion, pollution and traffic growth Support local markets through funds from Single Regeneration Grants and offer more flexible planning regulations for smaller outlets Require mobile phone companies to obtain local planning permission for all new mobile phone mast installations Place local priorities first in planning regeneration schemes.
• Green Party
  Info to be available after publication
• UKIP
  Info to be available after publication
• Veritas
  Info to be available after publication
• Socialist Alliance
  Info to be available after publication
• Liberal Party
  Info to be available after publication
• http://www.politics.co.uk