Awareness raising in St Neots - Colliding with councillors - March 2023 - June 2024
From regularly asking 'What is a woman?' in St Neots to standing as Party Of Women parliamentary candidate.
Early in 2023, I watched Youtube with growing horror as Kellie Jay Keen (KJK) - Let Women Speak founder, faced hostile crowds in Australia, followed later by New Zealand. The hostility towards women was encouraged by the country’s politicians and legacy media who weren’t averse to calling KJK and her supporters right wing, transphobes, bigots etc, while dismissing women’s’ concerns without actually addressing the wider issues that women were raising, related to women’s rights, children, safeguarding, free speech, language, and law. Things weren’t much better at Let Women Speak events in the UK.
Wondering what I could do that would contribute to raising public awareness locally, I thought back to my first visit into St Neots in Dec 2022, this had highlighted that people locally had questions and concerns about self-identification and the impact on schools, sports, and employment. I decided that, until the local elections in May 2023, I would stand in St Neots market for a few hours each Thursday, with a board asking, ‘What is a woman?’ Using my own name I would write about the experience on Twitter.
Mar 2023
7th March - I emailed my ward councillors about the Equality Policy which had not been reviewed since I raised concerns in Dec 2022. I received no acknowledgement or response from any of them.
8th March – International Women’s Day – I got into town before 6 am and decorated the market with bunting in suffragette colours. I was shocked that all the bunting was still in place late afternoon on the 9th when I went back to remove it.
My first outing to St Neots market on the 16th March saw me shouted at by a man who identified himself as ‘Queer as fuck’. The second week he approached more calmly and let me know a councillor had been watching our interaction from across the road and had quizzed him on what we’d said! Which councillor? The one you took for a coffee.
Approaching the 30th March, a friend, Edith, said “You’re not going out on your own, I’m coming with you”. We arrived in town late morning. After some time, we were approached by a woman wearing female cut clothing, she called herself ‘non-binary’ and informed us that “the community, council and police don’t want you here”. This is the second time I’ve heard this comment, which begs the questions – which council, what community, who in the police and why are ‘the council’ or police not approaching me directly or officially?
Under my Twitter write-up of the day, there followed an accusation that I was dealing in ‘hate’ by county councillor Stephen Ferguson, along with a claim that he watched as people ignored us!
Apr 2023 – Councillor Mascarenhas approached and told us that Cora/Nora had ‘been moved to Cambridge’! We had no idea who this person is and were left speculating if she was referring to the woman who had approached the previous month!
May 2023 – Back in March, I had submitted a code of conduct complaint against Councillor Ferguson. During the course of the complaint, I learnt that the term ‘hate is a bit strong’ and ‘you’re thick’. Councillor Ferguson disclosed that on March 30th he had been in the pub opposite my location with the then leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, Lucy Nethsingha. He also divulged that he had recognised the ‘non binary’ woman (‘NB’ woman) speaking to us as one of his residents, this led to him contacting her that afternoon to find out what we were talking about!
So much for observing people ignoring us! Given the certainty with which the ‘NB’ woman had made her claim on behalf of the ‘community, council and police’ on March 30th, we had suspected she was either employed by the town council or had some connection to one of the local councillors. Learning of the above observers in the pub left me with many questions.
Was it a co-incidence a meeting was taking place in St Neots Ferro Lounge with councillors Ferguson and Nethsingha, or was it taking place because the councillors guessed we would be in town for a third consecutive week?
Had they been in the pub waiting in case we showed or were they summoned? If so, where had they come from, who summoned them?
Was contact with the ‘NB’ woman really made after the event or had she come over to us from the Ferro Lounge and the 2 councillors?
If ‘NB’ woman hadn’t come from the Ferro Lounge, what was it that led her to think she could talk on behalf of the council and police?
If the ‘NB’ woman was a ‘constituent’ what is the relationship between her and councillors that enabled her to confidently approach and tell us “the community, council and police don’t want you here”?
Given the above, why would councillor Ferguson take to social media to let us know he’d been hiding away and watching, what did he hope to achieve by this?
Why go on to disclose to the complainant that he’d been in the Ferro Lounge with the leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, that he knew the woman who approached us and that he’d contacted her to ask what we were talking about?
Were the police consulted, what was their advice?
Who else from the councils or police were involved in approving the woman’s interaction with us, what was their purpose? To scare us off, to intimidate us?
In May I received a response to a Freedom of Information request (FOI) that I had submitted to St. Neots Town Council about their Equality Policy. The responses were interesting:
No amendments had been made to the policy since 2011, yet the policy was titled V.3 and the URL V4
The policy had been removed from the website in 2020, after a member of the public said they were going to sort out the policies. I received no response to my emails querying this at the time.
Gender reassignment is the protected characteristic not gender and the Equality Act does not define gender.
I asked myself the question: “when the Equality Act 2010 was introduced, were policies commonly named Equality & Diversity, or did ‘diversity’ get added a lot later after lobby groups/individuals got a hold?
Local Elections – We had intended to stop awareness raising come the end of May 2023. However, given the welcome we had received from St Neots councillors, we decided that we would continue going into town on the first Thursday of each month until the general election hopefully sometime in 2024.
Jun 2023
An FOI was submitted to county and district councils and St Neots Town Council (SNTC) regarding planning permission for flags. I was surprised to hear from several sources that county council employees were treated to an outburst from CEO Stephen Moir, who allegedly used the council address system to inform staff that the FOI was ‘transphobic’!
13th June - 3 women had a meeting with the clerk of SNTC –
The clerk was alerted to the fact that the town Equality policy must have been altered at some point as the URL ended in V4 and pages of policy are numbered V3 and V4. This suggests a V1 and V2 at some point!
Appendix 3 of the councils Equality Policy appears to have changed ‘sex’ to ‘gender’, then collapsed gender to include ‘gender reassignment’ this in turn removes sex-based rights from women. Did this all happen in 2010/11 or have council officers been tardy with failing to not only recording changes, but recording who made them?
Who is responsible for checking that policies are legally compliant?
Councillors and a NB man had confirmed that toilets labelled ‘women’ are for the use of women and men who want to use the women’s. This means that despite the labelling of single sex the public toilets are for mixed sex usage.
Photos were provided highlighting that the public toilets did not meet mixed sex criteria and the specific issues with each establishment.
Priory centre
Riverside Car Park
Tebbutts Road
I alerted the clerk to Forstater, Reindorf, and included the Sex Matters short guide to the law and good practice.
I asked how many councillors supported the assertion that “the council, the community and the police do not want you in town” and which ‘community’ was being represented?
July 2023 – I noted that the equality policy had been removed from the council website.
Aug 2023 – I attended a council meeting and asked if the proposed Changing Places toilet in the Riverside Park could include at least one toilet that would be designated for females and same sex use, rather than all the toilets being designated mixed sex.
26 Sept 2023 - I attended a full town council meeting, and noted the presence of Ian Sollom, Lib Dem, prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) in the next election, and apparent supporter of self-identification. This spurred me to ask why the town council are not making it clear to female residents that men can use the women’s public toilets?
Other than the toilets on East Street, none of the public toilets in St Neots meet mixed sex criteria.
Do the council not have a responsibility to ensure that the safety, privacy & dignity of female users is met?
Councillors said they have never noticed a man using the women’s toilets! I pointed out that I had observed a male using the women’s toilet in the council room on the 3 previous occasions I had attended!
I also queried why the Equality Policy had again been removed from the website and not replaced.
One female councillor approached to say “I may not agree with you, but how about meeting for a chat?” We met a few weeks later and spoke amicably.
24 Oct 2023 - I attended a SNTC meeting, to deliver the message below, expressing my dismay that September’s minutes did not accurately reflect what I had said
I came across a tweet dated 27/09/23 by Councillor Daniel Laycock, stating that ‘hate speech’ had been allowed in the council the previous evening. Though I hadn’t been tagged, I surmised he was referring to me, so I submitted a code of conduct complaint.
On 31st Oct - I attended a full council meeting and made the following address
I followed the meeting by writing to the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) to raise concerns about the template Equality Policy that they offer to councils.
NALC responded that they are not my client.
Nov 2023
Councillor Laycock claimed his allegation had not been made in relation to my Sept 2023 speech.
I submitted supplementary evidence suggesting he couldn’t have been referring to anybody else.
It was a full council meeting, the agenda and minutes would have been seen by all councillors prior to the meeting,
No objections were raised during the meeting.
I was the only person who raised an issue not on the agenda.
Given this latest allegation of ‘hate’ being directed towards me, I submitted a Subject Access Request (SAR) to the police for information of instances where Hate Crimes and/or Non-Crime Hate Incidents (NCHI) had been recorded against my name between the period 01/01/2020 and 17/11/23, with specific reference to 19th Dec 2022, 30th March 2023 and 26th September 2023.
Dec 2023
I received an email from the police, informing me that they refused my SAR request as a Section 45(4)(e) exemption applied.
Our last outing of the year and we were approached by a town councillor who informed us that we’re ‘akin to nazi’s!’
Between Christmas and New Year, Mr Laycock made further allegations before concluding that he had resigned as a councillor.
A newspaper article, seeming to provide only half a story was uploaded to social media.
Jan 2024
I challenged the police on their application of Section 45 exemption. I listed every interaction and the person who I believed may have contacted the police between Jan 2020 and Dec 2023 where an NCHI could have been logged erroneously.
Mar 2024
International Women’s Day – I decorated the marketplace with bunting.
I was informed that due to Mr Laycocks resignation, my code of conduct complaint could not proceed.
The police advised that they sent the wrong response in December 2023 and no data is held against my name!
APRIL 2024
14th April - I attended Let Women Speak Cambridge. Two Cambridge City councillors were among the protestors of the event, I tweeted offering to meet one of them to discuss what he found so abhorrent about the event, but had no response.
22nd April - I wrote to all Cambridgeshire county councillors and Peterborough city councillors raising questions about the LGBT+ toolkit and safeguarding. No response.
May 2024
Though we weren’t aware at the time, 2nd May was our last awareness-raising outing into St Neots, as on the 23rd May, the government announced that parliament would be dissolved at the end of May for a 4th July general election.
3rd May – as a representative of CambsWomen-Together I attended a meeting with Anthony Browne, the only Cambridgeshire MP, or political representative, to have spoken to the women raising concerns about government guidance, educational guidelines and other information going into schools. .
28th May – I paid to become a member of Party Of Women (POW) though undecided about standing for election.
June 2024
1st June - while leafletting in Ely, a male voice said “You must be fucking joking. You’re a total waste of space”. This comment made me reflect that maybe standing for PPC would be the only way to raise women’s voices, raise public awareness and challenge local government.
2nd June - I put my name forward as a POW candidate.
3rd June – the reality of standing began to hit. I phoned an acquaintance, “Will you regret it if you don’t stand? Can you afford to lose your money? Will your partner support you?” ‘Yes, yes, yes’.
5th June - I handed in my paperwork to South Cambridgeshire District Council.
Edith and I have had an enjoyable time engaging with members of the public in St. Neots, answering peoples questions, listening to their stories, thinking about our answers, reviewing how best to respond. We have been surprised and amused to learn that standing with a sign asking ‘What is a woman?’ in St Neots would get a reaction from Cambridgeshire County Council. There’s also a degree of despondency that councils/councillors are advocating for lobby groups, voting for the funding of ‘gender identities’ and for this to be promoted to children, when they themselves appear unable to explain and are unwilling to defend their actions and beliefs, even when they promote themselves as being staunch advocates of the idea. Given this, why then, is the push for gender identities being widely supported rather than openly questioned?
Edith and I will be back in St Neots market in future on an ad hoc basis.
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