A row today broke out over voting in the battle for £50 million Lottery cash after it emerged campaigners had been urged to vote several times for their own bid.
The cycling charity Sustrans was accused of manipulating the rules to beat the Black Country’s bid for the cash.
It led to demands from MPs today for a re-think of the way that huge amounts of lottery money are distributed.
The Black Country’s bid for the money was runner-up in the competition run jointly by ITV and the Big Lottery Fund.
An email sent out by a Sustrans manager encouraged cyclists to use multiple votes by using as many different email addresses and telephone numbers as possible.
The botanist David Bellamy, who supported the Black Country bid, said: “I cannot believe that England has sunk so low as this. It is just awful to hear that this kind of manipulation is going on in the name of charity.”
Black Country MP John Spellar said he would be tabling Commons questions to Culture Secretary James Purnell about the way lottery money was distributed.
“Is this the best way of making these decisions, particularly when they are open to over-enthusiastic voting?” asked the Warley MP. “I have a lot of respect for Sustrans, having dealt with them as transport minister, but the people who support the charity will be just the sort of articulate, well-organised individuals who have access to lots of email addresses and telephone numbers.”
West Bromwich West MP Adrian Bailey said: “If there has been abuse, the whole thing has to be looked at to make it more transparent and robust in future,” said the Labour MP.
Councillor David Caunt, leader of Dudley Council and chairman of the Black Country Consortium, said: “We were beaten by an organisation based on creating campaigns.”
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18 Comments
Funny that because I recall the Chief Exec Andrew Sparke and the marketing cohorts at Dudley sending constant e-mails telling us for the last month to “use every single phone in the office” and “vote as many times as you can”…..”Use your Council e-mail address”…Hmmmm
Case of sour grapes!
This manipulation was going on at Dudley, surely Mr.Bellamy is not that naieve?!? Everyone sinks that low nowadays, welcome to Great Britain Mr.Bellamy it’s 2007 you know?!
I for one wont be using these cycle ways. My thinking is if you reach the age of 25 and are still on a bike then u’ve failed in life
I am a sustrans supporter and had one call from them reminding me of the national bid.
In contrast I was asked a number of times to vote for the Black Country bid in various ways in the press and on TV.
I found it hard to email so we telephoned twice.
It was a hard decision but I want a cycle track through my village.
Re:-2
What a pathetic comment!
no2 where you dropped on your head as a baby.
re 4 and 5. can’t afford a car??? sad losers get a job!!!!!
no. 2 - you are the reason our world is doomed
the world is not doomed,global warming is a lie invented by various capitalist regimes so they can raise taxes to pay for their incompetance
Stu: You’re missing something and getting stuck in the mire of stereotyping. People don’t ride bikes because they’re poor, they ride because it’s a fun and convenient way of getting around which just happens to help you to keep fit. Thanks for your concern but I’ve got a job. And a car. And 4 bicycles of different types. Try cycling some time. It might cheer you up. Sounds like you need cheering up.
Bellamy’s gone bonkers!
obviously from replies 4 and 5 I was bang on. There mlud I rest my case
I’ll keep to my Cannondale, £ 2 grand,
you keep to your pull along dog on wheels, or roller skates ,
I’m happy with that.
I have two cars and three bicycles, and I cycle for health and pleasure. I pay for it by teaching people who turn out just like stu. It used to worry me that are so many just like him.
Pathetic sums up the reaction of the poor losers! No one told or asked me to vote more than once. Get a life - ride a bike
You must take more care of your amygdala though.
We cyclists always do
Congratulations to the cyclist lobby on your win. You’re clearly very well organised. I live in the Black Country.
Though it will sound like sour grapes I do agree with Sustrans’ Chief Executive that Connect2 should never have been up for Lottery funding but should be funded by government from transport budgets.
Of the million people in the Black Country 400,000 live in the 20% most deprived wards in the UK. Statistically it’s people like them who buy most of the lottery tickets.
I hope you will use our money wisely.
After all the recent scandles using the telephone voting lines it seems unbeleivable that this system should be used. As for email voting this really shows the limited knowledge these people have. Software commonly used by spammers can easily register email addresses and enter forums and voting systems.lottery money? its all being spent on the olympics, just aint told anyone yet. The world is going mad
Maya Richmond said: Dec 17th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
“…. I live in the Black Country.
Of the million people in the Black Country 400,000 live in the 20% most deprived wards in the UK. Statistically it’s people like them who buy most of the lottery tickets.
I hope you will use our money wisely.”
We will; certainly more wisely than all those deprived people who waste their money on lottery tickets.
As a cyclist and a BC dweller, I decided not to vote at all. I couldn’t see that the only national organisation in the running wasn’t going to beat the three parochial ones.