FOUR candidates are vying for the votes of Southgate residents at a by-election today (Thursday).

They are fighting for a place on Crawley Borough Council after the by-election was triggered by Karl Williamson standing down as a councillor at the end of August.

Mr Williamson had been elected in 2011 as a Conservative candidate but defected to join Ukip last year.

A close fight could be on the cards as when voters last went to the polls, in May, to elect one of the ward's other two councillors only 65 votes separated the two leading parties.

On that occasion victorious Labour contender Raj Sharma pipped Conservative rival Jan Tarrant, who is standing again for the Tories this time round.

Michael Pickett is running as Labour's candidate, having stood as an independent in Southgate in May.

The 67-year-old, who has lived on Malthouse Road, in Southgate, for 32 years, is the chairman of Southgate Community Forum and Southgate Conservation Area Advisory Committee.

One issue he has vowed to try and address if elected is the lack of a lift at Crawley train station to help people get from one platform to another.

He said: "I use the train three times a week and for 32 years I commuted to London.

"I often see parents with pushchairs or elderly people trying to cross from one platform to another using the footbridge.

"There is a lift at Three Bridges station, so I am starting to campaign to get a lift installed at Crawley station."

Mr Pickett added that he intends to ensure the neighbourhood's streets are less litter strewn than at present.

Mrs Tarrant, from Brewer Road, Southgate, has lived in the ward for 20 years.

Having been a registered nurse for 25 years in care and nursing homes, she hopes to stand up for elderly residents in the ward.

The 65-year-old is secretary of Southgate Community Forum, on the Southgate Conservation Area Advisory Committee and chair of the Friends of Goffs Park.

Reducing crime in the neighbourhood is one of her main concerns.

She said: "One lady I know lives in Southgate and commutes to London every day.

"When she comes home she gets off at Three Bridges instead of getting off in Crawley. She pays a big train fare but pays £4 or £5 on top a day for a taxi. She does that as she's worried about walking down Malthouse Road. It's a very narrow road and one side is dimly lit.

"There are often youngsters hanging around so I think we need a higher visibility of policing.

"I know the PCSOs are busy but I would like to see more visible policing."

Arshad Khan, from Letchworth Court, in Bewbush, is also running in the election as a candidate for his own Justice Party.

Tomorrow will be his 24th election in the town.

If elected he told the Crawley News he intends to fine cyclists £100 for riding on pavements, tackle street violence and work to cut out bullying in schools and workplaces.

The fourth candidate is Ukip's Simon Darroch, from Waterside Close, in Bewbush.

We asked Mr Darroch for a comment on his aims if elected but he had not responded by the time we went to press.

JOHN GREGORY has admitted he is "very proud" after defender Joe Walsh was called up to Wales' senior squad for the first time, and hopes it could prompt contract talks with the young defender.

After several withdrawals when the Wales squad was announced on Monday, Crawley were informed Walsh was wanted later the same day and he immediately travelled to train with Chris Coleman's team ahead of this week's Euro 2016 qualifiers.

Wales are due to play Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday and Cyprus on Monday, meaning Walsh missed last night's game at Luton Town and will also be absent for Saturday's match against Peterborough United.

And while Reds boss Gregory admits the 22-year-old will be missed, he is also very proud of Walsh's achievement.

"I'm very proud. It's great that he has got himself recognition at long last," Gregory said.

"I've been calling for it for some considerable time."

Walsh's Crawley Town contract runs out at the end of this season and with the former Swansea City player due to be thrust into the limelight, potentially playing alongside the likes of Real Madrid's Gareth Bale, it may spark interest in the talented centre-back.

However, Gregory is confident "loyal" Walsh will stay at Crawley – if a financial agreement can be met.

"Joe is a very loyal type of guy and I think he is very aware of what Crawley Town have done for him," Gregory said.

"He wasn't really in the picture at Swansea and here has been allowed to blossom.

"He isn't the sort of lad who enjoys the limelight so I'm sure he is the sort of person that if, financially, it was the right thing, it would take a lot to take Joe away from us. Or for him to want to leave.

"I can't speak for him, but knowing the sort of person he is, he's happy where he lives and at the club, but money does talk.

"As manager and player we have talked about the future but nothing has been done yet, something like this makes us proactive I would imagine."

A SCOUT group's headquarters have been attacked for the third time in just over a week and vital funds will have to be diverted to repair the damage.

Last week we told how windows had been smashed, fencing cut and a garage broken into at the 2nd Crawley Scouts base in Seymour Road, Broadfield.

Some time overnight last Wednesday the site was again the target of vandals who caused further damage to fencing by cutting through it to gain access. Two previous incidents occurred between September 22 and the weekend of September 28, while there have been a number of other incidents of vandalism at the hut over the summer.

Scout leader Mick Hill said last week that the group was having to spend funds that were intended to pay for activities for the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts on repairs.

The group has applied for a grant to pay for some of the damage but repairs resulting from the most recent attack will need to be carried out before that grant is received.

The group intends to install CCTV cameras once fence panels and windows have been replaced in order to protect the hut from further vandalism.

Sussex Police are investigating the incidents and neighbourhood officers in Broadfield will be working with the Scout group to prevent future attacks.

Crawley Borough Council approved the application by Cobra Restaurants Ltd on Tuesday last week to change the retail unit into a coffee shop complete with outdoor seating.

Notices were sent to neighbouring businesses and only one reply was received, which supported the application on the basis it would encourage more people into the shopping area.

The outdoor seating area would have 20 tables and 80 chairs and permission was needed to allow the seating to be placed outside, as the area is classed as highways land.

Applications for advertising and alterations to the shop front are expected to be submitted separately. The new Starbucks will be located just yards from one of Crawley's many Costa coffee branches and will become the second Starbucks to open in the town. The other is a concession store inside Cineworld cinema in Crawley Leisure Park.

POLICE believe two dog attacks – one of which left a man in hospital for four days – were carried out by the same Staffordshire bull terrier.

Dog walker Greg Veneziani suffered deep wounds to his hands and arms when he was repeatedly bitten as he tried to protect his pet husky on Southgate Playing Fields.

He had to undergo specialist treatment for his injuries and police are linking the incident to another attack in the same park the next day.

Mr Veneziani, from Chaffinch Close in Langley Green, was attacked on September 28 at about 2.25pm.

The dog bit through an artery and through to the bone in Mr Veneziani's hand as blood poured out.

Yet he continued to put himself in harm's way to save his pet from further injury.

Paramedics were called and treated the 29-year-old at the scene before transferring him to hospital for emergency treatment.

Emily-Breen Coleman, Mr Veneziani's girlfriend who was with him at the time, said: "We were sat in the playing fields and our three-year-old husky Apache was happily playing when a large built Staffie suddenly rushed over and started attacking him.

"It came out of the blue and didn't have a muzzle and wasn't on a lead. The Staffie was so aggressive, it locked onto Apache's mane and wouldn't let go. Apache was screaming and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"Greg ran over to try and pull the dog off our pet's back and prise its jaw open to release it.

"The Staffie instantly then locked onto Greg and kept biting at his hands and arms.

"His whole arm had bites up it and you could see muscle fibre coming out.

"He reacted so well, though, and kept protecting Apache."

The 20-year-old added that her boyfriend's injuries required extensive medical treatment before he was allowed home with both arms in bandages last Wednesday.

She said: "Greg was taken to Queen Victoria Hospital for specialist care where he stayed for three nights and four days.

"He had to be operated on and have plastic surgery to repair the wounds.

"He suffered nerve damage which means one of his hands feels slightly numb. His hands and arms are very sore.

"Doctors say he should get full movement back, though."

Miss Coleman explained that the couple have previously taken their pet to the playing fields without any trouble.

"We were actually on our way to Tilgate Park that day but we passed Southgate and thought we would take Apache in there because it is a nice spot," she said.

"We've gone in there from time to time before and it has always been fine.

"Dogs bark but there has never been anything to worry about.

"That is what made the attack so shocking. It was totally unprovoked and unexpected."

Sussex Police have received a report of another attack by a Staffie on the same playing fields, off Southgate Avenue, on September 29.

A dog owner contacted officers to report an attack on her pet spaniel by a dog she thought was a Staffordshire bull terrier at about 7.20pm.

As she went to pull the Staffie off her dog it bit her on the left wrist, causing a small cut.

Officers are linking the incidents because the same description of the Staffie has been given and the name Dot Com has been mentioned on both occasions.

West Sussex County Council's highways department is due to carry out resurfacing work on Fleming Way, between Gatwick Road and Jenner Road.

The work was planned to take place between yesterday (Wednesday) and Friday night.

A section of Gatwick Road, between the Manor Royal and Fleming Way roundabouts, will also be resurfaced overnight between next Monday and Wednesday (October 13 and 15).

A DOCTOR who is known to millions is visiting Crawley to help launch plans for a new multi-million pound research centre in the town.

GP and breakfast TV health expert Dr Hilary Jones will be attending an event put on by Elekta at the Civic Hall, on The Boulevard, on Friday.

The manufacturer of cancer and brain disorder treatments will use the event to publicly reveal plans for a new world class facility in Crawley to promote excellence in radiotherapy.

The Cornerstone Centre of Excellence is scheduled to open next to the existing Elekta site on Fleming Way, in Manor Royal, in 2017.

It will safeguard more than 900 jobs.

Bill Yaeger, Elekta Oncology's executive vice president, said: "This will be a world class campus facility.

"It's an incredible opportunity for Crawley and the whole region to celebrate our legacy for innovation and health engineering excellence.

"The building will have massive global significance to the future of radiotherapy and helping us save lives.

"This event will be the first chance many people in the business community will have to see how Cornerstone will look.

"We hope it will be one of those instantly-recognisable buildings that people in Crawley will be proud to associate with the town."

Elekta's most significant export from Crawley is the medical linear accelerator. The machine delivers a high power beam of radiation to tumours while avoiding the healthy tissue around them.

Members of the public can view the plans on Friday between 10am and 7pm in the Civic Hall.

THE nation's top pole dancers battled it out in Crawley at the weekend to be named the best in the UK at the sport.

Miss Pole Dance UK and Mr Pole Fitness UK 2014 was held at The Hawth on Saturday with competitors demonstrating their skills in front of a 600-strong crowd.

It was the second year in a row that the national contest, which also includes a third synchronised doubles category, was held at the theatre.

Kay Penney, the event's organiser and CEO of Crawley-based Pole Passion, said: "We had more men and women taking part than ever before this year and I want this to grow in Crawley so the town becomes known as the capital of the industry.

"Competitors were travelling to Crawley from all over the UK so we were selling out hotels and I know we were working the taxi companies hard as well.

"The Hawth is the biggest stage, both in terms of actual size and audience numbers, we perform on in the UK so I want to keep it here.

"I actually want to make it an even bigger event by having amateur and semi-professional competitions over a whole weekend."

While none of the contestants were from Crawley this year, Mrs Penney, who lives in Worth, is hopeful future stars are being developed in the town with weekly lessons taking place in Bewbush and Worth.

This year's winners were Yvette Dusol who was crowned Miss Pole Dance UK 2014, Dawid Skowronek who was named Mr Pole Fitness UK 2014, and Kristina Walker and Heather Walker who took home the Miss Pole Dance UK 2014 Synchronised Doubles title.

They will all now go on to represent the UK at the world championships.

Another competitor was former GB gymnast Yvette Austin who you may recognise as the BBC South East environment correspondent.

Awards were also handed out on the day for the best tricks performed, best costume and best entertainer.

Kay believes year-on-year more people are accepting pole dancing as a genuine fitness discipline rather than thinking of it as something sleazy.

She added: "We introduced the male and synchronised categories in 2009 and they are still developing.

"In 2009 we only had five male competitors and, to be honest, I think only three of them actually wanted to be there. We had to drag them on stage!

"Attitudes are changing, though. This year we doubled the number of men competing to ten and the level they were at was phenomenal.

"The perception of pole dancing has definitely changed. More and more people are now recognising it as a serious fitness exercise which is challenging and is very technical.

"It is all about education and the rise in popularity of mobile poles is helping as well. You can now even see people training on beaches.

"It is no longer viewed as this sleazy activity."

PLANS to open a new off licence on Southgate Parade would attract street drinkers and make it a no-go zone, residents and other retailers have said.

Crawley Borough Council has received 19 letters of objection regarding a proposal to open the shop in an empty unit formerly occupied by Faugzen Fabrics.

Among the objectors is the owner of Best One convenience store on the parade who has warned that years of hard work to drive away street drinkers by refusing to sell alcohol to certain people could be undone.

Ray Warner, who has owned the store for more than 30 years, explained that he and his staff have worked to tackle the problems that used to blight the parade.

And if a new off licence opens, he fears the only way it could survive is by selling very cheap alcohol, which would attract more street drinkers to the area.

He said: "The measures we put in place with the help of local police and the community got rid of most of the problems, so the parade is now quite nice.

"But that's gone against us because licensing (at Sussex Police) have said there have been no problems for ages, so they have no objection.

"If you took the revenue we make just from the off licence part of our business it would not be enough to pay the rent.

"The only way this new off licence could survive is to attract people away from Tesco in Southgate West and Wine Express in Tilgate, and the only way to do that is to undercut them."

Of the 19 letters sent to the council, whose licensing committee is due to discuss the application on Monday, four of them have been disregarded.

Three were anonymous so could not be considered while one was received after the deadline for objections.

The other letters, however, outline some strong views on the subject.

Dee Salsano wrote to the council to say that antisocial behaviour is already becoming a problem again, explaining how she had seen groups of drunken men spitting and urinating on the parade.

She wrote: "We cannot understand how an off licence will help to ease the growing problem of unsavoury and antisocial behaviour.

"Surely this establishment will only attract more of the same."

The shop's opening hours, if approved, would be 8am to 11pm every day.

Southgate Forum chairman Michael Pickett is also against the business being allowed to open.

He said: "We've already got two outlets for alcohol in the vicinity with Best One and the pub, and we think that's enough."

The applicant, Sunny Singh, currently holds an alcohol licence with Reigate and Banstead Borough Council for another business. He has promised to commit to preventing crime and disorder if the new store goes ahead.

CHILDREN are safe, happy and are making good progress at a Furnace Green pre-school, an Ofsted inspector has said.

The education watchdog sent an inspector to Joeys Pre-School, based at Furnace Green Community Centre on September 11.

Inspector Hannah Barter concluded, in a report published last week, that the pre-school should be rated as "good".

She wrote: "Staff have a good knowledge of children's level of development and use effective teaching strategies to ensure all children are making good progress.

"Children are happy, confident and have a secure relationship with the staff."

In order to achieve the coveted top rating of "outstanding" the pre-school needs to give clearer explanations to children to help them fully understand what is expected of them, said the report

Among the positive things Ms Barter noted was how staff make new children feel at ease.

She wrote: "Staff spend time with individual children who have recently started to help them feel more secure and comfortable.

"They show the children around the room and play with them on a one-to-one basis to help them settle.

"After a short time children become more confident and start talking to the staff."

Joeys Pre-School opened in 2012 at the community centre on Ashburnham Road.

There are currently 31 children on its books.

CHIEF executive Michael Dunford last week touted the possibility of having a 3G pitch at Crawley Town's new stadium, but he could well be looking for a new manager if the Reds move forward with plans for an artificial surface.

While he can see why chairmen would all be for the reintroduction of artificial pitches in the Football League, Crawley boss John Gregory has strong views about "horrendous" 3G surfaces.

However, Gregory is in favour of hybrid pitches such as Doncaster Rovers', which incorporates a system of synthetic fibres interwoven with natural grass.

"It's a financial thing but personally I'm against it," he said. "Doncaster have got artificially grown grass; it's mixed in with plastic and reinforced but it's still a grass pitch. It's not plastic.

"They have had 30 games on that pitch this season but it costs a lot of money to put in and a lot of money to maintain.

"If it's the pitch Doncaster have got, then as a manager and as a former player and knowing my group of players, I'm sure there wouldn't be a problem.

"But the plastic is horrible to play on; it's horrendous.

"It's fine to train on but to play on is a completely different scenario.

"You don't tackle in training, you don't run at 100 miles an hour in training, it's training.

"But if you play a Football League game on one of those pitches it would be horrendous."

And while plans for a new stadium for Crawley are far from concrete, Gregory admits he may consider his position as manager if the Reds installed an artificial main pitch.

"The Football League chairmen have okayed artificial pitches because they don't play on them. They just see the revenue," he said. "They see the lack of upkeep and the fact they can hire it out 24/7.

"If that's what they [Crawley] want to do then fine, I probably won't be here anyway.

"But if they thought about putting it down next season I would seriously have to consider [my position] because I hate those pitches.

"They are amazing for training. We had one at QPR and one at Aston Villa but they will never in a million years replace grass.

"They are a great invention and great to teach kids how to pass, but if the Football League ever starts to use them, count me out."