West Hertfordshire Liberal Democrats

At the Tring Climate Event on the 26th October, Sally Symington, Liberal Democrat Candidate for the Southwest Hertfordshire Constituency, met with members of the Transition Town Movement during her Parliamentary Campaign got into gear. The purpose of the Climate Event, which was organised by Lib Dem Controlled Tring Town Council, was to explain how small towns can make big contributions in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and helping to mitigate Global Heating.

The Liberal Democrats - Independent of Big Business, Independent of Big Unions.

This gives them the independence and freedom to promote their social values and to represent you and your community.

But independence alone is not enough. To get things done in government, such as free school meals for under 7s and the 'triple lock' for pensions, you need the backing of an organisation and an effective political party.

It is difficult to stand up against the twin monsters of the Conservative and Labour Parties. But an independent political party do so - and can get things done.

When the Liberal Democrats were in government, they took 3 million people out of paying income tax.

The Liberal Democrats also put in place measures that have already resulted in a greater increase in sustainable energy production for the UK than either Labour or the Conservatives. And over time these measures will continue to increase our green energy supplies - when finished next year the Horn Sea 2 will be the world's largest offshore wind farm.

You can trust the Lib Dems to get things done in the national interest - to the benefit of all of us - not just the well-connected elite.

Thank you for the support you gave Sally Symington and the Liberal Democrats on 12th December.

The Lib Dems can stand up for local communities and local people because they are not in the pockets of the rich, nor dictated to by powerful unions.

"Twenty's Plenty in Residential Areas", say Nick and Sally

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, Sally Symington was in Tring during the General Election campaign to meet the local county councillor, Nick Hollinghurst.

As a local Dacorum Councillor herself - representing Berkhamsted West - Sally is keen to learn about new improvements within the Borough.

Here Cllr Hollinghurst explains about the objectives and difficulties behind the introduction of the new 20 mph zone in the west of Tring.

He said that this is a part of the town with a large number of young families, as well several blocks of flats for older people close to the High Street.

The intention is to produce a quieter, calmer and cleaner environment in which people feel more confident about walking, cycling and crossing the road.

Studies in places as diverse as Portsmouth, Glasgow and London have shown measurable improvements in social interaction, increased time spent outdoors and higher levels of exercise

Sally supports zones like these in helping to improve the quality of life for everyone, and to reduce the burden of pollution and disturbanceacross the whole community.

Brexit is making the staffing crisis at West Hertfordshire NHS Trust even worse, the Liberal Democrats have warned.

Figures published by the Liberal Democrats reveal that

105 EU staff working at have already left the health service this year including 52 nurses and midwives.

In the three years since the Brexit vote, 429 NHS staff from the EU have left the local trust.

Staff departures from West Hertfordshire NHS TRUST are part of a worrying national trend: over 3,250 NHS staff from the EU have left the health service so far this year, including 1,116 nurses. The data, based on responses to Freedom of Information requests across 50 NHS hospital trusts, reveals that:

The Liberal Democrats have, over many years, been formulating and implementing policies to respond to the now widely recognised climate emergency being caused by human generation of green house gases. In government we strengthened and accelerated the implementation of renewable energy only for it to be cut back once the Conservatives were given free reign.

At the Tring Climate Event on the 26th October, Sally Symington, Liberal Democrat Candidate for the Southwest Hertfordshire Constituency, met with members of the Transitition Town Movement as her Parliamentary Campaign got into gear. The purpose of the Climate Event, which was organised by Lib Dem Controlled Tring Town Council, was to explain how small towns can make big contributions in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and helping to mitigate Global Heating.

Re-use is near the top of the Recycling Hierarchy and Vivarail has as its main objective the reuse of obsolete electric train units that used to run on London's District Line. The company was founded in 2012 with the aim of heavily overhauling London Underground D78 Stock and upcycling them into new BR Class 230 diesel-electric multiple units (DEMUs), and was the brainchild of Adrian Shooter, the now retired former chairman of DB Regio UK Ltd (better known in the UK as Chiltern Railways). Vivarail acquired over 200 units for this purpose.

The first customer for Class 230 units was West Midlands Trains, which ordered three 2-car DEMUs in October 2017. Subsequently, Transport for Wales Rail ordered a total of five 3-car sets, to be built as bi-modal multiple units (BMMU)s, in June 2018.

After extensive development and testing West Midlands accepted their first 2-car train in April 2019 for service on the 24-mile Marston Vale Line between Bletchley and Bedford. A further two trains were delivered in June 2019. One train will be in reserve with two providing an hourly service Monday to Saturday. There is no Sunday service as yet.

Nick Hollinghurst, Hertfordshire County Councillor for Tring, who has an interest in low CO₂-emission transport, took a ride to see for himself. He reported that the "new" trains were smart, clean and spacious and travelled very quietly. There is an automatic engine cut-out at stations to save fuel and reduce pollution. Passengers appeared to be very pleased with the new service.

Cllr Hollinghurst said afterwards, "I wonder if these could be successfully deployed on the Abbey Line from Watford to St Albans. Perhaps the reduction in running costs could help pay for that passing loop we need at Bricket Wood?"

The pictures show a train waiting at Bletchley and also the spacious interior.

A Local Councillor, Sally Symington, has been selected as the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for South West Hertfordshire

With the sudden prospect of an imminent election the party has recently had to move fast to ensure that, right across Great Britain, a full slate of candidates is in place to fight a General Election should one arise over the coming months.

James Davies, the Chair of the Executive Committee of West Hertfordshire Liberal Democrats Local Party, which includes the two parliamentary constituencies of South West Hertfordshire and Hemel Hempstead, said, "I am pleased to announce that Sally Symington has been selected as the Parliamentary Candidate for South West Hertfordshire".

While Local Planning Authorities - usually District or Borough Councils - up and down the UK are being required to plan for drastically increased housing numbers to 2036, Hertfordshire education planners, who work on tighter timeframes and use birth numbers as reported by the NHS, do not foresee any drastic changes in primary school numbers in the immediate future.

The Published Admission Numbers (PANs) for primary schools for 2020/21, which were recently consulted on, show hardly any changes. Only 5 changes were originally proposed. One was an increase at Edwinstree (Voluntary Controlled) Middle School near Buntingford. The other four were all reductions at (a) Margaret Wix Primary, St Albans (from 60 to 30); (b) Holywell JMI, Watford (from 90 to 60); (c) Shepherd JMI and Nursery, Rickmansworth (from 60 to 30) and (d) Jenyns First School, Braughing (from 21 to 15)

However the situation is complicated by a high proportion of schools (including primary schools) being either Academies or controlled by Multi-Academy Trusts or Free Schools. Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) was a Local Education Authority until 2010 when these were abolished. With regard to education HCC then became a "Local Authority with Educational Responsibilities" since it is still resposible for community schools (i.e. not "academies" or "free"), for the provision of Special Educational Needs (which is grossly under-resourced everywhere) and it remains the "educator of last resource" with a legal responsibility to ensure every child in the county does actually receive an education.

Some primary schools of local significance, with their current PANs and the PANs for 2020/21 are:

Abbots Langley, Abbotts Langley; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
Tanners Wood JMI, Abbotts Langley; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
Aldbury CoE Primary, Aldbury; 2019 PAN 15, 2020 PAN 15
Bridgewater Primary, Berkhamsted; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
Greenway Primary, Berkhamsted; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Swing Gate Lane Infants & Nursery; Berkhamsted; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
Westfield Primary & Nursery, Berkhamsted; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Boxmoor Primary, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Chorleywood Primary, Chorleywood; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
The Russell, Chorleywood; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Harvey Road Primary, Croxley; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Little Green Junior, Croxley; 2019 PAN 90, 2020 PAN 90
Malvern Way Infant & Nursery, Croxley; 2019 PAN 90, 2020 PAN 90
York Mead Primary, Croxley; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
Gaddesden Row JMI, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 8, 2020 PAN 8
Aycliffe Drive Primary, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 45, 2020 PAN 45
Belswains Primary, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Brockswood Primary, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Chaulden Infant & Nursery, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 50, 2020 PAN 50
Gade Valley JMI & Nursery, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Galley Hill Primary & Nursery, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
George Street Primary, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Hobbs Hill Wood Primary, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
Hobletts Manor Junior, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
Hobletts Manor Infant & Nursery, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
Holtsmere End Infant & Nursery, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
Holtsmere End Junior, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
Maple Grove Primary, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Micklem Primary, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Pixies Hill JMI, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
The Reddings Primary, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
South Hill Primary, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
Tudor JMI, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
Two Waters Primary, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Yew Tree Primary, Hemel Hempstead; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
Kings Langley Primary, Kings Langley; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
Shepherd JMI & Nursery, Rickmansworth; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 30
Arnett Hills JMI, Rickmansworth; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Maple Cross JMI, Rickmansworth; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Rickmansworth Park JMI, Rickmansworth; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Sarratt CoE Voluntary Controlled, Sarratt; 2019 PAN 26, 2020 PAN 26
Margaret Wix Primary, St Albans; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 30
Dundale Primary & Nursery, Tring; 2019 PAN 30, 2020 PAN 30
Goldfield Infant & Nursery, Tring; 2019 PAN 60, 2020 PAN 60
Holywell JMI, Watford; 2019 PAN 90, 2020 PAN 60