West Hertfordshire Liberal Democrats

• A. the compulsory government housing targets for councils and
• B. the Planning Act 2021.
  
  

As long ago as the Hertfordshire County Council Meeting on 16th July 2019 the Liberal Democrats took a lead in improving bio-diversity in terms of encouraging wild flowers at the roadside, thereby protecting pollinators of all kinds. At that meeting the Liberal Democrat County Councillor for Royston West & Rural, Steve Jarvis, who also represents the Weston & Sandon Ward in North Herts District, proposed a motion calling on HCC to bring forward proposals to manage highway maintenance in ways that improve bio-diversity.

Happy smiles from Lib Dem activists on Saturday working for candidate Sarah Green, who is standing in the Chesham & Amersham Parliamentary By-Election, where voters go to the polls in 17th June.

Shown here Rosemarie and Nick Hollinghurst from Wigginton in Hertfordshire were back at the Lib Dem HQ after a warm day's leaflet delivery in the hilly Chilterns town of Chesham.

Rosemarie and Nick had been helping with leaflets in the aptly named Hilltop area. "Talk about 'sunny uplands'", said Nick afterwards. "Hilltop is certainly positioned to catch the sun - something that is shown by the lovely gardens and the extensive, productive allotments along the slopes of the valley sides!"

The Conservatives should know a bit about buses. It was, after all, Mrs Thatcher's Transport Act 1985 which accomplished the destruction of nearly all municipal bus companies outside of a small number of metropolitan areas. Barbara Castle's earlier 1968 Transport Act had introduced the concept of public support for socially important but uncommercial services and this principle was retained. However, the deregulation that was a key element in the Thatcher act, led to a focus on profitable routes, destructive competition between companies and a lack of co-ordination or continuity of services.

The result was a slow reduction in bus service use outside the large designated conurbations - for 36 years so far.

But now, the Johnson Government, after a sleep nearly twice as long as Rip van Winkel's, has woken up with a belated promise to make buses, "the transport of choice" after the pandemic. A new 'Bus Strategy', headlined as being worth "£3 billion" is to tackle the fragmented bus service market and "reform the fare system".

There will be a "daily price cap", 4,000 new electric or hydrogen-fuelled buses and additional funding for councils to support bus services in their areas.

Last month, the Local Government Association's Transport Spokesman welcomed these measures but went on to say, " We would urge ministers also to plug the £700 million annual funding gap councils faced before the pandemic in providing the concessionary fares scheme, which would help protect local routes and reverse the decline in bus services."

Local Dacorum Borough councillor, Nick Hollinghurst - who is a member of the Green Liberal Democrats - added, "Any help for Britain's beleagured bus services is of course welcome. However lasting change and maximum benefit will only come if the people of the UK recognise the benefits that will derive from an improved and affordable public transport system, and also accept that, apart from a handful of specialised routes, this will require a continued, adequate level of public support."

"That, the power for local authorities to achieve control and co-ordination through active operating partnerships, and a measure of connectivity with the railways are all fundamental components for a modern socially-beneficial transport network."

"Or," Nick concluded, "we can all go back to sitting in expensive private cars in traffic jams, breathing in exhaust fumes and cooking up heart attacks as the planet slowly gets hotter and hotter!"

A report in Local Government First reveals that in 2019/20 more than half a million tonnes of household waste collected for recycling could not be sorted and had to be rejected. This is because non-recyclable material had been placed in the wheely bins.

However, a Lib Dem councillor on Dacorum Borough Council, Nick Hollinghurst says, "This is a real problem - but we shouldn't blame the public. It is actually quite difficult to know which types of plastic can be recycled and which cannot. Some common ones, including crisp packets, salad bags and plastic wrap are incredibly hard to recycle.

A creditable performance from Sam North who increased the Lib Dem vote share by 11%.

Counting has just finished for two Bye-Elections on Dacorum Borough Council, one in Tring Central and the other in Leverstock Green.
Both were caused by the deaths of the incumbents.
The win in Tring Central brings the Liberal Democrat seat total back to 19.

Tring Central