West Herts Liberal Democrats - Working for Hertfordshire, for Britain and for You!

On the third Tuesday of each month we have our Supper Club here in Berkhamsted.

We discuss politics and anything else we choose to talk about.

It gives us the chance to get to know each other and to put the world to rights.

We welcome all Lib Dem members - and anyone of a similar mindset - who would like to join us.

With everything that's going on at the moment - the Three Rivers Rural County Council By Election, Brexits, marches and regular campaigning, the Tring, Berkhamsted & Northchurch Branch Liberal Democrats decided to hold their AGM relatively early this year.

Despite competing with so many other activities, social as well as political there was a reasonable attendance at the Sacred Heart RC Church Hall in Park Street, Berkhamsted on Thursday 4th October in the evening.

There was no guest speaker but representatives of the different council gave short reports and each answered a numerous questions from an interested and lively audience.

It has in truth been a dreadful year in the garden, both for vegetables and flowers.

Not that Nick does flowers - "too girly!" Nor does he do lettuce - "real men don't grow salad!"

But despite these prejudices, there's still plenty of scope.

And it wasn't a bad year for everything - greenhouse-grown tomatoes for one thing.

So a strategic choice, with an eye to the competition, resulted in a "Best in Show" in the 2018 Wigginton Flower and Produce Show held in the Village Hall on September 8th.

And to compound the embarassment for undeserved recognition, he was awarded the Edmunds Cup for best all round performance.

Construction work began on the confusingly named "Luton DART" this May. "DART" stands for Direct Air-Rail Transit but also refers to the Dublin Area Rapid Transit rail route from Bray to Malahide and Howth through Dublin - a line that is well familiar to Luton's 20,000 Irish residents (over 6% of the population).

The 2.1 km route will run from the new Bartlett Square development adjacent to the existing rail station to the Luton Airport Terminal with a journey time which will be "less than four minutes".

The transport link will run 24 hours a day and and will be a fully automated double shuttle sytem driven by cable. It will be supplied by Doppelmayr Cable Car, part of the Austro-Swiss Group, Doppelmayr Garaventa, based in Wolfurt, Vorarlberg. Doppelmayr Cable Car already have a similar air-rail link operating at Birmingham International Airport. The civil engineering is being carried out by a joint venture firm, Volker Fitzpatrick Kier.

September's Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton was a great success.

And as well as being one of the best attended Lib Dem conferences ever, it reaffirmed the Party's commitment to Green Policies and Environmental protection.

This is a summary of the Lib Dem's existing policy highlights.

They featured among the Party's 2017 election manifesto commitments:

The Three Rivers Rural Division resulted from boundary changes and an additional county division that was added in 2017 in response to Hertfordshire's growing population. In the 2017 county council elections, which were overshadowed by Theresa May's snap election call, the Conservative who held the former Chorleywood Division won the new division but with a majority of only 153 votes.

However the Conservative Councillor who is also a City of London councillor recently resigned from Hertfordshire County Council to concentrate on his London responsibilities, thus causing the by-election that was held on October 25th, 2018.

Observant passengers into Euston will already have noticed the demolition of a couple of sheds and depot on the west side of the station. Now it has been announced that Platforms 17 and 18 will be taken out of use after the May 2019 timetable changes.

This is to enable HS2 and Crossrail work to proceed. Platform 18 will be removed completly but Platform 17 will be converted into a siding for trains delivering construction materials.

A £68 million upgrade to the Wherry Lines - one of the infrastructure investment projects originally initiated by the Lib Dem Coalition Government - is likely to cause disruption in the Yarmouth area as re-signally work takes place.

This essential work will mean that the line from Reedham to Yarmouth will be closed for 6 months from the end of October 2018 till April 2019. In addition, trains from Reedham to Lowestoft will also be cancelled between October 20^th and 28^th.

Cabinet is set to withdraw proposals to move the Jarman Athletics track to Cupid Green fields, after a consultation report showing deep and reasoned objections was championed by LibDem Councillors Adrian England and Lara Pringle, at wednesday's "Oversight & Scrutiny Committee" meeting, at The Forum.

In October Councillors were told that some disabled people have been waiting as long as five years for a disabled adapted council house. This is despite Dacorum Council having a written objective to 'Provide good quality affordable homes, in particular for those in the greatest need.'

The Council admitted the shortfall and highlighted a lack of resources including a failure to keep in regular contact with some disabled people waiting on the list for an adapted home.