The Liberal Democrat Opposition councillors at County Hall have been shocked and angered to hear that HCC are intending to extend the contracts of much-criticised highways contractors Ringway for a further 5 years.
Travellers at Bank Holidays have to be braced for difficult journeys as so often these are the only practical times to carry out essential repair and improvement work.
It's always "seeing's believing" with highway work in Hertfordshire but the Grove Road, Tring, repairs are still scheduled as "some time in the 6 months beginning 1st October".
It has been a long-standing anomaly that a triangle of land off Miswell Lane in Tring was privately owned despite being designated as Public Open Space by the former Tring Urban District Council - a situation which has dragged on for nearly 50 years! This was the subject of a 12-year court case which firmly established the land as Public Open Space. Unfortunately the land was then sold at auction by the owners and bought up by a developer at a price far in excess of what Dacorum Borough Council (DBC) thought at the time it could afford. Since then there has been a series of unsuccessful planning applications, with the more recent ones involving partial development with the remainder of the land being given to DBC. The last such compromise involved just 20% of the land being developed with the remainder becoming DBC property, thus safeguarding its public use. The latest excellent news is about the withdrawal of the planning application for building 2 houses on 20% of the privately owned public open space -
After the good news of newer, longer trains and improved Sunday services comes the rise of regulated rail fares by a massive 3.6% rise from January 2018 onwards, government statistics have today revealed. This is significantly greater than this year's figure of 2.3% and the largest rise since 2011.
A Message from Sally Symington, Chair of West Herts Local Party Dear Members,
Dacorum Borough Council does a really poor job in Tring of sweeping up soil, grit and litter from the gutters. These should be kept clean, clear and free-running, but because of neglect litter, grit and mud get washed along to cover over the grids at the top of the gulleys. This causes flooding, which is particularly bad at the top of Akeman Street by the Museum. It can spread right across the road and once or twice the run-off down Akeman Street even got as far as flooding the cellar of a house. Fortunately the Grid Fairy was out and about the other evening and got the two critical grids by the Museum uncovered just before the next downpour. The pictures show the result of this timely work - the Grid Fairy can't be actually seen 'cos it's invisible. But it was there, I assure you! Other critical spots cleared were in Bottom House Lane, Crawleys Hill and Hamberlins Lane.
For the second time in a fortnight now there have been justifiable complaints of sacks of commercial waste left out at the entrance to Dolphin Square as you approach from the Frogmore Street (East) Car Park. Some of the bags were marked "Cawleys", some "Grundon". Some of the bags were even marked "Dacorum Borough Council Waste Collection Service". Obviously they were awaiting collection by the appropriate companies - including DBC itself. However, dumping 16 bags and boxes of waste in a well-used public area of the town over the weekend is not acceptable. The Liberal Democrats have reported this as a fly-tipping incident on reference 523970 and have sent in 4 photographs. An alternative area on private ground must be found for commercial waste awaiting collection.
At a packed hall in the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law, West Road, Cambridge, last week the new Liberal Democrat Leader, Vince Cable addressed party members as part of a nationwide speaking tour which has taken him from West Country to Scotland in two crowded and strenuous weeks.
After nearly six years of designs, redesigns, schemes introduced, schemes withdrawn, protests, objections, sabotage (at one point) and legal obstructions, the Beggars Lane Safety Improvements are nearly complete.
Tring's Hertfordshire County Councillor, Nick Hollinghurst, remains very pleased with electric motoring and very satisfied with the performance of his 30 kWh Nissan Leaf.
Speaking at the Social & Liberal Forum Conference last week in the Resource for London Centre in the Holloway Road Vince Cable, now Leader of the Liberal Democrats, called for a national return to sensible economics and for the Liberal Democrats to focus more strongly on campaigning for improved and more effective health care delivery and a broader based education system.
