Latest News
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Article: Jan 16, 2021
Our team of Lib Dem borough councillors for Bushey North have long been fighting plans for Watford FC to build a new stadium in Bushey.
As a key part of our campaign, we set out to protect Bushey Hall Golf Course - the proposed stadium site - from being redeveloped for any scheme along these lines. And we now have some very good news to report.
Back in June last year, Cllr Paul Richards applied to Hertsmere Borough Council for a Tree Preservation Order (TPO), which would protect the extensive wooded areas at the golf course, some of which are around a hundred years old.
After months of Paul working to push the TPO through, it has now finally been approved by council officers. On Friday 15th January, the order was formally served on the course. What this means is that the site's owners are not allowed to fell trees on the principal areas of the site - and therefore, developers could not dig up the course to build a stadium on it.
In theory, the order could one day be overturned, and the owners have the right to appeal to Hertsmere's planning committee. Nevertheless, there is now a huge new obstacle in the way of any attempt to progress the stadium plan.
We'd like to thank the many hundreds of Bushey residents who've supported our campaign, and we're also very grateful to the council officers at Hertsmere for all their hard work in expediting the TPO.
The documents relating to the order will shortly be published on the planning and parks pages of the Hertsmere website.
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Article: Jan 12, 2021
Lib Dem Councillors and Activists from across Hertfordshire have written to the Vice Chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire asking for clarification regarding its position on rent expections for on-campus accommodation at the University. Lib Dem Hertford Rural candidate Daniel Newton says:
'It is essential that students are supported at this worrying time. We want to work with the University to make sure they are not paying the price for services they cannot access.'
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Article: Jan 8, 2021
From Andrew Melville, Jerry Evans, and Paul Richards - Lib Dem borough councillors for Bushey North
For nearly three years, we've been battling to put a stop to the problems at Bushey Hall Farm, where the owners are using the site to run an industrial tarmac business without planning permission.
Their lorries and machines create huge amounts of noise and disturbance on a daily basis - often from as early as 5.00am. This has blighted our neighbourhood and caused misery for hundreds of North Bushey residents.
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Petition: Jan 7, 2021
For more than three years, Bushey Lib Dems and local campaigners have fought to put a stop to the problems at Bushey Hall Farm, in Bushey Mill Lane, where the owners are running an industrial tarmac business without planning permission. Their lorries and machines create huge amounts of noise and disturbance, which blight the neighbourhood and cause misery for residents on daily basis.
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Article: Dec 16, 2020
Despite opposition from the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives at Herts county council have voted to approve a flawed Speed Management Strategy which will make it harder to introduce 20mph zones and means that Hertfordshire has fallen behind other authorities in the widespread introduction of 20mph limits.
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Article: Dec 16, 2020
The Conservatives' 'uninspired' proposals in the County's newly adopted 'Sustainable Hertfordshire Action Plan' have been slammed by the Liberal Democrats after the Conservatives rejected their immediate 10 point action plan
As a result, it is claimed the county is unlikely to meet the council's target of zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Lib Dem County councillor Steve Jarvis, who proposed a 10 point set of proposals to cut carbon emissions said: "We need bold and immediate steps not woolly words. We have an immediate plan to tackle the problems if we take control of the County Council in May"
Amongst the proposals rejected by the Conservatives were: -
Article: Dec 16, 2020Yesterday, at the Hertfordshire County Council Meeting, Tory councillors put support for the Conservative Government ahead of the needs either of unpaid Carers, or of our Care Workforce.A LibDem motion asked the Council to call upon the Government to increase Carers' Allowance by £1,000 per year (£20 per week) and to honour its Queen's Speech commitment to establish a single watchdog to enforce employee's rights. Labour supported the motion but the Conservatives voted to deny an appeal to Government to support carers, whether paid or unpaid.
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Article: Nov 25, 2020
Funding for school children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) will need to be cut if
the Government fails to address a multi-million-pound gap in funding for the most vulnerable, warns
Daisy Cooper, the MP for St Albans.
In her own county, according to figures supplied by Hertfordshire Schools Forum, the deficit is forecast to rise to
£11 million in 2022-3 and to £19.8 million in 2023-4 for children with 'High Needs'. -
Article: Nov 20, 2020
Herts County Council's Highways Panel has voted in favour of a new speed management strategy that will make it harder to introduce new 20mph speed limits.
At the moment, to introduce a 20mph limit without humps or similar traffic calming, the existing speeds must be 25mph or below in at least 90% of the roads covered. The new strategy changes this to require existing speeds below 24mph in every single road. It also introduces a policy of removing new 20mph limits if speeds remain too high after they have been installed for a year. -
Article: Nov 18, 2020
An Extraordinary meeting of Herts County Council held this morning (Tuesday 17th November) agreed to provide support to vulnerable families and children receiving free school meals through the school holidays up to the end of the Summer half-term next year. In so doing, the Council recognised the growing seriousness of child poverty in society.