Author's posts
Dec 01
Tories up to their old tricks
In a fraught Town Council meeting on Monday 30th November, Conservative councillors voted to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of ex Labour councillor Amy Bourke-Waite with a Conservative party member. There were four applicants for the vacancy: Cathy Brownjohn, Brian Bylett, Dave Carter and King Mills. Cllrs Ruth Brown and Carol Stanier said …
Jun 26
Zoom councillor surgeries
Our Councillors are available to meet residents remotely in our Zoom councillor surgeries, where we welcome questions, comments or suggestions on any local issues. From 5th September onwards, they are held monthly on the first Saturday of the month at 11am. The meetings are hosted by County Councillor Steve Jarvis and the Zoom meeting ID …
Jun 11
Statement on recent Twitter comments surrounding the Royston Museum
Black Lives Matter. Royston Liberal Democrats reject all prejudice and discrimination based upon race, colour, religion, age, disability, sex or sexual orientation and oppose all forms of entrenched privilege and inequality. We do not celebrate historical figures that have strong associations with slavery or oppression of any sort, and will work via democratic means to …
May 11
Town Council is suspended
Royston Town Council decided at its Extraordinary meeting on 23rd March 2020 (draft minutes are available here) to suspend many council functions, including regular meetings. All necessary decisions are being made by two councillors and the clerk. Virtual meetings are now permitted by law, and many parish councils locally are holding meetings in this way. …
Jun 09
Time for change at North Herts Council
Following this year’s local elections, in which Lib Dems gained five seats, no party has a majority on North Herts Council. We met with representatives from both the Conservative group and the Labour group to see what could be the best solution for the residents and businesses of North Hertfordshire over the next twelve months. …
Jun 02
Thank You!
A big thank you to local people who went out and voted in the local elections this May. Carol Stanier now joins Ruth Brown as your second Lib Dem District Councillor. Thank you also to those who voted in the European elections. Liberal Democrats topped the poll in North Herts, helping to elect Barbara Gibson …
May 19
Recording of Town Council meetings
Royston Lib Dems are pleased to announce that as from 13th May (the most recent Annual Meeting of Royston Town Council) we will be recording all public meetings of the Council and sharing these with the public on our website. We hope that this will enable more people to learn what occurs at council meetings …
May 16
Home-Start Aquathon
Royston Lib Dems are entering a team for the Royston & South Cambs Home-Start Aquathon on 19th May at Royston Leisure Centre. We will donate all the funds raised to this amazing local charity so please do give generously. Click here to visit our JustGiving page where you can donate. You can sponsor us per length …
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Tories up to their old tricks
In a fraught Town Council meeting on Monday 30th November, Conservative councillors voted to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of ex Labour councillor Amy Bourke-Waite with a Conservative party member.
There were four applicants for the vacancy: Cathy Brownjohn, Brian Bylett, Dave Carter and King Mills.
Cllrs Ruth Brown and Carol Stanier said that they had voted for Brownjohn as she was the replacement for ex-Cllr Bourke-Waite, as nominated by the local Labour party. Cllr Stanier said “The residents of Palace ward voted for two Labour councillors in May 2018 and now they have none. This appointment does not reflect the wishes of the public and is an insult to democracy”.
The Lib Dem councillors were told previously that the local Labour party had agreed with the town council Conservative leadership that the Conservatives would not stand a candidate against the Labour candidate. In the spirit of co-operation the Liberal Democrats also agreed not to stand a candidate and to support the Labour one.
Bylett has previously spoken on behalf of the local Conservative party, stood as an unsuccessful Conservative party candidate and is a current party member.
The event is a bizarre rerun of the events following the resignation of UKIP councillor Paula McGlynn in 2016, in which the Conservative majority appointed a Conservative councillor in place of a UKIP one, making front page news and causing outrage locally1. Cllr Ruth Brown said “I am outraged that they have again co-opted a Conservative to a Labour seat. They have demonstrated that they have no respect for the electorate and cannot be trusted.”
1) www.royston-crow.co.uk/news/anger-after-vacant-ukip-seat-on-royston-town-council-taken-by-conserv...
Anger after vacant UKIP seat on Royston Town Council taken by Conservative
www.royston-crow.co.uk
A town councillor has questioned the democracy of the council after a vacant UKIP seat was taken by a Conservative.Lib Dems force Herts County Conservatives to increase Support for Vulnerable Families and Fund Free School Meals up to Summer 2021 Half-Term
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.
The meeting had been called because, at its earlier October meeting, the Conservatives had rejected a Lib Dem motion on Free School Meals supporting Marcus Rashford's appeal to the government so leaving doubts as to what the administration would do, if anything, to step up to fill the gap left by the Conservative Government's COVID Winter Support scheme which stops on March 31st.
Lib Dem Group Leader County Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst, who proposed the motion said,
"In the period April to June 100,000 people used food banks for the first time, a year on year increase of 61%. The reduction of the furloughing scheme and massive redundancies have forced low income families to the brink, resulting in an expected 36% increase in children in food poverty. No civilised society should accept child poverty. Recent successive governments have rightly worked hard to tackle pensioner poverty and now we must address this as Henry Dimbleby, the government Food Tsar, has laid out in his food strategy document."
Stephen continued,
"I welcome the government's U turn with its extra £170m, providing £2.49M for Hertfordshire, but it should not have needed a U turn. They should have followed the lead of the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland governments who supported their young children during the October half-term. However the Conservatives in England refused to do so and left it to businesses, charities and some smaller councils to help out as best they could."
Although the Lib Dem motion, which received Labour support, was voted down, a near identical motion was passed by the Conservatives (details below) that gave a commitment to carry on support during school holidays up to the end of the Summer half term holidays.
Under pressure from the Liberal Democrats, the County Council also agreed to a special combined meeting of its Children, Young People's and Education Panels on November 26th to discuss and scrutinise the details of the support for children and vulnerable families as to the need for free school meals. The Executive Member for Children's Services also committed to establish a dedicated scrutiny topic group to look into the need for free school meals.
Councillor Mark Watkin, Lib Dem spokesperson for Children's Services and Education welcomed these moves that, until the meeting, the Conservatives had not agreed to.
"It's crucial that such a major commitment should be subject to the proper scrutiny processes to ensure everyone who needs help and support in these difficult times is covered now and into the future.
"I am proud of what we have achieved today in forcing a clear commitment from the Conservatives at County Hall to support our vulnerable children, something they failed to do at the October meeting."
Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst who was attacked by the Tories for forcing the extra meeting said,
"No meeting is a waste of time, especially when so many of the Conservatives present spoke. This meeting showed that child poverty is now, as Marcus Rashford and Henry Dimbleby and others have highlighted, a critical policy area that this and future governments must now address. Today's meeting made the ruling Conservatives do something about it. Without this meeting being called I doubt that this would have occurred. This meeting has brought this area into the public's mind and rightly so."
20 is plenty. Do you agree? Sign the petition.NICK HOLLINGHURST, SALLY SYMINGTON AND THE HERTFORDSHIRE LIB DEMS SAY,...
"20's Plenty!"
The 20's Plenty petition on the HCC website is almost at 500 petitioners. It closes on Friday and the organisers (as well as me) would like to hit 500 if possible.
The petition should then be presented at a Cabinet Panel next week when the Speed Management Strategy and our Liberal Democrat motion on 20mph areas are also due to be discussed.
If you can support it would be appreciated.
democracy.hertfordshire.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay...
Covid-19 has stretched council budgets to their absolute limit. But, the penny-pinching Conservative government has failed to make up the funding shortfall that the pandemic has caused. The government says that we're all in this together, but it seems that we're not!