The government must apply for EU flood funding by the end of next week or lose out on millions of pounds, South Lakeland MP Tim Farron has warned. Tim met senior MEPs in Brussels on Thursday and presented a petition signed by over 2000 constituents, calling on the UK government to apply for this money.
The Bedford Borough Council budget proposed by Mayor Dave Hodgson and his Cabinet for 2016/17 won unanimous support at a recent Full Council meeting. All Councillors present, across the Liberal Democrats, Labour, Conservative and Independent groups voted in favour of the budget, which included measures required to bridge a funding gap of over £9million due to brutal government cuts and rising need for care services.
Here's my very belated report on the last English Lib Dems' Executive (ECE) meeting. After my previous post gaining praise from Mark Pack on his own website: "Anders Hanson is one of the stars of the English Party because he does report back publicly on key parts of what the English Party is doing. He's not part of the 'don't ask, don't tell' culture," my forgetfulness in posting this doesn't exactly help back up his assertion! In the interests of balancing the need to keep members informed and in brevity, I'm going to do this as a series of (hopefully) short paragraphs on the key areas discussed rather than going through each agenda item in turn or repeating what appeared in my preview of the meeting. Since my last post a couple of people have got in touch with me asking for more information about certain points and I'm happy to give party members more information when I know the person asking is a party member.
This preview of the first English [Liberal Democrats] Council Executive (ECE) of 2016 provides a useful description of the issues discussed in January. Put out the bunting! I wrote a short explanation of what the body does just over a year ago. The first part of the meeting contains the usual reports from officers of the English Party (Chair, Treasurer, Vice-Chair and Candidates) and its reps to other party bodies (Federal Executive (FE), Federal Conference Committee (FCC), Federal Policy Committee (FPC) and the G8 local election grants scheme), although within these there are sometimes substantive issues that need discussion. Some of these officers also chair committees which also report back, such as the Vice-Chair chairing the Regional Parties' Committee and Treasurer chairing the English Finance and Administration Committee. I have included a section on the membership of the committee and various other elected reps at the bottom of this post. The second part of the meeting involves reports on particular a
A special public service celebrating the 850th anniversary of the sealing of Bedford's Royal Charter by King Henry II in 1166 is set to take place this Sunday at St Paul's Church in Bedford.
The Salisbury Journal has thrown its weight behind the campaign to stop Wiltshire Conservatives doing a Beeching on the county's buses - see http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/14269556.CAMPAIGN__Journal_says_stop_bus_cuts_before_it___s_too_late/?ref=eb