South West Hertfordshire Liberal Democrats

In the context of the 2019 General Election, S W Herts was not a very important constituency. It was not a target seat and the result was expected to be a comfortable Conservative hold. Nevertheless, there was a chance that the Labour vote might weaken. The Liberal Democrats approach was therefore to run a reasonable campaign, consistent with providing support to St Albans - which was a Lib Dem target seat and which was in fact won. The aim in S W Herts was to improve the Liberal Democrat vote share as a foundation to future success.

At the Tring Climate Event on the 26th October, Sally Symington, Liberal Democrat Candidate for the Southwest Hertfordshire Constituency, met with members of the Transition Town Movement during her Parliamentary Campaign got into gear. The purpose of the Climate Event, which was organised by Lib Dem Controlled Tring Town Council, was to explain how small towns can make big contributions in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and helping to mitigate Global Heating.

"Twenty's Plenty in Residential Areas", say Nick and Sally

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, Sally Symington was in Tring during the General Election campaign to meet the local county councillor, Nick Hollinghurst.

As a local Dacorum Councillor herself - representing Berkhamsted West - Sally is keen to learn about new improvements within the Borough.

Here Cllr Hollinghurst explains about the objectives and difficulties behind the introduction of the new 20 mph zone in the west of Tring.

He said that this is a part of the town with a large number of young families, as well several blocks of flats for older people close to the High Street.

The intention is to produce a quieter, calmer and cleaner environment in which people feel more confident about walking, cycling and crossing the road.

Studies in places as diverse as Portsmouth, Glasgow and London have shown measurable improvements in social interaction, increased time spent outdoors and higher levels of exercise

Sally supports zones like these in helping to improve the quality of life for everyone, and to reduce the burden of pollution and disturbanceacross the whole community.

County Council votes to oppose further expansion of Luton Airport

Hertfordshire County Council has voted to oppose further expansion of London Luton Airport. At a full council meeting on 26 November, the council voted unanimously to object to the proposed expansion plans on the grounds that expansion of London Luton Airport to 32 mppa would result in unacceptable harm to the environment.

Brexit is making the staffing crisis at West Hertfordshire NHS Trust even worse, the Liberal Democrats have warned.

Figures published by the Liberal Democrats reveal that

105 EU staff working at have already left the health service this year including 52 nurses and midwives.

In the three years since the Brexit vote, 429 NHS staff from the EU have left the local trust.

Staff departures from West Hertfordshire NHS TRUST are part of a worrying national trend: over 3,250 NHS staff from the EU have left the health service so far this year, including 1,116 nurses. The data, based on responses to Freedom of Information requests across 50 NHS hospital trusts, reveals that:

The Liberal Democrats have, over many years, been formulating and implementing policies to respond to the now widely recognised climate emergency being caused by human generation of green house gases. In government we strengthened and accelerated the implementation of renewable energy only for it to be cut back once the Conservatives were given free reign.

At the Tring Climate Event on the 26th October, Sally Symington, Liberal Democrat Candidate for the Southwest Hertfordshire Constituency, met with members of the Transitition Town Movement as her Parliamentary Campaign got into gear. The purpose of the Climate Event, which was organised by Lib Dem Controlled Tring Town Council, was to explain how small towns can make big contributions in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and helping to mitigate Global Heating.

Recent and frequent disruption to trains coming in and out of London has been the subject of many complaints in local groups and even prompted petitions. We want to know your experiences and your views regarding the issue.

Re-use is near the top of the Recycling Hierarchy and Vivarail has as its main objective the reuse of obsolete electric train units that used to run on London's District Line. The company was founded in 2012 with the aim of heavily overhauling London Underground D78 Stock and upcycling them into new BR Class 230 diesel-electric multiple units (DEMUs), and was the brainchild of Adrian Shooter, the now retired former chairman of DB Regio UK Ltd (better known in the UK as Chiltern Railways). Vivarail acquired over 200 units for this purpose.

The first customer for Class 230 units was West Midlands Trains, which ordered three 2-car DEMUs in October 2017. Subsequently, Transport for Wales Rail ordered a total of five 3-car sets, to be built as bi-modal multiple units (BMMU)s, in June 2018.

After extensive development and testing West Midlands accepted their first 2-car train in April 2019 for service on the 24-mile Marston Vale Line between Bletchley and Bedford. A further two trains were delivered in June 2019. One train will be in reserve with two providing an hourly service Monday to Saturday. There is no Sunday service as yet.

Nick Hollinghurst, Hertfordshire County Councillor for Tring, who has an interest in low CO₂-emission transport, took a ride to see for himself. He reported that the "new" trains were smart, clean and spacious and travelled very quietly. There is an automatic engine cut-out at stations to save fuel and reduce pollution. Passengers appeared to be very pleased with the new service.

Cllr Hollinghurst said afterwards, "I wonder if these could be successfully deployed on the Abbey Line from Watford to St Albans. Perhaps the reduction in running costs could help pay for that passing loop we need at Bricket Wood?"

The pictures show a train waiting at Bletchley and also the spacious interior.