South West Hertfordshire Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrat opposition on Herts County Council has come up with a costed proposal that, if agreed, could see residential street lights stay on until 2am if residents want that.

In the roll-out of converting street lights to LED, the county Conservatives have proposed to move the current midnight turn-off to 1am. The Liberal Democrats have always opposed the midnight turn off and pushed for 2am as the earliest.

Despite the present minority Conservative Government and its harsh austerity programme, there is still a trickle of infrastructure improvements reaching completion. However, these were originally commissioned under the Coalition Government by Liberal Democrat Transport and Environment Ministers. One of particular interest to the East of England is the construction of a new junction, which will pass under the East Coast Main Line (ECML) at Werrington, just north of Peterborough. Work has just started and it should be completed by 2021.

It will allow freight trains going to Felixstowe to cross the ECML without interfering with traffic on the fast lines. In addition, upgrades elsewhere on the route between Peterborough and Felixstowe are planned including a third track between Peterborough and Huntingdon.

The Liberal Democrats' week started well with Jennie Brent, the Independent councillor for the Eastney & Craneswater Ward of Portsmouth City Council joining the Liberal Democrats and the Portsmouth City LD Group. Jennie had left the Conservatives early in the Summer when she became an Independent.

Then over in Essex, Cllr Andy Wood who represented the North Clacton Division of Essex County Council has also joined the Liberal Democrats

Meanwhile we continue to make progress in Cambs - in East Cambridgeshire District this time - as Liberal Democrat Victoria Charlesworth got a good result on 4th October and made a dent in the Tory majority with a 12.5% increase in vote share.

Soham North & Isleham (East Cambs District) result:

CONSERVATIVES: 48.8% (-17.4)
LIB DEMOCRATS : 30.0% (+12.5)
LABOUR: 10.9% (-5.5)
IND: 10.4% (+10.4)

Conservative HOLD.

Like many delegates Nick and Rosemarie from Tring combined participation in the Liberal Democrat Conference with visits to rellies and a short holiday. They went down by train - taking a car to Brighton is a crazy thing to do - stayed in a convenient sea front hotel and had some excellent meals.

Herts County Council is now planning to leave residential side street lights on till 1am - this was part of a part-night lighting scheme that has seen lights go off at midnight.

The proposals are part of the conversion of all street lights to LED lighting but will see the lights being dimmed at 9pm and again at 11pm before being turned off at 1am.

While up at Pheasant Close a couple of weeks ago I noticed two gazebos and a small crowd gathered in the cemetery that lies between Rectory Lane and Three Close Lane.

Wandering in I found the crowd listening in rapt attention to the words of a man standing on one of the gravestones.

But, no, it wasn't some re-enactment of the Sermon on the Mount - it was part of the events around the restoration of the Rectory Lane Cemetery. The orator was actually taking the audience through the complex lifestyle and habits of bees.

Well, anything connected with highway work in Hertfordshire is amazingly slow. However, I am still chipping away at the traffic and parking problems in New Mill.

So far I reckon the prize for the fastest and longest-lasting improvement (so far) was the replacement of those awful concrete paviours in the centre of the New Mill roundabout with heavy-duty tarmac. Unlike the paviours which were forever working loose they seem to be surviving pressure from the Heygates lorries very successfully.