South West Hertfordshire Liberal Democrats

Commenting on the resignation of Stephen Phillips, the Conservative MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham, the Liberal Democrat Party President Sal Brinton said:

"Stephen Phillips has said he has irreconcilable policy differences with the government over: keeping the UK in the Single Market; child refugees and the Government's reaction to the Brexit court case to name - to name but three issues."

Sarah Nelmes, who is currently one of the three serving Three Rivers District councillors for the Penn & Mill End Ward has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the new Rickmansworth West Division in the May 2017 elections for Hertfordshire County Council.

Sarah has lived in Rickmansworth for over twenty years, and been actively involved in local politics for much of that time, first as a Parish Councillor and then as a District Councillor, .

The figures were revealed following an investigation by Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst show that Herts County Council's main highways contractor, Ringway has been 'fined' or issued penalties that total £1,074,052 from October 2012 till April 2016. During that time Ringway has received £158m in council tax papers money to undertake road repairs, maintenance and road safety work.

Conservative-run Hertfordshire County Council has been accused of seeking to hide cuts to winter gritting routes from 245 affected schools.

Despite Liberal Democrat opposition the County Council decided on 12th September to remove 49km of roads from its pre snow winter gritting routes. This is affecting up to 245 schools meaning the roads those schools are on would only be gritted after prolonged snow fall and not before as they were last year.

There were only two changes this week. The first was in Eltham North in Greenwich LB where the Conservatives gained the seat from Labour. There was a moderate increase in vote share for Lib Dems, but Labour were down and UKIP and the Greens crashed.

Labour held the Hitchin Oughton ward on N Herts District, despite a significant loss of vote share to an independent. The Lib Dem vote share increased by 10% but the Conservatives and Greens both lost support.

Welcome to this edition of 'Rickmansworth This Week e-news', Ann Shaw writes and Les Mead writes, edits and circulates this newsletter.

Armistice Day, Prayer of Remembrance and Thanksgiving. On 11^th of November, at 10.45am, a simple service will be held at Rickmansworth Town War Memorial in St Mary's Churchyard. During the short service, the names recorded on the War Memorial are read aloud, prayers of Remembrance and Thanksgiving are offered and a 2 minute silence is kept. All are welcome to attend

BT is planning to remove 25 public pay phone boxes in Three Rivers. Usage has declined by 90% over the last decade. There is a consultation period ending on 16^th January, see http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultation/uso/statement/removals.pdf

"When I discovered that my GP surgery had run out of Flu Vaccine - help was near at hand," said Tring resident Nick Hollinghurst. "It wasn't till I asked my wife - who owned and managed Rosemarie Finch Chemist in Dunstable for over 25 years - that I found out that these days you can get a variety of treatments at your local community pharmacy."

The wheels of the bus go round and round - but not for much longer for some people without cars or those who cannot drive.

Only a year ago the Hertfordshire Tories cut £1.5 million from the county's bus travel support programme.

They slashed 1.4 million passenger-journeys out of the socially important supported bus routes - nearly 40% of the total.

Bees are crucial to the pollination of crops and to agricultural efficiency. However they are under threat from a number of chemicals - some in a quite unexpected manner. For example selective herbicides and fertilizer might not be expected to hurt bees at all. However spray drift from herbicides and fertilizer run off from the crop areas have led to field margins becoming dominated by a sparse vegetation composed of coarse grasses, nettles, docks and hogweed. Few flowering plants thrive here and bees have insufficient blossom to feed from.