The Liberal Democrats have gained Tiverton & Honiton in a by-election that breaks records for the biggest majority overturned.
It gained us our 14th MP, Richard Foord. Huge congratulations to him and thanks to everyone who helped in the by-election, and more than 22,000 voters who gave him and us their support.
Residents will no longer need to walk home in the dark along the B5063 near Glovers Way, Bratton, following a seven-year campaign by the Focus team.
The new lighting, which was recently installed, was requested by Cllr Karen Tomlinson in 2015, and Cllr Kim Tonks joined the campaign last year.
'"I'm delighted. This will make the area safer, as the path is very close to the road where there are speed concerns, and a large number of vehicles travel through," Cllr Tonks highlighted. "I'd like to thank Karen for her hard work on this over many years."
The Liberal Democrats have gained made massive gains in the local elections around the country.
In England alone, the party's brilliant candidates achieved:
192 GAINS
712 Councillors
3 new Lib Dem majority councils
It is clear from the results that voters are tired of being taken for granted and that the Liberal Democrats play a huge role in defeating Boris Johnson's Tories.
Telford and Wrekin's Liberal De mocrats have called on the Government to double the Warm Home Discount for existing recipients and make it available to 747 extra pensioners across the borough. The measure would prevent pensioners being forced to "choose between eating and heating this winter", say the Lib Dems.
Telford & Wrekin Lib Dems are celebrating a close win in the Lawley and Overdale Parish Council by-election.
There was only one vote in it! Lib Dem Catherine Salter took 140 votes, to the Conservative's 139, with Labour trailing a distant third on 69 votes. The independent candidate came fourth with 38 votes.
We are pleased to introduce our line-up for the forthcoming by-elections on Thursday 6th May. We are standing candidates in many wards for the first time. It is brilliant to see our local party continuing to go from strength to strength!
The organiser of a community campaign to tackle fly tipping in Telford has said the council's trial of free bulky waste collections is a "great start" but more needs to be done.
Madeley Town Councillor Greg Spruce launched the campaign for free bulk collections and other measures to deal with dumping in January 2020, following complaints about items abandoned in the street.
Last Thursday Telford and Wrekin's Labour Council increased council tax by 4.99%. Liberal Democrats did not support the council tax increase at last week's full council meeting.
Liberal Democrat group leader, Cllr Bill Tomlinson explains their decision:
"The Labour administration put forward its budget for the next year on Thursday night. Lib Dem councillors abstained. I wanted to explain why we took the stance we did. Although the budget had a lot of very positive aspects, we felt that the proposed increase in council tax of nearly 5% is something we could not support at a time when Covid-19 and the impact of Brexit is already hitting residents financially."
"It is acknowledged that all local authorites have been pressured into this increase tax increase by lack of funding from our Conservative government. There is always upwards pressure on costs to help protect the most vulnerable (and we fully support the need to do so). It is about time a national formula was devised to achieve a fair national standard for spending on adults and childrens services, similar to the way Lib Dems in government brought in the Pupil Premium to allocate schools funding on the basis of need. We don't want to be like the USA, where only the wealthier areas, that can raise higher council tax, can afford good services."
