Alan Arnot's term as Chelmsford Mayor has now ended. He attended over 300 different events and told the recent council meeting that this pace of events made it feel like the shortest year of his life. Cllr Arnot (Lib Dem councillor for Patching Hall ward) also raised over £30,000 for the Essex Air Ambulance during the year. (You can still donate online on their website.)
Martin Jacques, author of When China Rules the World, addressed a 23 May forum held jointly by Liberal International British Group and the Chinese Liberal Democrats.
I was dismayed to learn this week of the decision that the final determination of Biogen Power Ltd's application to build a new waste gasification incinerator atTwinwoodsBusinessParknear Milton Ernest will be made inWhitehallby a Government Minister. The proposals were turned down by the Council's planning committee in March, much to the delight of the large number of local residents who have expressed their concern about a range of issues, not least the number of lorry journeys over local roads which would result. Biogen Power Ltd appealed against the planning committee's decision, and the Planning Inspectorate recently conducted the appeal, with an independent planning inspector due to make the final decision in the coming weeks. It came as a surprise, then, when the Council received a letter earlier this week from the Planning Inspectorate which stated that the "the Secretary of State hereby directs that he shall determine this appeal instead of an Inspector."
Wiltshire Liberal Democrats congratulated the Council on the announcement that £4million of the government's rural broadband funding scheme had been allocated to our county.
The news that the independent chair of the review of forests could suggest that government actually bring more forests into public ownership has been welcomed by South Lakes MP Tim Farron.
Wasteful and unnecessary restructuring plans for Exeter, Norwich and Suffolk Councils were stopped by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles.