Chiltern Liberal Democrats

A Liberal Democrat councillor has saved Chesham commuters up to £100 a year by successfully arguing against a proposed 25% hike in car parking charges by Chiltern District Council.

The Cabinet at Chiltern DC was due to approve the increases but following an intervention by Cllr Peter Jones decided to keep the prices at Chesham Station in line with those at other surface car parks.

New figures reveal that in Cheaham & Amersham constituency, 360 people benefitted from an apprenticeship last year, an increase of 61%.

This news comes as the Coalition Government has launched the National Apprenticeships Week, which will seek to build on last year's success with events in schools and businesses.

The Liberal Democrats have scored a sensational victory in the Amersham Old Town by-election.

Candidate Vera Head has taken the seat from the Conservatives. UKIP came third (which was disappointing, for them) and Labour a poor fourth.

Full result:

LD Vera Head 286 (30.2)
Con 282 (29.8)
UKIP 252 (26.6)
Lab 127 (13.4)
Majority 4
Turnout 25.9%
LD gain from Con.

The MP for Chesham & Amersham and Secretary of State for Wales, the Rt Hon Cheryl Gillan MP, has sent the following letter to members of the local Conservative Party. Her letter was dated 19th January 2012.

Here it is, verbatim.

I think, with the latest announcement on HS2 and recent events, that, as a member of the Association you deserve to hear about HS2 and my response first hand.

Let us start with an apology. In fact, two apologies. One is that this website doesn't like personality politics, it especially doesn't like to attack individuals on a personal basis. So if what follows reads like a personal attack, it isn't supposed to.

Secondly, there is an elephant in the room here which needs to be confronted. Yes, we in the Liberal Democrats know about about election pledges and the breaking of them. We fouled up badly on tuition fees, and have been (not surprisingly) punished by the electorate.

Chiltern Liberal Democrats remain opposed to HS2 on the grounds that the vast costs will outweigh any likely benefits. Here are two articles on the subject that we've noticed in the past few days.

First, by Simon Dance: