“The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society,
in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community,
and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.”
Town and District Councillor
Harry Dangerfield
Tel. 01394 282713
Town and District Councillor
Sandra Bryant
Tel. 01394 212490
Town and District Councillor
Mike Ninnmey
Tel. 01394 288610
Town Councillor
Sheila Chambers
Tel. 01394 200075
Councillors' surgeries for 2009 will be held at Christ Church from 10am to 12 noon on the first Thursday of the month, i.e.
You can also contact your Councillor as above, with any queries you have or for more details about Liberal Democrats in Felixstowe.
It is a long time since we sent out a Newsletter to our members in Felixstowe, for which I apologise, but I thought that you would like to be brought up to date with local news of what has been happening in and around Felixstowe from a Lib Dem point of view. You are all probably aware of the death late last year of Ann Rodwell, who was a Conservative councillor for both the East Ward of Felixstowe and the Coastal Division of the County, comprising the West, East, South and South East wards of Felixstowe. A County by-election was not held as the vacancy occurred so close to the end of the councillors’ terms of office. For the Town seat, the Conservatives proposed simply co-opting a member, but this was challenged by some of the local residents, and eventually an election was called for 26th February. Bernard Price stood for us and a spirited campaign was mounted, with our support clearly increasing throughout the campaign.
At the count the Conservatives had very glum faces and obviously thought they had lost, but eventually they managed to hang on to the seat by a majority of 62, down from 837 last time, and this with the addition of a well-supported Independent standing, too. The Conservatives polled 535 votes, we had 473, the Independent 404 and Labour, a very poor fourth with only 84. Although we were disappointed not to have won (another couple of days and we think we could have won it), we do feel it was a good result and makes an excellent starting point for the County and Euro elections to be held on June 4th.
Our Lib Dem councillors continue to make their presence felt both at the Town and District councils. Although we are heavily out-numbered, we drive the agenda in many ways, forcing both Administrations to at least attempt to justify some of their outrageous decisions. They don’t do it, but any member of the public who is present hears what is going on and begins to understand just how very unreasonable this group of Conservatives is, and what we have to contend with. We have, for instance, brought to the attention of the residents of Felixstowe the fact that the Town has had to borrow half a million pounds to buy back and refurbish the Town Hall, which was originally owned by them and taken over by the District Council years ago.
The District Council did not look after the building well, nor did they bring it up to the standards required by the Disability Discrimination Act, so the Town itself has had to effect this renovation. It is looking good now but, with interest added, Felixstowe Town Council is going to have to repay in the region of a million pounds as well as take over the operating costs of the building. You will no doubt have seen from your council tax notification that the Town’s precept has increased by over 4%! Felixstowe is going to be paying for this for many years to come.
We are still prodding the District Council over the south seafront land development. We consider that the Council has struck a very uneven deal, giving away very valuable land in return for very little. Houses have been demolished which could have been renovated to provide much-needed housing, and beach huts removed from the site in anticipation of the development going ahead. The result of this latter action is that millions of pounds – about £4.5m we think – has been lost in revenue. Instead of having a total re-think about the site and coming up with some fresh, new ideas for using a flood plain in a manner more sympathetic to the residents of that part of town, the District has agreed to put everything on hold until 2010 when the developer will consider again whether they are in a position to build luxury flats on the site. There are many more items at which we are at loggerheads with the Conservatives, e.g. the building of a skatepark in an area (already subject to vandalism) between a Church, a pub and a sheltered housing complex; the distribution of housing called for by the Local Development Framework; the proposals for Unitary councils in the area, etc. It would take up too much time to set these out in detail, and you would no doubt get fed up with reading it, but we hope we have at least given you a flavour of what is happening in our district.
As mentioned above, County and Euro elections will be held on 4th June this year, and we are hoping to field candidates for the County seats in both Coastal and Felixstowe North and the Trimleys. We have provisional candidates for all three seats, but it will take a great deal of work to prepare and deliver leaflets as well as canvass practically the whole of Felixstowe and the Trimleys. At the present time the number of active supporters is far lower than it needs to be and too much work is being asked of our hard-working team of councillors and activists. With just a few more helpers, we can achieve much more. We need:
If you have ever thought you would like to be a councillor, or more active in politics, then please do contact one of the people below. There are training courses available to help potential future councillors and even if you decide, at the end of the course, that you don’t want to go any further, you will have learned more about what is involved. Please also contact us now if you can give us any help, however small, during the campaign. We are grateful to our current members and supporters for their support, and even if you do not wish to play an active role in the party your donations do help our campaigns. Please do support us in any way you can – we promise to run the best campaign in our power.
| Chairman | Lee Reeves | Tel. 01394 284506 |
| Vice Chair | Cllr. Mike Ninnmey | Tel. 01394 277610 |
| Treasurer | Margaret Condick | Tel. 01394 448576 |
| Secretary | Stephen Tuthill | |
| Cllr. Harry Dangerfield | Tel. 01394 282713 | |
| Cllr. Sandra Bryant | Tel. 01394 212490 | |
| Cllr. Sheila Chambers | Tel. 01394 200075 |
This Newsletter ends on rather a sombre note. As some of you will know, Mervyn Sheppard sadly died in February. He had served Felixstowe branch for over 50 years, originally as a Liberal and then as a Liberal Democrat. He was chairman of both the branch and the constituency on several occasions and served as a councillor on Felixstowe Urban District Council. Several of us attended his funeral, and donations from both the branch and individuals were made to the East Anglian Children?s Hospice, his favourite charity. Mervyn had a fund of knowledge in his head and he will be sadly missed by all who knew him.
We need more Liberal Democrat councillors in Felixstowe to help us get residents' views presented to the Councils. If you are interested in the Liberal Democrats and would be interested in becoming a councillor, contact any of the above or write to us at:
Felixstowe Liberal Democrats, FREEPOST NAT 15494, Woodbridge IP12 4BR