Shrewsbury Liberal Democrats

… to to the new Shrewsbury Liberal Democrats website

Where did Katy Anderson of CPRE find her figures for traffic in Shrewsbury town centre? Nationally car ownership has tripled in 30 years, those driving to work by car has almost doubled in the same period.

While about half as many people travel to work by bus, bike and on foot as in 1980 only the train has held its share at less than one per cent.

Against this massive shift in prime time travel habits, a small drop in cars entering the town centre – from 25,000 in 2005 to 22,000 in 2008 seems less significant.

Meanwhile, the town centre is still an Air Quality Management Area because of pollution and new science has just revealed that this is much damaging to children’s health than we had previously understood.

The killer in every sense is cross-town traffic. This does nothing but harm to the town centre – it literally has no business there, but brings danger to pedestrians, damage to the historic fabric and pollution.

Shops do not need traffic rolling past their doors, they need people walking through them. There are signs that Shirehall is concerned, but a huge amount of work needs to be done.

The three-point plan offers a blueprint for managing traffic, so that access to the town centre for cars is improved but passage through it is hindered. This way we can increase visitor numbers and make Shrewsbury the attraction it should be.

Andrew Bannerman
Shrewsbury

I WOULD like to thank the residents who voted for me in the Bagley ward. I have had a great few weeks getting out and meeting many people who live in the area.

They have been warm and friendly, varied and interesting and I am very pleased to have the opportunity to represent them as their unitary councillor for the next four years.

The work starts here, I have taken notes of many of the concerns voiced in the conversations we have had, and hope to be able to take some of them further. I look forward to taking many walks around the ward again and meeting up with more people who live here.

BEVERLEY J BAKER
Bagley Division

The announcement by the Government that all UK radio stations will switch over to Digital frequencies early in 2015 has drawn an angry response from Councillors in the West of the County.

Peer Phillips, Lib Dem Cllr for Bishops Castle and Onny Valley, explained “The Government once again has totally failed to take into account the impact of hits pronouncements on rural areas.

“In areas like ours topography plays a big part in deciding if you can receive a signal or not. Already this year we are going to see the switchover to Digital TV and despite years of badgering no-one in either Government or the TV sector has been able to give us a definitive answer about how many rural residents are going to lose a signal. Now it looks like we are going to have the same treatment over radio.

“In practical terms many households are going to have to get a satellite system even if it is only to get a radio signal. It will also mean considerable rewiring for those who already have a system as each radio will now need its own socket.”

Heather Kidd, Councillor for Chirbury and Worthen added “The other aspect the Government has failed to consider is the extra waste this is going to create. Our family has five radios and two car radios which are going to be rendered useless overnight. Multiply that up to everyone in the UK and that is a serious mountain of waste going into landfill if we are note careful. It would be much better to phase this in gradually and fund a scheme whereby analogue radios can be recycled locally.”

Peter will be putting a motion before Shropshire Council in the near future requesting the Government to rethink this measure. He will also be brining it up at the County Council Network, the UK wide forum for County Councils.

Ends

Shrewsbury – Salary £17,000 – £20,000 pa pro rata.

A new post has been created for an Organiser to assist in the run up to the General Election. The post will cease at the end of the month that follows the General Election or at the end of June 2010 at the latest.

This will be a part-time position, working two to three days per week based on an annual equivalent salary of £17-20,000 pa full time. You will be responsible for working with Parliamentary Candidate, Charles West, and the local party on the full range of activities necessary to ensure the delivery of the constituency campaign plan. This will include literature production, volunteer co-ordination, events organisation, and press work.  Applicants will need to demonstrate proven organisational, motivational, computer and literature skills. For an informal discussion, contact: Anne Woolland on 01743 356380 or email awoolland@yahoo.co.uk  or Charles West on 07775 800744 or email charles@charleswest.org

For a full job description contact Charles West or Martin Beardwell.
Applications (a CV and covering letter) should be sent to: Martin Beardwell, 30 Ridgebourne Rd, Shrewsbury  SY3 9AB   martin.beardwell@btinternet.com
by noon on Monday July 27th 2009.

Sir

Can I take this opportunity to reply to Cllr Peter Adams’ letter published last Saturday.

I was the election agent for 10 Lib Dem candidates within Shrewsbury for the historic unitary elections earlier this month. All these candidates had the choice of standing for both unitary and town council. The fact that they decided to concentrate their effort on the election to the new unitary council reflects the fact they thought the unitary council was much more significant.

Liberal Democrats supported the move to Unitary and it was the last Tory Town Council that fought the plans tooth and nail and caused £246,000 of council tax money to be wasted on their abortive attempt.

Regards
Colin Dowse
Lib Dem Agent
Shrewsbury