Reading Liberal Democrats

Ricky Duveen won a resounding victory for the Lib Dems in Tilehurst in yesterday’s by-election. When the votes were counted this morning it became clear that despite a lower turnout than in May, Ricky had increased the Lib Dem percentage of the vote and was elected councillor with an increased majority.

Ricky commented, “The Tories had fought a tough campaign, with their eyes on the key marginal Reading West parliamentary seat. In the end large numbers of former Labour voters switched to the Lib Dems, many citing Iraq and sleaze as major reasons, plus the acknowledged reputation of the Lib Dems for working hard locally in Tilehurst.”

Ricky added “this was a fantastic victory for the Lib Dems in Tilehurst and I would like to thank the small army of local helpers who have supported me in this campaign, and of course, the electors of Tilehurst themselves.”

The Results were:-

LIB DEM 919 votes which is 47.81% of turnout

CON 586 votes which is 30.49% of turnout

LAB 317 votes which is 16.49% of turnout

GREEN 79 votes which is 4.11% of turnout

IND 21 votes which is 1.09% of turnout

Total Turnout was 1922 which is 28% of electorate

On a much smaller turnout of voters the Liberal Democrats increased their majority to 333 despite a tough campaign from the Tories.

Questions can be directed to Ricky on 07770 303736 or by email to Ricky

Across Tilehurst ward, residents are backing Liberal Democrat candidate Ricky Duveen – a campaigner against Labour’s plan to turn Reading’s IDR one-way – to continue the 40-year tradition of local action on the Borough Council – rather than the Tories whose record of action in Tilehurst is non-existent.

Ricky says: “People recognise the excellent service the Lib Dem team has given residents and the hard work your councillors put in – all year round. I will be proud to continue that record of service started by Jim Day back in 1963, and will work hard for all residents as your new Councillor.”

Park Lane School

This is the most significant change in Tilehurst for many years. We have worked hard and patiently to find a solution for a new Park Lane School. The new proposals will come out for local consultation in the New Year. The key points are:

• A new school, health centre, library and Nursery school on the Laurels Site
• The land of the present nursery school will be returned to Blagrave Recreation and the large swing areas and the Horticultural Hut will be part of the new school’s grounds. This means a slight increase in the size of Blagrave Rec.
• The Council has yet to decide what it does with the existing Junior School site and playing field. Some of it will need to be developed to help fund the project.
• Part of the School Annex in Downing Road will become an office for Police and Police Community Support Officers in Tilehurst as part of the move to neighbourhood policing. Another part of the Annex is proposed to be a replacement facility for the Tilehurst Horticultural Association.

The Triangle

The Triangle is very important to the people of Tilehurst. For this reason we opposed the Labour Council’s plan to use part of the Triangle as a turn around point for buses.

Making the Community Safer

We work closely with the Police to help improve the safety of people living in Tilehurst. In particular this has included:

• Provision of CCTV cameras at the Triangle
• Pressure on the police to bring us up to a full complement of police officers;
• A sustained campaign for the provision of wardens or Community Support Officers for Tilehurst;
• Full support for the provision of a police support office in Downing Road (see proposals for Park Lane School).

Keeping Tilehurst Clean & Green the Lib Dems have:

• Put constant pressure on the Council for regular street cleaning. We think this service has improved significantly in the past 3 years
• Taken the problem of graffiti into our own hands – Cllr Peter Beard (shown in action – photo top) has been trained to remove certain types of graffiti. We have had a campaign to rid Tilehurst and to identify those responsible.
• Campaigned for over four years for the Council to introduce recycling of Garden Waste. We are pleased to see that the Council are now offering this service.
• Regularly trying to get more trees planted to improve Tilehurst’s environment.

Open Spaces and Games Improvements include:

• Improvement of Childrey Way play area in conjunction with West Berks Council;
• Support for the improvement of the play area in Church End Lane as part of the Meadway Development;
• Support for the retention of Blagrave Rec.

Keeping You in Touch – All Year Round

We regularly produce Council Topics leaflets four times a year to keep you in touch with developments in the Council. We’ve been doing this for over forty years!

We don’t just produce this at election time. We conduct residents’ surveys twice a year to find out what you think – and we hold monthly surgeries at the Triangle. We believe that this record is unsurpassed in Reading.

Our Local Reputation

The Lib Dems reputation for supporting and helping Tilehurst residents wins plaudits around the village. Former councillors Jim and Paddy Day urged the electors of Tilehurst to vote for Ricky as the Lib Dems are the party that will best look after the interests of local people.

Even Labour MP Martin Salter acknowledged the reputation that Lib Dems have locally when he said outside the count last May “I would vote for the Lib Dems in Tilehurst.”

Local Liberal Democrats will be taking over Screen 2 at Vue Cinema at The Oracle in Reading at 7.30 p.m on Tuesday 28th November to show the acclaimed Al Gore film, “An Inconvenient Truth”.

Hard evidence of climate change in the Al Gore film…

An Inconvenient Truth

A special showing of the film on Tuesday 28 November at the Vue Cinema, Reading

David Langshaw (an officer of Reading Liberal Club, organisers of the film showing) said, “The film tells the real truth about global warming. Politicians all around the world are in denial about the full horrors of global warming, but this film faces the reality of what our lifestyles are doing to our planet.”

Gareth Epps (a member of Reading Liberal Democrats) says, “Those who saw this film at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton say it is uncompromising and terrifying. Liberal Democrats have been campaigning on the environment since the party was formed more than 20 years ago. Despite the weight of scientific evidence about the disastrous effects of global warming, nowhere near enough has been done to stop the damage to our environment.

“We all have to play our part and must act now. We are putting on this film to get publicity for this issue because we believe it is the most important thing facing us.

“We must keep trying to get world governments to listen, but we can also take individual action. We are inviting everyone to come and see “An Inconvenient Truth” and join the campaign to help save the planet.”

To apply for a ticket please email Reading Liberal Democrat Cinema Club.

A donation of £5 – £8 will help offset the price of the screening.

Preserving Liberal Democracy, community cohesion and dealing with a suicide bombers’ cell in your constituency …..

How can we retain our freedoms and our security?

Speaker:

Greg Mulholland MP
(Lib Dem, Leeds North West)

Monday 20 November, 8pm onwards.

RISC Global Café, 35-39 London Street, Reading.

No charge for admission but donations welcome to cover costs.

Cash bar available.

All Greater Reading Liberal Democrats are cordially invited to the annual General Meeting of the Greater Reading Liberal Democrats, which will take place on Thursday 30th November 2006 at 8:00pm at the RISC Global Café, 35-39 London Street, Reading.

Member’s invitation and information pack will arrive in the post shortly.

Please phone the Secretary on 0118 9545223 if you have not received yours by the 17th November.

Amongst other things, the AGM will need to elect the Chair and officers who will form the Committee for 2007 as well as Federal & Regional conference representatives.

Please Note…

The date and venue on the invitation letter and on this website is the correct one, the information on the agenda is NOT

Dramatic new figures revealed by the Liberal Democrats show that Reading is doing better than the country as a whole in keeping down emissions of the gases that cause climate change, but is still emitting over 3 times as much carbon dioxide as the global average.

As part of the Liberal Democrat campaign for a green tax switch – taxing pollution not people – Ricky Duveen (Vice Chair and candidate for Tilehurst Ward) has published figures showing the carbon emissions per head of population in the borough, and how this compares to the national and global averages.

Ricky said:

“With a population of 144,000, Reading is emitting 1.1million tonnes of carbon each year on the latest official figures. This puts us at 7.7 tonnes of carbon per person per year, 17 per cent less than the UK average of 9.3 tonnes per person, but still far higher than the global average of around 2.5 tonnes per person.

“This is a creditable record, but we need to go further to get down to a sustainable level that will stop climate chaos, rising sea levels and storms.

The good news is that the technology is already there to do so by shifting to low carbon cars, saving energy in the home, and cutting down oil and gas at work.

The Green Tax Switch stall run in Broad Street on Saturday 28 October and leaflets distributed across the area will be offering practical advice on how to make simple lifestyle changes that will not only help to save the planet, but will also save the people of Reading money.

Through simple things like turning down the thermostat, using energy saving light bulbs and not leaving appliances on standby we can all help to save the environment and cut our energy bills. I urge everybody to make at least one commitment to energy saving today.

Unlike Labour and the Conservatives, Menzies Campbell’s Liberal Democrats have a firm plan to tackle climate chaos.

The Lib Dems will CUT income tax and switch to green taxes on pollution instead. Then the more you choose to switch to greener living the more money you will save.

LibDem Councillors Bob Green, Annette Hendry & Daisy Benson with Tilehurst candidate Ricky Duveen and the chairs of the Caversham & Central Branches, Vera Bodman & Gareth Epps at the Green Tax Switch stand in Broad Street today.

Remember unlike Labour and the Conservatives the LibDems have always considered the environment and not just when it suited them to do so as a political expedient. For more on the LibDem stance on the environment go to LibDems on the Environment where there is plenty of information (and even a downloadable screen saver).

The campaigning for the by-election called for 16th November 2006 in Tilehurst, occasioned by Jude Fry’s resignation to live in Switzerland, is hotting up.

The Liberal Democrat Prospective Candidate for Tilehurst & Vice Chair of the Greater Reading Liberal Democrats, Ricky Duveen, has been on the campaign trail all this month. Ricky asks that anyone who feels they would like to help give him a call on 0118 961 4027.

Councillor Jude Fry has resigned from her position as a Reading Borough Councillor for Tilehurst Ward because her husband’s job has recently been transferred to Switzerland.

Jude said “It came as a complete shock to my husband and I when he was told that he had to relocate to Switzerland or lose his job. With our second child due at the end of November, my husband didn’t fancy the prospect of redundancy and so, after a lot of discussion between us, we decided to make the move”. Jude continued “I have really enjoyed my time as a Tilehurst Ward Councillor and am very sad to be leaving Reading after living here for 10 years but I hope everyone will appreciate that my husband and I are doing what we think will be best for our family.” Jude went on further to add “Although I could technically have stayed on as a Councillor by flying back to attend one meeting every 6 months, I don’t feel that would be fair to the residents of Tilehurst, who have shown so much support for me by electing me 3 times in as many years.”

By-Election

Councillor Fry’s resignation means that there will be a by-election in Tilehurst Ward and the Tilehurst Liberal Democrats have chosen long-time local resident and campaigner, Ricky Duveen, as their candidate. Jude said “I have known and liked Ricky for a long time and I think he is an excellent candidate. He has my full support and I hope the people of Tilehurst will show him as much kindness and support as they did for me by electing him as their Councillor in the by-election.”

Tilehurst has had Liberal Councillors for more than 40 years, since Jim Day (ex-mayor and freeman of Reading) was first elected in 1962 and Ricky Duveen hopes to be able to continue the tradition. Ricky commented that “Jude has been a first-rate councillor for the people of Tilehurst, tackling local issues on behalf of residents, and we are all sorry that she is leaving. Jude has also been an enthusiastic campaigner with the Lib Dems in Reading. We want to thank her for all her efforts and wish her, and her family, all the best for the future.”

Editor’s note:-

Councillor Jude Fry, 31-years old, has been a Liberal Democrat Councillor for Tilehurst Ward since 2003. Married with one 2 1/2 year old child, she is expecting her second child at the end of November. Jude was the Reading Liberal Democrats’ Council spokesperson on Transport and was also a member of the Licensing Committee. We wish her well in her family move to Switzerland and send our thanks for all her hard work and devotion to Tilehurst and the Liberal Democrat ethos over the past 3 years.