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