By Cotswolds LibDems, on May 17th, 2012 A petition calling for safer roads in Bourton on the Water was presented to Gloucestershire County Council yesterday.
 Cllr Paul Hodgkinson and Ginie Moss with the petition outside Shire Hall Two residents of Bourton – Patrick and Ginie Moss – have gathered 1100 names on the petition which calls for the installation of a 24/7 crossing facility on Station Road plus any additional safety measures.
Cllr Paul Hodgkinson (Churn Valley) accompanied Mr and Mrs Moss to the Council and asked Cabinet member Cllr Windsor Clive whether he would support the road safety initiative, “I’m baffled by your suggestion that £100,000 has been spent in Bourton in the last five years on road safety measures. Local people I’ve spoken to, including the heads of the local secondary and primary schools, don’t see improvements which could corollate with this figure.”
“Given the huge public support for a 24/7 crossing facility on Station Road and other road safety measures, can Cllr Windsor Clive please clarify precisely what this figure has been spent on and give his enthusiastic support for road safety initiatives in Bourton?”
Cllr Windsor Clive confirmed that money had been spent on a cycle pathway and lollipop lady crossing.
After the meeting, Cllr Hodgkinson and Mr and Mrs Moss all hoped that the Council would listen to the depth of public feeling and put forward some robust suggestions to promote road safety in Bourton.
By Cotswolds LibDems, on May 6th, 2012 Cirencester teenager Joe Harris, who became the country’s youngest district councillor last year, has advanced his political career with a place in the Liberal Democrat shadow cabinet on Cotswold District Council.
 Cllr Joe Harris on a recent BBC Sunday Politics in the West Cllr Harris, now 19, will lead opposition group policy on housing and communities in the new body set up by opposition group leader, Cllr Paul Hodgkinson.
The eight-strong strong shadow cabinet has received formal recognition from the council and will mirror the posts of the controlling Conservative Cabinet.
Cllr Hodgkinson (Churn Valley) said recent criticism of CDC had prompted the move. He explained: “’The Council’s administration has become disconnected from many residents in the Cotswolds.
“People have told me they want a professional opposition which holds the administration to account, questions and challenges where we feel their money isn’t being spent wisely.
“That is precisely what we have been doing and now we have formalised this by launching a Shadow Cabinet which is recognised by the Council. We will support where it is right to do so, but will be robust in pointing out where we feel the administration has got it wrong.”
Cllr Hodgkinson added: “I’m delighted that 7 of my colleagues are joining me in our alternative Cabinet which reflects the diversity of the district – the youngest is 19 and the oldest 78. We have a businessman, a student, a working mum and an anti-corruption campaigner. It can only do the Council good.”
Cllr Esmond Jenkins (Water Park), who has campaigned for more transparency over wrongdoing in the Cotswold Water Park, has now had that position formalised with special responsibility for the park.
Cllr Hodgkinson assumes the role of Shadow Leader while the deputy group leader, Cllr Deryck Nash, takes over responsibility for corporate resources.
Other shadow roles include: Cllr Lee Searles, Planning and Forward Planning plus car parking enforcement; Cllr Jenny Hincks, Customer Services – Leisure/Arts, Museums, Front of House, Sport/Enterprise; Cllr John Hughes, Environment; Cllr Juliet Layton, Support Services.
Cllr Harris said: “I am delighted that the opposition leader has put his faith in my abilities and I intend to go on working hard for the people of the Cotswolds who have suffered for too long from poor housing policy and a lack of affordable homes.
“We will be putting forward proposals over the next few months to help working families in the district which we hope will be taken seriously by the controlling group.”
By Cotswolds LibDems, on May 5th, 2012 Yesterday’s local election results in the Cotswolds again proved that locally the Liberal Democrats are making big headway.
In contrast to some other areas of the country, Cotswolds Liberal Democrats achieved two big swings from the Conservatives in the Wotton Under Edge and Kingswood seats of Stroud District Council.
Cllr June Cordwell (Wotton) defied the national picture by holding onto her seat with an increased majority of 464 whilst Cllr Paul Hemming (Kingswood) achieved a 27% swing from the Tories.
The full results are:
Kingswood
Paul Hemming (LD) 332
Henry Carr (Con) 150
Joan Moore (Lab) 65
Swing Con to LD – 27%
Wotton Under Edge
June Cordwell (LD) – 1007
Richard Williams (Con) – 543
Charles Burling (Lab) – 413
Swing Con to LD – 12.5%
By Cotswolds LibDems, on May 3rd, 2012 A young campaigner angered by complacency and a severe lack of democratic accountability at Cotswold District Council has been chosen by the Liberal Democrats to fight a by election in the Fosseridge Ward.
Danny Loveridge
The by election has been called for 31 May and is a result of the previous Conservative councillor stepping down from the Council after just 11 months in the role.
Danny Loveridge, 20 years old and living in the North Cotswolds, will be the Liberal Democrat candidate, “I was born in this area and have lived here all my life. I feel a deep connection to the people and places of the Cotswolds who I strongly believe have helped define me as an individual. I’ve decided to make a stand because I – like many others I’ve spoken to – feel disconnected from decisions made in Cirencester. I want to give our area a real . . . → Read More: Young campaigner chosen to fight by election
By Cotswolds LibDems, on April 20th, 2012 Cotswolds Conservatives have just received the dubious honour of being mentioned a remarkable 30 times in Private Eye’s ‘Rotten Boroughs’ column.
The satirical magazine has included Conservative-run Cotswold District Council and Gloucestershire County Council in its infamous local government column since August 2010. Many of the features have centred around the Cotswold Water Park scandal, but not exclusively.
Cllr Paul Hodgkinson (Churn Valley), Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on CDC, says that the coverage has been eye opening, “To feature once in Rotten Boroughs may be regarded as an accident, twice a mistake, but 30 times is quite incredible. Regular readers of Private Eye have told me they’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“What has been perceived as a genteel rural area has been transformed into a highly controversial district and the coverage has become a talking point both locally and nationally.”
“The endless features have been . . . → Read More: Cotswolds chalks up 30th mention in ‘Rotten Boroughs’
By Cotswolds LibDems, on April 12th, 2012 Response from Cllr Paul Hodgkinson, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Cotswold District Council, to the statement by Cllr Lynden Stowe relating to his business interests in the Cotswold Water Park:
Cllr Paul Hodgkinson
“For two years, Cotswold Liberal Democrats have been asking Cllr Stowe to reveal publicly the amount of money his companies have received from the Cotswold Water Park Society.
Having carefully studied the statement from Cllr Stowe we have been forced to reject it as an incomplete account of his business dealings in the Cotswold Water Park.
In particular, we had asked him to provide full details of his business dealings with the Cotswold Water Park Society at the time Dennis Grant controlled that organisation.
We regret that Cllr Stowe has, instead, chosen to disclose financial details relating to the two most recent financial years, 2010-11 and 2011-12.
This is totally unsatisfactory because Grant was . . . → Read More: Statement from Cllr Paul Hodgkinson in relation to Council Leader’s business dealings
By Cotswolds LibDems, on April 5th, 2012 Gloucestershire County Council has formally apologised to Cllr Esmond Jenkins for failing to take his campaign against wrongdoing in the Cotswold Water Park seriously enough.
Cllr Esmond Jenkins
GCC leader, Cllr Mark Hawthorne, has confessed in a surprisingly frank letter to Cllr Jenkins that the Council had been wrong to dismiss his concerns over the sale of Keynes Country Park to a developer and pledged to “do better in future.”
The apology follows criticism in a recent report by local government expert, Professor Graham Garbutt, of a culture at Shire Hall that prevented thorough investigation of complaints by Cllr Jenkins who represents the Water Park on Cotswold District Council.
Cllr Jenkins claims he hit a brick wall of denial when he led local opposition to the transfer of GCC-owned KCP to holiday home developers, The Watermark Group. His investigations later helped jail Dennis Grant, Chief Executive of Cotswold Water . . . → Read More: County Council apologises to Water Park councillor
By Cotswolds LibDems, on April 2nd, 2012 Today – Monday 2 April 2012 – the £1bn Youth Contract will start. The Youth Contract was announced last year by Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg to tackle youth unemployment.
Cllr Joe Harris as featured on BBC1's Sunday Politics discussing what its like to be a young councillor
The Youth Contract aims to ensure that all jobless young people are earning or learning again before long-term damage is done.
In the Cotswolds 225 18 to 24-year olds are currently in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance and would stand to benefit from the Youth Contract.
The Youth Contract will provide at least 410,000 new work places for 18 to 24-year olds into work over the next three years. This includes 160,000 wage subsidies and 250,000 new work experience placements.
A new programme will help 16 and 17-year olds who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs).
. . . → Read More: Tacking youth unemployment in the Cotswolds
By Cotswolds LibDems, on March 29th, 2012 There’s good news on the recycling front this week with the announcement that the Cotswold Lib Dem campaign to bring plastics recycling to the kerbside has been successful.
Cllr John Hughes (left) and Cllr Paul Hodgkinson welcome the new plastics recycling service which has just been announced
The five year campaign focused on how other councils had introduced a recycling service for plastics yet in the Cotswolds we lagged behind.
Now, Cotswold District Council has announced that a recycling service for hard plastics will be launched from the autumn.
Liberal Democrat Group leader, Cllr Paul Hodgkinson (Churn Valley) said: “We’re delighted that the Council will be bringing in this service which people want – it is the best possible outcome for the environment.”
“When we launched a petition accompanied by road shows around the Cotswolds four years ago, the resounding answer from local people was that they wanted this . . . → Read More: Plastic fantastic
By Cotswolds LibDems, on March 22nd, 2012 Yesterday’s national Budget has been welcomed by both families and businesses in the Cotswolds.
Cllr Paul Hodgkinson (Churn Valley), Leader of the Lib Dem Group on Cotswold District Council, hailed the announcements made in Parliament as ‘a budget for the millions not for the millionaires, a Budget for many not the few.’
Commenting on the details announced by the Coalition Government, Cllr Hodgkinson said, “The biggest move in this Budget is a tax cut for ordinary workers, going further and faster towards the Liberal Democrat goal of making the first ten thousand pounds you earn tax-free. Thanks to Liberal Democrats, people working full time on the minimum wage, will have seen their income tax bill cut in half.”
“The Chancellor has cut the 50p rate to 45p, but Liberal Democrats have ensured that the richest will be hit with tax rises five times as large in exchange. Liberal Democrats . . . → Read More: Budget helps Cotswold families and businesses
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