When the National Liberal Party was formed its’ first action was to take part in a by-election in Havering, Essex*. The candidate was one of the founding members David Durant who was running a local campaign to turn a green space in the Council ward (St. Andrews) into a Village Green. This space had recently come under threat of development (12 storey flats) but locals had successfully prevented the Conservative Council from implementing their plans. The Village Green application would have protected the land from being developed for ever (beyond an Act of Parliament!). The application has not been processed by the Council for fear of losing but because it is still ‘live’ no development can ever be actioned until it is.

David is now an elected councillor in a different ward. The mantle of representative for the area has fallen to Mr. Graham Littlechild. His campaigning interests are the (poor) state of the roads and local police cover. He has produced the NLP’s ward latest newsletter ‘St. Andrew’s Voice’ on these issues but includes a message from David urging locals to be vigilant in protecting our green spaces. If you would like a copy of this newsletter please e-mail head office at natliberal@aol.com. If you are interested in producing your own local newsletter let us know too!

* The result was Conservative 1828, Havering Residents Ass. 310, Labour 210, National Liberal Party 170 (6.4%), UKIP 134