Tree planting in Dorchester

Sue Farrant supports Dorchester and Weymouth Greenpeace as they plant a Cox’s Orange Pippin alongside the allotments at Riverside Walk. The Dorchester tree is twinned with one at Sipson, birthplace of the Cox’s Orange Pippin and now the proposed site for the Heathrow third runway. Sue has become one of 60,000 beneficial owners of ‘Airplot’ a parcel of land at Sipson ow planted with trees as a symbol of opposition to the runway.

Local campaigners highlight their access issue to Dr Sue Farrant

Dr Sue Farrant, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for West Dorset, visited Poundbury and Maiden Castle at the invitation of the Poundbury Rural Access Campaign headed by Peter Evans. Mr Evans explained that the Duchy of Cornwall’s plans for the further development of Poundbury did not include the rural access to Maiden Castle under the Dorchester bypass envisaged in the 2006 Poundbury Development Brief. Instead the Duchy were proposing a convoluted route alongside the bypass to an existing footpath to the north west of Maiden Castle or funnelling residents along the inside of the bypass to Maiden Castle Road.

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Dorchester's New Chairman David Taylor

Dear all Lib Democrat Supporters’

Well, a Happy New Year and decade – this looks to be a good time for us all.

This news letter is by way of introducing myself, David Taylor, as your new chairman for the Liberal Democrats Group  for Dorchester and surrounding areas.

I was born in Sherborne, Dorset and now live and work in Dorchester.

My main objective is to rally and steer all  our teams and colleagues together  so that we can collectively get Dr Sue Farrant elected as our MP for West Dorset into Parliament at the next general election.

A key date for our diaries is Saturday Jan 23rd when we’re meeting in the morning to discuss “How to Win the General Election” and in the afternoon we’ll be undertaking residents surveys all across the town.

Recently I went into the Tom Browns pub and asked the Landlord Jamie Pinnow, if he would mind if we could meet up on the first Wednesday  of each month so we  could have a social chat be it very informal.  He was delighted and hence our great saying “we birds of a feather can now flock together” first meeting  Wed 3^rd Feb @ 7.00pm all welcome I will be there.

If anyone would like to contact me by E-Mail the address is

david@dorchester63.freeserve.co.uk

And my home address is 4 Normandy Way, Dorchester, DT1 2PP

Tel 01305 263382

Once again Happy New Year 2010.

Regards David Taylor

Dorchester Skatepark

Supporting and working with Dorchester’s young people has been a major priority of local Lib Dem Councillors in recent years. This year has seen the culmination of several projects including:

• the Skate Park, which seems to have been used virtually 24 hours a day every day of the week since it opened!;
• new Youth Shelters at Kings Road playing fields and on the Great Field at Poundbury;
• extended hard surface for basketball and football also at Kings Road and;
• new play equipment for disabled children at Sandringham.

In addition a new climbing/activity centre for teenagers has been ordered for Kings Road. Plans are also well advanced for hard surface basketball and football on the Great Field together with a circuit for BMX bikers.

Lib Dem campaigners Sue Farrant, Cllr Tim Harries, Cllr Robin Potter and Cllr Susie Hosford at the Charles Street site.

At West Dorset’s Council meeting on 16 July, the Conservatives over-rode Liberal Democrat objections and agreed to spend more than £12 million on new offices in Charles Street, Dorchester. Dr Sue Farrant, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for West Dorset believes that the public should be asked for their opinion on the whole idea.

“The Conservatives have never asked the people of West Dorset if they want millions of pounds of their hard-earned money to be used on building new District Council offices. It’s not too late for the Council to pause and give the public time to have their say, but they are refusing. I’m calling on every council tax payer in West Dorset to contact us and tell us what you think.”

You can contact the Liberal Democrat team on 01935 815947 or email Sue directly.

Cllr Richard Biggs

Cllr Trevor Jones

Cllr Karl Wallace

West Dorset’s Liberal Democrats are celebrating after the County Council election results. In many other places, including neighbouring Devon, Cornwall and Hampshire, the Conservatives have gained from the volatile national situation and the collapse of the Labour party. Here West Dorset we have won three County Council seats and made the Conservatives fight hard for every vote in the other divisions.

We have strengthened our position and are ready for the general election campaign that must come within the next eleven months.

Congratulations to:

• Councillor Richard Biggs and Councillor Trevor Jones who beat off stiff opposition to retain their Dorchester seats
• Councillor Karl Wallace who won Bridport from the Conservatives in a tremendous victory.

The full results are available at the Dorset County Council web site.

Trevor Jones in a typical town path

“This is a quote from a Liberal Democrat Peer speaking this spring in the House of Lords”, explained Dorchester Councillor Trevor Jones. “He was talking about a Government project called Lost Ways which was meant to identify footpaths across England in both town and country not yet registered as rights of way. Believe it or not £4.5 million was spent in just two counties in the last few years and yet no additional paths were registered at all! So the project has now been abandoned.”

“Unless old paths are registered people will lose the right to use them in under twenty years time. A typical town path is pictured to the right and of course there are scores of them across West Dorset. Lib Dem controlled Dorchester Town Council tried to make a start on the registration procedure a couple of years ago but found the procedures hideously complicated and very expensive, so they took the matter up in the Lords to try to get legislation changed.”

“The Government do now seem to recognise that there is a real problem and have committed to discussing with experts what should be done,” concluded Cllr. Jones. “Certainly if nothing is done there’s going to be uproar in due course as the public are refused the right to use paths they have walked for generations.”

Borough Gardens renovations nearing completion

“The new play area opened last half term and has already proved to be very popular,” he added. “There is still a bit more work to do but all of this should be finished soon. Patrick Walsh of Thomas Hardye School has won the competition to design a piece of sculpture for the plinth by the Bowling Green and his piece will be worked up as soon as possible.”

The Gardens will be officially re-opened at an event on May Day Bank Holiday. Weekend ‘Music in the Gardens’ will resume later this year.

Poundbury office development under construction

“It is extremely good news that we are attracting new jobs to West Dorset,” says Dorchester Councillor Andy Canning. “The Duchy deserves praise for what it has achieved but West Dorset District Council needs to do more to make sure that the whole district attracts new employers – not just Poundbury.”

Local Lib Dems want to see the Council take a far more active role in promoting the unique attractions of re-locating to West Dorset such as the quality of life, the Heritage Coast, our beautiful environment and our rich history and culture.

We also need to do more to support existing local businesses with advice, good quality premises and low rents where necessary. We want to see particular support provided to sustainable industry such as local & organic food producers and rural crafts.

Richard Biggs and Molly Rennie are concerned about a number of aspects of the County Council’s proposals to introduce charges for on-street car parking.

“The County must ensure that local businesses are fully consulted about this proposal. Customers must not be driven away from local shops as a result of this charge,” said Richard. “I would like to see the County looking at introducing a refund scheme with small shops similar to that operated by Somerfield,” added Molly. “We must also make sure that the design of any parking machines is of a high quality and blends into the Conservation area.”