The Local Elections on Thursday saw the by-elections of two seats on Luton Borough Council being contested.

Following a strong campaign in unprecedented and challenging circumstances, we are delighted to have won the by-election for Round Green, with Steve Moore being elected as Councillor.

Huge congratulations to Steve and thank you to the Lib Dem Focus campaign team and most importantly to the voters of Round Green Ward.

Round Green Ward By-Election Result – Lib Dem GAIN from Labour

Cllr Steve Moore released a statement via his Twitter account:
“Would like to thank everyone at @LutonLibDems who helped my campaign and win another seat on @lutoncouncil As always for us @LibDems. The hard work starts now to work for the residents of Round Green and Luton as a whole.”

From a standing start, our candidate for the High Town Ward By-Election, Nigel Marshall, achieved a creditable 202 votes in a Labour stronghold ward.

High Town Ward By-Election Result – Labour HOLD

Media Reports:

https://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/politics/lib-dems-gains-a-seat-from-labour-in-luton-local-by-elections-3228534

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-57024243?fbclid=IwAR1QQGbP0zvnPvCDoFWrEDddHr4EP9FZufIHhhE5zBSuaHOKI7A8FM2cbEE

We are delighted to announce that Liberal Democrat Membership Officer Nigel Marshall will be standing in High Town on May 6th in the local council elections.

The Liberal Democrats continue to build on their excellent reputation of campaigning on local issues all year round and not just turning up at election time.

With the increasing unpopularity of the Labour led Council continuing to make decisions that go against the wishes of many Lutonians it is crucial that we elect more Liberal Democrats to the leading Opposition Group on the council. Nigel’s campaign in High Town will focus on:

We are delighted to announce that Focus editor Steve Moore will be standing for the Luton Liberal Democrats in the Round Green local by election on May 6th.

The Liberal Democrats have built an excellent reputation for campaigning on local issues all year round, not just turning up at election time. With the increasing unpopularity of the Labour led Council making decisions that fly in the face of local residents, it’s crucial that we elect another strong voice to the leading Opposition Group on the Council.

Steve’s campaign, amongst other things, will focus on:

1.Protecting our parks and green spaces from further Council led development.

2.Opposing the building of single bedroom flats in the town centre in favour of more family friendly housing.

3. Controlling local pollution, tackling congestion and the lack of good local transport.

4.Improving local street cleaning and controlling fly tipping.

5. Improving facilities for local residents and their families.

If you are able to support our local election campaign in anyway and would like to get involved with the Luton Liberal Democrat group or would like to get contact us please e-mail enquiry@lutonlibdems.org.uk and we will happily respond to you.

“Luton should follow Liverpool’s lead, there can’t be a town anywhere in Britain more in need of protection for its parks and green open spaces.”

Liberal Democrat leader, Cllr. David Franks

Following the news that Liverpool City Council has partnered with the national charity Fields in Trust to protect the city’s parks and green open spaces Liberal Democrat Councillors have asked for a full report on the agreement to be made to Luton Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Board.

“It looks like a really trailblazing initiative by this respected National Charity and Liverpool’s Council has seized the opportunity to be the first to take up the challenge,” says Cllr. David Franks, Liberal Democrat leader of the opposition on the Council.

“Luton should follow Liverpool’s lead, there can’t be a town anywhere in Britain more in need of protection for its parks and green open spaces. Luton now has a serious chance to put together a partnership deal which will make a difference for future generations. It would be crazy to ignore the possibilities of a partnership arrangement. We have to find out a lot more about how it works.”

In an email to the Council’s Democracy Department the Liberal Democrats have asked for a full report on the details of the deal and any costs involved. Fields in Trust is a long-standing national charity which used to be known as the National Playing Fields Association.

Labour Councillors demand debate must be in secret

“What are they trying to cover up, what are they hiding from Luton residents?“

Liberal Democrat Leader, Cllr David Franks

The arguments on Luton Council over the decision to refuse the football club a lease on land at Cutenhoe Road continued in secret at a meeting of the Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Board on Monday (8^th February). Liberal Democrat Councillors proposed that the discussions should be in public but the Labour majority on the board squashed the move.

“If the meeting had been in public we would have proposed that lease negotiations should proceed including payment of a commercial rent; football club responsibility for maintenance of the playing field; a free of charge shared use agreement with the local schools and the Council’s right to take the land back for educational use with 12 months notice,” says Liberal Democrat leader Cllr. David Franks.

“The Town Hall lawyers agreed with us, there was no legal reason to justify the final recommendation being decided in secret but Labour used their majority to make the whole meeting secret.”

“What are they trying to cover up, what are they hiding from Luton residents? They are so determined to keep the issue under a cloak of secrecy there must be something they don’t want people to know. Taxpayers are entitled to know what their Council is doing with their money and their assets and why.”