It is with great sadness that we announce the death of former Braintree and Witham, local party Chair, Gill Collings. Gill died suddenly at home on Sunday the 12th of August 2018.

Gill joined the party after her retirement. She brought with her invaluable organisational skills and quickly earned herself the affectionate title of 'Clerical Queen'. She was an indispensable part of Sir Bob Russell's 2015 and 2017 election campaigns, chaired the Stanway Parish Council and acted as regional secretary for some years.

The Liberal Democrats have pressed Essex County Council to ensure that the Council and residents are ready to deal with the impact on Essex of leaving the EU. The council has been slow to act.

Cllr John Baker (Lib Dem Councillor in eastern Colchester) asked at full council in July 2017 that main committees should have an item on their Agenda. This was agreed by the Conservative spokesperson. However, this did not happen, so Cllr Baker he chased it again.

It would appear that Essex Police are now involved in the ongoing saga of the 'temporary' traffic lights on the bridge accessing the A12 Southbound from Witham.

Commuters have had to suffer this for the last two years with ongoing failures of the lights meaning they get locked on red or turn red despite no traffic in the opposite direction. This realist in long queues and a two minute drive taking anything up to fifteen minutes.

Previous strategies used by frustrated drivers (turning the lights round) have been thwarted by the installation of CCTV but sadly Highways East did not see fit to actually fix the problem. Local Liberal Democrat campaigner, Helen Waring has taken regularly to Twitter to vent her frustration - once being assured that she would receive a response 'within 14 days' only to still be waiting over 2 months later. The Witham and Braintree Times have dedicated news inches to the problem and in the last week a Highways England van has been seen regularly on the bridge raising drivers' hopes of a solution. But sadly this Tuesday proved this was not the case as queues extended even further than normal. Twitter has informed us that Highways England are 'running a couple of logs' and 'awaiting further info from Essex Police'. All suitable fluffy with no certain end to commuter misery.

Unanimous, cross party support, was given for a motion tabled by Liberal Democrat councillor Karen Chilvers at Ordinary Council on Wednesday 27 June.

Karen, a blue badge holder herself for over two years, had become aware of widespread abuse by non-blue badge holders. So moved a motion at the ordinary council meeting to make Brentwood "zero tolerance", and to robustly enforce the law.

A proposal to commit Essex County Council to delivering genuinely affordable homes across the county was blocked yesterday by the Conservative majority. The Opposition Liberal Democrats had proposed that when the council's own land is up for sale, it should be used to deliver affordable housing and specialist housing for those with additional needs.

Proposing the motion, Lib Dem Stephen Robinson (Chelmsford North) highlighted the fact that thousands of people on average incomes in Essex cannot afford to rent or buy the home they need.

Cllr Robinson said, "Essex has a housing crisis. Not enough homes - to rent or buy - have been built for 30 years. This is a clear example of the market failing to provide what is needed, so government locally and nationally need to act. Vague aims are not enough."

Summing up on the motion, Lib Dem Leader Mike Mackrory (Chelmsford Springfield), attacked the Conservatives for - yet again - not caring about the troubles faced by young people and others on lower incomes to get a home.

Cllr Mackrory said, "The Conservative alternative plan removes any real actions. You cannot build houses with warm words. It is also essential that the council commit to delivering homes that are suitable for a whole lifetime, including when people become more frail."

Chelmsford's new Local Plan was passed by the full council last night but was attacked for being weak on infrastructure, environment, and the affordability of homes. Lib Dem Leader of the Opposition Cllr. Stephen Robinson said,

"The Liberal Democrats are clear that this country has not built enough houses for 20 or more years. And nothing like enough houses that can be afforded by younger people and others on low incomes, people who are vital to our society's future.

Walk into summer with Heart and Sole on Thursday 21 June. Meet at Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, from 6.15pm in the Lord Ashcroft building, from which the walk will leave promptly at 7pm.

Let the walk leaders guide you along the River Chelmer through Central Park and Admirals Park before heading towards Writtle and the rolling summer fields. The walk will then turn back towards the city centre and take in the manicured gardens of the Cathedral.

You can choose between 5km or 10km routes and all proceeds will go towards funding the Heart and Sole walks and chosen charities. It is only £3 to take part and children (under 14 years) can come for free. All walkers can enjoy refreshments afterwards.

Donations will be collected on the evening, but you must register for the walk in advance. To register, visit www.chelmsford.gov.uk/heartandsole and click on 'Heart and Sole events'. Payment will be taken on the evening of the walk.

Figures out today reveal that 5008 streetlights are not working in Essex, and are taking an average of 33 days to fix. The figures were uncovered by the Liberal Democrat group. Essex County Council says that the majority of the faults were related to lamps or the control systems.

Commented Essex Liberal Democrat Councillor Stephen Robinson, "It's bad enough that 75% of Essex street lights are off at night, but too many that are supposed to be on are not."