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."

A proposal for an urgent review into Essex County Council's criteria for repairing potholes was rejected out of hand by the Conservative administration today. At a meeting of the Full Council today (15 May 2018), a motion was proposed by the Liberal Democrats.

The Lib Dem motion was calling for an urgent review of:

Something is wrong at the heart of Uttlesford District Council as it struggles to complete two major exercises that are important not only for this district.

The first is a critically important Local Plan for the future of the district. If UDC does not publish an updated plan in June, local control over planning may be lost to faceless bureaucrats sent in by the Westminster government. That would have enormous consequences by way of another planning free-for-all for developers in all our towns and villages.

At the local elections on Thursday Janet Whitehouse was re-elected in the Epping Hemnall with a majority of 602 votes.

Elsewhere in the district the Liberal Democrats won second places in Buckhurst Hill West (Joseph Barkham) Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash (Pesh Kapasiawala), Epping Lindsey and Thornwood Common (Cherry McCredie), North Weald Bassett(Ingrid Black) and Theydon Bois (Clive Amos), with Joseph and Cherry both more than doubling the vote from 2016.

Southend Is a Borough under pressure and within the Borough there are particular pressure points in terms of development, infrastructure, services, regeneration and the economy.

The Liberal Democrats are the party of community and pride themselves on working locally for local people and working with and for them to achieve their aspirations for the future and thus enhancing the wellbeing of all communities within the Borough.

Ingrid has lived in the district for over 30 years and brought up her family here. She is a part-time primary school teacher and has taught in several schools in the area. She was a school governor of Epping St John's C of E School and was part of the team that oversaw the move into its new building and the creation of the sixth form. She is a volunteer at the Epping Forest Foodbank and a member of a local church.

Tim Vaughan is the Liberal Democrat candidate for Waltham Abbey Honey Lane.

Tim has been a resident of Waltham Abbey for eight years, and currently chairs the local branch of the Liberal Democrats, of which he has been a member for over fifteen years. Tim strongly supports Liberal Democrats' policies on protecting and promoting our health and education services, as well as social care in the community.

In November 2017 Sajid Javid, the Conservative Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, wrote to Cllr McKinlay, leader of the Conservative dominated council, threatening to intervene in the process and take over responsibility of writing the Local Plan. Certainly an embarrassing development for Brentwood and a move that would be disastrous for local people.

Parking is banned on Chelmer Valley Road as from tomorrow (30th March 2018). Lib Dem County Councillors Stephen Robinson and Mike Mackrory represent the area that it runs through and have been lobbying for a long time for action. Every day people take their life in their hands and brake sharply to go up the kerb onto the grass verges.