Local council all over the country have been hamstrung by Conservative Government cuts and Uttlesford is no exception. Investment to prevent climate change is an easy target and this worries us!

Ahead of the May local elections, Uttlesford Liberal Democrats will push the District Council, town councils and local parishes to:

At today's Extraordinary Full Council Meeting of Essex County Council, the first in 25 years, a motion to protect all 74 Essex libraries was voted down.

The debate was preceded by well-researched and thought-provoking questions which were asked by residents,including three people from Thaxted and Stansted, from a packed public gallery.

Three pieces of good news this week on our campaign to keep Thaxted and Stansted Libraries open in Uttlesford.

Firstly Essex CC have offered Stansted Parish Council a one year deal of half the rent they originally agreed and to fit out the new library building. It gives the Stansted community a breathing space to persuade the county council to honour their commitment to take a 10 year lease on the premises.

More than 1,000 people in Uttlesford have signed the Lib Dem petition calling for the County Council to abandon its plans to close Libraries in Essex. It was handed to Essex County Cllr. Stephen Robinson outside Saffron Walden Library by Councillors and local campaigners from Saffron Walden, Stansted and Thaxted.

Local people are firmly against the County Council's plan to close half the Libraries in Essex. On Saturday local Lib Dems collected nearly 400 signatures for their petition against the cuts.

Essex County Council was closely involved in planning the new community hub and library building in Stansted but pulled out with no warning just weeks before the lease was due to be signed. "They say the Library is underused and Stansted is not a 'deprived area' - but this was based on figures when there was a very restricted service because of the rebuilding", said Maureen Caton, Chair of Stansted Parish Council. "We have a high percentage of children on free school meals, one of the main indicators of hardship. Essex must remain involved in running the Stansted Library, (photo left shows the Stansted community lauching their Save Stansted Library campaign), so that we can continue to serve our community."

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.

Liberal Democrats in Uttlesford have welcomed a decision to fund additional Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) from the district council's budget for 2018/19. They consider it is a vindication of their campaign for more visible policing. Community Safety rated highly in the district council's public consultation for the budget year that begins in April. With rising crime rates, the Lib Dems say that the council's decision last year to budget for only two PCSOs was not enough.

Liberal Democrats in Uttlesford have accused Stansted Airport of ignoring the damage to the environment that their application to expand the use of the runway to accommodate 43m passengers per annum will cause.

"The airport already has permission for a 50% increase in the number of flights. Local residents know that a further increase in capacity at the airport will lead to more pressure on our roads especially Junction 8 on the M11, poorer air quality and noise pollution. The application doesn't sort out the night flight problem. Expansion of Stansted Airport cannot be described as environmentally sustainable," Cllr Martin Foley from Thaxted said.

Lib Dems would give Essex police force an extra £6 million a year

Liberal Democrats have announced they would boost investment in police forces by £300m a year. This is in stark contrast to the Conservatives who have overseen devastating cuts to community policing. Theresa May as Home Secretary and now Prime Minister has cut policing budgets by over £2bn, eroding the very fabric of community policing.