On May 6th 2021, there are elections across the UK for councils, Mayors, and devolved parliaments. It's the biggest ever single day of polling outside a general election. And here's what's happening in Hertsmere.
We will be electing councillors to represent the borough's residents on Hertfordshire County Council. For this purpose, the borough is divided into seven local areas, each of which elects one councillor. Hertsmere Lib Dems are aiming to gain seats from the Tories, who currently hold all seven. Across the county as a whole, the Lib Dems - currently the second-largest party and official opposition - are seeking to take control of the council, and make a greener, fairer, better Hertfordshire.
In Bushey we elect two county councillors, one for Bushey North where Laurence Brass is standing for the Lib Dems, and one for Bushey South where Paul Richards is the Lib Dem candidate.
We will also be electing councillors to represent Bushey North on Hertsmere Borough Council. These are by-elections to replace two individual councillors. Bushey North is already proudly represented by Lib Dem councillors, but one of the trio, Andrew Melville, is stepping aside as he's moving to Worcestershire to set up home with his partner - hence the by-election.
There is also an election for Hertfordshire's police and crime commissioner - in which all Hertsmere's registered voters can cast their ballot.
WATFORD STADIUM All Bushey's Lib Dem councillors will vote against ANY Local Plan which includes a Watford FC stadium on Bushey Hall Golf Course. By contrast, the Tories are hopelessly divided on this issue, and refuse to rule it out.
BUSHEY COUNTRY CLUB I will fight to preserve the bulk of the site as a country park - and oppose plans to bulldoze it for a huge and inappropriate school.
Bushey Liberal Democrats have been working hard with residents to oppose plans for Watford FC to move to Bushey - and specifically, to build their new stadium on Bushey Hall Golf Course.
In a new development, the course's owners - Veladail Leisure - have now formally put the site forward for potential inclusion in Hertsmere borough's local plan.
On Thursday 18th March Hertsmere Borough Council officers and elected members held a virtual session to update the local community on their plans for the former Bushey Country Club site.
Council leaders have somehow managed to devise a plan for Bushey Country Club which ignores everything residents called for - and has precious little benefit for the local community. They ran a long public consultation process but rejected its findings and imposed their own scheme anyway. They want to ruin a precious greenbelt asset by building a superfluous school; will shut the public out of half the grounds; and have dodged crucial questions about housing and open space.
