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.

In our survey last year, 76% of you opposed plans to build 850 homes, plus a shopping precinct and school, on the Masons Field greenspace north of Farm Way, between Little Bushey Lane and Royal Connaught Park. The scheme - dubbed 'Compass Park' - would create a whole new miniature town in a previously unspoiled corner of Bushey.

In the last few days we've visited and reported seven fly-tipping sites in and around Bushey. Two are on Berry Grove Lane and three are off the A41. Another is in Hillfeld Lane South. Our thanks to residents who've helped with this work. We've told council officers about each site, and hopefully they will clear the waste as soon as resources allow.Several of the sites are very unpleasant - with large quantities of domestic and trade waste, including household appliances, cables, bedding, and building debris, dumped among trees and vegetation. The photo above, with our campaigner Alan Matthews, was at a field off the A41.
Fly-tipping is not just unsightly but harmful for the environment and dangerous for wildlife. And it seems like it's currently on the rise in Bushey.

Liberal Democrat plans for free school meals for vulnerable children, investment in roads and footways, action on flooding, tree planting and mental health support in schools have all been voted down by the Conservatives at Hertfordshire County Council.

The Conservatives rejected a fully costed and deliverable plan from the opposition Liberal Democrats that would have delivered free school meals, for children in need, for the next year - while seeking government support for future years.