Hertfordshire Liberal Democrats

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Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg MP, met leaders from business, education and local government last Thursday to discuss how Hertfordshire businesses are faring as a result of the recent recession.

The meeting, which took place at West Herts College in Watford, centred around the challenges facing local businesses.

The Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), a new business-led partnership responsible for growing the local economy, was represented at the meeting by its Chair, John Gourd, of Johnson Matthey, its two most recent recruits, Peter O'Gorman of Santander Corporate Banking and Andrew Percival of VINCI plc and fellow LEP Board Member, Dan Dark of Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden.

John Gourd said: "This was an excellent opportunity to discuss with Nick Clegg how well the public and private sectors are working together in Hertfordshire to make a positive difference to businesses and residents alike across the county, such as recent joint efforts to secure government backing for the delivery of the Croxley Rail link.

"The Deputy Prime Minister recognises that local businesses are vital to our economic prosperity and that it is crucial that the Government engages with them and listens to their concerns.

"Now that the Hertfordshire LEP has its full Board in place we can forge ahead with our plans to promote growth in the county, which include bringing superfast broadband to Hertfordshire and improving infrastructure."

Dorothy Thornhill, Elected Mayor of Watford, who hosted the meeting, said: "I was delighted to facilitate a roundtable between the Deputy Prime Minister and key local businesses. It is fundamentally important that our political leaders are given the opportunity to appreciate the reality of how the wider economic downturn has affected businesses. Nick was glad to hear its not all bad news!"

Herts Tories and the Council Planning Department were in utter confusion following the farce over Southfields school last week.

At the start of the Development Control meeting to consider allowing the school to be moved to allow the incinerator to be built at New Barnfield, local LibDem councillor Chris Brazier (the Colneys) moved it be delayed until the siting of the incinerator was decided. The Tories threw this out and voted through the £5.9m move, branded 'poor value for money' by the council's own officers.

School allocations for 2012/13, announced yesterday (1st March) by the County Council, have received a "B-" from the local Liberal Democrats, who have highlighted a range of problems which the statistics reveal.

Although the overall rate of "Ranked Allocations" - instances where a child from Hertfordshire was allocated a place in their 1st,2nd or 3rd choice school - is at a respectable 94.7%, that figure drops to 80.6% once children from outside the County are included. It also marks a 1% drop from the 95.7% rate last year; 154 fewer children than last year got into their first preference school.

The lights in the District have already started to go out at midnight.

This list was last updated on the 9 March 2012. With the large number of lights being changed there will be some changes!

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Andrew Duff MEP, who represents the East of England in the European Parliament, is supporting a campaign to improve business conditions and opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the East of England and across the EU. Currently:

• Europe's approximately 23 million SMEs make up to 99% of all businesses and provide two thirds of all jobs in the private sector.
• More than half of the value creation of European companies is attributed to SMEs.
• A study presented by the European Commission in January revealed that six in ten new jobs are created by small enterprises.

Hertfordshire Lib Dems have been puzzled by the silence from the County Council's communications department after permission to make a major planning decision - whether to move Southfields School - was taken away from the council by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) on Tuesday. The school is next to New Barnfield, the site of the proposed incinerator in Welwyn Hatfield, and any delay in the move of the school is likely to delay approval of the incinerator being built there.

MEPs today voted for new rules which will further reduce the cost of mobile phone calls whilst abroad. The rules also impose a cap on the cost of data roaming for the first time.

Eastof England Lib Dem MEP Andrew Duff was among those who voted in favour of the new price caps, which will replace existing limits when they expire in June.

Reacting to the decision of the General Affairs Council today (Tuesday), UEF President Andrew Duff MEP welcomed the progress made with regard to Serbia and Kosovo.

"The Council is right to encourage Serbia's candidacy for full membership of the European Union. Serbia is the key player in the Western Balkans and has the necessary state capacity to cope with the demands of belonging to the EU. Now we will see whether it has the political will to continue to work towards meeting in full the membership criteria, which include good relations with all its neighbours.

"Kosovo is also deserving of a Stabilisation and Association Agreement, and it is encouraging that none of the five EU states who, for their own domestic reasons still refuse to recognise the independence of Kosovo, have blocked the Commission's mandate to launch a feasibility study.

"Despite appearances, Europe continues!"

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