Drowning in Plastic
The Liberal Party and later the Lib Dems, have always championed the environment, unlike the other major parties, who lay claim to be recent converts but whose policies do not reflect their words. Join us in our campaign to stop the planet from drowning in plastic!
The amount of plastic we use and then dump has been in the news lately. It has been revealed that many types of plastic and other materials that are laminated, cannot be re-cycled and end up in landfill, or worse, in the oceans.
Supermarket packaging is a major source but many everyday products have changed over to plastic in recent years. Newspaper supplements and magazines through the post are usually wrapped in plastic (even the National Trust's, which should know better!). Pet food now comes in sachets rather than recyclable cans. Cereals come in plastic inside the cardboard box instead of paper. Notably, Weetabix has returned to paper after a spell using plastic. Tetra Packs (which orange juice comes in) aren't recyclable locally. The list goes on.
The imposition of a 5p charge on plastic "one use" shopping bags has led to a brilliant 80% reduction in their use. However even buying loose vegetables and fruit in a supermarket leads to putting it in plastic bags to weigh them.
Shopping locally can certainly reduce the amount of plastic we use. Use the local milkman - you can still get milk in glass bottles which are washed and re-used rather than in throw away plastic bottles. We need to apply pressure to local and national retailers to reduce the plastic in our packaging. Or at least use plastic we can re-cycle .
Local Election Results May 2023
A spectacular set of elections both nationally and locally here in Newark and Sherwood!
Overall Lib Dem gains were 405 nationally, which posed a problem for Sky News, whose swingometer apparently was not able to contemplate a set of gains of this magnitude. We exceeded 'Exceeded Expectations'!
Our local gains at the district level saw the addition of our third District Councillor with the victory of Keith Melton in Trent Ward. We also kept 2 of 3 councillors for Southwell, now Karen Roberts and Peter Harris. We were encouraged to see the increase in our share of votes in other seats where we were able to field candidtes. Congratulations to everyone.
We had a very good performance in Southwell Town Council, gaining 10 of the 14 seats for which there were candidates, with 6 of these won in elections and 4 being uncontested. Two Conservatives, one Labour candidate and one Independent were also successful. One place on the council remains to be appointed to.
The Conservatives had a terrible set of district and parish elections, losing about half of their district councillors and many PCs. The final DC result was Conservative 14, Labour 11, Independents 11 (8 for Independents for Newark and 3 for other Independents) and Lib Dems 3. Discussions will take place for some time on the composition of the new administration, which is unlikely to include Conservatives for the first time since 2007.
On behalf of the executive, we are extremely grateful to everyone who stood as candidates, as well as everyone who performed the various roles which were necessary for the campaigns. We are a small party and many of you worked very hard.
We are very grateful for their past work to councillors who have stood down at this election, including Peter Scorer and Stuart Thompstone. Malcolm Brock has stood down from the District, though continues to serve on Southwell TC.
We welcome new members to the party, who were motivated by this campaign. This phenomenon was particularly marked in Trent Ward. Upton support has to be singled out, evidenced for anyone who drove through, by the huge number of LD stakeboards and posters.
Philip Barron
Chair, Newark Liberal Democrats
7 May 2023