Hitchin and Harpenden Liberal Democrats

Local voters will go to the polls on May 2 to elect their county councillors.

All 77 seats across the county are up, with eight of those across the constituency of Hitchin & Harpenden.

The elections will determine who controls Hertfordshire County Council, which gets 74p of every tax pound paid in the county. The authority, which has the Liberal Democrats as the official opposition, controls key services such as schools, roads, streetlights and social services.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has closed the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in Brighton by calling on members to spread the message of the Party's commitment in Government to deliver a stronger economy and a fairer society.

In his keynote Leader's speech, Nick paid tribute to the work of the Party in winning the Eastleigh by-election, beating the Conservatives into third place and squeezing Labour while campaigning on the Lib Dem record of delivering in Government.

The last twelve months have been lit up by moments that will stay with us forever. When Mo Farah approached the final stretch of the 10,000m final, who wasn't up on their feet, screaming at the TV?

When Nicola Adams beamed at the crowd after winning the first ever women's Olympic boxing, who didn't smile back? I was lucky enough to be there, and that's one I'll never forget.

North Herts District Council's Tory cabinet has decided that it has no opinion on whether the developers of Churchgate in Hitchin should be granted another 6 months to come up with a plan for the development.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has used his keynote speech to the Lib Dem Party conference in Brighton to announce extra money for 110,000 children struggling with maths and English.

The Deputy Prime Minister said secondary schools in England will receive an extra £55 million to help pupils arriving in year seven who have slipped behind in English and maths at primary school. The money will come in from next January, with schools deciding how to spend it to help pupils with weaker results in maths and English.

The Hitchin & Harpenden Liberal Democrats today launched its official facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/HitchinHarpendenLiberalDemocrats

As a tool to connect with local voters it will hopefully prove to be a winner. Regular updates, photographs and a list of local events will keep both members and arm-chair supporters up-to-date with all we do.

After a tough night across the UK, nationally the Liberal Democrats have lost many dedicated and hard working councillors. Although in areas where there was a Liberal Democrat MP we did much better, increasing vote share and gaining council seats (Portsmouth,Cheltenham,Eastleigh,Southport, Cheadle and Colchester.)

Plenty of residents ask whether going into government with the Tories the right thing to do and does Coalition Government work?

In due course you, the electors, will have to judge.

No party in a coalition will ever be totally happy with everything that happens but this period of coalition has given the Lib Dems the chance to implement many of our policies, things which would otherwise not happen, as well as prevent the Tories from bringing some of their more extreme ideas to bear.

There was a good response to the questionnaire sent out by Lisa Courts & Mike Lott and they have already followed up on a number of them.

Many people responded to the question of a 20 mph speed limit for residential areas. While people were able to comment most on their immediate area, a significant majority of those who responded wanted some 20 mph speed limits in Bearton.