Great response to survey

We hit the streets in Westbury-on-Trym today with a residents' survey. The survey is being organised by Paul Harrod, the Lib Dems' parliamentary candidate here, and a lot of the local team were there including Stephen Williams MP.

As well as the local questions you would expect on the state of roads and pavements, we asked questions on issues like Iraq, freedom of information, schools and tackling climate change. The response was excellent and we will report back on the results when we have covered more ground over coming weeks.

Ming Campbell defends Freedom of Information

The House of Commons recently voted to exempt MPs from the Freedom of Information Act. The bill was brought in by a Conservative MP and backed by many Conservative and Labour MPs.

The Lib Dems are completely opposed to exempting MPs from the obligation to reveal what they are doing in your name and are vigorously opposing the bill in the House of Lords. Here's a clip of Ming Campbell discussing the subject.

Labour and Conservative conspire to bring Council crisis

It is sad to see politicians living up to the worst stereotypes, but that is what Labour and Conservative councillors have been doing on Bristol City Council this week - playing silly games for what they believe to be political advantage.

At a bad-tempered meeting during the week, the Lib Dems as largest party on the Council (but without a majority) proposed to continue to lead an administration to run Bristol City Council. Labour - backed by the Conservatives - voted to reject this bid. The Lib Dems were naturally disappointed but invited Labour and the Conservatives to form an alternative administration. Astonishingly, they point-blank refused - no fewer than four times!

It is one thing to vote down you opponents. But it is quite another to propose no alternative and to leave the city in a state of limbo. Conservative and Labour councillors should be genuinely ashamed.

The Story Of Azure

Connected to our recent story about challenges facing small businesses locally, I found this interesting short film which charts the life of a shop in Westbury-on-Trym. The shop in question was the Azure picture framing shop which some of you may remember and which last closed its doors in 2000.

Burying Caesar

Tony Blair resigned today. It brought to mind a quote from Shakespeare's Julius Ceasar:

"The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones."

Cutting Crime

This is an excellent video discussing how the Lib Dems propose to cut crime in areas like Westbury. It is about 15 minutes long and features our House of Lords spokesman, Baroness Ros Scott. I hope you will take some time to listen to it.

Healthy debate

Here's a clip from the Lib Dem spring conference of Norman Lamb MP, the Lib Dems' new health spokesman. Norman is an engaging speaker and it is good to have a chance to hear sensible points on better local accountability for health services. I hope you will take a couple of minutes to play the clip.

Local elections

Westbury didn't go to the polls on Thursday (we voted last year and are due to do so again in May 2009) but much of the rest of Bristol did. The Lib Dems were defending a lot of seats having had a great set of results four years ago. The defences were mostly successful but, sadly, two wards were lost - Easton and Filwood in the east and south of the city.

Following the election, Steve Comer has been made new leader of the Lib Dem group on the Council. His predecessor, Barbara Janke, did great work beginning to turn around Bristol after decades of Labour mismanagement. The task now is to build on progress in increasing recycling, improving efficiency and lifting Bristol off the bottom of the national schools league table. It is also important to start communicating achievements which are being made more effectively.

Meanwhile, some light relief in the form of the defeated Labour candidate in Lawrence Hill. He was picked up by the Lib Dem Voice blog being very naughty with some fake photographs. It is the sort of thing that gives politicians a very bad name and well done to Lib Dem Voice for spotting it.

Westbury Shops

The Evening Post carries news that rents are on the increase for shops in Westbury with the result that several have closed recently or are under threat.

Of course landlords need to make a return on their investment, but the current policy appears short-sighted. If the high vacancy rate continues, Westbury is in danger of dying out as a shopping destination which would be bad news for residents, businesses and landlords alike.

It is not all doom and gloom - the new coffee shop and expansion of the cafe by the war memorial are welcome additions to the area, while Westbury still boasts Bristol's oldest shop (Mogfords). But this will be an issue for the future if unrealistic rent rises continue.

We Can Cut Crime campaign

This is an excellent speech by Ming Campbell. Crime and anti-social behaviour are a growing problem around Bristol, and it is good to see a politician talking seriously about the issue rather than Labour turning a blind-eye to the matter or David Cameron's frankly bizarre "hug a hoodie" approach. I hope you will take ten minutes to play the video and let us know what you think. Incidentally, this site - Home Office Watch - keeps track of all the Home Office's latest blunders.

Welcome

Welcome to the new blog for Westbury-on-Trym Lib Dems. Westbury is a great place to live, but it faces many of the same issues as the rest of our area - such as education, health and anti-social behaviour.

We want to use this space to share news about what's going on in Westbury-on-Trym. We would be delighted if you would share your views with us by using the comments feature.

Paul Harrod is Lib Dem choice

Paul Harrod has been selected as Lib Dem candidate for Bristol North West at the next General Election.

It's exciting news for us in Westbury-on-Trym because Paul was born and brought up in Westbury. He was educated locally before going to Oxford University and returning here to set up local homelessness charity ASPIRE. Now 30, Paul still lives in the area and works for Bristol University.

The next General Election will be an exciting one here. Boundary changes mean that a new Bristol North West seat is to be formed from just over half of Labour MP Doug Naysmith's existing seat and just under half of Lib Dem Stephen Williams' Bristol West constituency. With Doug retiring and Stephen remaining with the majority of his constituents in Bristol West, both parties will have new candidates and will be battling hard to win the seat. With a strong candidate in the form of Paul, the Lib Dems look like a good bet to win!