Author Archives: Keith Aspden

Keith Aspden

York leads the way and becomes the first Good Business Charter city

By Keith Aspden | Sat 10th July 2021 - 12:16 pm

York has become the first city in the UK to sign up to the Good Business Charter – a pioneering imitative that puts fairness, representation, diversity and a shared commitment to our environmental responsibilities at the heart of our economic strategy.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, City of York Council has had a clear focus on working closely with the business community, supporting small and micro businesses, and promoting our unique approach to economic development – the ‘York Way’.

Recently an independent evaluation of the Council’s £1.14m micro grant scheme revealed that since its introduction in March 2020, 294 local businesses were saved from closure and over 500 families and employees from falling into personal and financial hardship.

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Keith Aspden

Working together to end homelessness and rough sleeping in York

By Keith Aspden | Wed 16th June 2021 - 7:30 am

Earlier in April I was pleased to join the national Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping alongside representatives from local government, housing, health and homelessness bodies, to examine and learn the lessons from the emergency response which supported people sleeping rough during the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the start of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, the Government launched the Everyone In initiative, which sought to ensure that anyone who was sleeping on the streets was immediately provided with safe and secure accommodation.

This involved unprecedented collaboration between government at central, regional and local levels, alongside work between health and local authority housing colleagues to identify health and housing options for clients in real time. This resulted in immediate assessment of their health needs and positive moves for many clients. In many areas this work has continued with a coordinated approach to vaccinations and GP registrations.

Councils across the country are determined to build on the success of the Everyone In initiative, which has demonstrated what can be achieved when all parts of the public and voluntary sector work together to get people sleeping rough off the streets and into safe accommodation.

In joining the commission I will work to share learning from local government, from Liberal Democrat led councils and on York’s approach to tackling homelessness and rough sleeping. In York, intensive and personalised work by City of York Council and partners continues to offer support to rough sleepers and homeless families. The work is underpinned by the Council’s Homelessness Strategy, focusing on prevention, early intervention and local integrated services that step in when things go wrong. Beds are being offered in a wider variety of accommodation, supporting people to stay in their accommodation and to manage often complex needs that contribute to rough sleeping. This has been supported by over £433k funding secured from the Rough Sleeping Initiative as well as the extra capacity offered by James House, York’s newest purpose-built temporary accommodation, which opened last summer.

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Keith Aspden

Building safety reform campaign continues

By Keith Aspden | Thu 1st April 2021 - 6:51 pm

2021 marks four years since the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower that claimed 72 lives. It shouldn’t take a horror of that scale, or any scale, to prompt change, but yet political divides still seem to be preventing meaningful action taking place. As well as this grim anniversary, 2021 marks the beginning of long overdue regulatory reform, where we expect to see some of the biggest changes to building safety laws for over 40 years.

Since the last time I wrote about the ongoing work led by the LGA, Lib Dem councillors, Lords and Parliamentarians to fight for tenant and leasehold rights, the Government has finally announced a series of steps it is taking to address the cladding crisis.

The trouble is that, not only is this action coming far later than necessary, I don’t think it goes anywhere near far enough.

The £3.5 billion package unveiled by Robert Jenrick fails to address the problems faced by residents living in unsellable flats in unsafe blocks. The fund is restricted to buildings over 17.7m in height, meaning around 88,000 buildings between 11m and 18m require remediation work but have no recourse to funding.

The fact that recent fires in Barking, Crewe, Worcester Park and Bolton all occurred in buildings below 18m shows the risk of this approach.

There will be Government funding for the removal of cladding for buildings of between 11 and 18 storeys, but crucially this is in the form of what the department has termed a “long-term, low-interest, Government-backed financing arrangement”. In other words, leaseholders will have to foot the eventual bill, with the Government pledging that no leaseholder will ever have to pay more than £50 a month towards the removal of the cladding.

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Keith Aspden

We must keep pushing for action on the country’s cladding scandal

By Keith Aspden | Wed 3rd February 2021 - 4:30 pm

Cllr Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council, and the Liberal Democrat Deputy Chair of the LGA Fire Services Management Committee Cllr Keith Aspden Deputy Chair of the LGA Fire Services Management Committee

Since the Grenfell Tower disaster in June 2017, Lib Dems across the country have been campaigning for greater protections for leaseholders and tenants who are currently living in blocks with Grenfell style cladding or blocks that were previously certified as compliant and safe but which now fail new standards after Grenfell. Our councillors, Lords, MPs and community campaigners have been leading calls to End Our Cladding Scandal. As one of our lead members at the Local Government Association, I have ensured that the LGA continues to represent the real extent of this crisis.

The current phase of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry is exploring and revealing the shortcomings of the regulatory system, confusion within the industry, and the deliberate acts to exploit that confusion that may have contributed to the current crisis. Throughout this, it has been made clear that the current system in place to identify and remediate cladding and fire safety issues, including dangerous cladding, is perilously slow, presenting significant safety risks and leaving thousands of leaseholders facing financial ruin.

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Keith Aspden

A year on from the day that would go on to change our lives

By Keith Aspden | Sun 31st January 2021 - 10:33 am

The 31st January 2020 began, as it often does, with urgent Council business.  I was visiting the Network Rail Operating Centre in York, with other Council leaders from North Yorkshire and Leeds, to discuss rail investment in our region with the Secretary of State for Transport.

Immediately after the visit, I noticed a missed call from Sharon Sholtz, the Council’s Director of Public Health, which at the time was unexpected. On ringing back, I arranged to immediately walk into the Council’s offices to be briefed on what would soon to become a pandemic that would change our lives.

It is incredible to think that a year has passed since the first cases of Coronavirus were declared in our city and efforts to combat a virus, we knew nothing about, began. Whilst we still have some way to go in overcoming this unprecedented challenge, residents, businesses, and communities have time and time again showed the absolute best of our city. From the very beginning of this crisis, York has worked together to save lives and livelihoods.

I am grateful to all key workers, partners and council staff who have gone above and beyond to support our local communities and businesses. From the outset of the pandemic, the council has acted swiftly to support local businesses. From processing over £140 million in financial grant and relief support to businesses heavily impacted by the pandemic, to setting up our own £1 million emergency fund to help those businesses who missed out on Government grants.

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Keith Aspden

Reaching zero carbon with an ambitious approach to housebuilding in York

By Keith Aspden | Tue 20th October 2020 - 3:30 pm

Plans have been submitted by City of York Council for the first stage of what the Guardian recently has called “arguably the UK’s most ambitious council-led housing programme in a generation”.

As a Liberal Democrat led council we are embarking on our biggest housebuilding programme since the 1970s. Work is already under way to deliver more than 600 new homes across the city, including at least 250 affordable homes, each designed to have a net carbon emissions figure of zero.

This plan is just one element of our work to deliver more housing and tackle the climate emergency. Our target of reaching zero carbon by 2030 requires a bold and holistic approach to tackling the climate crisis.

Currently, we are leading the way nationally by introducing ambitious plans across the city to improve York’s air quality – from the largest zero emission Park&Ride fleet in the country and the first voluntary Clean Air Zone in the UK, with ambitions to become the first all-electric bus city.

This is on top of major investment in refurbishing and improving council housing, using the very latest low carbon technologies in construction, maximising the generation and storage of renewable electricity on council land and buildings, and planting 50,000 trees in 3 years as part of the Northern Forest initiative.

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It’s time for the government to step up and empower local authorities

By Keith Aspden | Fri 19th June 2020 - 3:00 pm

Embed from Getty Images

In early March, as the devastating extent of the Covid-19 crisis was becoming clear, I sat on a call with government ministers and local authority leaders in York and North Yorkshire. The message delivered time and time again couldn’t have been clearer: do whatever it takes to support your communities through this pandemic and we will cover the cost. Three months later, we find that the government is backtracking on this central commitment, with potentially devastating impacts for local government.

City of York Council, like many local authorities up and down the country, has acted swiftly to support residents and businesses during this difficult time, including establishing additional emergency funds for businesses and residents facing financial hardship, with over £100 million paid out in grants in our effort to protect jobs and York’s vibrant local economy. From the very beginning of this crisis, we have worked to ensure our local businesses receive swift support from the Council, particularly those who did not meet the criteria for government support.

Whilst we welcome the £10 million of funding that has been allocated by the Government to York so far, this is simply not enough to cover the costs of supporting residents and businesses. In York, our finance team now estimate that the current funding gap is now at £24 million, with increased pressures in social care and falling income to the Council.

The potential impact of a funding crisis on frontline services, and particularly social care, is deeply troubling. In York, we are lucky to be in the position that we are not considering bankruptcy, however, many other local councils are thought to be facing this challenge in the near future if the government doesn’t act soon. The Local Government Association now estimates that councils will require up to four times as much funding as the government has provided so far.

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Keith Aspden

Liberal Democrats in local government responding to Covid-19

By Keith Aspden | Wed 1st April 2020 - 4:00 pm

Last week I did two things that seemed unthinkable only a month ago. As Leader of the City of York Council, I took the painful decision to tell residents, tourists and shoppers to stay clear of our beautiful city and thriving city centre. Also, jarringly for me personally – although less widely reported – like so many other families, I’d missed my mother’s birthday for the first time!

These sacrifices are small when compared to those made by our healthcare workers and frontline staff, including our waste collection crews and social workers. It is for them that we must all stay at home, stay safe and help save lives. 

That’s why under our leadership City of York Council has taken swift and decisive action and made every effort to communicate with local residents. Our response to the crisis has five main components: to keep our residents informed; to prioritise essential services; support our businesses; protect the vulnerable, and empower citizens to help.

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Keith Aspden

Fire Services: Campaigning in Local Communities and Parliament

By Keith Aspden | Wed 24th April 2019 - 12:28 pm

As one of our lead members at the Local Government Association, I have worked to ensure that our national campaigns are linked to what’s happening in local communities. There are a variety of ways to do this, but I hope this article is a helpful example.

In 2015, the Conservative Government launched a consultation on a ‘joined up’ approach to Police and Fire Services. Nationally, Fire Brigade Union General Secretary Matt Wrack, in January 2016, described the national proposal as a “half baked suggestion” and accused “one or two” PCCs supporting the plan of “empire building”. He told the BBC: “There’s very little evidence, there’s no research been carried out, there’s no support for it among firefighters and there’s no support for it among police officers, there’s no support among local communities and yet the government seems to be intent on forcing it though.”

Here in York and North Yorkshire, these proposals led to the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner spending more than £140,000 on consultants to prepare a business case on and unwanted takeover of the local fire service. We have campaigned in our communities for a fair deal for local Fire Service funding, but the unpopular takeover took place following Government agreement in November 2018.

In order to campaign locally and nationally, I worked with Liberal Democrat peers, including Baroness Kath Pinnock as our national communities and fire services spokesperson, and Baroness Angela Harris, to table a motion of regret in the House of Lords and issue press releases. This debate took place on the 21st November 2018, where peers were asked if they regretted the decision by the Government to agree the takeover of North Yorkshire Fire Authority, following other takeover examples nationally.

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Another excellent Lib Dem conference in York

By Keith Aspden | Tue 2nd April 2019 - 8:54 am

As we move on into April and March 2019 passes, I am grateful to the many Lib Dems from across the country who visited York last month to participate in what was another fantastic Spring Conference in York.

Visit York have estimated that that this year’s Spring Conference has provided a substantial £600,000 boost to the local economy and as the Executive Member at the Council responsible for Economic Development, I would like to say thank you to everyone who ventured beyond the conference centre to enjoy our wonderful city! 

Not only did York experience an economic boost over the weekend, but a number of visits and events took place to promote some of the work Liberal Democrat Councillors are achieving in York.

On the Friday afternoon, I was delighted to show Sir Vince Cable MP York’s new temporary accommodation site for the homeless; James House.  James House has been funded by both the Council and Homes England, with the Council providing over £9 million of funding to deliver new one, two and three bedroom flats, as well as training facilities, to support homeless families.

On the same day, my colleague Cllr Andrew Waller also took Vince on his own bus ride, in order to see the work we are doing at the Council to tackle air pollution and encourage sustainable transport.  The bus was one of York’s most recent electric buses and on their journey; they had the opportunity to see one of York’s newest electric charging hubs at Monks Cross Park & Ride.

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Keith Aspden

Welcome back to York!

By Keith Aspden | Thu 21st February 2019 - 5:00 pm

As we mark the beginning of 2019, the countdown to Spring Conference has begun! And on behalf of the York Liberal Democrats, I would like to say how pleased I am to be welcoming everyone back to York in March.

For those who have not been to York previously – York is a beautiful, well-connected and unique city, with a lot to offer.

Visit York estimates that this year’s Conference will provide a substantial boost to the local economy, valued at more than £600,000. Combined with the St. Patrick’s Day weekend, I know that the city’s wonderful pubs, hotels, B&Bs and restaurants will be packed out – so remember to book in advance! 

Conference will not only provide a short-term economic boost and provide national exposure for the party, it will also showcase York as a destination for large events and conferences. I know from my own experiences that Conference provides members with an excellent opportunity to meet our MPs, peers, Councillors and campaigners from right across the country and, of course, the chance to debate and decide national party policy.

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Keith Aspden

Our achievements in York

By Keith Aspden | Tue 17th July 2018 - 8:55 am

Since 2015 and the formation of City of York Council’s Joint Administration, York has continued to develop as a leading city in the UK, receiving much praise and attention along the way.

However, it is important to reflect on what we as Liberal Democrats have achieved for local residents and for the City.

In 2015, in a difficult set of elections for the party nationally, we gained four councillors in York. This was a great achievement and in this article, I outline seven of our major achievements to date, both in administration and in serving our local communities. I also outline our Fair Deal campaign for the future. 

  1. Frontline investment: 

Frontline services have been our number one priority in administration. Despite the massive cuts to the Council’s budget by the Conservative Government, we have launched an ambitious £20 million investment programme in our roads, footpaths and public spaces, as well as ensuring that residents continue to receive their first green garden waste bin at no cost. More recently, in June 2018, we committed a further £1 million investment in waste and recycling, green spaces and support for our local high streets.

  1. Clean Air Zone:

In 2017, York became the first city in the UK to have a fully electric Park & Ride fleet, thanks to a £3.3 million investment. Building on this, City of York Council is now well on its way to delivering the UK’s first Clean Air Zone, thanks to the efforts of Liberal Democrat Councillors. The Clean Air Zone will aim to introduce Ultra Low Emission standards as a minimum requirement for all buses on busy routes.

  1. Community Stadium:

Construction is well underway on the new Community Stadium and Leisure Complex, which will be a great facility for football, rugby league and leisure in York. Steel frames are now in place to construct the leisure site and stadium stands. This achievement builds on our record with leisure and swimming, having saved the Edwardian Yearsley Swimming Pool from closure in 2015.

  1. Local Plan: 

After decades without one, we have submitted a Local Plan for York to the Planning Inspector, avoiding the risk of Government intervention in York’s future. Our Local Plan, if passed by the Government, will deliver the housing we need in the city, whilst protecting York’s unique character.

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Cllr Keith Aspden writes…Tackling homelessness in York

By Keith Aspden | Tue 8th August 2017 - 2:45 pm

Last week the York Liberal Democrats were delighted to welcome Sir Vince Cable for a flying visit to his home city.

Vince was born and brought up in York and many local members have fond memories of the two energetic general election campaigns we fought when Vince was Parliamentary Candidate for the old York constituency in 1983 and 1987.

York is an interesting city politically in that the three main parties each have roughly the same number of councillors. Since 2015 the Liberal Democrat Group has formed part of the joint administration running the Council.

One area in which we can take pride in the Council’s record is homelessness. York’s services for preventing and managing homelessness have been awarded the National Practitioner Support Service’s Gold Standard award. At the time of the award we were only the third local authority to have achieved this. Gold Standard requires the service to have a focus on early intervention and prevention of homelessness at its core.

On Sunday 30 July Vince joined our Executive Member for Adult Social Care, Councillor Carol Runciman, and myself for a tour of the Peasholme Centre on Fishergate. Many members will be familiar with this part of the city since it is very close to the Novotel and the Barbican Centre where the party has held three successful Spring Conferences.

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Welcome back to York and join us campaigning!

By Keith Aspden | Mon 13th March 2017 - 12:37 pm

As the countdown to party conference continues, I would like to say how pleased I am to be welcoming Spring Conference back to York.

Visit York estimate that the weekend will boost the city’s economy by more than £600,000. And I know that pubs, hotels, B&Bs, guest houses, and restaurants will be reporting soaring demand. Added to the short-term economic boost is the long-term impact that the continued national exposure will bring. It is a showcase for York as a destination for conferences and events. York is a beautiful, well-connected city with the potential to hold many more big political and business conferences.

It is also a chance for our members in York to meet our MPs and peers as well as councillors and campaigners from across the country. And as we all know, a chance for local party members to actually debate and decide national party policy.

In York, our councillors and members have been working hard since we formed a joint administration in May 2015 to run City of York Council.

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York responds on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children

By Keith Aspden | Mon 21st November 2016 - 3:06 pm

 

Around this time last year, I posted on Lib Dem Voice about York’s role in responding to the refugee crisis. I am very pleased that over the last year, York has been active in the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme and in welcoming refugees to the city. We have a proud history of offering a home to those fleeing persecution and will continue our work to meet our humanitarian commitments.

A closely associated issue, increasingly prominent over the last few months, has been that of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. Tim Farron and Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords have campaigned strongly for the government to do a huge amount more on this front. Early this year, Tim slammed the government’s response as ‘cold-hearted’ and ‘callous’. He was absolutely right – we were failing people who are the least able to help themselves. After months of pressure, the government accepted a commitment to resettle ‘up to 3,000’ children from within Europe.

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York: Getting residents and communities involved

By Keith Aspden | Mon 26th September 2016 - 4:05 pm

york-keith-aspden

Keith Aspden at Heslington Sportsfield which benefitted from Ward Committee funding

I’m back in York after a very enjoyable conference in Brighton. From a local government perspective, I was pleased to participate in important discussions around education, housing, the impact of Brexit, the environment, devolution and more! I was pleased to speak (together with Cllr Keith House, Leader of Eastleigh Borough Council) at an ALDC training session about how Liberal Democrats can make best use of Area and Ward Committees. I’ve written up my notes from the meeting about York’s Ward Committees below, which I hope might be useful food for thought for other Councillors and campaigners.

What are Ward Committees?

In York, each ward is given a budget to spend on local projects and offer grants to community groups. Meetings are chaired by local councillors who work with residents and ward teams to decide collectively where money is spent.

Our 2015 Manifesto

Key campaigning themes for us in the run-up to the 2015 local elections were the Labour Council being out-of-touch with residents, taking all decisions centrally, and ignoring communities in the suburbs and villages around York. Ward Committees had suffered significantly under Labour – as a result of their cuts, wards had a total budget of just £75,000 across the city.

Our manifesto promised to change this and ‘re-establish proper Ward Committees as a way to put power and budgets back in the hands of local residents’.

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Progress in York – our report back after 12 months in joint administration

By Keith Aspden | Fri 1st July 2016 - 1:27 pm

A little over twelve months ago, the Lib Dems in York entered into a joint administration on City of York Council. It wasn’t an easy decision to take, but we knew that having increased our representation by a third despite the disappointing national picture, we had a real opportunity to deliver on our manifesto commitments to the people of York.

I am very grateful to many colleagues in the city, including fellow Executive Members, Councillors, local party activists (and our very new members this week!) for their ongoing work.  A year on, we thought we’d let you know how we’re getting on.

Greenest City in the North

We promised to take steps towards York becoming the Greenest City in the North, including working with residents to reverse the decline in recycling rates and developing a plan to cut the Council’s carbon emissions. Additionally, we committed to reintroduce additional winter Green Bin collections and rule out cuts to the frequency of Grey Bin collections.

This was confirmed just two months after the election, as our Emergency Budget in July last year financed the reintroduction of 2 Winter Green Bin collections and scrapped Labour’s proposal for extra Green Bin charges. Our increased investment has funded a new recycling campaign and we have re-established a Green Jobs Task Group.

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Bosnia’s Nasa Stranka visits York

By Keith Aspden | Wed 13th April 2016 - 3:20 pm

Nasa Stranka in YorkOne of the highlights of this year’s Spring Conference for us as a Local Party, led by our deputy group leader Cllr Ann Reid, was hosting some representatives of our Bosnian sister party, Nasa Stranka.

Nationally links between our two parties are already well-established, with joint working around campaigns, training and promoting women in politics. But for anyone who doesn’t follow Bosnian politics as closely as we do….

Nasa Stranka (‘Our Party’ in Bosnian) was founded in 2008 to offer an alternative to the dominant nationalist parties, and over the past six years has established itself as the leading socially liberal and progressive voice in Bosnian politics. Nasa Stranka is also a shining example of achieving gender equality, with 46% female representation at the local level.

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Lord Jonny Oates at the Pudding Club at York

By Keith Aspden | Wed 9th March 2016 - 1:51 pm

Lord Oates

I was delighted to welcome Lord Jonny Oates to York last month for a visit to our annual Pudding Club – one of the highlights of our local parties social calendar!

Lord Oates, who was recently made a life peer after serving as a councillor in Kingston Upon Thames and later as Chief of Staff to Nick Clegg, highlighted his concerns about proposed cuts to Universal Credit to local party members in York.

As readers will know, last year George Osborne was forced to re-think cuts to working tax credits after a local and national campaign by the Lib Dems. The changes were set to hit 8,000 families in York, but the Chancellor said households claiming the benefit would be helped by “transitional protection” as they moved to the new single Universal Credit.

Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, claimed that “nobody will lose any money on arrival on universal credit from tax credits”. Many residents in York were reassured and pleased that a U-Turn had been made.

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Welcome back to York…

By Keith Aspden | Tue 16th February 2016 - 5:31 pm

The timing of Spring Conference’s return to York is particularly significant for the city.

York Members and supporters 2015

As many will know, widespread flooding hit parts of the city over Christmas as residents and businesses were evacuated from their homes in the worst flooding seen since 1982.

The TV cameras and politicians who descended on York soon left, but the long hard clean-up operation has taken many weeks and for some will take many more.

The way local residents (as well as groups …

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York Floods: As the clean up commences, questions must be asked

By Keith Aspden | Tue 29th December 2015 - 8:52 pm

York Flooding 1Over recent days the news has been full of images of York underwater. Hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes after the city’s two rivers burst their banks, flooding houses, shops, businesses and threatening historical buildings. The River Ouse peaked at over 5 metres above its typical level, while the River Foss has hit record heights.

We of course owe a debt of gratitude to all the staff and volunteers from the City of York Council, the emergency services, Environment Agency, armed forces and voluntary organisations, for the hard work they have put in (and continue to do with the clean up) to try to minimise the impact of the floods and assist those affected. After the damage this has caused to our city we must now focus on helping residents and businesses through the cleanup. There are however questions that need to be answered including on the planned levels of investment in both flood defence schemes and maintenance of existing defences.

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York welcomes refugees

By Keith Aspden | Wed 25th November 2015 - 10:01 am

Refugee-March-York

From left to right:  Lib Dem Cllrs Ashley Mason, Andrew Waller, Keith Aspden, Stephen Fenton, and Keith Orrell from City of York Council.

In the late 1990s, York offered a place of safety to 90 Kosovan Albanians as they fled conflict in their homeland. They were living in overcrowded camps in neighbouring Macedonia, and our country heard their cries. Today, thousands of Syrians face a similar plight and once again cities like York are preparing to help.

Initially, David Cameron was very slow to react to the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the Middle East. In contrast, Tim Farron was quick to grasp both the seriousness of the situation and the need for swift action. Cameron’s reticence also contradicted strongly with the view of many residents I spoke to in York, including those who I joined on a ‘Refugees Welcome’ march back in September.

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York’s Liberal Democrats secure future of local swimming pool

By Keith Aspden | Wed 26th August 2015 - 12:20 pm

York swimming pool successAs I wrote on this site previously, here in York we recently entered into a joint administration with the local Conservative group to run the city. This has posed us with the large challenge of ensuring that our distinctive voice is heard locally and that we deliver on our promises to residents at a very difficult time for local government.

In the run up to the election we made it a key manifesto promise to protect Yearsley Pool, a valued community facility, from Labour’s proposed local cuts.  We then also managed to secure this as a key priority for the Joint Executive.

I am now really pleased that we have now been able to deliver on this promise and have secured the long term future of this much loved community facility. We have put in place a clear commitment to Yearsley Swimming Pool, as part of the councils 13 year leisure contract – ensuring its future well beyond the next local elections.

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How should we approach the devolution debate? A perspective from York

By Keith Aspden | Wed 5th August 2015 - 11:45 am

York Liberal Democrat Council GroupSince the elections in May Liberal Democrats in York have been faced with ongoing questions surrounding devolution. The recent Summer Budget announcements on devolution pose us with many challenges however they also gives us a welcome opportunity to ensure that decisions can be taken closer to the communities they affect, rather than in Whitehall.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority has paved the way for devolution in England with Nick Clegg announcing their City Deal in March 2012. They will hold the first elections for a directly elected metro-mayor in 2017. Authorities across the country and in Yorkshire now have the opportunity to follow this path and submit a bid to gain similar access to devolved budgets and power.

Yorkshire is an enormous geographical area which already has two Combined Authorities and three Local Economic Partnerships (LEPs) in its boundaries. The number of possible deals is almost endless. There are debates raging about which towns and cities should and should not be included in any proposals to government.

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Opinion: Lib Dems take power in York

By Keith Aspden | Fri 29th May 2015 - 11:55 am

York swimming pool successThe last few weeks have been an intense time for all Liberal Democrats not least here in York.

After a gruelling campaign and against the national trend, we made gains in the city’s ‘all up’ local elections increasing our seats from the 8 won in 2011 to 12 this time.

These results were down to the hard work and dedication of our candidates and volunteers, such as Local Party Chair Stephen (now Councillor) Fenton, Print Room Supremo Richard Hill, Citywide Agent Derek Wann, along with countless others.

It was also down to a local party which (as I wrote on this website back in June 2013) was forced into a “period of serious self-reflection” following disappointing losses in the 2011 local elections.

What eventually sprung from this was a very localised campaign. Street-based issues filled our Focus, glossy leaflets and target letters with ‘Stronger Economy, Fairer Society’ perhaps getting less of a mention.

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Opinion: York welcomes Spring Conference

By Keith Aspden | Wed 5th March 2014 - 2:25 pm

yorkAs the countdown to this weekend continues, I would like to say how pleased I am to be welcoming Spring Conference to York. I have been speaking to local party members, businesses and organisations like Visit York about the conference and it is clear that anticipation is building.

 Visit York estimate that this weekend will boost the city’s economy by more than £600,000. And I know that hotels, B&Bs, guest houses, and restaurants are reporting soaring demand.

Added to the short-term economic boost is the long-term impact that national exposure will bring. It is a showcase for York as a destination for conferences and events. York is a beautiful, well-connected city with the potential to hold many more big political and business conferences. This weekend should just be the beginning….

It is also a chance for our members in York to meet our ministers and MPs as well as councillors and campaigners from across the country. And as we all know, a chance for local party members to actually debate and decide national party policy.

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Keith Aspden

The Tour De France is great news for York but also needs a business case

By Keith Aspden | Sun 27th October 2013 - 9:30 am

Tour de France logoHosting the Tour De France is a huge opportunity for York and Yorkshire, but a time of cuts to local government budgets the delivery plans must be watertight.

When it was announced last year that York was to host Stage 2 of next year’s Tour De France, I was excited. So were most residents of the city.

The Tour is the most prestigious cycle race in the world and reckoned to be the biggest annual sporting event on the planet. With 188 countries broadcasting the event, the media exposure is probably only beaten by the Summer Olympics and the Football World Cup.

Anyone who has watched the event, either in France or when it last crossed the Channel in 2007, will know size of the event and the passion of the fans.

I could go on… for the bigness of the race and the glory of the event is indisputable. However, it appears that in the excitement of ‘the biggest race in the world’ coming to town many key questions and issues have been overlooked.

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Keith Aspden

Rebuilding our campaigning base in York

By Keith Aspden | Wed 5th June 2013 - 8:55 am

Image courtesy of freefoto.comYork is a classic example of an English city where the Liberal Democrats developed a strong local base as voters became disillusioned with both the Conservatives and later Labour in the 1990s and 2000s. After two decades of Labour control we won a landslide victory in 2003 and formed the administration on City of York Council for eight years. As elsewhere, in 2011 we took a hammering from the voters, our first electoral test as a party of government.

The unitary authority of York is split into two parliamentary constituencies including the marginal (famously ‘doughnut-shaped’) York Outer, a seat that the Conservatives won with a majority of less than 7% over us at the 2010 general election.

Within months of a disappointing general election result, we rightly anticipated a tough fight in all-up local elections in 2011, especially against the unfavourable national picture. A resurgent Labour Party took eight council seats from us to win overall control, including five seats in York Outer that they won from third place.

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