Tag Archives: sutton council

Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems in Three Rivers instal first Progress Pride flag crossing

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 21st November 2021 - 10:30 am

Visitors to Leavesden Country Park in Hertfordshire will have the chance to cross on the first Progress Pride flag in the country. Former Council Leader Sara Bedford set this project in motion before she stepped down

The Progress Pride flag incorporates additions to the traditional rainbow flag to make it more inclusive and intersectional. The addition of black, brown, pink, blue and white stripes shows solidarity with trans people and people of colour.

Earlier this year, Sutton Lib Dem Councillor Jake Short wrote on this site about the rainbow and trans flag crossings now in place in Sutton.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 7 Comments
The Voice

Lib Dem led Sutton Council trials On Demand bus service

By The Voice | Thu 28th February 2019 - 10:30 am

ALDC flagged a story this week here, telling us about how Lib Dem-led Sutton Council has decided to trial an On Demand bus service.

Users will be able to use an app to request a bus to stop for them. The benefits are not just for the user – getting more people out of cars and onto buses and public transport reduces congestion and will improve air quality. Sutton Council is working with Transport for London on this trial, with more info on that partnership here.

Lack of bus services, and cuts to bus services, concern many communities up and down the country. Well done to Lib Dem Cllr Manuel Abellan and the team for leading by example. We’ll be keen to know how it all works out!

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Also tagged and | 20 Comments
The Voice

Rather better day at Black Rock… and Vale of White Horse, Brentwood, Sutton…

By The Voice | Fri 7th December 2012 - 10:43 am

We keep being told that, where we work, we can win. And it’s still true, no matter how gloomy the opinion polls are, as this week’s by-election results demonstrate.

The Liberal Democrats have gained two seats from the Conservatives in a stunning by-election win in Oxford West & Abingdon constituency. Elizabeth Miles and Val Shaw won on a 17% swing from the Tories in Sunningwell & Wootton ward, and their double victory reduced the Conservative majority on the Vale of White Horse District Council to just three.

Speaking after …

Continue reading »
Posted in Local government and News | Also tagged , and | 12 Comments
Mark Pack

A flagship borough: 25 years of a Liberal Democrat Sutton Council

By Mark Pack | Fri 5th October 2012 - 9:45 pm

Look round the room at the next Liberal Democrat event you attend and ask yourself how many people in the room will have their names recorded in places that future political historians can find. A few, certainly, especially if they have been elected to public office.

For most, however, their contribution to a political party slips away through the cracks of the historical record, disappearing as the direct personal memories people have of them fade and then end with death.

Continue reading »
Posted in Books, Local government and London | Also tagged , and | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Sutton leader Sean Brennan retiring as leader next month

By Mark Pack | Thu 12th April 2012 - 8:55 am

Sutton Liberal Democrats have one of most impressive records of success anywhere in the UK – not only at winning and keeping control of Sutton Council (25th anniversary celebrated last year), not only at winning Parliamentary elections (two MPs in the borough, both Liberal Democrat) but also at pioneering many excellent environmental policies. Oh, and darn fine organisers of raffles too.

For the last decade Sean Brennan has been Leader of the Council, but this week he has announced that he will be standing down:

Coun Brennan, a former teacher first elected as a Sutton ward councillor in 1986

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Local government | Also tagged , and | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Graham Tope: a life in politics

By Mark Pack | Fri 16th September 2011 - 10:57 am

To help mark the celebration of Sutton Liberal Democrats running the local council for 25 (yes, 25) continuous years, a family history project between former council leader (Lord) Graham Tope and his son has been turned into a book of political and personal reminiscences.

The book’s subtitle “Conversations between father and son” captures its structure: an email exchange over several years as son Andrew sought to find out more from his father, with Graham sending long replies back tapped in on his Blackberry. That gives the questions and answers an immediate and personal touch, even if sometimes at the expense …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Tamed and reshaped – Clegg on the NHS White Paper

By Mark Pack | Sun 12th June 2011 - 10:11 am

Speaking last night at an excellent anniversary dinner to mark 25 years (yes, 25 years) of Liberal Democrat control on Sutton Council, Nick Clegg said the party has been successful in taming and reshaping the NHS reform plans.

The run of political and electoral success achieved by Liberal Democrats in Sutton is, as Clegg pointed out, a standing answer to anyone who doubts that you can achieve and then hold political power whilst continuing campaigning and staying true to your liberal roots. One of the key people in that success was Ruth Shaw, who Nick Clegg personally presented with the 2010 …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , and | 8 Comments
Mark Pack

Businesses get off lightly in the snow

By Mark Pack | Sun 10th January 2010 - 9:58 pm

There’s now a consistent murmur in the media’s coverage of the snow spell about how people clear snow from outside their homes in other countries, how it might be a good thing for people to do the same here (example) and how it might not quite bring down The End Of The World (Legal Department) on your head if you clear snow from outside your own home and someone falls over.

Two things have been notably missing from the coverage though. First, any example of a successful legal action in such a case. There is plenty of “Oooh, well perhaps …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 8 Comments
Mark Pack

Should Banksy graffiti be removed? Sutton lets the public decide

By Mark Pack | Tue 6th October 2009 - 7:55 pm

A brief update to my blog post last month about how Hackney Council had removed one of Banksy’s most famous pieces of art / graffiti (delete as you wish). Liberal Democrat run Sutton Council is taking a much more interesting and enlightened approach to a Banksy in its patch:

The fate of a mural by graffiti artist Banksy hangs in the balance as the public have been asked to decide whether it should be preserved.

The vote in London borough Sutton has seen initial support for the artist…

Despite usually operating a zero-tolerance stance on graffiti, the council has made an

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 4 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Greg Hyde
    How come France doesn't adhere to the UNHCR ? ...A tented city in Calais as opposed to a hotel in the UK. As for British homeless it's a political choice - gove...
  • Big Tall Tim
    Brilliant work Michal. Well done to all involved in organising it and the very high turnout....
  • Suzanne Fletcher
    I didn't think my post about a lost one would be posted! sorry....
  • expats
    @Peter Martin 24th May '25 - 1:01pm.. We have all seen the horrific results of those same sentiments, albeit in a different place and time.. A perfect exam...
  • expats
    @Greg Hyde 24th May '25 - 7:18am........A hotel room and three meals a day + a weekly allowance is far more gracious than a tented city. If you was a British ma...