Labour came close to losing Hartlepool - one of their safest seats - as Liberal Democrat candidate Jody Dunn won a 19 per cent swing. The party came from third place to cut the Labour majority to just 2,033 votes.
A packed public meeting at the Parish Centre heard of a large number of individual concerns over the traffic problems caused by large crowds at the Rose Bowl. In true cricketing fashion fielding the questions were the top two members of the Rose Bowl management team Nick Pike and Geoff Cox.
With well over 100 new members recruited in the last year, and new student members recruited from APU 'Freshers' Fair', the Lib Dems are going from strength to strength locally. And Chelmsford Lib Dems were one of four constituency parties out of the whole country shortlisted for recruitment efforts.
Firstly may I thank the Parish Council for organising this meeting. It builds on the informal meetings that the both the HEWEB committee has had with both Inspector Newstead and Geoff Cox in the past and the excellent work that Kerry Payne has done on behalf the Telegraph Road residents association to highlight various issues.
Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Antony Wood met former director of the BBC Greg Dyke last night at an event organised by the Windsor Festival. Greg Dyke announced to a startled audience that he would no longer be supporting the current Labour government and would be voting Liberal Democrat, "Like many former members of the party, I can no longer stomach the present administration," said Dyke.
