Mayor of Cheltenham. Lib Dem county councillor for Leckhampton & Warden Hill, borough councillor for Leckhampton & parish councillor for Leckhampton Undercliff. Former Cheltenham MP & former MEP
Last Thursday you re-elected my brilliant teammate on the borough council, Julia Chandler, as the second borough councillor for Leckhampton. Julia topped the poll with 1,274 votes. The Conservatives were second, Reform UK third and the Green Party fourth.
Across Cheltenham, the Lib Dems won 18 out of the 21 seats up for election on the night – 17 on the borough council and one county council by-election.
And in Leckhampton you also voted overwhelmingly to adopt the local Neighbourhood Plan.
Thank you so much for this fantastic vote of confidence.
Julia and I promise to keep working for Leckhampton, working to defend and enhance the local environment, speak up for Leckhampton in local council chambers and take up cases when you need us to. We’ll keep attending the Leckhampton Community Café at the DugOut Café in Burrow’s Field every third Saturday of the month from 10 til 1200. And we’ll keep putting out our regular FOCUS newsletters all year round to keep you informed about the decisions being taken about your community. FOCUS is paid for and delivered entirely by Lib Dem volunteers so if you’d like to help, we’d really appreciate it. Click here to help us!
Thursday 7 May is polling day in Leckhampton and you have TWO votes this time!!
One vote is for one of Leckhampton’s two borough council seats and popular sitting Lib Dem councillor Julia Chandler is the best placed candidate to beat Nigel Farage’s Reform Party here. Julia lives locally and is a hardworking former community midwife for Leckhampton. She has represented Leckhampton alongside me since 2024 and I couldn’t wish for a better teammate on the council.
Leckhampton has traditionally always been a close race between the Conservatives and Lib Dems, with one recent election being decided by just 13 votes! But last May Nigel Farage’s Reform Party overtook the Green Party to come third in Leckhampton & Warden Hill and became the main opposition party to the Lib Dems across Gloucestershire. So the chances are this will be a close contest between the Lib Dems and Reform.
Your second vote is for Leckhampton’s Neighbourhood Plan. Please vote YES! This is the culmination of many years’ work and local consultation by parish councillors and will influence planning decisions taken by the borough council and other planning decision-makers. It adds some protection to more local green spaces, community facilities and local heritage and sets out the preferred cycling and walking routes we want to see improved. And adopting it will even bring a higher rate of developer contribution too so that will mean more money for local projects.
The polls are open from 7am until 10pm and you now must take a Photo ID to vote. The location of your polling station is on the official poll card you’ve received from the council – please check as some Leckhampton polling stations have changed in recent years. Phone us on 01242 224889 if you want to double-check where to vote or need a lift to the polling station. You don’t have to take the poll card to vote but it’s helpful for council officers if you do. If you’ve had a postal vote but haven’t posted it, it’s too late to post but you can seal it in the envelopes according to the instructions but take it to any polling station or the Municipal Offices in the Promenade.
We’re expecting the result on Friday. Good luck Julia!
Labour ministers, clearly short of things to do, have launched one of the biggest ever shake-ups of English local government. Cheltenham Borough Council and Gloucestershire County Council could both be abolished, we could have a new executive super-mayor like Sadiq Khan or Andy Burnham covering an area as far afield as Bristol and it could even mean changes at parish level too. Our MP Max Wilkinson and I are worried this could mean decisions that affect us in Leckhampton being taken much further from our community by councillors who have no real local knowledge. But ultimately it looks like it will be ministers in Whitehall who decide. I’ve explained the changes in more detail here.
I have always tried hard to make sure councils offer adequate provision for traveller communities and to be sympathetic to their chosen lifestyle. But it doesn’t help when travellers break into and camp on public spaces that are maintained at community expense causing criminal damage and when local people – including a local nursery for pre-school children – experience anti-social, threatening and low level criminal behaviour from these visitors.
This has now happened for the second time in recent weeks at Burrow’s sports field in Leckhampton, a council owned sports field managed by Leckhampton Rovers FC. On both occasions Cheltenham Borough Council officers moved swiftly to serve notices to move on and get court orders to enforce this if necessary. They also engaged on both child and animal welfare issues. On both occasions the travellers moved on in a few days and before the court dates. The earlier court order preventing return is understood to have applied to different individuals so could not be used by the police immediately this time which is frustrating but officers have to observe the law. I’m again grateful to council officers for moving as fast as possible but a couple of issues remain:
If Burrow’s is now known to be a vulnerable site then we clearly need more robust physical barriers in place quickly that can’t be broken into simply with a pair of boltcutters. I have raised this with council officers and will work to get this in place fast and secure the required funding. Leckhampton Rovers FC manage the sports fields and have already made some very helpful suggestions about possible options.
This time the police response, particularly in relation to more threatening anti-social behaviour in and around a children’s pre-school nursery and playground, does not seem to me to have been adequate. I have invited Gloucestershire Constabulary’s superintendent for Cheltenham to meet local people soon, even though the travellers have now moved on. I have also suggested the lead public protection officer for the council could attend too.
I have also asked if car registration details and cctv could not be used to bring charges for criminal damage or behaviour against individuals, or recover costs for repairs and clean up from them. This kind of behaviour should not simply be allowed to take place with impunity.
The Daisybank Community Interest Company has now been successfully formed to bid for and (we hope) buy the much-loved Daisybank Field immediately above Pilford Road in Leckhampton. This is an essential step on the way to saving this approach to Leckhampton Hill for the community in general and walkers, children and winter sledgers in particular.
We’re grateful to Cheltenham Borough Council and Leckhampton with Warden Hill Parish Council for their support in securing asset of community value status for the field and then facilitating the six month moratorium on private sale that will enable the CIC to bid for the land. And we’re grateful to the Financial Conduct Authority for allowing us to use a title including the word ‘bank’!
There is an update page on this website here and the CIC itself is looking to set up a website shortly.
On Thursday 1 May, local people elected me as your new county councillor for the Leckhampton and Warden Hill Division. Thank you to everyone who voted for me. I will strive to represent everyone locally regardless of who you voted for.
I’d like to thank my predecessor Emma Nelson for her service to the area. Although we are from different parties and obviously took a different view of the county council’s past record, I recognise the affection in which Emma is held locally and her hard work on our behalf. I’m pleased that in these divisive times we both fought respectful election campaigns.
Although local government reorganisation looms over the county council as it does over other local councils, at the moment Gloucestershire County Council takes the lion’s share of our council tax and is responsible for major budgets like transport, roads and pavements, adult social care and children’s services as well as many other smaller but important services like waste disposal and libraries. It is very likely that with 27 out of 55 seats across the county the Liberal Democrats will now form the county administration and we take seriously our pledges to address many of the issues raised during the election campaign. These include the quality of our roads and pavements, the need to improve children’s services, commit the county ever more clearly to environmental sustainability and tackle waste.
Many local people were alarmed by the appearance of for sale signs on the much loved piece of green space between Pilford Road and Daisybank Road. Daisybank is a safe play area for children, popular with walkers and their pets, an important and beautiful access route to the hill for walkers and cyclists, and one of Cheltenham’s best sledging sites in snowy weather!
Martin gathered evidence of community support and persuaded Cheltenham Borough Council to declare the site an asset of community value which allows six months for the community to mount a bid. A campaign webpage with the latest news can be found here.
Julia Chandler and Martin Horwood are Leckhampton’s two borough councillors now
Julia and Martin elected in Leckhampton
Lib Dems top the poll across Cheltenham
Lib Dems overtake Conservatives as the second party of local government across England
Julia Chandler has been elected as the second Lib Dem borough councillor for Leckhampton. I was also re-elected and we’d both like to say a huge thank you to everyone who supported us and to everyone else who took part in the election. We’ll do our absolute best to represent you all.
This is the first time both Leckhampton seats have been held by Liberal Democrats. Julia’s win was one of five gains by Lib Dems from the Conservatives across Cheltenham, leaving the Conservative Party with no councillors and the Lib Dems with 36. The Green Party also one won seat from the Conservatives, and Lib Dems and Green Party won and lost one seat each to the other, making the Green Party the official opposition with three seats. The last seat on the council was held by the local party People Against Bureaucracy.
Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Max Wilkinson welcomed the results which make him the hot bet to replace Tory minister Alex Chalk as Cheltenham MP when the Conservatives call the general election. Mr Chalk has voted consistently as instructed by Conservative whips in parliament – 900 times in a row in this parliament! – supporting Boris Johnson on key Brexit, sewage and sleaze votes, Suella Braverman on the Rwanda deportation policy and more recently Rishi Sunak on his reversal of key environmental policies.*
Max is the hot tip to be the next MP for Cheltenham
Across England, the Lib Dems gained over a hundred local government seats, overtaking the Conservatives as the second party of local government.
You can look at Alex Chalk MP’s full voting record on the independent website Public Whip here. The sleaze vote was cast on 3 November 2021 when Alex Chalk voted to support Boris Johnson when he tried to park a parliamentary standards report and save disgraced Tory MP Owen Patterson who had committed an “egregious” breach of lobbying rules while earning £100,000 from private firms. He loyally backed Boris again in the key vote on sewage on 20 October 2021, defeating an amendment that would have curtailed sewage dumping by water companies.
Julia Chandler and myself are the local candidates in Leckhampton
Ex-Super Martin Surl is the candidate for Police & Crime Commissioner
Don’t forget to take Photo ID this time!
Julia and I are standing in the double-header local election here on Thursday 2 May. It’s expected to be another close race between the Lib Dems and the Conservative candidates. No other party has ever won in Leckhampton.
Like me, Julia lives in Leckhampton and has a strong track record of working for local people.
She worked in Cheltenham as a community midwife and campaigned tirelessly for local NHS services with the Royal College of Midwives. She’ll be an expert voice on the council at a time when local health services face unprecedented pressure.
I’ve already been your councillor for six years, winning funds for renewables, bringing in air quality and nature recovery policies at borough level, championing Leckhampton’s green spaces and insisting that when new development does take place, it should be low carbon with a decent proportion of affordable homes.
Julia and I both live locally and use local facilities so we understand local issues and know what’s going on in our community. Pictured here (with best friends Harley & Nancy) at Burrow’s Field.
Julia and I will fight for new projects like the scout hut rebuild and keep campaigning for safer walking and cycling routes like a new zebra crossing on Church Road. And we’ll keep nagging Conservative-run Shire Hall for better roads and pavements.
And we’ll keep in touch all year round not just at election time!
You’ll have another vote on Thursday too – for Gloucestershire’s Police & Crime Commissioner. The Lib Dem candidate is Martin Surl who recently visited Leckhampton with Julia and myself. Leckhampton’s crime rate is well below average but we all know it happens and Martin’s slogan is ‘Every Crime Matters’. As a former superintendent and the former independent Police & Crime Commissioner, Martin knows what he’s talking about: “The last decade has been tough for policing with budgets and officers and staff cut right to the bone. But during my time in office, we were always praised for financial stability. In the last few years that has been put at risk. Under my watch I pledge to make sure our police concentrate on the primary focus of keeping us safe – by making sure every crime matters because every victim matters.” Martin has already got up to speed with the recent increase in anti-social behaviour incidents at Burrow’s Field, the most serious of which resulted in the death of a much-loved little dog.
The polls are open from 7am until 10pm and this time you will need Photo ID to vote. To check where to vote and what Photo ID you can take go to https://www.cheltenham.gov.uk/elections2024
Conservative ministers finally ruled in February that Miller Homes can build 350 new homes on the large greenfield site next to the Shurdington Road. The decision was taken by Dorset Tory MP & junior minister Simon Hoare on behalf of Michael Gove. The scheme was initially rejected by Cheltenham because it didn’t provide enough green energy. Miller later conceded EV charging points, solar panels and air source heat pumps throughout.
At the appeal hearing last summer, I argued that the sheer number of houses should be reduced given how many are already being built in Leckhampton. This would also have eased likely traffic pressure and preserved more green space.
But ministers were persuaded by the highways authority, Conservative-run Gloucestershire County Council, that there would “not be an unacceptable impact on highway safety or a severe impact on congestion” -a conclusion which was greeted with disbelief locally.
The county said improvements to the Moorend Park Road junction would help but couldn’t explain how or when they would happen. The planning inspector advising ministers said “nothing substantive was forthcoming at the hearing” but somehow accepted plans were “in hand”. Ministers agreed.
Renewable energy and EV charging points throughout.
A cycle route through the estate will connect the High School to Merlin Way and Moorend beyond, avoiding the Shurdington Road.
Miller promise to preserve and open up the line of Hatherley Brook and protect many trees and hedgerows, claiming a 14% net gain in biodiversity, above national targets.
It does mean 350 new homes and thanks to Lib Dem-led Cheltenham’s tough local policy, 40% will be affordable. The scheme also respects the boundary of the designated Local Green Space (see map ). And Max Wilkinson and I and the Lib Dem council did win a series of environmental concessions:
350 houses will now be built next to the Shurdington Road but the protected Local Green Space is intact following the refusal of another planning bid next to Leckhampton Farm Court
You may wonder how Conservative ministers in London end up taking such important local decisions. The answer is that we have a ridiculously centralised planning system in the UK.
In better news, a smaller developer’s bid to build on the protected Local Green Space was rejected by Cheltenham Borough Council. Cheltenham designated 26 hectares of the Leckhampton Fields as protected Local Green Space in 2020, alongside planning for new homes like the Miller development. After logging more than 30 local objections, the council rejected the planning application for six houses next to Leckhampton Farm Court, citing the Local Green Space policy. Had this application been allowed it might have put all the remaining Local Green Space at risk. The landowner can still appeal and Redrow managed to win permission at appeal for 30 new houses on a nearby orchard site last year but this latest site has the much stronger LGS protection in place so the developer’s chance of a successful appeal is very slim indeed.
