Speeches
Liberal Democrat members contribute to a variety of Cabinet, Council and Scrutiny meetings at the Town Hall on a wide variety of issues affecting residents in all parts of our borough.
When the Liberal Democrat Group asks opposition councillors to agree to a motion in Full Council, a member - often the Leader, Cabinet member or relevant ward councillor - will lead the debate with a speech on that issue
Below is a selection of some of the speeches made by Lib Dem members to Full Council.
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Cllr Jane Morgan
Speech to Full Council 8th May 2009
The Future of Local Post Office Branches
It is with great pleasure that I address you and our Full Council meeting for the first time in support of this motion.
I hope that all councillors can now agree that the national closure of Post Offices is having a real and deep effect on the fabric of many communities. From an economic point of view, the closure programme couldn’t have come at a worse time. A Post Office brings people to an area and, in the new ‘council speak’ that I am quickly having to learn, the presence of a Post Office increases the local ‘footfall’, benefiting neighbouring businesses.
It is a well-worn sentiment to say that that the Post Office is often the hub of some communities — but that sentiment is true. Residents didn’t want their Post Offices to be closed, but have had that decision forced upon them. If we as a Council are able to give practical support to efforts to have them reopened, then that is something, I would hope all members agree, that we should be keen to support.
It is obviously disappointing, therefore, that the members of the Walthamstow Village Residents Association who have recently approached Liberal Democrat councillors asking for our help feel that the approaches they have made to Council so far have not been met with such a positive response. From talking to these residents we were left with the impression that no promise of support could be made for fear of ’setting a precedent’.
The forced closure of our local Post Offices has had an impact right across the borough, from Leyton right up to my own area in Chingford. Making a statement of support for such innovative proposals would show local businesses and residents that the Council is on their side — surely the kind of precedent we should be setting.
These proposals represent enterprise in its very best sense and are exactly the kind of entrepreneurial efforts that we should be supporting when fresh thinking by small businesses is sorely needed.
I personally urge Councillor Wheeler, as Portfolio Holder for Investment and Enterprise to meet with those residents who bring forward proposals for the reopening of our Post Offices, and tell them we are on their side.
Madam Mayor, I move to second the motion.
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Cllr Bob Carey
Speech to Full Council 20th March 2008
Post Office Closures in Waltham Forest
Cllr Bob Carey of Chapel End ward made the following speech calling for Labour councillors to reverse their earlier opposition to efforts by Lib Dem councillors to force the Council to campaign against the Government’s Post Office closure programme.
Thank you Mr Mayor
I would hope that nobody from any side of this chamber wants to see our local post offices closed.
Realistically, though, nobody of any political creed, in any council chamber in this country, is likely to be standing up and arguing for the closure of his or her local branch.
We are delighted with the backing that Waltham Forest residents have given efforts to save services within our borough — not just during this short period of high profile opposition, but over the last 5 years and beyond.
In the short term, we will of course continue to lead the vital campaign to save threatened post offices braches within Waltham Forest. However, this is what local councils across the country are being forced to do — fire fight as part of a wholly insufficient six-week consultation.
The fact remains, though, that the Government are going to close 2,500 post office branches. If we are successful in campaigning to save at least one of out six threatened branches, what happens then? Do Redbridge lose another post office instead? Enfield? Newham?
Or do one of the other seven post office branches within Waltham Forest that have been highlighted as fitting the criteria for closure then face the axe instead?
If the elderly and vulnerable of Chapel End ward earn a reprieve, do we then instead say ‘tough luck’ to elderly and vulnerable Chingford residents, who may see their facility closed in an effort to meet the Government’s quota?
Post Office representatives warned our own Overview and Scrutiny committee just last week that such an unsatisfactory outcome would be a real possibility.
The Liberal Democrats oppose the Government’s post office closure programme. The belated scramble by Labour councillors, parliamentary candidates and Cabinet Ministers to oppose Government closures in their area is an understandable but cynical reaction to what is now the business end of the programme.
It is an almost embarrassingly hypocritical act designed to pass the buck and avoid the fierce criticism of those local residents who have been let down.
Our motion does not only set out our continuing opposition to the closures within Waltham Forest — it seeks to reaffirm our opposition to the ‘Network Reinvention’ scheme by committing Waltham Forest Council to oppose the Post Office closures programme, a commitment the Liberal Democrats first asked the Council to make 5 years ago.
The Liberal Democrats welcome innovative measures aimed at keeping local services open, and we are keeping an open mind regarding any scheme that could save local services.
With regard to the scheme currently being investigated by Essex County Council, we welcome the recommendation of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and ask that the Council fully examine these measures. We have made this explicit in the last paragraph of our motion.
We would ask that the relevant portfolio holder for Enterprise and Investment investigate whether such an arrangement, or a similar scheme, could be introduced in Waltham Forest and report back to this chamber.
It is our most vulnerable residents who will be the hardest hit by any closures. Elderly residents and those with mobility impairments will be particularly affected. However, post offices provide more than a simple transaction point for financial services — they often act as the heart of a community, and these closures would lead to the loss of other local shops and businesses, threatening to rip the heart out of local some of our communities.
We as a Council must send a message to Government. Not only are we opposed to post office closures within Waltham Forest - we are opposed to the senseless closure of such vital community services FULL STOP.
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Cllr Keith Rayner
Speech to Full Council 20th March 2008
Iraq Anniversary
Cllr Keith Rayner (Cann Hall) presented the following address to a meeting of Waltham Forest Council which fell on the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.
Thank You Mr Mayor.
Five years ago today, American missiles were launched into Baghdad, signalling the beginning of the allied invasion of Iraq.
Since that day in 2003, nearly four and a half thousand men and women have lost their lives as part of the coalition forces. Of that four and a half thousand, one hundred and seventy six UK servicemen have been killed.
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died. Some were killed in the initial allied invasion. The majority, however, have been killed as a result of the relentless, bloody violence that has plagued the country ever since it was declared in May 2003 that major combat operations were over.
Last year, I, alongside councillors from all sides of this chamber, attended a Remembrance Day ceremony in Waltham Forest. I saw families of young mothers and children standing side-by-side with those who have stood in silence on Remembrance Sunday for many years, remembering fallen comrades or lost loved ones.
Perhaps those young families were standing in silence for the first time. But like the thousands of families across the UK who have lost someone in Iraq, they will continue to stand and remember those husbands or wives, those young fathers and mothers whose absence will continue to leave a gaping hole in their lives for many years to come.
Five years on from the start of this conflict, the spotlight has slowly begun to move away from Iraq and onto those in other areas of the world who are themselves suffering as a result of violent conflict and unrest. Though whilst we might not see it in on our television screens with such regularity, the conflict in Iraq goes on, continuing to claim victims from all sides.
Whatever our own political views about the rights and wrongs of the invasion and the continuing presence and deployment of UK forces to the region, I would like all councillors to take a moment to reflect on the tragic scale of human loss that has been suffered in Iraq since 2003.
On this poignant anniversary, I would like all councillors’ thoughts to be with those families within Waltham Forest and from all over the world for whom the loss of a loved one suffered as a result of this conflict will be a long-lasting and unhealable scar.
Thank You.
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Cllr James O’Rourke
Speech to Full Council 18th December 2008
The Arcade Site E17
Cllr James O’Rourke (High St) gave the following speech in support of a Liberal Democrat effort to get councillors from all sides to place on record their dissatisfaction with the progress of the Aracde development in his ward.
I will start by saying that I would be extremely worried if I could find a single councillor who is not concerned about the amount of time that the Arcade redevelopment is taking.
As a group of local Lib Dem councillors we have been meeting regularly with local residents for some time now and, whilst we have not always seen eye to eye with them regarding the plans for the site, we share their concerns over the length of time the area has been left vacant.
It is simply disingenuous of anybody to try and suggest that the current economic climate will not have a major effect on both the Council’s and St Modwen’s ability to deliver the Arcade redevelopment.
Like many other developers, St Modwen have recently pulled out of planned redevelopment projects and have had to begin adjusting other similar redevelopment plans in other parts of the country.
This is not just an isolated local incident.
However Waltham Forest has suffered particularly badly so far as economic difficulties begin to bite. We have been hit by the biggest fall in property prices in London.
Now, Walthamstow residents aren’t stupid. They’ve all seen the headlines. Some of them are homeowners already suffering negative equity on their own properties.
So I can’t in all honesty try and tell people with a reassuring smile on my face that the economic situation isn’t going to present a serious problem.
The length of the delays and the series of ultimately fruitless promises we have had over the last 6 years regarding the Arcade has been enough to make a cynic out of even the most optimistic of residents.
In 2004, when I was an employee of the Council, there was tremendous excitement at the prospect of a state of the art library.
By 2006, this had become a cinema, retail and residential development and by 2008 the goalposts have shifted yet again.
However, it has been suggested that for a local councillor to publicly express concern at the ongoing delays in the redevelopment amounts to ‘playing on people’s fears’.
So what exactly are Walthamstow councillors expected to say, then?
If we try to explain to residents that a possibly unprecedented economic downturn, a local collapse in property prices and a growing recession are not going to have an effect on planned large scale redevelopment projects, I think that residents would question our grip on reality.
And I can tell members about the reality in Walthamstow and in my ward, High St.
The reality is a huge, ugly expanse of fenced-in, derelict, unused scrubland at the heart of Walthamstow - bordering our High St, our main shopping precinct and the borough’s busiest transport terminus.
That is a reality that is simply not good enough for residents.
Opportunities to proceed with this development have been missed long before the recession came along, and if we are likely to be waiting another three years for the redevelopment, then it is not unreasonable for local councillors and residents to want an explanation.
With regards to our amendment, we hope these small adjustments will be accepted. I hope the mover will agree that they are in line with the thrust of the original text.
I would simply say to members from all sides of the chamber, and in particular Walthamstow councillors, that it isn’t disloyal to show concern about these ongoing delays and the prospect of an even longer wait. It is the realistic and responsible thing to do.
It is sensible for members to seek greater clarification from the portfolio holder regarding the plans, and it is right that ward members want to ensure that their residents are not left uninformed.
I ask all members to support the amended motion and show residents that, as a Council, we appreciate the reailities of this situation and we share their concerns about these unacceptable delays.
