Labour fails to select candidate in Welwyn Hatfield with just weeks until election

Parliamentary candidate Nigel Quinton

Labour has failed to select a candidate in Welwyn Hatfield with the general election just weeks away. The news is revealed on Labour’s own website, and has been called out by the Liberal Democrats, who say that it shows Labour has “given up”, even in some of its former strongholds.

There are over 340 constituencies Labour has still not selected for in England, whereas in contrast the Liberal Democrats have selected 92% of their candidates in England. Labour has not selected a single candidate in any of the eleven Hertfordshire constituencies. They have even resorted as recently as last Friday to advertising via Twitter.

Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Nigel Quinton said:  

“It seems that Labour has simply given up on places like Welwyn Hatfield. On the doorstep their support is crumbling away and they are widely tipped to lose at least one if not both of their County seats in Welwyn Hatfield on May 4th.”

Labour claimed to be prepared for a general election, but many of their approved candidates are simply refusing to run under Jeremy Corbyn’s banner, and who can blame them? They see a leader who is ineffective and a party that is too divided to stand up for local people.

Says Nigel: “Every government needs to be held to account and the Liberal Democrats are rapidly emerging as the real voice of opposition to Mrs May’s Hard Brexit, austerity government.

“If you want to ensure our country has a positive future, the Liberal Democrats are the only choice in Welwyn Hatfield.”

Pressure from Lib Dems to increase Affordable Homes on Shredded Wheat site

Lib Dems vow to hold the Council and Spenhill to account on Phase 2

Cllr Malcolm Cowan and Nigel Quinton

Last Thursday, 30th April, Welwyn Hatfield Council gave approval to Spenhill (the property arm of Tesco) to develop the old Shredded Wheat site next to the train station. In many ways this is a cause for celebration – the scheme is for high quality urban architecture in a strategic position in the town centre that will provide 850 new homes and will extend the retail and evening economies into Peartree Ward. The developer will also fund £4M of highways work and £3.5M towards educational needs, mostly towards a new, larger, Peartree School, which we very much welcome.

However, in one very important respect the scheme is hopelessly deficient. Only 50 of the 850 homes (less than 6%) are to be affordable homes, despite the Council’s own policy that at least 30% of homes in this development should be affordable. That it was as many as 50 is only because pressure in the past week from our comments in the press has forced the issue. Only in the eleventh hour, on the day before approval, was the number of affordable homes increased from 35 to 50.

The developer was allowed to get away with this by convincing the Council that the scheme was ‘not viable’ if affordable housing was included. The committee accepted the advice of officers on this point, despite it being pointed out that the advice from the Council’s own advisors, Colliers International, was that the scheme was viable with or without affordable housing. In fact the scheme is forecast to generate profits of at least £86M, and probably a lot more.

Nigel Quinton, who is standing for election in the County Division that includes the site, and who spoke to the committee last night to stress the case for more affordable housing, had this to say:

“Whilst I very much want this development to go ahead, it absolutely has to include 30% affordable homes, and I am disappointed that the Council has given in on this point when the case on viability has not been made. The additional 15 affordable homes announced at the meeting are welcome, but are not enough.

“The silver lining, and one that the Council and committee are clearly clinging to, is that the scheme has two phases, the first is for 350 homes, the second for 500, and Spenhill still need final approval for the second. At that stage they have to demonstrate the lack of viability all over again. If they cannot, then we believe that they would have to make the affordable component up to the full 30% of the total.

“We intend to make sure Spenhill, and the Council, do not shun their responsibility to provide the affordable homes our town so desperately needs.

“There are other issues that we will continue to press the Council to address – the lack of communication with Network Rail about the rail bridge and the potential impact of the new restaurants and bars on the remainder of the Town Centre economy. Also, while we welcome the inclusion of some community and leisure facilities in the scheme it is some way short of the Swimming Pool we had campaigned for and which was included in the Planning Guidance and which the Town still lacks – this site has the capacity to deliver huge profits for the developer, and the Council should be ensuring a greater amount of benefit to the community.”

Lib Dems: This is a chance for voters in Welwyn Hatfield to forge a better future for the country

Nigel and team campaigning in Handside

Voters in Welwyn Hatfield should vote for the Liberal Democrats to change the direction of the country and ensure Britain has a decent alternative to the Conservatives’ Hard Brexit, the party’s local candidate Nigel Quinton has said today.

The Prime Minister has called a snap General Election to be held on the 8th June, which was approved by Parliament today.

Liberal Democrat candidate Nigel Quinton commented:

“This election is a huge opportunity for voters in Welwyn Hatfield to change the direction of our country – and only the Liberal Democrats can offer a coherent and progressive alternative to the Conservatives’ harsh policies on the NHS, on funding for schools, and on the environment.

“Many in this area may have voted to leave the EU (by just 1% more than the national average), but I’m not sure many of them voted for the extreme form of Brexit that Theresa May has imposed on us, and which Labour has backed. Whichever way you voted last June, if you want to protect our local economy by staying in the Single Market and ensure that the people have the final say, this is your chance.

“In the local elections on May 4th we expect to poll very well indeed and it will be clear that the Liberal Democrats are the clear challenger to the Conservatives here, while Jeremy Corbyn’s hard Brexit supporting Labour party are in disarray.

“By the time we get to the General Election in seven weeks’ time, I believe more and more will recognise that the Liberal Democrats are the real opposition to the Conservative Brexit Government and the only party fighting for a Britain that is open, tolerant and united.”