Housing and community policing were among the issues discussed at the Lib Dems’ autumn conference
It was great to see so many Liberal Democrat councillors at our first in-person autumn Liberal Democrat Conference for four years.
We were especially pleased to have such a good turnout at the four events held by the LGA’s Liberal Democrat Group.
Torbay Lib Dems told us how they turned around children’s services during their time in power and saved them from being run from Whitehall.
We heard about the experience of Eastbourne in improving and regenerating their town centre, and how important it is to take local traders and other businesses with you.
Liberal Democrat-led Portsmouth and Kingston discussed how they are working hard to provide more council housing and affordable homes: the Liberal Democrats are committed to building 150,000 council or housing association homes a year, and it was good to hear some practical answers on building these homes at a local level.
My thanks to all who spoke and attended.
I was also delighted to welcome party Leader Sir Ed Davey to our LGA conference reception.
“We have committed to invest significantly in renewable power”
We had plenty to celebrate following May’s local election successes, as we now either run or are part of the leadership in 76 local authorities, and have almost 3,000 councillors across the UK.
This has meant we have increased our representation on nearly all LGA boards and we were able to remind people about our work on their behalf at a national level.
Working with our partners in the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors, we submitted amendments to party policy on the natural environment, refugees and asylum seekers, armed forces champions, and housing, including pushing for greater use of brownfield land and for existing planning permissions to be built out.
There was passionate debate and some great speeches – just as you would expect from a Lib Dem conference.
Our housing policy will strengthen neighbourhood plans, give more rights to tenants, and focus on ensuring 150,000 new social homes are built a year.
I was delighted that conference agreed a fairer deal for flat owners by resolving to replace long residential leaseholds with commonhold.
We also approved plans to tackle the climate emergency at conference. We have committed to invest significantly in renewable power, so that 80 per cent of the UK’s electricity is generated from renewables by 2030, and have put forward new plans to mandate major infrastructure upgrades to the sewage system.
We have also adopted a policy to create a ‘blue corridor’ programme for rivers, streams and lakes, to ensure clean, healthy water.
A policy motion on ‘Protecting our neighbourhoods – a return to community policing’ was passed unanimously. This includes the creation of a proper national recruitment, training and retention strategy to tackle the shortage of detectives. It also urges the Home Secretary, the Mayor of London, and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to draw up an urgent plan to implement the recommendations of the Baroness Casey Review.
I was also pleased we have introduced a new policy on ending period poverty, which calls on local authorities to make period products freely available in their buildings – something to which many Lib Dem councils have already committed.
Overall, there was a fantastic buzz around conference as the party gears up for the General Election – and, of course, for next year’s round of local and police and crime commissioner elections.