I read with interest the latest reported incursion into Reading by the Traveller community (7th Nov).
 
Unfortunately, despite the fortune spent by RBC these incursions will continue until such a time as a properly structured local response to these arrivals has been developed.
 
The council has perpetually failed to provide the hard standing it was advised it should provide 11 years ago. Until these are available, travellers have the excuse to park where and where they like with a contempt for the law, driven by an abrupt cycle of arrival and eviction.
 
Assigned parking places gives the authorities the ability to control arrivals and reduce conflict with the residents of the borough.
 
Once the traveller community has no need to impose itself on urban areas, then the issues of rubbish dumping, anti-social behaviour and unlawful activity can be tackled.
 
This will require a robust response currently lacking amongst the Police, courts and local authority to encourage responsible behaviour, and punish transgressions promptly.

The Liberal Party notes with despair the latest series of knife related murders in the UK capital, which brings the total so far this year to a heart breaking 119, with 5 fatal stabbings in the last 6 days.
 
The unrelenting nature of such fatal stabbing’s points to the development of an unchallenged youth culture characterised by a disengagement from society and a lack of respect for the fragility of human life.
 
Remorseless cuts to police budgets nationally in the name of austerity have curtailed engagement with local communities and a lack of local intelligence gathering as forces attempt to balance demands on their time and resources.
 
The party welcomes local initiatives to engage with the youth of the capital such as London Violence Reduction Unit, recently launched  to reduce the availability of bladed weapons and to fund a meaningful and sustained increase in police numbers.

The Liberal Party calls upon the UK Government to immediately halt arms sales to the Saudi Coalition, recognising the destructive impact on the Yemeni population and the actual limited military and political impact the bombing is having in restoring a recognised government.
 
In fact, extensive bombing has intensified calls for partition of a country now racked by over 3 years of civil war resulting in 8500 to 13000 deaths and exposing 13 million people to the dangers of famine.
 
The independent newspaper (31st Oct) quotes Marwa Baabbad of the Oxford Research Group, calling for an “immediate” end to arms sales. Attending an International Development Committee, she said “we are seeing air strikes resulting in the deaths of civilians”, and alleged they had even bombed water sources provided by the UK.
 
The party believes more ethical commercial avenues exist for UK companies to do business in the region, as opposed to the estimated £1.13bn pounds of arms exports to Saudi Arabia approved by the UK
government last year.

The Liberal Party notes the temporary suspension of fracking operations by Cuadrilla at their Preston New Road site following recent subterranean tremors, the latest on the 27th October.
 
These seismic events have occurred less than 2 weeks after a final legal challenge to fracking was rejected, and the Government permitted operations to commence, despite widespread public opposition.
 
The current disturbances have occurred as water, sand and chemicals are pumped into the ground at high pressure, a recipe for subterranean disturbances.
 
Comments by Cuadrilla that the UK has set a lower threshold’s for seismic activity, 0.4 on the Richter scale as opposed to 2.5 in Europe or 4 in Canada is both insincere and selfish.
 
This fails to acknowledge the simple fact that on the Richter scale each step up in the scale is a multiple of the previous one, not a simple increment, and Cuadrilla are effectively asking people to accept intrusive and potentially damaging levels of disturbance.
 
The Liberal Party yet again reiterates its opposition to fracking, sighting environmental factors and questions the economic justification and value of such operations.

The Liberal Party NEC has been posted the following discussion document by an external Pro-BREXIT campaigner.
 
We present this document for general discussion and debate:
 

I note with considerable despair recent media reports that the completion of the much-delayed Reading Bourgh Council accounts for the year 2016/17 continues to soak up local tax payers’ monies.
 
The latest reports indicate that at least 300k pounds has now been spent without the finalisation of the accounts, and that at least another 100k pounds may be needed to complete the process which is now slated for November of this year.
 
It was perhaps fortunate that the summers revelation on the delays came barely a week before the May local elections, giving the Labour run council an undeserved respite. The timely submission and auditing of the annual accounts reassures residents that the council is being run properly and efficiently.
 
Of immediate concern now is that the 2017/18 accounts are due, with no indication that the council is in any better position to deliver these.

This year’s Assembly is to be held at the Civil Service Club 13-15 Great Scotland Yard, Westminster, London SW1A 2HJ. As always it will feature a day of policy motions, discussion and reports on the Party. It is the opportunity for all Members to have their say in the way the Party is run and what our policy and campaigns should be in the year to come.
 
Please register your interest before the end of September using the details below, the enrolment payment is £10 per member to be collected on the day.
 
The Assembly will start at 9.30am on Saturday 20th October with the welcome speech and business from 10am. The agenda will conclude around 4.30pm and be followed by a NEC meeting.
 
If you want something to be considered for discussion at the Assembly please send your drafts by the 21st September on email to or by Mail to Assembly Committee, 38 Horsfield Way, Dunnington York, YO19 5RH.
 
Any two members or any Liberal Association can propose motions for consideration.
 
The draft Agenda will be circulated on the Libmembers email loop with the final date for amendments being the 5th of October using the same contact details.
 
Civil Service Club
13-15 Great Scotland Yard, Westminster, London SW1A 2HJ
020 7930 4881

The Liberal Party notes media reports that payday lender Wonga has now entered administration.
 
Although the company, as did similar entities, provided cash to those in distress, it did so at extortionate and exploitative rates, without proper thought for the long-term consequences of such lending which left many customers with spiralling debt.
 
The company was consequently ordered in 2014 to pay 2.6 million pounds in compensation to 45000 customers who were to have been subjected to unethical debt collection practises and to write off 220 million pounds of un-recoverable debt from a further 330000 customers.
 
The party sees no legitimate role for such companies in our society other than to provide unaffordable credit, and their existence only further highlights the consequences of deteriorating wage growth and stagnant standards of living now experience by many families in this country.
 
We see the concept of “not-for-profit” credit unions, owned as member co-operatives as a more sustainable and ethical means of helping those most in financial crisis.

The Liberal Party notes with grave concern the latest developments in the ongoing financial crisis at Northamptonshire council.
 
Following the unprecedent issuing of a second section 114 notice on the 24th July, prohibiting further unbudgeted expenditure, a full council meeting held on the 9th August heard details of the precarious state of the council’s finances.
 
These cover a projected budget deficit of 60 to 70 million pounds over the next 9 months and in the region of 180 million pounds over the next three years at current rates of expenditure.
 
Local government has been forced to bear the brunt of public expenditure cutbacks in funding, in the region of 50% since 2010, whilst seeing increased legal obligations to provide services by central government.
 
The Liberal Party against calls for sustained funding and investment in local public services, services which provide a basic level of care and support, which underpins an inclusive society.

The Liberal Party notes with considerable disappointment that Cuadrilla Resources has been granted permission to start fracking at their site at Preston New Road in Lancashire.
 
The party reiterates its opposition to the process of fracking to extract shale gas, reminding the public of the real prospects of environmental damage and the widespread local and national opposition to the undertaking.
 
At a time of exceptional water stress due to the ongoing heatwave, the pumping of high pressure water and sand, the later suspended with the aid of chemical thickening agents’ risks contaminating vital subterranean water sources.
 
The party calls for a moratorium on drilling until the conclusion of the government’s own review of the Royal Society recommendations for regulatory improvement to ensure safe drilling, which was only initiated in June of this year.
 
Since only one of the 10 recommendations from the Royal Society has been implemented, the commencement of drilling is both premature and unsound.