Richard Baum

In November we turned our attentions to remembering the sacrifice of those who have given their lives for the country. I was humbled and privileged to take part in the Remembrance Day parade and lay a wreath at the war memorial to remember the fallen.

Occasions like that remind me of the duty we all have to do right by the community, and I am lucky to have the chance to make a difference. We started trying to do just that with the beginnings of the Philips Park consultation, as plans were announced to redevelop this unsung but delightful part of our ward.

We had a fight on our hands to remove a troublesome container selling fireworks from the street opposite St Mary’s Park, and I have made contacts with the police and fire service to make sure that we don’t see a repeat of the same problems next year.

We started looking forward to 2008 with the announcement that hard-working local campaigner Mary D’Albert has been chosen as the candidate to fight St Mary’s for the Lib Dem Focus Team in May. Mary has been involved with the issues for many years already, and has immediately thrown herself in at the deep end.

I represented local people at the Planning Committee to ensure that the Butterstile Children’s Centre decision was not made without adequate and full consultation. This resulted in a site visit by the committee, and gave residents further opportunity to put their views across regarding parking and traffic. I also met with fellow ward Councillors and officers of the Council who made it absolutely clear that the project would be completed on time if approved after the site visit.

The party leadership hustings came to town., and I was lucky enough to get to meet both candidates for BBC1’s “The Politics Show”. I voted for Nick Clegg as a result, and he won!

Rick