14
COMMENT
Wednesday February 14 | 2024
Mike Martin Liberal Democrats
Mike Martin is the prospective Liberal Democrat MP for the Tunbridge Wells constituency. He is a former army officer, a Senior Fellow at King’s College London and the author of multiple books.
It’s time to spring the political changes DAFFODILS are pushing up in Calverley Park so spring is just around the corner, bringing with it the biggest local elections Tunbridge Wells has seen in decades. On May 2 the Borough will elect all of its 39 Councillors under new ward boundaries. So this is a crucial moment for residents to say loudly, through the ballot box, how they want the town and surrounding countryside to be run – and who to run it.
‘Our plan includes breathing life back into the heart of town, including taking control of Royal Victoria Place and bringing in more family-friendly shops and leisure activities’ And they want change. This is the clear message that I and fellow Liberal Democrats have found over the past year in thousands of doorstep conversations as we learn from constituents what they want from the Council – and their MP at Westminster. We’ve been very warmly received, as has our five-point plan to make Tunbridge Wells a better
place to live after decades of complacent Conservative rule. The decline of our town centre stands as a monument to Tory failure. Our plan includes breathing life back into the heart of town, including taking control of Royal Victoria Place and bringing in more family-friendly shops and leisure activities, such as a cinema. We’ll also fight to ensure the Borough gets the right infrastructure, ending the lopsided, developer-friendly sprawl presided over by the Tories. We’ll fight for more affordable housing,
along with the GP surgeries and public transport links that should be integral to sustainable planning. Green spaces are increasingly recognised as important for health as well as good for the planet. So we’ll plant a tree for every resident and create a new nature reserve near Paddock Wood, creating a lasting legacy for our children. Many people have shared with us their worries about a lack of activities for older children. So we plan to create six new youth hubs across the Borough, each with a £10,000 per annum grant
that can be bid for by local youth organisations. We also intend to freeze car parking charges for 12 months. It’s a small but helpful effort to ameliorate the cost-of-living crisis brought on by the disastrous policies of Conservative governments which seem more enthused by stabbing colleagues in the back than sorting out the economy. Liberal Democrat Councillors are already making improvements to the lives of Tunbridge Wells residents: having become the largest party in the Borough, we have led the Council, and the cross-party Borough Partnership, since May 2022, with the Tories as the second-largest party and opposition. But working in partnership with other parties can be difficult and slow. That is why we are asking voters to support each of our candidates in May – running in every one of the 39 seats – so we get a clear majority to deliver change. It’s going to be a tight two-horse race between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives, so a vote for Labour, or any other party, is a vote for no change. And the same will apply in the General Election, probably being held in the autumn. Whenever it comes, I will be asking for your vote to oust the sitting Conservative and usher in as powerful a wind of change at Westminster as we need now in Tunbridge Wells.