Chris Hinchcliff is a Labour Councillor on North Hertforshire district council and works for CPRE. Across England, roughly 24 million people live in rural communities, or in urbanareas with a significant rural hinterland that plays a crucial part in their identity anddaily lives. With a Tory government resolutely determined not to rise to thechallenges facing…
There is a by election happening in Tiverton and Honiton so political pundits have been busy googling the place, and many in the Labour Party have been gearing up to fight a “rural” election. After all the big thing the constituency is famous for thanks to its dodgy MP is sexy tractors. So bring out the…
The hospitality sector was decimated by Covid, then faced having to get back on track between lockdowns and is still struggling with staff absences due to Covid. Jobs are often temporary and zero hours, with workers being laid off at short notice due to Covid closures. Many people in our communities are trying to survive…
This Thursday, May 12th, sees a by-election in Tiverton, yet it isn’t the one you’re thinking of…. It is the by-election for Lowman Ward of Tiverton Town Council, a seat that is only being contested between Labour, Conservative and an Independent (so much for the Lib Dems’ “winning here”). LCC has long argued that when our members campaign…
By Niamh MacElvogue, Communications intern, National Association of Local Councils The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) has opened nominations for the Star Council Awards 2022. As the only awards in England recognising the contribution local (parish and town) councils make to their communities, the Star Council Awards are an opportunity for the local council…
Kate Ewert, Cornwall Councillor for the Rame Peninsula and St Germans. I am fortunate enough to represent the beautiful coastal and rural community of the Rame Peninsula and St Germans division on Cornwall Council. We have miles of stunning coastline, rolling fields, beaches galore and an extraordinary amount of second homes and holiday lets, extortionate…
Back in November 2021 there were headlines in the local papers and even on BBC News saying ‘Conservatives shocked as Labour win first seat on Rutland County Council in more than 20 years.’ Rutland has been well known as a safe-seat for the blues, a tory heartland. I am the first Labour Party councillor on…
Anyone joining Coast and Country’s campaign day in Worthing on the 2nd April has the opportunity to be a part of making history; Labour taking control of the town for the first time ever. Worthing is a tightly bounded urban borough with two parliamentary constituencies East Worthing and Shoreham and Worthing West (both formed 1997…
As Labour’s parliamentary candidate in Skipton and Ripon, a seat we came third in in 1997, I was under no illusions about the very likely outcome for me and us in the 2010 election. Selected in 2007 before the “election that never was”, I and the committed CLP team there set local objectives, relevant to…
It was a rainy grey Wednesday last January when scrolling through Facebook I saw a post: Vacancy for a councillor in Bradley Stoke North. Friends started ‘tagging’ me to tell me they thought I should go for it, having been very active in my community for many years. I wondered if it could be the…
