Western Counties Conference Success

12.00.00am GMT Tue 30th Nov 2004

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS from across the Western Counties gathered in Cheltenham for the region's autumn./winter conference held appropriately adjacent to the winning post at the spa town's new racecourse conference centre.

After a welcoming address from Nigel Jones MP, tributes were paid to retiring regional chair Shirley Holloway for the tremendous lead she has given to the region throughout her tenure despite difficult personal circumstances with the sad death of her husband Keith, a popular and hardworking figure behind the scenes.

In her address to conference, Shirley reflected on a period of growth and success for the region in council elections as well as a step forward in the European election result where the party's vote went up in the region. She said that one of her personal targets had been to support communication across the party both between the region and Cowley St and with neighbouring Devon and Cornwall and that this had been achieved, the latter demonstrated with the increasingly popular reception hosted jointly by the two regions at Federal Conference.

Shirley thanked both her committee team and the region's staff team, now led by John Miller as Deputy Director of Campaigns (West of England). She also praised the region's conference chair Judith Cole for her efforts in "professionalising" Western Counties' conferences with a series of "more exciting venues" than the traditional local schools, which has seen members gather at a range of new venues from Taunton to Bath.

David "Paxman" Walter, the party's former Director of Communications and now PPC for Torridge and West Devon, led a popular slot putting PPCs Jeremy Browne (Taunton) and Paul Fox (North Wilts) and MPs Steve Webb and Don Foster on the spot with some tough questioning on the party's policies on a range of issues from crime to education, pensions and the economy. The foursome emerged (largely) unscathed from the tongue lashing by the "normally so-nice" Mr Walter. There was plenty of audience participation too in an Any Questions slot to four of the region's leading PPCs, chaired by Shirley Holloway, who, taking a leaf out of David Walter's book, exhorted her panel of Duncan Hames (Westbury), Tessa Munt (Wells), Alistair Cameron (Tewkesbury) and Stephen Williams (Bristol West), to "answer the question" when tackling a range of hot topics from civil disobedience to electoral pacts.

After an opening policy debate on Saving NHS Dentistry, led appropriately by dentist and Bridgwater PPC James Main together with Peter Hirst, PPC for Stroud, there were debates on education, on smoking in public places in which the conference called for councils in the region to enforce a ban on smoking in enclosed public places, the crisis in affordable housing, steps to lower the age for candidates for local council seats to 16, proposed by Gail Coleshill, PPC for Wansdyke, and to cut the mountain waste from plastic bags and bottles, which was led by Fiona Hornsby, PPC for Devizes.

The conference closed with a rallying speech by Simon Hughes MP making his first visit to a regional event in is capacity as party president, who urged the region to work hard to achieve great things in 2005. As ever Simon demonstrated his unerring ability to pick a winner when recording his visit to Cheltenham selecting a bronze sculpture of none other than the great Arkle as a backdrop.