On behalf of the Liberal Democrat Group at Maidstone Borough Council I would like to thank all the residents who voted for us at the Borough Council elections on 3^rd May.

There is no coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats on Maidstone Borough Council and while it is disappointing that we did not succeed in winning enough seats to form the administration I would like to reassure everyone that we will continue to work hard as a responsible and active opposition to the continuing Conservative rule.

Commenting on a shocking new European Parliament report which catalogues the disastrous decline in the Earth's plant and animal species Cllr. Fran Wilson (Leader of Maidstone Lib Dems) stated

"Why does the human race not understand that it is, in effect, ultimately going to kill off itself, if we do not halt this decline in the world's bio-diversity?

From 10th April for 10 weeks.

Here is a Pdf file, a map of the diversions.

Please download a pfd file by clicking on the word MAP.

MAP

Over 20 million working people will be better off next year after Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government delivered the biggest ever increase in the income tax personal allowance in the Budget.

The massive £3.5bn tax cut for working people delivers:

• The biggest ever single uplift in the tax threshold
• A personal allowance of £9,205 in April 2013
• 21 million working people getting an extra £220 tax cut
• Brings the total tax cut for basic rate tax payers to £550
• Brings the total number of people lifted out of tax to 2 million.

49 Kent schools are without a permanent Headteacher, and an additional 37 Kent schools may have Headteachers retiring in the next few year.

Martin Vye, on Kent County Council, has expressed his shock and concern at the report that 49 schools in Kent are without a permanent Headteacher.

At the Education, Learning & Skills Committee meeting yesterday (15 March) Martin said:

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg used his speech to the Party's Spring conference in NewcastleGateshead to call for the forthcoming budget to be a "budget for fairness" and pledged that it would help working familes.

The Deputy Prime Minister pledged that by 2015 Britain would have seen an end to control orders, the first gay marriages and the first elections to the House of Lords.

Fairer taxes, promoting green jobs, protecting your civil liberties - these are just some of the achievements of the Liberal Democrats in government.

We're building a freer, greener and more liberal country - and stopping some of the worst excesses of the Conservatives. Find out more in this infographic.

In response to a question raised by Lib Dem County Councillor Ian Chittenden, at the County Council meeting on Thursday 9th February, the Conservative Cabinet Member confirmed that the decision on the future of Youth Services will be decided by newly formed 'Locality Boards' (where they exist). Locality boards are informal bodies, with no requirement to allow the public to attend the meetings to listen to or join in the debates about changes to their local youth services.

Liberal Democrats at County Hall have renewed their calls for an inquiry into the failure of services to children in care in Kent. Trudy Dean (Lib Dem Leader of the Opposition) revealed for the first time that data about vacancy levels in Kent were known to be at high risk well before an unannounced inspection by OFSTED resulted in a critical report.