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Prospective local MP Duncan Hames, and Liberal Democrats from across Wiltshire, are preparing to head to Bournemouth for the party’s annual autumn conference.

The party will be voting on important policies on taxation, transport and health and will be giving a warm welcome to Nick Clegg at his first autumn conference as party leader.

Commenting before the conference Duncan Hames said:

“I hope to speak about the scandalous real cost of Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs) in a debate on Sunday morning. The schemes often leave taxpayers shouldering large amounts of risk despite the charges to private contractors.

“There is also a huge range of the costs associated with these schemes, charges for installing a plug socket, for example, can vary from £30 to £300.

Duncan is a governor at George Ward School in Melksham, which was recently granted £25m in funding for a new school site, which will be built without resorting to PFI.

Duncan Hames has also been shortlisted for the party’s award for ‘Best use of blogging or social networking by a Liberal Democrat’.

The nomination is for Duncan’s ‘Twitter’ feed (www.twitter.com/duncanhames) which he uses to keep in touch with local people and allow his constituents to keep track of what he is doing. The winner of the award will be announced on Saturday.

Duncan Hames and Isabel Langsford are supporting local residents in Corsham to prevent the surgery relocating to a new site at Rudloe.

The plans would leave the town with no GP surgery of it’s own. The Rudloe site would be difficult to access, especially for those who need it the most.

Duncan Hames, prospective MP for Corsham said “Time and time again, budget-conscious decisions in the NHS leave patients picking up the cost of longer journeys. The government should fund public services, including the NHS, recognising the greater cost of serving smaller rural communities like ours.”

“We would like the Wiltshire NHS Trust to help the Porch Surgery stay in the town centre by expanding on it’s current site.”

Labour slump to sixth as Brown hits new low.

Local Liberal Democrats are celebrating a stunning victory in the Corsham Town Council by-election.

The contest saw the election of hard-working, local campaigner, Isabel Langsford.

Isabel secured a majority of 277 votes, a massive 16% swing from the Conservatives to the Lib Dems.
Isabel commented: “I would like to thank everyone who voted for me, I look forward to getting started. This has been a great campaign, I have enjoyed meeting everyone and hearing the local concerns, I am determined to work hard as a local councillor to help local people.”

Duncan Hames, prospective Lib Dem MP added: “Once again the Liberal Democrats have proven to be the popular alternative to the Conservatives in Wiltshire. Given the chance, local people resoundingly rejected the BNP in Corsham and Labour support has slumped as they came a poor sixth.”

“For the third time in nine months in the Chippenham constituency more voters have chosen the Liberal Democrats than the Conservatives to speak up for our area.”

This result indicates that the next election will be a straight choice between Lib Dem Duncan Hames and the Conservative’s Devon farmer.”

Local families here in Wiltshire are being hit by the rising cost of living, hikes in fuel costs and increases in council tax.

There have been big increases in the cost of living, and Gordon Brown’s decision to scrap the 10p rate of income tax was the last straw for many local people.

The Liberal Democrats are campaigning to help the lowest paid by cutting the basic rate of income tax by 4p in the pound, axing the unfair council tax and voting in Parliament to keep the 10p tax band.

North Wiltshire District Council Liberal Democrats stood up for local people in this years budget, and voted for a council tax freeze locally.

Duncan Hames, prospective MP said “Local people are feeling the pinch: the rising cost of living, hikes in petrol prices and increases to local council tax are taking their strain. I understand the challenges that local people face. The Liberal Democrats would focus tax cuts on low and middle income households. We would start by cutting the basic rate of income tax by 4p and scrap the unfair council tax.”

Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, has given his backing to the campaign to reopen Corsham railway station.

In their radical new transport policies, the Liberal Democrats have committed to investing billions of pounds in the railways.

Part of this money would be spent on reopening stations specifically including Corsham. It would also reduce congestion in and out of Bath from Bradford-on-Avon and Chippenham stations, and mean that more trains could run along the line serving Melksham station.

Prospective Liberal Democrat MP, Duncan Hames commented “The station would be a valuable resource for local people. It would increase tourism and trade for the town, and ease road congestion into Chippenham. We have taken this campaign to the top of the Liberal Democrats and I am pleased to have received this backing.”

In a recent survey of local opinion in Corsham 98% of people said they backed the campaign to reopen the station.

Duncan Hames recently joined fellow school governors, staff and George Ward School pupils to mark the start of building work for Melksham’s new school.

The school has been given the green light for a completely new school building, providing state of the art facilities in a bright and modern learning environment.

Duncan Hames commented “This is excellent news for young people in Melksham and their families. There is no better investment that could be made in the community than into the education of the next generation.”

Duncan has also backed the plans for a new building for the Chippenham campus of Wiltshire College, but has urged that care be taken to work with local residents and ease problems with construction traffic and congestion.

Duncan Hames, prospective Lib Dem MP spent a weekend with the police in Chippenham, patrolling the streets in the night. To see for himself what they are up against when the pubs close.

Duncan said “Going out with police officers gave me a great chance to see the work they do, and how we might be able to make their jobs easier. The Lib Dems want to see more police on the beat. We would scrap plans to waste millions of pounds on ID cards, and invest in more local police officers instead.”

In a recent survey of local residents, Duncan found that more than half considered crime and disorder an important issue to them.

Local residents across Wiltshire are reeling after the Labour government pushed through a number of local Post Office closures in spite of fierce opposition. 

Liberal Democrats led campaigns to keep them open, starting petitions and calling public meetings, but the government and the Royal Mail refused to listen.

Local campaigner Duncan Hames said “Sadly the consultation was a complete sham.  No matter how many local objections were raised, the Post Office has pressed ahead regardless. More closures could also be on the way, he warns.  The government are about to decide whether to scrap the Post Office card account.  If they do, thousands more Post Offices across the country could face the axe.  This has to stop, before more of our local communities suffer as a result.”

Jon Hubbard and Duncan Hames say it is time to clean up Melksham.

Melksham town has overflowing bins and litter in the streets say two local Lib Dem campaigners.

Litter in the streets was the top issue in Jon Hubbard’s local residents survey. They are campaigning to tidy up the area and have already had some successes, such as persuading the council to empty the bins along the footpath from Hazelwood Road into the town centre.

Jon Hubbard, speaking about the campaign, said “Local people keep reporting issues to me about the mess on our streets. I am pressing the council to sort it out. I am also campaigning against the Tory’s new ‘two finger bin policy’. Shockingly they are now refusing to empty green bins that cannot be pulled along with two fingers! The Tory policy is an insult to people trying to recycle.”

Duncan Hames, who is the prospective Lib Dem MP for the Melksham area, added “It is vital that people feel proud of their town. Melksham is a lovely place and I want to help keep it that way. The council should be making it easier for people to recycle – not harder. Jon Hubbard is doing a great job in this campaign for Melksham residents. Together we also want to see plastic and cardboard recycled from the doorstep which would help protect our environment.”

Bradford-on-Avon residents fight housing plan for golf course

Duncan Hames, prospective Lib Dem MP for Bradford-on-Avon, is working with local residents to fight plans for 200 houses on a golf course in the town.

The owners and developers of the site have applied for permission to build an access road from Greenland View and Mythern Meadow.

Local residents living near the site have collected hundreds of petition signatures, and the Liberal Democrat Town Council, have listened to the concerns and opposed plans for any development on the site. The decision now rests with West Wilts District Council.

Duncan Hames commented on the plans, “I am backing local residents all the way. This site is not allocated for housing in the local plan, and should not be built on.

“It is a valuable recreation space for people in the town, local roads are not suited to the increased traffic from more houses.
“How could the district council approve even more building in Bradford, when nothing has been done to tackle air pollution in the town?”

Duncan Hames spoke at the public meeting in July and is helping local people mount their campaigns.