Last Friday’s planning committee meeting outcome took me by surprise. Members voted 10:0 to refuse Stansted Airport’s long-in-the-deciding planning application. Wearing my Ward Member hat for Stansted North, I had, in the morning, asked the committee not to approve the application on the grounds the Council first needed to challenge the Government over its muddled […]

The words above are not mine. They were spoken by HRH the Prince of Wales in Davos, Switzerland two days ago. He was referring to the Climate Emergency. His words are as relevant to councillors and residents in the Uttlesford district as they are to very rich business people and world politicians at the 2020 […]

Stansted Airport’s 43 million passenger application was back in the news today at an Extraordinary Planning Committee Meeting at which many members of the public and councillors expressed their opinions. There will be another meeting next Friday. This is what I said:   STATEMENT OF REPRESENTATION BY CLLR ALAN DEAN, STANSTED NORTH ON JANUARY 17TH […]

It’s been a busy few months. I have neglected my blog. I intend to get back into the swing of posting my thoughts. There’s lots to say: A disappointing General Election The imminence of the “word we’re told we must not speak” – BREXIT. I’VE SAID IT! More trouble with Uttlesford’s Local Plan The resumption […]

Who would spend a sunny, hot Bank Holiday Saturday indoors? Well, new and long-standing local Lib Dems did just that this weekend. What follows is the press statement they issued after the event. Local members and supporters of the Liberal Democrats are up by more than a third so far this year, with the biggest […]

Uttlesford Council yesterday overwhelmingly decided to withhold planning permission from Stansted Airport for more passengers and flights until the new planning committee has reviewed parts of the decision taken last November to give approval for growth. It was a bold, unprecedented step that brings with it significant reputational and financial risks for both the applicant […]

The new Council at Uttlesford got under way last night by deciding which councillors will do what jobs. With so many new faces and with control and responsibility now under a new-broom administration, it will be some time before the real face of Uttlesford District Council and its Residents’ Administration reveals its true shape and […]

From Uttlesford’s Liberal Democrats, here’s a big “THANK YOU!” to all the district’s voters who put their “X” next to one of our names on Thursday. The outcome was a greater swing away from the Conservatives than anyone could have anticipated. The main beneficiaries were the Residents for Uttlesford candidates, so “Congratulations!” to their mostly […]

PRESS STATEMENT ON AIRPORT LEGAL AGREEMENT – FIRST EXTRAORDINARY MEETING FAILS, SECOND MEETING TO BE CALLED TO STRENGTHEN THE DEAL Liberal Democrat councillors continue to work with some Conservative and all Residents councillors to strengthen the Planning Legal Agreement (S.106), in order to ensure Stansted Airport Limited’s legal obligations are a fair deal for the […]

Last night’s Extraordinary Uttlesford Council Meeting motion to ask for councillors to take a further look in public at the details of the legal Planning Obligation (S.106) tied to airport expansion was defeated by 18 votes to 14. The meeting was akin to an imaginary airport emergency in which the bosses hadn’t a clue what […]