Local campaigner Vikki Slade selected to as Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate.

A packed meeting on Saturday afternoon saw Cllr Vikki Slade selected, from a strong field of candidates, to represent the Mid Dorset and North Poole Liberal Democrats at the next General Election. Vikki is fully committed to serving all residents within the Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency.

Local campaigner, Vikki Slade has hit back at Dorset County Council after it used social media to remind young people that transport is not free beyond the age of 16.

Its tweet said: "Planning what to do after GCSEs? Check out your travel options before you decide. Travel for 16+ isn't free & there may not be seats on school buses."

Find out what Councillor Susan Jefferies, Dorset County Councillor for Corfe Mullen, was up to last week.

Last week included a few phone calls and emails to the Council and some reading, but no long meetings, my time was spent entirely in Corfe Mullen dealing with issues for the residents.

339 patients in Poole have faced waits of half-an-hour of more in ambulances outside A&E so far this winter, Liberal Democrat analysis has revealed. Of these, 82 faced waits of over an hour.

In the week to 31^st December, 43 patients faced waits of over half an hour and 6 spent at least an hour waiting in ambulances outside A&E.

This comes after the Bournemouth Echo reported an elderly local woman spent 4 hours lying on the pavement, waiting for an ambulance. You can read the article here.

Plans for a new council merging Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch are being opposed by Poole's Liberal Democrat Councillors. 

They, along with other opposition councillors, have signed a letter to cabinet minister Sajid Javid opposing the Future Dorset plans because the public consultation over the scheme was “seriously flawed, with leading questions and with opposition members excluded from seeing or contributing to the wording of the paper”.

Poole Council will be deciding on cuts to bus services in Poole at a meeting this week.

It follows a consultation carried out in Autumn last year. Five services – the 7, 11, 32, 445, and H1 – were earmarked for a reduction in or removal of the bus subsidy from the borough.

Over 400 homes in Poole have been sitting empty for ten years or more, research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

The figures, uncovered through Freedom of Information requests, show that there are over 214,000 homes across the country that have been empty for six months or more.

Cllr Shane Bartlett: "I’m genuinely shocked that Ministers are ignoring the alarming rise in serious crime with this short-sighted decision."

Police in Dorset are facing a real-terms cut of £1.26m next year, the Liberal Democrats have revealed.

There are only a few days to go before the deadline for the Broadstone planning consultation. Don't miss out on your chance to be heard.

The BBC's Blue Planet II highlighted the damage that people are doing to our oceans with plastic waste.

Dorset's unique natural environment and beautiful coastline is valued by residents and visitors but it is under threat. It's time that the Conservatives, locally and nationally start taking notice of this devastating issues and taking action to stop it.