A new report published in The Lancet has concluded that exposure to high levels of aircraft noise could impair the development of reading and memory in children. Residents of Greatstone and Littlestone have been fighting expansion plans for Lydd Airport due to the proposed increase in the number of flights and size of aircraft that will approach the airport only a few hundred feet above local houses, and the report adds new concerns.
Folkestone Harbour ward campaigners Emily Sanger and Cllr Tessa Caruana are working to tackle local eyesores and litter problems.
Two wards at Folkestone Royal Victoria Hospital are to close, health bosses have confirmed. The closure was opposed strongly by the Liberal Democrats. Many local people are upset that despite words of support for the wards by Michael Howard during the recent election campaign, the wards have still been closed following his re-election.
Shepway Lib Dems are backing to no2id campaign against a compulsory id card scheme and national identity database. The local Liberal Democrats will be backing the campaign on their web site, and also through local campaigning.
The plan to display a Eurotunnel boring machine by junction 13 of the M20 has been rejected by Shepway Council after a planning meeting. Councillors decided the proposed siting of the machine to be too close to the roundabout at the junction and unsuitable for an area of outstanding natural beauty.
The BBC reports that plans to exhibit a boring machine used to build the Channel Tunnel are causing controversy in Shepway. Planners at Shepway Council want to put the machine, which was sold on the internet site eBay, on display in Folkestone near junction 13 of the M20.
In an astonishing move the Conservatives have done a deal with the very people who, just a year ago, tried to put Council Tax up by nearly 40%, closed the toilets and stopped cutting grass across the district.
Shepway Liberal Democrats are backing the Independent newspapers' "Campaign for Democracy". The Campaign aims to persuade the Government to reform our unfair electoral system, pointing out that the Labour Party was able to claim a majority with just 36 per cent of the popular vote, and 22 per cent of the electorate - a warning that our democracy cannot continue to stagger on unreformed.
Charles Kennedy today announced the new Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet. The positions of Shadow Chancellor, Foreign Secretary and Home Affairs remain unaltered.
The Liberal Democrats have won with an overwhelming majority of the vote of young people in the 2005 Y Vote Mock Elections. The Conservatives were voted in second place and Labour in third.
Local campaigner Emily Sanger has been nominated as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Folkestone Town Council by-election in Harbour ward. The election will be held on June 9th following the resignation of the sitting councillor.
Shepway Liberal Democrats have welcomed new safeguards to postal voting, but have echoed concerns made by Liberal Democrat Chief Executive Lord Rennard that postal voting problems are widespread and need addressing.
