District Councillor Shane Ward

10/06/2026

At the Town and Parish forum yesterday (attended by councillors), it was announced that there would be a 'call for sites' to plan for the 2040 Greater Norwich Local Plan (GNLP).

The last time this happened at the GNLP for 2028, many residents in the local area 'mobbed' the Parish Council in Hevingham to complain, believing that if a site were proposed, there would be new building off single-lane roads and inappropriate housing placements. I believe that the reason why so many residents reacted was because the process had not been clearly explained. Hence my writing this rather lengthy note.

I was at that Parish Council meeting as just another resident (2018) and watched the drama unfold into some unnecessary conflict with the process still not clearly explained in layman's terms. With this in mind I would like to reassure residents that just because a site is proposed it doesn't mean it automatically becomes part of the GNLP. Also the call for sites may be at least a year away.

Hevingham had many inappropriate proposals, all of which were dismissed in the first round of selections. Particularly the first dismissals would relate to places where roads are too narrow, drainage inadequate, infrastructure pressures and anything else that would cost Highways too much money to accommodate.

So if a proposal appears later to be accepted that does not sit right with residents, there will be plenty of opportunity at that time to lodge any formal objections. The first call for sites is not that time because the chances are that the one you are concerned about would not have made it to round 2.

If anyone is still unsure about the process, please do contact me.

09/06/2026

My first official engagement as vice chair of Broadland District Council was to represent Broadland at the North Norfolk Gala Reception celebrating the 125th birthday of Cromer Pier on 8th June 2026.

Lady Dannat, Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk attended alongside many other chairs and vice chairs from the region.

The photo opportunity with the Cromer Mascot seemed appropriate.

02/06/2026

Those seeking legal advice over the decision to have three Unitary Councils in Norfolk are the same people who wanted either one or two Unitary Councils.

Reform, as I understand it, want to scrap the whole thing and keep things as they are.

This has created uncertainty for the future, which I suspect amounts to no change. All three opposers argue for different things to each other. All will quite happily use tax payers money to argue their case, rather than make any attempt to find solutions.

Most of our District Councils argued for three Unitary Councils because some services are unique to more local areas. Statutory services can still be combined under one roof, as it were, but discretionary services for one area will not necessarily be appropriate in another. Norfolk was given no choice in changing to a Unitary body with a Mayor, so we had to find the most effective solution.

I see the legal challenges to be an unwelcome distraction from the short time we have to make the transition to a Unitary body as effective as possible.

02/06/2026

30/05/2026

The vote was 38 for assistance and 38 against. The Reform Chair had the casting vote and voted against. So anyone reliant on heating oil are on their own. Given that all other energy sources are capped (heating oil doubled overnight) it will be cold comfort to those who cannot afford the hike in price.

Yesterday’s County Council meeting saw a LibDem motion for helping those with soaring heating oil costs rejected.
Cllr David Thomas proposed action to help residents who rely on heating oil in the face of big increases to their fuel. Our household doesn’t rely on heating oil and this week I fixed our tariffs for the coming year but around 70,000 households in Norfolk can’t due to using heating oil (which sadly is also prone to being stolen).
As Cllr Thomas said this was about a Council being pro-active and helping residents weather a storm not of their making (geo-politics is playing a huge part). But Reform councillors rejected it.
Sadly a sign of things to come🤨

25/04/2026

Finally, like many others I suspect, I have received some correspondence from the Reform Party regarding the 7th May local elections. As expected the leaflets demonstrate little interest in local politics and nothing about the candidate standing. Now if it were a general election, I would accept what the correspondence says; even if I mistrusted how it would be achieved.

There is no manifesto but a list of five pledges:
1. Cut your bills.
Where reform has taken a local council, the council tax bill for one county went up beyond the 5%. VAT and Fuel duty is not within the local council's authority.
2. Secure our borders and deport illegal immigrants.
This is not controlled by the local authority.
3. Restore law and order.
This will be under the control of the Norfolk and Suffolk mayor when elected in 2027
4. End Council waste.
When the local council cannot budget for the essentials, due in part to the rising demands of social care and the increase in SEND, it is really hard to see how any significant 'waste' does not involve job cuts.
5. Put the British people first.
The triple lock pension is not under control of the local authority. Benefit handouts is a national government issue. And standing up for your community? It doesn't say what that means and how they would do it.

It is hard to see why anyone would vote for Reform at a local level.

The leaflet states that Reform UK councils delivered the lowest 'average' tax rises. For Reform controlled Lincolnshire that was 2.99% but for Reform controlled Worcestershire it was 8.98%, so beware the use of averages that are clearly designed to mislead.

Personally, I believe that the promises Reform are making, if elected to national government, will come with some unwelcome consequences. We know that there has been speculation about creating an insurance scheme for the NHS for example. Once again, however this is a national issue.

Reform, if voted into local government at this critical time, will give you a naive, nascent administration with little or no knowledge about the running of a local council and yet the next administration will be the ones who steer Local Goverment Reform in 2027, when there will be elections for Unitary Councillors and a Mayor for Norfolk and Suffolk. It will take six months for any administration to bed in, by which time the elected County Council members will have just a few months to do anything meaningful. Also they will not have the power to change anything significant because it will be for the Unitary Councillors to do that when they are elected.

As a Liberal Democrat, I am a local lad of 11 years, unlike Dave Thomas who is standing in Reepham and was born Norfolk 'bor'. The success of the Liberal Democrats has always been down to understanding and acting on local issues. Where we have had control of Broadland District Council, we have made significant improvements, like reducing the need for temporary accommodation by purchasing propertie, with the result of cutting the temporary housing budget in half. And still we managed to freeze our portion of the council tax for two years running.

In contrast, we have not been in control of the Conservative led County Council and it seems likely that the Conservative party will be wiped out if predictions are accurate.

The Liberal Democrats know how to run a local government administration and have been instrumental in promoting the three unitary proposal to keep areas as local as possible. In my mind the choice is clearly to elect the Liberal Democrats as the only safe pair of hands for this one transitional year.

Dave Thomas has produced a number of leaflets stating who he is and what he has done for local people. He is a District Councillor for much of the area of the Reepham Division. I encourage you to support the Liberal Democrat Candidate for the 7th May 2026 local election.

ps. Don't forget to take ID with you to vote.

16/04/2026

The Liberal Democrat Manifesto for Norfolk is here for anyone to access.

11/04/2026

Looks like the voters are changing their allegiance.

🚨Green GAIN from Reform in Cliftonville (Kent)

Happy Friday 🎉💚

05/03/2026

If tactical voting beats Reform UK, you should be voting Dave Thomas for Liberal Democrats, as the only party strong enough to win.

Truth Against Hate

"Oh what sad news for Nigel Farage and his merry band of grievance peddlers. Just when they thought they were storming the barricades, it turns out the British public has a rather different opinion of them. According to a new poll, Reform UK is now officially the most disliked party in Britain. That must sting for a movement that built its entire identity on claiming to speak for the silent majority. It turns out the majority might not be so silent after all, and they are not particularly keen on what Reform is saying.
The figures make for delicious reading if you enjoy watching populists get a taste of their own medicine. Some 38% of Britons now say they would vote tactically to block Reform, a jump of nine points since November. That is more than the 34% who would block Labour, a party currently led by a man with all the charisma of a spreadsheet. The Greens, Labour and Liberal Democrat voters are all united in their determination to keep Farage and his colleagues out of power. Even 24% of Conservative voters would apparently rather hold their noses and vote for almost anyone else than see Reform succeed. That is a remarkable level of cross-party consensus in an age when we are told the country is hopelessly divided.
Of course Reform supporters will look at the headline polls showing their party still in the lead and declare victory. They will point to the 23% figure from YouGov and insist that being the most disliked party is just a sign that the establishment is scared. But here is the problem. When 38% of the electorate are actively plotting to defeat you in every constituency, those poll leads become rather brittle. It explains why Matt Goodwin, the academic turned Reform standard bearer, came second in the Gorton and Denton by-election last week despite all the hype. It turns out that polarising the electorate works both ways. You might excite your base, but you also energise everyone else to get off their sofas and vote against you.
The Greens must be chuckling into their fair trade coffee. They are now the ones surging, overtaking Labour into second place in some polls, hoovering up the votes of young people and disaffected lefties who cannot stomach Keir Starmer's managerial boredom. They are the ones winning by-elections in Labour strongholds. Reform, for all its bluster and its GB News megaphone, is left nursing the uncomfortable truth that being the most disliked party is not a platform for power. It is a platform for perpetual opposition, which is exactly where the British public, by a margin of 38% and rising, seems determined to keep them."

27/02/2026

An outbreak of common sense at the Gorton and Denton by-election. The people voted overwhelmingly for a local plumber rather than a TV personality parachuted in.

Now we must hope that the same common sense prevails at Norfolk County Council's local elections, Reepham Division. Dave Thomas is already working for the people of Eynsford as a District Councillor.

So you have to ask yourself if you want to make a populist protest vote for someone who has no track record or return a candidate who has proved to get things done.