Cllr Canning said he had taken the decision to leave the Liberal Democrat group in SADC following a number of concerns about how it operates locally.

Work Ethics

In my experience, the Liberal Democrat group in St Albans has not operated in an open or democratic manner, particularly concerning important local issues in Harpenden, decisions locally have been driven by a small leadership group, with limited opportunity for discussion or challenge and little appetite within the party for challenge and debate. I witnessed attempts to remove other councillors from the party, and I was also subject to an effort to remove me as a result of my views about parking charges in Harpenden. When that failed, I was removed from some of the council committees that I served on, which I believe was punitive.

Making empty promises

Cllr Canning is also concerned by the gap between what is said publicly and what is actually done.

Liberal Democrats in St Albans district council say they support the high street in Harpenden. However, their actions on parking have told a different story. A large number of residents and businesses supported at least one hour of free parking, yet this was not delivered. At district council level, I was the only Harpenden councillor within the Liberal Democrats to oppose these charges, which I believe were imposed from the top down without properly listening to residents.

The 'Local Plan'

The Lib Dems rushed through the much-delayed Local Plan under the old National Planning Policy Framework in November 2024, only to find out that housing numbers required under the new system were much higher than those in the Plan.

Perhaps this was something that SADC couldn’t have avoided very easily – although they could have delayed the Plan to get the new numbers. The new numbers will most definitely affect the Plan and its viability but may not stop the now ‘old Plan’ from getting adopted. The new numbers will also result in many more speculative developments during the time that the new Plan is formulated to reflect the new housing numbers.

I also found the call for sites process during the Local Plan formulation very ambiguous, particularly the site selection which was quite secretive and in my opinion did not follow the methodology very well. I have commented about this before during the consultation.

Housing

While I encourage new houses, unfortunately the failure to adequately account for the correct number of houses required by the new system, will result in many more ad-hoc housing development applications throughout the district on important Green Belt land, far from public transport facilities and local amenities, and with an over-reliance on walking and cycling over long distances, along dangerous roads and up steep hills.

This is something that has not been-well-thought-out by the Liberal Democrats in St Albans, who as the group with the greatest number of committee places, consistently fail to adequately scrutinise the Local Plan and new development applications at committee.

Resigning the whip

He was unable to remain part of the Liberal Democrat group, as it is essential that councillors elected by local residents never lose sight of who elected them or the purpose they were chosen to serve.

Harpenden

I will continue to serve the people of Harpenden independently, standing up for residents and focusing on the issues that matter to them,

The lack of opposition to these charges by other Harpenden Liberal Democrat district councillors really surprised me. Of course many of St Albans councillors were looking at Harpenden as being a source of income for the council and fully supported the charges.

I have always been against the parking charges, like most residents and businesses, and continue to believe that one hour free parking in the centre of Harpenden is what is best for the High Street and the town.”

I love living in Harpenden, and part of what makes it so special living here is the open and vibrant High Street, where it is so easy to pop into the centre to visit a local independent retailer and enjoy a variety of wonderful local businesses without having to worry about parking meters and having to scramble to input your vehicle on an app that doesn’t work or find a machine that is not broken

Local Politics

Local politics needs to become more inclusive, representative and open in St Albans and I believe my move is one small step in this direction. I encourage other Liberal Democrat councillors to follow and encourage more Harpenden residents to vote for other opposition parties.