Bishop’s Stortford Town Council’s Liberal Democrat leader Miriam Swainston joins race for a Hertfordshire County Council seat

Hertford and Stortford Liberal Democrats have confirmed two of their election candidates for the three Bishop’s Stortford seats on Hertfordshire County Council.

Cllr Calvin Horner will stand again in the Bishop’s Stortford East division. He is also a member of East Herts district and Bishop’s Stortford town councils.

Aiming to join him and win a third hat by ousting the Tories in Bishop’s Stortford West is Cllr Miriam Swainston. She already has seats on the district and town councils and is the leader of the latter.

The Lib Dems said they “needed no celebrities, just committed local people” as they launched their campaign on Saturday (February 8).

The party’s priorities are fixing roads and transport, fighting for a better deal for children with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) and protecting the environment.

“All areas where the current Conservative administration at County Hall has failed to deliver,” the party said.

An announcement of the Lib Dem candidates for the Bishop’s Stortford Rural and Sawbridgeworth seats, both held by the Conservatives, is expected “in the near future”.

Cllr Horner was first elected to the county council in 2021 and has served on its adult social care cabinet panel and health scrutiny committee.

His brother has Down’s syndrome and he said that had fuelled serious concerns about services for the disabled and those who care for them.

He was chairman of the district council in 2023-24 and is East Herts Council’s representative on Bishop’s Stortford Business Improvement District (BID) and the Stansted Airport Consultative Committee.

He was brought up in Stansted Mountfitchet, attended the former Hadham Hall School and has lived in Stortford for 20 years.

He worked in social housing management and, more recently, in the voluntary sector, including as a debt adviser, a support worker for adults with a learning disability and co-ordinator of the town’s food bank.

Cllr Horner said his experience working alongside the disadvantaged had reinforced his commitment to protect the services they rely on.

As a county councillor, his priorities are to improve walking and cycling routes. He wants priority for pavement repairs and improved safety around schools and along ‘walk to school’ routes. He supports a new, more reliable county-led bus service.

He will also push for improvements in how the county deals with potholes and co-ordinates road repairs.

Cllr Swainston has lived in Stortford with husband Mark for more than 40 years and her children were educated in the area.

Her working life began as an analyst in a wine and spirits laboratory and, after raising her family, she retrained as a secondary school science teacher, working for more than 20 years in Herts and Essex.

In May 2023, Cllr Swainston was elected to the town and district councils.

She said: “I enjoy serving local people by trying to achieve the best outcomes possible within the constraints of very challenging financial circumstances for councils.”

Her priorities are mitigating the impact of development on residents, health, education and the environment.

She is a member of EHC’s human resources and overview and scrutiny committees and represents the district on the Herts County Council health scrutiny committee and at Live Better Longer in Hertfordshire events. She is also a member of the Old River Lane Development Board, which has developed plans for a new town square.

As a town councillor, her priorities include protecting the Green Belt, improving parks, establishing a new wood and supporting sports clubs, charities and arts organisations through the authority’s grant allocations.

She said: “The ambitions for Liberal Democrats at the county council include improving the efficiency of contracts, particularly with reference to pothole repair.

“It is plain silly that currently one pothole in an area will be repaired whilst other nearby potholes are left to get bigger. Clearly, the sensible approach is to tackle all the potholes in one location at the same time.

“We will also focus on working with schools to improve the SEND provision and put mental health support in place for all who need it. Working with the NHS to improve health provision remains a priority.”

Herts County Council has 78 members. The present split is 45 Conservatives, 24 Lib Dems, seven Labour, one Green and one Independent.