Derbyshire's Liberal Democrat Leader, Cllr Beth Atkins, has put forward a proposal that Derbyshire County Council should introduce free school meals for the County's children during school holidays, along the lines called for in the national campaign by England footballer Marcus Rashford.

The Lib Dem proposal will be voted on at the December meeting of the County Council and Beth is hopeful that all Labour Councillors and local caring Conservatives will back it.

Families across the UK have had an extremely difficult year being separated from their loved ones. They deserve a Christmas that is as normal as possible.

So far, Boris Johnson's government has been badly prepared and slow to act at every stage throughout the Covid-19 crisis. That can't happen again, especially for Christmas.

Our Police are still not treating rape allegations anywhere near seriously enough, says the Liberal Democrat challenger in the May 2021 Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner election.

Cllr Kate Smith says that it's unacceptable that there is still under-reporting, under-prosecution and under-sentencing in these very serious offences, which are the subject of the latest Review by Dame Vera Baird QC, Victims' Commissioner for England (published on 20 October 2020).

The Mayor of Matlock, Councillor David Hughes, with the support of Matlock Town Council, has decided to use his Mayoral fund this year to help families in Matlock who are entitled to free school meals.

He has arranged for 200 food parcels, which make a week's worth of lunches for each child, to be available to eligible children throughout Half Term. It is hoped that this effort by the Council will go some way to alleviating food poverty in the town over the holiday.

"HATE CRIMES TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE" SAYS POLICE & CRIME COMMISSIONER (PCC) CANDIDATE KATE SMITH

The Liberal Democrats are calling on anyone "with a public platform" to condemn divisive rhetoric that "inflames hatred", as new figures show that some hate-crimes have risen to a new record high.

Home Office figures issued to coincide with National Hate-Crime Week in October 2020 show that:

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, this year's AGM will be held online, via Zoom, on 12th November 2020 starting at 7.30pm.

Members should be receiving details on how to join the meeting via email shortly.

If you are a member and have not received any joining details, please contact the Secretary, Midge Dobbs secretary@derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk

One of the less welcome distractions that this government has thrust upon Local Authorities is the request by the Boundary Commission to revise District Ward boundaries.

This has been portrayed as an attempt to save money but the very small allowance that most District Councillors receive means that the proposed reduction in the number of councillors from 39 to 34 will not result in more than a modest cost saving. It has also been known that the current allocation of councillors means that the number of residents that each councillor represents varies widely across Derbyshire Dales with a councillor representing approximately 2,100 residents in Ashbourne South but only a little over 1,200 in Bakewell. The boundary changes will attempt to 'level things out' with a target of each of the 34 councillors serving about 1800 residents.

At the end of the Derbyshire Dales District Council Full Council Meeting of 8th October all of the councillors had 'left' the virtual meeting on Zoom. However a small number of officers of the Council were still talking between themselves.

What they did not know was that the live stream was still being broadcast on the Council's YouTube channel.

Ashbourne gets a mention on BBC Countryfile - as UK air pollution hot-spot

For the second time this year Ashbourne finds itself in the media. The first was In June when some of the town's residents decided that they needed to 'protect' a pub sign after a petition was launched calling for it it to be removed on the grounds that it was racially offensive.