15 May 2026
As the clock ticks down towards the dissolution of SADC, the triumphant Liberal Democrat administration wants to make the most of the time they have left, says leading councillor Helen Campbell.
Helen, who was the campaign manager for last week’s elections, said the party still has a lot to get done: “These were the last ever elections to this district council so voters across the district gave us a very strong mandate to shepherd this council into the new era. There is not much time left and our plans reflects the urgency.
“We will be pressing on with our social homes building programme, with capital investments such as the replacement facility for the William Bird pavilion in New Greens, continuing to welcome excellent tenants into our commercial property provision, invest even more into heating cost reduction measures and renewable energy generation and yes, collect the rubbish and recycling, ensure that our leisure and cultural provision remains high quality, and look after our parks and green spaces.”
The party entered the elections on the back of arguably its biggest crisis since it took control of SADC in 2019, after Harpenden East district councillor Dason Canning has resigned from the party to become an Independent, citing damning reasons behind his departure, including a lack of transparency and a top-down approach to decision-making.
Helen suggested this spurred them on to fight even harder to secure support: “We never take votes and seats for granted and have worked hard for months. We started our campaign back in mid-2025, right after the county elections, and we started it knowing Reform UK was a threat and that the Green Party would target particular seats. Reform UK and its divisive toxicity is a huge threat to the country, and we made sure residents across the district really understood the level of that threat locally too.
“Reform UK really only attracted significant numbers of votes in a handful of areas, notably London Colney, Park Street and St Stephen. The support came mostly from areas where people are feeling severely let down by this Labour Government and the last Conservative one; we campaigned to help people see that Reform UK was not the answer to their problems and concerns.”
She elaborated on the result: “This was an extraordinarily good performance for any party that has been in power for seven challenging years and is testament to our consistently fair decision making, transparency and sound financial decisions which always considers the good of the whole community. We don’t take the responsibility lightly or for granted.
“We went into these elections having protected our leisure centres, entertainment venues and museums, on the brink of a successful delivery of our Local Plan to shield the district against unwanted spontaneous development, and with a raft of measures being delivered to tackle the housing, climate and biodiversity crises.
“We’re investing in our social housing stock, upgrading public toilets, planting thousands of trees and we have plans to improve Verulamium Lake.
“So these results are a clear indication that residents recognise our commitment and voted for the Liberal Democrats as they trust us to continue to run the district council in their best interests through the last two years ahead of local government reorganisation (LGR).
“We were very pleased by the high turnout, for local elections, and thank all those who took the time to consider the issues and the vote. Democracy is under threat across the world but our residents showed, once more, how much they value it here.
“The job right now is to continue to run this district council well and responsibly, to ensure it is in the best possible position ahead of the incoming unitary system.”
Surprisingly, the results in Clarence and St Peter’s were not as close as expected, despite the Greens’ focus on winning both wards. Lib Dem campaign literature highlighted the threat of Reform, was this a contributory factor in their victory?
“It appears that residents in Clarence clearly decided they preferred to retain Josie Madoc and her six years of experience on the council through the pivotal period of LGR change, and in St Peter’s they chose our brilliant candidate Sean Hughes, who has already done so much to support the local hospitality sector and the high street generally. Voters in these wards resoundingly chose experience, positivity, hard work and a strong record of community action, and rejected negative campaigning.”
Was the unexpected victory of Aaron Jacob in Harpenden West a backlash against the controversial on-street parking charges which the Lib Dems introduced in the town?
“Firstly, we want to recognise what a great candidate Ric Belfield was. His engagement with residents and wide life experience resonated to the extent that he won 1,270 votes, which is on a par with what our elected councillors won with in both 2023 & 24, when the Government of the day were offering constant reminders of the reasons why Conservatives cannot be trusted to deliver on the people’s priorities.
“At the same time, we congratulate Aaron Jacob for his narrow win in Harpenden West ward and look forward to hearing any fresh ideas from his party as to how they would improve service provision for local residents and how this would be financed, something the Conservatives have failed to do so far.
“Across Harpenden we Liberal Democrats secured comfortably more support than the Conservatives (vote share of 40.8 per cent versus 34.8 per cent). This is a testament to the continued faith a large proportion of the residents in Harpenden have in what we have delivered and further pledge to deliver for them in the face of strong financial headwinds. They still know which party can be trusted, and which cannot.
“It is not apparent that the additional parking charges levied in the High Street have had much of a negative impact, given that most Harpenden North and Harpenden East residents live much further away and the Lib Dems won a strong majority there, returning two excellent councillors.”
