You may have noticed that in Richmond we have had a change of administration at York House. After 8 years of Conservative rule, the Lib Dems are back; and back with a healthy majority. We went from being an opposition party of 14 councillors to now having 39 of the 54 available council seats. Given that on the same night we saw the Lib Dems retake Kingston Council and hold Sutton Council and under a year ago we saw Vince Cable and Ed Davey retake the parliamentary seats they lost in 2015 it’s clear that for the Lib Dems, to paraphrase Mark Twain, the report of our political death was an exaggeration.

So for a new administration what are the challenges which lie ahead? Well, there are many, far too many to deal with in the narrow confines of 450 words. However, without doubt one of the biggest will be the Conservative Government’s decision (aided and abetted by 119 Labour MPs at Monday’s Commons’ vote) to give the green light to the expansion of Heathrow Airport. The council as a whole stands opposed to this decision and we stand shoulder to shoulder with our colleagues in Hillingdon, Wandsworth and Windsor & Maidenhead councils. And within the last week we have welcomed Hammersmith and Fulham council to our coalition. The opposition to Heathrow expansion is hardening and we remain committed to preventing its expansion.

Another significant challenge is, to put it bluntly, money. Over recent years the little money on which we have relied from central Government has pretty much dried up. As a result we will have to be far more creative in terms of income generation and, unlike the previous administration, be far more honest with residents about the necessity of council tax increases. Contrary to what you may have read in recent election materials it is not our intention to ‘hike’ taxes, but over the course of the next four years some increase will be inevitable. Yes, we will continue to look for savings where possible and we will continue to work collaboratively with other councils, such as Wandsworth, to deliver those savings.

For this first article I’ve tried to cover off a couple of broad themes. Had I gone into a long list of this, that and the other you could bet your bottom dollar that those groups still smarting from varying degrees of electoral success in May would launch accusations of sudden loss of interest in ‘this’ and rowing back from a commitment to ‘that’. Such is the way of modern political discourse. However, over coming weeks, months and, it is to be hoped, years there will be far greater scope for discussion of the issues which are important to us all as residents of this fine borough.