More Liberal Democrat Successes for Chesterfield
By pure co-incidence, the Confederation of Passenger Transport's Coach Friendly Award, launched in 2003 - which was designed to recognise and reward the efforts of towns and cities which encourage and accommodate coach tourism - happened at the same time as when the green friendly Liberal Democrats last took control of Chesterfield Borough Council.
Chesterfield only used to receive around 100 coaches per year through the town. But within months of our win and taking control of the council, plans had been drawn up to replace the tattered, antiquated row of bus shelters and booking office (dubbed the Worst coach station in Britain by The Independent Newspaper) with an effective national coach hub designed with intent to draw in tourists to the lively town centre and 4-day a week market. Within a year building was underway and the new coach station was developed.
By 2005, once the coach station had been re-opened, the numbers of vehicles arriving here doubled almost overnight to 200 per year; and now Chesterfield actually receives ever increasing numbers of coaches either visiting the town itself or on the tourist trail - passing the 500 mark a year ago.
In recognition, this year Chesterfield was awarded the prestigious "Coach Friendly Award" by the CPT and, as far as we know, we are the only town in the East Midlands to have been given this award. Our then forward looking vision, in spite of considerable opposition from the Labour Party at the time, clearly proves that Chesterfield's LDs - both at that time and indeed enduringly - appreciate the vital role that visiting coaches and their passengers play in helping to boost the local economy here.
Even in the face of Labour's £158,000,000,000 financial mismanagement and national debt catastrophe, it is clear that the continued arrival of coaches in the town which has been boosted and very much encouraged by the improvements made to the town centre by the previous Liberal Democrat administration, has helped Chesterfield's businesses and resident ride the recession a fair amount better than many other towns of our size have proven able to do themselves.
The award was officially presented to Chesterfield Borough Council at the Best of Britain and Ireland event which took place at the NEC, Birmingham on the 14th March.