Lib Dem quits to join Greens

A LEADING Lewes Town Council member has resigned from the ruling Lib Dem Party and joined the Greens.

Cllr Ruth O Keeffe made her annoucement on Wednesday. She is the first Green Party member of the council.

She told the Express: 'I have decided to join the Greens as a matter of conscience. I feel that to live sustainably and reduce and recycle waste is nowhere more important than in a town which is still in danger of being close to an incinerator, and which has suffered so much recently through flooding, something which global warming can only increase the danger of.

'The Liberal Democrats do have policies which are environmentally aware but I feel the need to join a party which is wholly dedicated to that cause.

Cllr O Keeffe, who was elected to the town council as a LibDem in 1999, has had a busy two years, working to save the Pells Pool and gaining a 30,000 grant for an insulation project for a local school.

She also organised funding for a gardening project for local schools and has served on all four of the council s committees.

She is currently working with the Friends of Lewes and the Lewes Library Friends on ways to save the Lewes Library project, and should hear in the next few weeks whether her bid for 97,000 funding to repair the inside of the All Saints Centre has been successful.

She added: 'I shall carry on working hard to do practical, helpful things for the rest of my term as a town councillor.

Said LibDem group leader Cllr Jim Daly: 'We regret losing Cllr O Keeffe, but if she feels the Greens are better for her although their policies are not so different from ours then we wish her luck.

She remains chairman of the council s finance committee.

The council is now made up of 16 LibDems, one Tory and one Green.