Our History

In April 2021 three previously Labour Tiverton Town Councillors, Cllrs Steve Bush, Ana Hendy and Andy Perris, came together with other former Labour members and non-aligned community activists, to form a new group of Independents to stand in the May Elections. 

We feel strongly that there are large numbers of people in Tiverton who feel politically abandoned by all the main parties. We wanted to create a vehicle for local people to get active and get involved in changing Tiverton for the better, so that we can ‘build back better’ post Covid. We adopted the name ‘LIFT’ which stands for ‘Local Independents For Tiverton’ because we feel Tiverton needs a lift! It needs to think big in order to look to a brighter future. We feel there is so much more that the Town Council could do to improve the Town, but it’s being held back by too many of the same old faces who just want to sit there and say ‘You can’t do that’. 

We think Tiverton deserves better. 

We’ve looked at what has been done in other places such as Frome, where they have adopted an entirely different approach to local politics, which they call ‘Flatpack Democracy’ and we’d like to see more of that here. Local government should serve the community in a transparent way and have ambitious goals that prioritise community wellbeing and sustainability. 

We are really excited to get new people involved and build on the work done by our current Councillors. We pushed for the Town Council to declare a Climate Emergency, we’ve been heavily involved with the Climate Change Committee and driving forward an environment led agenda. We have been instrumental in the Town Council’s Covid 19 response as well, and a number of those involved in that are getting involved in LIFT. 

It’s important that people understand that things can be different, that they should be different. 

Tiverton needs new thinking and a new approach from new Councillors – Tiverton has always had a strong Independent streak, and now we are creating a strong Independent voice for the area. We’re appealing to anyone that shares that vision to come and join us in our campaigning activities.

Where are we now?

At the last election in May 2023 we successfully got 6 Councillors on the Town Council. Our ambition is to gain a majority of LIFT members and supporters of our manifesto to oversee major change during the next 4-year council term.

As a group we have already:

  • Driven the move by the Town Council to declare a climate emergency and formed a Climate Committee.

  • Organised the town’s response to Covid, delivering ‘Lunch on the go’, coordinating volunteers and charities in the town, obtained funding for the food bank and fuel poverty schemes.

  • Organised opposition in the town to hunting with dogs, in particular the hunt meeting on Boxing Day.

  • Held monthly street stalls to engage with local people and to discuss issues affecting our community.

  • Reversed MDDC decision to close paddling pools at both Tiverton and Crediton by way of protesting on the night of the meeting to discuss the idea and to hand in a petition of over  2.5k signatures.

  • Challenged MDDC as they were trying to exclude public periods of  discussion and the ability to ask questions.

    Monthly Street Stalls