An evening meeting takes place for those residents not able to attend in the day on Tuesday. Lorna and Su are both present. More local issues are raised for the council to attend to; and residents are told about the proposal to use 40 Barleycroft as a community building to provide information and advice for residents of the two estates. The meeting is useful, and residents agree to meet regularly with the council in future.

The first Barleycroft and Lower Meadow meeting takes place at the Chinese Centre, with Lorna in attendance as local councillor. A number of local repair issues are reported for the council to take up.

Staple Tye lost a hardworking local councillor in Chris Robins on Thursday 3 May - a bitter blow to the many hundreds of Liberal Democrat supporters in Staple Tye. Chris says:

"It was clear Labour could not win in Staple Tye this year. The only way in which the Tories will be defeated next year and in future will be for Liberal Democrats and Labour supporters alike to vote Liberal Democrat.

The Conservatives fought a deceitful and totally negative campaign. But the local Liberal Democrat team is determined to keep working and fighting for residents of Staple Tye."

The full result was: Conservative 685, Liberal Democrat Chris Robins 588, Labour 329.

Essex County Council finally starts resurfacing the roads in Barleycroft and Lower Meadow, as part of the county council's ongoing highways programme. Unfortunately, this takes place just after the drains have been cleared, with loose road surfacing being swept into the drains. Lorna is writing to the county council highways manager to ask whether the county council can coordinate its works better in future.