I'm generally uneasy about charities devoting their resources to politics but there is some merit in a project from Scope analysing the impact of Council spending cuts on services for the disabled. The think tank Demos undertook the project of mapping the cuts. You can look up each council and see whether the spending cuts […]
Tony Arbour, a Conservative member of the London Assembly, says the Metropolitan Police Service should revert to being the Metropolitan Police Force The happy coincidence that Royal Assent is given today to the abolition of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) and the creation of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPC) which, together with […]
It shouldn't really be news that the Deputy Prime Minister is in support of Government policy. But collective responsibility has been loosened a bit to reflect that coalition Government and we often see Ministers openly admitting that there are some policies they go along with only as a compromise. In that context the passage about […]
The BBC reports that Shropshire Council is to slash it annual subsidy to Unison – which is currently almost £100,000 a year. The Council leader Cllr Keith Barrow feels it is wrong that Council Taxpayers money should be used to campaign against the Council. They will reduce the subsidy to a level paid to other […]
The Daily Telegraph are keeping up their campaign against the Government's planning proposals. They quote a briefing from the House of Commons Library to suggest the Green Belt would cease to be protected. They quote the document saying "the implications of the presumption in favour of sustainable development are unclear." But they don't quote the […]
In general the Labour Party has allowed opposition to the Government's planning reforms to operate behind the respectable fronts of the National Trust and the CPRE. But Jack Dromey, the shadow planning minister, is challenging the Conservatives over accepting donations from property developers according to the Telegraph. He says: "The Tory party at the top […]
The opposition to the Government's proposals to simplify the planning process continues to generate more heat than light. Many environmental and heritage groups and housing charities are broadly supportive and making detailed submissions offering specific, constructive ideas for how they could be improved. For instance I blogged at the Daily Mail new Right Minds section […]
The Daily Telegraph reports that 160,000 council homes are being illegally sublet. The cost to the taxpayer of placing people in temporary accommodation that could otherwise be housed is £2 billion. These estimates are according to Experian. They examined social housing tenancy lists to produce their estimate for the national total. It is based on […]
I've been reading the final volume of Chris Mullin's diaries, A Walk-On Part, covering 1994-1999. While mostly concerned with Westminster they also cover constituency issues including some cuts that Labour-run Sunderland Council were planning. They included music teaching, swimming lessons, Derwent House "the outdoor of centre in the Lake District which for many of our […]
Cllr Philippa Roe, the Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance on Westminster City Council, says if her council can handle the Housing Benefit cap, without a mass exodus, so can everyone else The potential impact of the government’s housing benefit cap for the private rented sector has created a rift in political and social thinking since […]
Cllr David Meikle, the only Conservative councillor on Glasgow, could be fighting in the elections next year for a new party. He says it must be identified with the Scottish national interest. Yesterday members of the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party attended a special conference in Perth to approve the party’s new constitution. This new […]
There has been a lot of lazy journalism in the Daily Telegraph offering acceptance, at face value, of the Campaign to Protect Rural England's. But the CPRE's attacks are not only politically motivated (as has been noted before their Chief Executive is a former Labour Euro MP) but rely not on honest disagreement but misrepresentation. […]
The Press Association reports: Bristol City – Southmead: Lab 1,109, C 765, Lib Dem 365, Green 120, English Democrats 77. (May 2010 – Lab 1,921, Lib Dem 1,291, C 984, BNP 310, Green 124, English Democrats 120). Lab gain from Lib Dem. Swing 8.6% Lib Dem to Lab. Essex County – Stock: C 1,820, Ukip […]
Today is my proudest day as a local councillor attending the official opening of the West London Free School. For the parents of Ravenscourt Park Ward, whom I am honoured to represent, school choice has now become a reality. Today is a triumph for Toby Young and the vision, courage and determination he has shown […]
The Campaign to Protect Rural England, whose Chief Executive is the former Labour MEP Shaun Spiers, has been running a prominent and dishonest campaign against the Government's plans to make the planning system less bureaucratic. Less well known is that they have also opposed the Coalition Government giving councils new powers to tackle garden grabbing. […]