Who decides on Planning ?

Following the election , the new government agreed to stick to the Conservative promise to repeal the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS), which effectively imposed the level of future housing and ancilliary growth on our area.

A building company took court action and it was ruled that the government did not have the legal powers to revoke the RSS and had not considered the environmental effects in accordance with European law. The government then said that it planned to introduce legislation and Councils could give weight to this in making decisions.

Now the builder is going back to court to try to prevent such weight being given and therefore claim that decisions should be made, based on a policy that Parliament is expected to reject.

In the meantime the District Council is seeking input from local people to help form our future local plan - a far more sensible approach to planning in my view.

Who spends our money best ?

The Deputy Prime Minister is quoted as saying that he wants councils to be able to raise more money from the public.

I would take some convincing that once the basic services are financed, local councils are better at spending our money than we are ourselves - spending other people's money can be much easier than spending your own.

Housing plan to be scrapped

It would appear that the new government is to carry out the Conservative election pledge to abolish the imposition of the previous targets for house building in South Worcs that threatened the character of some of our local villages.

Whilst population growth makes some building inevitable, hopefully this can now be done to reflect local needs. This now gives an opportunity for local communities to consider what development they require, which can be fed in to whatever new system is put in place.

Recycling

With the introduction of the new sorting facility, changes are being made to the recycling arrangements. Starting shortly, there will be a new cherry coloured sack to contain all recyclables which will be collected each week, in addition to the normal black sack.
There will also be an increase in the range of items that can be collected. A leaflet has been sent to each household and details can also be accessed on the Council's website.

Local Development Sites

Several potential sites for house building have been put forward in local villages by developers and are being considered as part of the development of the new planning strategy.

There is an opportunity on Tuesday 9th March from 3.30 to 7pm at Abberley village hall to view information on these and to give views on their suitability. I hope local residents will be able to attend and express their opinions so that these can be taken into account as the strategy is further developed.

Public Sector Pensions

I recently asked MHDC to make representations to the Government, requesting that efforts be made to align the costs and benefits of public sector pensions with those of other taxpayers.
This was due to the increasing pressure of pension costs on council tax levels and the effect of the current economic position on private schemes.

We eventually got a response telling us how local government pensions work (which is hardly news ) and how Warwickshire County Council are running the scheme. It is a pity that the government minister doesn't appear to know that Malvern Hills is in Worcestershire.

Maybe Hazel Blears had other things on her mind.

Road Closure Changes

A letter has been sent out by Severn Trent announcing a postponement of the road closure effecting Holt Bridge whilst they reconsider the situation.
The original closure dates during holiday periods were probabably the best time if closure is necessary. Let's hope that an alternative to closure is now found.

The level of public concern must have played a part in this and demonstrates the importance of desisions being questioned.