Saturday 10 September 2011

TORY POLICY ON PLANNING IN ENGLAND SEEMS CONFUSED


I’m glad that the Calman Commission rejected any calls from whichever quarters to repatriate Scottish Planning decisions to England.

I suspect that nuclear power stations were our biggest worry at the time. But now, of course, we would have reason to worry about the relaxation of planning regulations, and the instruction to local planning authorities that there should be a “presumption in favour of sustainable developments” when looking at building permits.

Well... of course, only if you don’t have a minister as your MP.

Because, unbeknownst to us, there are ministers who fight tooth and nail against developments in their own constituencies while advocating the laissez faire policy elsewhere.

The Telegraph, no less, that bastion of Torydom has blown the whistle on a few of them.

Eric Pickles criticised the previous government’s attempts to relax planning regulations, fearing “sprawling housing estates dumped by Whitehall on green land”. Clearly, as he is so closely involved with this project, these sprawling estates are now a good, rather than a bad thing.

Gideon signed a petition against the development of an energy plant in his constituency.

Joan Hanham, the ex Tory leader of Kensington & Chelsea Council, and now a junior minister in the Communities Dept, even objected to a memorial garden for Diana in her constituency, but is pushing this legislation from her place on the red benches.

Justine Greening (Putney) is a supporter of the Thames Super Sewer project, but she doesn't want it tunnelled from her own constituency. Michael Fabricant has objected to a development in his own constituency but, as a Whip will be pushing people through the lobby to support the government and Grant Shapps, the housing minister, has also opposed plans for thousands of new houses in his Welwyn Hatfield constituency.
But the pièce de résistance has to be the cities minister Greg Clark (above), the person responsible for the legislation, who fought a development in his own constituency warning that it would cause "yet more pressure on our precious green spaces". Clark has now, in an incredible volte face unbelievably accused those who criticise his legislation of displaying “nihilistic selfishness” for trying to stop people getting on the housing ladder.

Sheesh! You couldn’t make these people up.

With every day I am more relieved that this awful coalition have little remit in Scotland. Life must be getting day by day more impossible in England.

PS: I have a great idea for a massive housing estate of affordable houses and houses for rent. I'm going to propose it for the space right behind, at the side of and in front of this nice family mansion in Oxfordshire (top pic). I can see no reason why it should be turned down, and if it is I will go straight to the local MP.


23 comments:

  1. Its the usual Nimbyism from the elected representatives, I will join you in the call for that housing estate tris...grand idea!

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  2. nominedeus: what a pleasure to see your name on the screen again.

    I was thinking a couple of multis and a row of shops for the kids to hang around, a pub with Karaoke and regular buses to take the residents to town.

    Apropos of nothing in particular... is that Wisteria I see on the chimney? Tch tch, best get that off! Still, I'm sure a couple of the local lads will bring it down in no time.

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  3. tris

    yeah building is always fine somewhere else but 'Not on my land'

    The fact is planning restrictions do cause more expensive land with consequent house prices rises.
    I am always surprised at the tree huggers and there supporters who see a vista of untouched land as a wonder but a view with Mum dad and baby(english or scottish) too in a house on the horizon as an abomination to resisted at all costs....
    The fact is the people with the most resistance to development are in the vast majority Torys after all its those with the cash who live in the best bits of the UK and they do not and will not accept any change ever..
    The contradiction in the torys can be seen in their opposition to development in there own backyards but not someone else's (you have to laugh at there hypocrisy which they not very well defend)

    but in the end a much looser planning system will in the end bring down house prices and encourage economic development thats for sure.

    Planning restrictions favour the rich and powerful not the poor thats why we have them
    and why 'THEY' will no doubt win.
    As Cameron and his vermin vile scum rush to keep their voters.

    Alex would do the same mark my words

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  4. Tris

    Off topic but I do not think you would want to miss this one.

    http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/270572/Poll-finds-independence-will-happen-

    SNP support up from 45% which should have won 92 seats in a fair election, up to 49% now.

    The silence of the lambs on the just how big a win it was for the SNP should be no surprise, but we should take every opportunity to get that message out.

    P.S. Did you read deck chair rearranging in the retard. The highlight was Labour lost in May because they did not have a Facebook page. You could not make this stuff up.

    P.P.S. I am all for all these tory changes in England, they voted for them after all. The more they distance England from what most Scottish voters want on things like health, education, welfare and now planning the better. Keep widening the gap guys.

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  5. Thank you for your pleasure at my re appearance after abscence (not Absinthe) I am completely swamped by my Law studies at present (I have exams to take over the next couple of weeks) and thus it is difficult to folow everything I would like to, your blog and others on my blogroll give me some relief reading for mini breaks from the pressure but I do not comment very often because of time pressures.
    Having said that, cases of sheer hipocrasy like this one can drag me out of my shell for a quick word or two...keep up the good work tris, it is a pleasure to read your stuff!

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  6. Desperate Dan the cow pie manSeptember 11, 2011 12:49 pm

    Sadly our planning procedures are just as bad tris.
    Wasn't the new swimming pool in Dundee allegedly built 180 degrees about face from the original plan as there was a problem with the nearby garage( allegedly) ? We've left Labour's stuffed brown enevelope planning of the 60's and 70's behind hopefully but now pay consultants ( ie redundant council workers with full public sector pension and wedge in bank - when is a cut not a cut lol) hundreds and thousands to plan things instead. Carbuncles will be built in daft places and then pulled down after 20 years because they're carbuncles in the wrong place and costing too much to maintain.
    Oh and beaker shut Leuchars because he wanted re elected in Moray didn't he ?

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  7. Well Niko, you're right. I suppose it doesn't matter if they build a council estate at the bottom of the road of a council estate... but you begin to worry if you have a Scottish Baronial mansion set in 40 acres and they want to build a multi or 2 just in view of the orangerie..

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  8. Dubs..

    Brilliant article. We really are getting there.

    As for the Facebook thing...for heaven's sake. How many excuses can this lot come up with? As you point out the popularity of the government keeps on rising as other parties fall apart or get too small to be seen by the naked eye.

    But it's fine. If they want to believe any reason but the real ones for their defeat then that's OK with me.

    Until they address the fact that they are London parties with London priorities and Scots are waking up to the fact that a government that puts Scotland first and NOT the South East of England is actually advantageous to them, they Labour, the Tories and the deputy Tories may as well pack up and go home to London.

    I see that Willie Rennie is in the Sunday Post today praising the way that the English government is dealing with housing. They don't get it. The Scots don't want to hear about how the Tories are dealing with things...specially as Grant Shapps' other policies are almost barbaric in nature.

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  9. dubs

    selective as ever



    However, the survey of 500 voters also shows current support for breaking up the Union remains in a relatively distant second place

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  10. nominedeus

    Thank you for your kind words.

    I miss your wit, but I completely understand how much work goes into a law degree... and I wish you all the very best with your exams.

    I hope that once they are over you'll be able to join us here a bit more often.

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  11. I heard the garage was demanding more and more money and in the end they just decided to build round it... and the bloke lost out on what he could have got.

    I'm less than happy about that because I use the Olympia gym, and that's one of the reasons that I'll be looking for somewhere else to go when it closes.

    But I agree. The council is seriously useless, and the consultancy culture is just pathetic. They have more managers than you could shake a stick at, and yet they seem to need consultants in to tell them how many spoonfuls of sugar to put in their coffee.

    Seems to be the culture all over.

    You're right too about some of the hideous carbuncles (did you get that from Chic?) they build and then have to tear down because they were absolute rubbish, looked awful, badly built, unfit for purpose, etc.

    And finally, of course he did. Re-election is all that matters to them. Only if they are VERY well connected can they expect to be given a seat in the house of old buffers and allowed to continue in government if the electorate kicks them out...

    Liberal Democrats are useful for the present, but they are not well connected over a long period.

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  12. Ah Niko... for now, yes... not for long.

    In any case. I'd be perfectly happy to have devo max for a few years and when the Scots realise that the only advantage in being in the union is sending our young men to die so that the English Prime Minister can ponse about on the world stage... then we'll ditch the foetid union.

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  13. Niko

    Clutching at straws again. Independence is coming it may take two steps, full fiscal autonomy and then independence, or just the one jump to full independence.

    The onionists (no miss spelling, their aye greeting) know that once the people of Scotland see the "books" and how much they have been lied to over many years about the true state of Scotlands finances the next step will arrive very quickly.

    P.S. Niko will having a Facebook page make Labour a force again in Scotland? Or how about changing party boundary's to Holyrood constituencies? plenty votes their, aye right. I called it moving the deckchairs on Labours Titanic, that was being kind to it.

    P.P.S. Will London Labour give the wee Scottish branch permission to make the changes? We are an independent party if London lets us, you could not make this stuff up.

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  14. tris

    give up already then???? seems to me you and many other frit snp supporters are quite content to stay within the union if there is an snp executive at holyrood...

    dubs

    one step two step yer been watching to much strictly come dancing

    and what abhat the snp

    “paranoia, conspiracy theories, mental illness and downright stupidity”

    oh dearie me

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  15. Niko:

    Take your head out of the sand for a minuteand read what I wrote:

    "I'd be perfectly happy to have devo max for a few years and when the Scots realise that the only advantage in being in the union is sending our young men to die so that the English Prime Minister can ponse about on the world stage... then we'll ditch the foetid union."

    The important bits are.."devo max for a few years" and "ditch foetid union"

    I think you'll find that that's not giving up.

    We have to do it at the pace the Scottish people want it. We're not Blair. We don't force ourselves on people and lie if necessary. We take the public with us. If you can't see that that is happening then there's no hope for you.

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  16. Tell you what Niko. You're an intelligent and eloquent bloke. Write me an argument for staying with England in this union...

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  17. Niko

    Now I know you are not very bright, anyone who would bet their balls on Iain Gray being First Minister must be dimmer than they look.

    Steps are what you take in a process, I will try to make this easy for you.

    First step, decimate Labour at Holyrood election, check.
    Second step, hold independence referendum when the winners choose to hold it, check.
    Third step, sit back and watch the losers greet about the date of the election, check.

    Independence referendum, if vote for FFA that is step one, once the full fiscal position is clear and Scotland discovers the lies that London governments have told step two is easy.

    So there you have it Niko, independence in either one step or two, but it will happen Niko, you know that you just cannot bring yourself to admit it yet.

    P.S. Check in this context means achieved.

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  18. Tris

    Niko write a coherent argument, you are having a laugh.

    Was the post at 4.52pm intelligent or eloquent? I must have missed something.

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  19. tris

    cos big countrys win little ones get squashed
    Scotland within the UK the UK within the EU..
    Bigger economy better standard of living
    more opportunity for the kids in the future

    on a bad day scotland in the union is worth more than an Independent Scotland on a good day.

    The problem is tris you like all the other nat nuts would rather eat scottish mud in a ditch
    than a nice burger from England.
    and pretend the Scottish mud tastes better and is more nutritious.

    and dont give all the shite about Scotland being more wealthy on its own cos it wont happen.
    no doubt some will be much better off but most will not the snp just wish to change a brutal Westminster overseer with a Scottish one.

    My friend has to have some treatment the best is based in London under the NHS no probs now
    what happens in a independent Scotland are the snp going to allow a Scot to go to another nation(and pay for it)
    Or like yourself claim everything is best in Scotland and refuse his treatment outside the
    Scottish nation.

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  20. It seems that it is the building industry that has been paying into the Tories coffers to the tune of millions and have written up their new laws on plannng. Wonder why they have a sudden urge to change the planning laws - well £millions of reasons I suppose.

    Niko - The people would soon change their mind about staying in the union when they are told about the £35 million a year being wasted on Scottish politicians doing absolutely nothing at Westminster, not including the £millions being wasted on Scottish Lords, the Scotish Office etc especiallywhen that money coud be getting spent on our pensioners, hospitals, education etc instead of making these wasters rich at the peoples expense.

    Billy

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  21. Well Dubs, you don't get someone to write an argument for you if you call them a dumbass now, do you? :)

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  22. Niko said:

    ''cos big countrys win little ones get squashed
    Scotland within the UK the UK within the EU..
    Bigger economy better standard of living
    more opportunity for the kids in the future''

    Tris says:

    Norway, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Singapore, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Faeroes, Greenland, Holland, Belgium, Andorra... off the top of my head.


    Niko says:

    ''on a bad day scotland in the union is worth more than an Independent Scotland on a good day.''

    Tris says: That's not a statement of fact, Niko. That's your opinion. Of course the UK has more assets than Scotland would have; but it also has more liabilities. So it is worth more, but it has to pay more.

    Niko says: ''The problem is tris you like all the other nat nuts would rather eat scottish mud in a ditch than a nice burger from England.
    and pretend the Scottish mud tastes better and is more nutritious.''

    Tris says: Again Niko, that's not a cogent argument. I wouldn't want to eat mud in a ditch (mind I wouldn't thank you for an English burger any day. A little French or Italian cuisine might tempt me though). Once again these independent countries show that we wouldn't have to eat mud. There's not a lot of mud eaten in Finland. Our oil reserves make us the 19th richest country in the world. Why would I be eating mud?

    Niko says: ''and dont give all the shite about Scotland being more wealthy on its own cos it wont happen.
    no doubt some will be much better off but most will not the snp just wish to change a brutal Westminster overseer with a Scottish one.''

    Tris says: Why do you say that? Do you think that an independent Scotland would re-elect a party that has "independence" as it's raison d'etre? I suspect that they would probably elect a left of centre party. Now if that party was Labour, they would be in hock to the USA and the bankers as quick as a flash... but if it were a proper left of centre party that would not happen.

    Stop blaming everything on the SNP. We know you hate them, but they would morph into another party after independence and people would go off to the left or right of their choice.

    Niko:

    ''My friend has to have some treatment the best is based in London under the NHS no probs now
    what happens in a independent Scotland are the snp going to allow a Scot to go to another nation(and pay for it)
    Or like yourself claim everything is best in Scotland and refuse his treatment outside the
    Scottish nation.''

    Tris says: Well first, with due respect to your friend we can't run the country on your mate's medical needs. But as it happens we already have people treated other places... like Sweden and Norway and England, when there is something that we are not equipped to do.

    Of course, soon the NHS in England will be private, and open to tender. It may be that Scottish health companies will tender for English treatments. It may be that there will not be many private beds left in hospitals as the Tories have abolished limits. Of course the NHS remains public in Scotland. Scotland is ready to help people from abroad too, and I know we have treated Danes in Ninewells.

    I also know that in Edinburgh you have one of the best Cardio-thoractic units in Europe.

    Borders don't mean that people can't move. This isn't Eastern Europe in the 1970s.

    If you haven't got better reasons for staying with England and having our economy ruined by a succession of governments over which we have no influence, then I think you need to do some deep thinking about the future, Niko.

    And I don't think that Scotland has the bet of everything. I prefer French food and French language, I prefer Swiss cheese, I like Italian shoes, and German cars.... and I like English mustard.

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  23. Yes, I read that Billy.

    It's such a pity that people are so bloody greedy, isn't it.

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