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Welcome

A blog of the Political Discussion Group's meetings and discussions.

Political Discussion Group

The Woking Conservatives Political Discussion Group regularly meets each month to discuss a particular topic. As many of the discussions are worth continuing the group is going to blog each month's discussion and then encourage comments and feedback via the comments facility of web site. Although this is mainly intended for the Discussion Group it is felt that widening the debate to include others would be worthwhile. So; if anyone wants to become involved and comment please feel free to do so. The Comments will be monitored to ensure none are libellous or gratuitous as we hope to encourage a lively open debate in which all sorts of views are welcomed. We would also prefer if comments were not anonymous.

Putting The Record Straight

Have you seen something called the Woking Journal? I have read it and discovered it to be a scurrilous rag masquerading as a newspaper. It is actually published by the Liberal Democrats but they must be so ashamed of it because you have to use a magnifying glass to find this out. Having read the paper I thought the people of Woking might like to read a few things they had left out. I will not be wasting time on the half truths and over the top nonsense, in which this “newspaper” indulges.   Childrens’ Service. It is true that Surrey’s Childrens’ Service was criticised by Ofsted last year for unsatisfactory practices concerning children in care. As a result the officers responsible for the offending department resigned from the County Council. Steps have already been taken to rectify this regrettable problem, however this department is only one of many providing services for children and the results for the other departments were:   Education. Our schools’ performances for all Key Stages and GCSE’s are substantially above the national averages.   Fostering. Our fostering service has been rated by Ofsted as good, approaching excellent.   Adoption. Our adoption service has been rated as good or excellent in all areas.   Residential Special Schools. Seven out of eight residential special schools have been judged outstanding or good by inspectors.   Nurseries. More than three quarters of nurseries inspected in the county between April 2005 and June 2008 have been found to be providing good or excellent education.   What this rag did not include is that Ofsted also states “outcomes for children and young people in Surrey with regard to universal services are generally good” and “overall the county council provides value for money”.   Of course the county council does more than providing services for children and the following shows how the Audit Commission has assessed our other services by their Continuous Performance Assessment process. These assessments are expressed as a number of stars awarded out of four, plus a few words:   Adult Social Care                                                2 stars Adequate performance. Culture (libraries, night school, etc.)                   3 stars Performing well. Environment (highways, transport, waste, etc.) 4 stars Performing strongly. Fire and Rescue                                                    2 stars Adequate performance Use of Resources                                                  3 stars Performing well. Corporate Assessment (how the council is run)   3 stars Performing well.     Residents' Satisfaction. The most important people in the county are the residents and their views matter more to the county council than any government inspired bureaucratic assessments. The county council's latest independent survey shows residents' satisfaction with its services has increased from 51% in 2003 to 73% now, which suggests that we are concentrating on the issues that matter most to the people of Surrey. However, we are not complacent.

Conservative plans to help savers

What a refreshing change to hear some good news for savers and pensioners these days; in the form of a £4.1billion tax break. With the Bank of England cutting rates to a 300 year low this week, the abolition of income tax on savings for basic rate-payers and the raising of the tax-threshold for pensioners by £2,000 is a welcome sign that Conservatives are on the side of the vulnerable. It stands in marked contrast to the Government's calamity of measures, largely reactionary, to the current downturn; a simplistic 'borrow and bail-out' model will only seek to prolong the inevitable. Also added expenditure in contrived public works schemes does little to help cure the cause; and besides, one would have thought the London 2012 Olympic Games would have provided amble public works opportunities. Works schemes have a finite life, so the Government has lit an unemployment timebomb set to explode down the line, when millions are suddenly without work.   It is often the case that in times of stress and testing the true messages of the respective parties is forced out. Labour has resisted temptation long enough but now has lurched back to its 1970s past; high taxes, big debt, high unemployment. Community and religious leaders were rightly outraged by the Government's apparent message to consumers to; spend, spend, spend, on credit. What madness at a time of market contraction, to encourage more of the cause that led us here. Clear water has also been opened up between Labour and the Conservatives, with the later promising immediate tax relief for the poorest, and an end to massive borrowing; whilst Labour only commits to tax relief after 2010 and continues its borrowing binge.   The next sixteen months up leading up to May 5th 2010 shall be the most revealing. Labour, struggling to honour its many commitments at home an abroad will be forced to borrow ever greater and riskier amounts, forcing taxes sky high. Brown’s economic scam has been found out, like the desperate gambler he seeks to cover his addiction by borrowing more; but the game’s up and we want our money back.   ---------------------------------------- Councillor Ashley Bowes Pyrford   T: 01483 768 257 E: cllrashley.bowes@woking.gov.uk

The Planning Process and Housing Targets

Like many people, I welcome development in our Borough, and well understand the need for housing. As a member of the planning committee, I would like however to share with you my frustration with the process, and how it might be changed by a more enlightened Government for the better. The Town and County Planning Act 1990 makes clear that the central decision-making body for planning applications is the local planning authority, in our case, Woking Borough Council. As with many decisions of a public nature, there is an appeal process. This allows applicants who have been refused planning permission to apply to the Planning Inspectorate. It is important to note that whilst the planning inspector is a planner by profession, s/he is unelected and based in Bristol with little local knowledge. It is an affront to the principle of subsidiarity (whereby decisions should be taken close to the individual citizen) and undemocratic. With this regulatory background we can begin to see the unseen hand of central government, in all our decisions.   Councils are obliged to create a document (currently known as the Local Plan soon changing to the Local Development Framework) that sets out areas for residential, industry, commerce, and other future development in this regard. This collection of documents is the authoritative article against which all planning applications are assessed, and is developed in consultation with local people. 'Quite right' I hear you collectively cry...and why not, it sounds a democratic Utopia; local people working with their councillors making decisions that collectively affect their community. That is the fiction, here is the reality.   Councils like Woking up and down the South of England have undergone a similar process, carefully devising methods of consultation, and using invaluable local knowledge and experience to plan out their future community, and submitted it to the Department of Communities for approval. Without exception, the allocations for housing have been vastly increased by Government, not merely as targets, but as minimum standards of delivery with penalties for non-compliance. Woking is obliged to deliver in the region of 250 new properties a year. Whilst a severe challenge, this in itself is just about manageable. When you combine this with Government slashed budgets for Highways, Education, Policing, and Social Services coupled with a declining expansion of water resources, you create an infrastructure collapse. This is my fundamental objection to imposed housing targets, not only are they non-sustainable, they also create real problems for the first-time buyers for which the swelling housing targets are supposed to help.   Any future reform of this system will of course have to take account of the need for housing and affordable accommodation. It should however, show due regard to a diversity of housing, (not merely one and two bedroom flats), and should be inline with infrastructure investment. Crucially, the voice of citizens and their elected representatives should be central to planning applications. I am cautious of an Environmental Court (as is the case in France and Australia); where objectors to planning applications may appeal to the court against a decision to grant planning permission, as perhaps another layer of bureaucracy in an ever-increasing State. We must however, seek a resolution to development control that places residents at the centre of the consultation process that is transparent, and is more accountable than it is today.   ---------------------------------------- Councillor Ashley Bowes Pyrford   T: 01483 768 257 E: cllrashley.bowes@woking.gov.uk