Central Beds Council has recently endorsed a budget strategy that includes a range of proposals to deliver the 28% savings that will be necessary next year and for the following three years. The coalition government wants the savings front loaded, rather than evenly spread over the four years, which makes economic sense, although it's painful. To some extent, the Council is fortunate that we take a relatively low sum from central government, so the cut is not as deep as that in other local authorities. My thanks to all the constituents who have contacted me already to share their concerns ...
John Reardon was mentioned here when Nick Clegg's first speech as Lib Dem leader persuaded him to resign from the Labour Party. It wasn't that it made him join us: it made him despair of British politics altogether. Judging by his blog - whence I have borrowed this illustration - he has since joined the Greens.
Central Bedfordshire Council is asking all residents to give their views on transport for students in further education to help shape future provision. The consultation, which runs until 17 December, is on proposals to alter the provision for students aged 16 to 18, bringing it more into line with that for school aged children as well as new legislation and government guidance. Proposed revisions to the existing Post 16 Transport Policy include changes to the maximum distance for which a student can receive free or subsidised travel. It also suggests new criteria for low income, medical and special educational needs ...
All the family can learn how to make a Christmas wreath and tree decorations using natural material found in woodland, at an event organised by South Gloucestershire Council and the Friends of Ridge Wood. The event is taking place on Sunday 28 November at the Ridgewood Centre, Yate and the workshops will be run by local expert Jo Wright from Organic Blooms, Iron Acton. All the ingredients to make perfect decorations will be supplied. Participants will learn some basic basketry skills and how to work with willow, twist a wreath for the door, and find out how twigs, pine cones ...
Road closures imminent: 1) Sharpenhoe Road, Barton Le Clay which extends from the roundabout with Bedford Road, Barton to Barton Road, Sharpenhoe 2) Barton Road, Sharpenhoe which extends from Sharpenhoe Road, Barton Le Clay to Sharpenhoe Road, Sharpenhoe to Streatley. These temporary closures are required to enable surfacing works to take place and shall apply to such extent as may from time to time be indicated by the appropriate traffic signs. Where possible access will be maintained to property and premises but may be restricted from time to time according to local signing. It is expected that the works will ...
I'm up to episode 5 of the The Tudors and took the time to get through two blockbusting novels with the same setting, Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall (which covers the 1527-1535 period in the life of Thomas Cromwell) and Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl (told from Mary Boleyn's point of view, covering a longer period, 1521 to 1536). It's quite startling to compare the two books with each other, with the TV series, and with the historical record; one obvious conclusion is that the relationship between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn was a dramatic affair for the human beings ...
I do like and admire Polish people, their great resilience and character. So I was pleased to learn recently that the Polish British Integration Centre project has scooped the young innovators award held by the East of England Development Agency (I thought they were being shut down?) and Government Office - East co. I love the part of 'The Battle of Britain' film, where the Polish pilots keep saying 'Repeat please', then disobey their flight leader and enter battle with the German stukas: Life enhancing:-) just as my friendship with Polish people has been. And by the way, I ...
Yesterday's hardcopy of the Guardian reports that the Government is only planning to release the full Equality Impact Assessment for its policy of cutting Housing Benefit on the day that the legislative changes are brought forward. Critics have already argued that the policy is being rushed in so it is unlikely that the impact has ...
The M60 ground to a halt near Stockport at around 2pm today. The Stockport Express is reporting that a man fell to his death onto the motorway. officers discovered the body of a man, who is thought to have fallen from a nearby bridge or wall. The incident caused traffic problems and long delays between junction 1 Stockport Pyramid and junction 25 at Brinnington. No doubt we'll find out more about what appears to be a sad tragedy.
I hate having my picture taken. I have never had a picture take of me that I actually liked and had extreme doubts that such a picture would ever actually exist. Last night however, I went along to the Woking ... Continue reading →
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of Broxtowe Borough Council. 1. Chilwell Meadows estate Yesterday I attended a meeting chaired by Anna Soubry at the council offices where we had all the developers who have been involved in this development present. For those of you who don't know, the estate was built several years ago but the principal developer went bust, meaning that the roads and pavements were never finished. By getting everyone together we seem to have been able to overcome all the remaining problems, and the ...
My fellow Lib Dem Councillor for this ward, Tony Northwood, has been ill and while home from hospital now, is not expected to be able to resume duties until the new year. Tony has been a long serving Councillor, having been on the South Beds District Council before it amalgamated with the mid-Beds one in 2009 to create Central Beds. His particular expertise is in planning matters, where I very much appreciate his experience and guidance. Many of you will also know of Tony's great knowledge of local history and and interest in local sites of historic significance. He's been ...
Last night I attended a public meeting organised by the Friends of the Grange at the United Reform Church on College Street. This was to talk about the future of the Grange Birthing Centre (part of the Community Hospital) which closed its doors for mothers in labour in September. I'm pleased to say the turnout ...
So Eric Joyce has been banned from driving and had to resign as Shadow Norther Ireland Minister over the matter. I can't say that I feel sorry for him in the slightest. Its the second time that Eric Joyce has ... Continue reading →
[IMG: DUP MPs and Peers] The heading of the Westminster page on the DUP site reveals that they have eight MPs but the text in the body says they have nine! The DUP lost one MP at the general election in May when Naomi Long MP, Alliance Party, won Belfast East from Peter Robinson MLA, DUP Leader, so they do have eight MPs. The same page says that there are three DUP members of the House of Lords while the House of Lords site says there are four DUP members. The last DUP member to join the House of Lords ...
A superb and enjoyable day of events to mark the start of the 10th Anniversary West End Christmas Week - here's a photographic record! Below : A very busy Community Fayre!And the Roseangle Cafe Arts was doing a roaring trade!Below : Outdoor activities:Santa! The youth busThe football about to commence on Magdalen Green - six teams of P5 pupils from our local primary schools And the winners were St Joseph's Primary A who won the final 2-0 against Ancrum Road B!Below : Gardeners' Question Time with the Friends of the University of Dundee Botanic GardenBelow : Competition Winners! (The P6 ...
The news broke today about local councils wanting to increase car parking fines up and down the country. But its not just car parking fines that some councils have been increasing, it's also car parking charges themselves that are soon ... Continue reading →
(Please note, in this post I will be using 'trans' as a shorthand for people who self-define as transgender, transsexual, transvestite, 'tranny', genderqueer, or any of half-a-dozen other 'non-standard' gender definitions. Doing so is not intended to erase the distinctions between these different groups, merely to focus on similarities of their experience. I mention this ...
It's always good to find something absorbing on the radio while driving along the motorway. This week I was absorbed by Chris Moyles and his team talking about cooking stew from about 6.40am to 7.35am on Wednesday. After nearly an hour I realised he had yet to get around to playing a record/track. But it was entertaining. I was peculiarly fascinated by his "bed" – i.e the musical bed which goes behind his/his team's long ramblings. It's below – with the bit which finishes it when they've run out of things to say.
[IMG: Exam hall] Today 7,000 children took the Post-Primary Transfer Consortium tests, used mainly by Catholic grammar schools. The Association of Quality Education tests, used mainly at non-denominational schools, take place over three Saturdays (13th November, 27th November and 4th December). Some pupils take both sets of tests to keep their options open. This situation is not feasible as it puts too much stress on both pupils and parents. On Thursday Jennifer McCann MLA, Sinn Féin Belfast West, accused Sammy Wilson MLA, DUP East Antrim and Minister of Finance, of going "on a solo run" when he was writing about ...
I just remembered that on Tuesday I have another of those Total Politics events that I have been really looking forwards to, "In converation with David Laws and Rob Wilson." The evening is hosted by Total Politics editor Ben Duckworth ... Continue reading →
I happened to settle on the BBC Children in Need highlights this evening when channel hopping after my afternoon snooze and I kind of wish I hadn't. There was a scene from an Eastenders, Coronation Street mash up on with a barmaid ... Continue reading →
The town centre refurbishment is trying the patience of all our residents, including me. After months of work we find that the contractors fitted a faulty locking mechanism to the log benches and rainwater penetrated an outside power supply resulting in the incidents of the market trader being electrocuted and the elderly lady falling off ...
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[IMG: Posted by Picasa] This is a time of crisis and uncertainty for the GRT community, when the policies that were being developed and implemented by the previous Government over a period of six years have been shredded, and the mantra of localism means that targets for providing sites for homeless Travellers have been abandoned permanently. Travellers themselves are being blamed for unauthorised developments, at a time when the Government has made sure that local authorities will hardly ever grant planning permission for sites. The Government has torn up Circular 01/2006 without issuing any guidance on planning, and homeless Travellers ...
Welcome to my weekly round-up of two blogging highlights from the past week: the post that I found most interesting or enjoyable to write and the post from someone else that I found most interesting or entertaining. A post from me... Have you been fooled by the social media hype? It's a point that has been bugging me for a while, but this week I finally found the time to look up the evidence: The worst example of this is the often made comparison about how long different technologies took to get going. It features in the film but has ...
This afternoon we headed out after a busy ward surgery in Erleigh Road to talk to residents on Hexham Road. I love knocking on doors there. Over the past few years we've got to know a number of residents really well and some of them almost feel like members of the family now.This has mostly been through doing lots of individual bits of casework for people over many years. Lots of people said hello and stopped for a chat. It was particularly gratifying to talk to the disabled lady who I have supported over the years with various issues. She cannot walk and used to wince with pain getting ...
Whilst sat listening to the wind howling outside last week we chatted about nothing in particular. In doing so we remembered an event that happened a few years ago. Claire, my wife, had seen an article in a paper inviting musicians to rekindle their interests and skills. The BBC were planning to organise a mass get-together of past and budding musicians. Claire had played the clarinet in the past and I was useless with all instruments. Jokingly, I suggested that I would chose the ukelele as my instrument as it was small, portable and unusual. My first choice being the ...
Sat 20th
16:02
David Howarth writes... The Public Bodies Bill is sloppy, lazily drafted and must be radically amend...
On Friday, Mark Pack wrote on Lib Dem Voice about Public Bodies Bill – Abolition of Parliament: it was wrong then and it's wrong now – highlighting how some parts of the Public Bodies Bill echo the proposals previously made by Labour and against which David Howarth led the opposition. Now David Howarth gives his take on the Bill: The Public Bodies Bill gives ministers powers to abolish, merge, reform or change the functions or financial arrangements of public bodies (i.e. quangos). Ministers will be able to use these powers by issuing unamendable statutory instruments that require a single vote ...
It looks like I've missed an anniversary! I've been blogging continuously for three years. I've also recently turned thirty-one – and it's got me thinking about the digital trail that I leave across the Internet. I started blogging nine years ago – but they were private blogs. Love letters to the woman who would eventually become my wife. I hope I have them backed up somewhere. I know that all my emails from university and before are etched into CD-ROMs somewhere. But my trail goes back further. I started out life online as "101234,3340" on CompuServe. I'm not sure what ...
This is Ralph, a World War Two veteran, and this is why he's voting yes to the Alternative Vote.
There is much disconcertion with regards to the permitting of torture in recent weeks, most notably this week where much discussion of excusing behaviour of complicity in torture has been hidden behind the tedious Royal Proposal. Someone drew my attention to this article in the Independent which raises the question of excusing barbarity for religious reasons. While the majority of the article is
Councillors Steve Guy and Julia Wassell met with members of Booker Gliding Club who informed the Liberal Democrat Councillors that if the plans to build a rugby stadium at Booker go ahead they will be forced to close and gliding will be gone forever in Wycombe. The Liberal Democrat Councillors were on a fact finding mission to find out all about the gliding club. After the meeting Julia gave Steve an early Christmas present by paying for Steve to have his first ever flight in a glider. Steve Guy prepares for his first flight at Booker Steve Guy said "I ...
Exhibit A: "I hear from a well-placed source that the list of peers, with about 55 names from across the party spectrum, will be published on Wednesday 1 December." The list was published on Friday 19 November with 54 names from across the party spectrum, so not bad at all. Exhibit B: "A normally astute and well-informed Lib Dem observer reckons the following people are in line to be among the expected 15 new Liberal Democrat peers: * Brian Paddick (2008 London Mayoral candidate and former senior Metropolitan Police officer) * Sal Brinton (Parliamentary candidate in Watford in 2005 and ...
A few months ago, I was greatly pleased to receive in the post, an invitation to speak at the AGM of Ceredigion's Women's Institute in Aberaeron's Feathers Hotel. The AGM itself was a few weeks ago but I've only in recent days received a copy of a photo of that occasion so have held back from writing this blog post until now. I had been asked last year, during my term as Mayor of Cardigan, to chair a Q&A panel session in New Quay for the southern Ceredigion W.I. section, involving four prominent members of the local south Ceredigion community. ...
Speech at the meeting to draw attention to the Syrian government's treatment of its Kurdish people, 18.30 November 16: Syrian human rights violations towards its population of over a million Kurdish remain systematic, flagrant and severe. Kurds in Syria can face discrimination at every stage and in every area of life. A Kurdish child can be denied citizenship at birth, and can later risk torture and death at the hands of Syrian state agents for voicing peaceful political or cultural beliefs, deprived of his or her basic human rights and freedoms. Syria has, as have so many other countries, taken ...
This weekend saw Sainsbury's host a consultation exhibition at their Nine Elms store on Wandsworth Road. The Oval Lib Dem Action Team also paid a visit the exhibition to have their say on the plans. This as been one of the first opportunities to find out more details about the plans, which are still in a 'draft' stage. Some of the key points were: The store will increase in size from the current 45,000 sq. ft. to 80,000 sq. ft. (split across a 60,000 sq. ft. main floor and 20,000 sq. ft. mezzanine.). This would make the store the biggest ...
It is not shocking to imagine a peer being out of touch with the general public and while Lord Young resigned quickly after making a candid remark without any heart felt concern and not incerting the context himself. His points that some people are doing ok out of the last recession is true. If you have a manageable mortgage and are paying lower interest rates and are in a safe job then compared to the 1980's recession when interest rates were over ten percent you are better off. Politicians should be careful how they express themselves but we the public ...
My eye was caught by a confident Sinn Féin prediction that the party can win a second seat in Upper Bann next year, with constiruency chairman saying in public what I have heard privately from a couple of SF supporters: In recent elections Sinn Féin's vote in Upper Bann has increased and, when taken with the demographic changes in the make-up of the population of the constituency, it is clear that Sinn Féin is in a position to win a third nationalist seat. The political break-up of Upper Bann is approximately 50-50 and if the nationalist electorate turns out on ...
The West Midlands Liberal Democrat Conference has this morning voted against an increase in Tuition Fees and for continued campaigning to abolish them. The motion passed was as follows:
Birmingham v Chelsea Birmingham can approach this game in one of two ways. They can view Chelsea as vulnerable due to their two defeats in three games, or they could go into the game fearing a backlash from Drogba et al as they look to put their recent poor form behind them. Birmingham were impressive defensively in their 0-0 draw against Man City last weekend, but Jerome looked isolated up front while Zigic does not do much else other than offer an aerial threat. This could be the day Chelsea return to winning ways, and should win comfortably. Prediction: Birmingham ...
On Wednesday 24th November 2010 between 5.00pm and 7:30pm there will be an informal planning consultation on the outline plans for the new school on the site of the Deans playing fields at Moorside Primary School, Swinton. Quite a few aspects of the initial plans have changed as a result of responses from the public and ...
There were reports yesterday that GP receptionists' could be replaced by call centres. The government have denied any such plans. By coincidence, when I read one such report yesterday I was just back from picking up a prescription for which I had to wait a while in the reception of my local GPs (I stress it was my fault I had to wait). I was sat right in front of the reception desk. Quite frankly, in 20 minutes the receptionist did everything bar spinning plates. She was rushing around like a blue bottomed fly and remained cheerful throughout. She had ...
On Tuesday, I chaired a very successful event to mark World Pneumonia Day in the Moses Room of the House of Lords, see above. Speakers included H E Mr Edward Turay, High Commissioner for Sierra Leone in the UK on Sierra Leone's progress on child health and pneumonia; Helen Evans, Acting CEO of the GAVI Alliance, on GAVI and vaccination in the developing world: Stephen O'Brien MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development, on the UK's support of the fight against pneumonia in the developing world, and Professor Kate O'Brien, Deputy Director of the International Vaccine Access Centre ...
This morning's Western Mail reports that the Auditior General is to be asked to investigate allegations that £100m was wasted by the Welsh Government on its controversial Technium programme. Former Economic Development Minister, and subsequently Finance Minister, Andrew Davies says that he asked over and over again for data on performance but was fobbed off by senior officials. He added: "It's been a long time coming. I don't blame ministers for this, I hold responsible senior management and senior civil servants in the Department of Economic Development and Transport responsible for the effective waste of £100m of public expenditure." "The ...
Monday, lunch with Carys Davies of Refugee Action; meeting of the Chagos Parliamentary Group.
Worth a view, if only to admire "Prince Harry's" swastika armband as he walks along the street following Prince William on his horse. And the wedding party is quite special. Those crazy Taiwanese! Doncha just love 'em?
What a mess we seem to have got ourselves into over tuition fees. How on earth did we get here? I can only speak for myself. I joined the party because of its policies on green issues, clarity of thought on civil liberties, regard for international law, opposition to nuclear energy and renewal of Trident, and tuition fees. This latter policy was very important to me. I don't come from a privileged background. At school I was one of the kids on free school meals and to go to university I had a full grant. I hated free school meals ...
I have been debating the question of differential turnout in Northern Ireland by email with a correspondent, and this has prompted me to actually do some more analysis, cross-referencing the election results with census data. The results are rather interesting. The 2001 census found 43.8% of the population to have a Catholic background, and 53.1% to have a Protestant or other Christian background. The votes cast in 2010 were 42.0% for Nationalist candidates and 50.5% for Unionist candidates. Strikingly, the Nationalist vote in 2010 was 38.4% of the 2001 Catholic population, and the Unionist vote in 2010 was 38.0% of ...
Sal Brinton - Former parliamentary candidate and senior party activist Dee Doocey AM, OBE - Chair of the Greater London Assembly Cllr Qurban Hussain - Former Deputy Leader of Luton Council and former parliamentary candidate Judith Jolly - Chair of Devon & Cornwall Liberal Democrats, senior Liberal Democrat policy maker Susan Kramer - Former MP for Richmond Park and former Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor Raj Loomba - Businessman and philanthropist Jonathan Marks QC - Senior barrister, former councillor and parliamentary candidate Cllr Monroe Palmer - Barnet Councillor and former parliamentary candidate, Chairman of Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel ...
Proper post tonight, but in the meantime I just wanted to ask – is there anything, *anything at all* that any of you don't understand about AV (the voting system which we'll be asked about in next May's referendum)? I want to do a "Your Questions Answered" post in a couple of days... ask anything, ...
The notion of self-esteem resonates powerfully and is referred to frequently in our culture and we seek out politicians who present as having a high self-esteem. Some scholars have examined the motives and ambitions of politicians and found that many of them are self-confident and exceptionally well prepared to handle the stresses of public life ...
i) births and deaths 20 November 1930: birth of Bernard Horsfall, who played Gulliver in The Mind Robber (1968), a Time Lord in The War GamesPlanet of the Daleks</b> (1973) and Chancellor Goth in The Deadly Assassin (1976). 20 November 1994: death of John Lucarotti, writer of Marco Polo (1964), The Aztecs (1964) and The Massacre (1966). ii) broadcast anniversaries 20 November 1965: broadcast of "Day of Armageddon", the second episode of The Daleks' Master Plan. The Doctor infiltrates the Daleks' meeting in disguise, and seizes the terranium core from Mavic Chen. 20 November 1976: broadcast of fourth episode of ...
Warm congratulations to Susan Kramer on being made a member of the House of Lords! That might explain why she was looking so cheerful at the Kingston Borough Liberal Democrats AGM last Monday, even though she had narrowly lost the election to be the national President of the Lib Dems. By coincidence, our guest speaker at the AGM, John Sharkey, was also in the list of new peers. He was the party's election supremo in May and is now involved in the Yes to Fairer Votes campaign. Another newly enobled Lib Dem has local connections as well. Dee Doocey first ...
A number of short comments to make. Starting with a reminder that the Liberal Democrats are the only major party to oppose tuition fees (it is still the party policy). A combination of coalition status and Labours debts means our 57MPs have been unable to deliver it. Had we won the election, I am sure tuition fees would not be going up. We didn't win. The reality is both Labour and
And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, "Who are these with you?" Jacob said, "The children whom God has graciously given your servant." (Genesis 33:5 ESV) In an ideal world there wouldn't have to be an Universal Children's Day. Children should be loved, hugged and given the best everyday so there would not be a need to stop and remember them. This post isn't about me celebrating today as a child but, instead, I want you to join me in thinking about those children in the UK and around the world who ...
John Cleese made one of the most famous party political broadcasts with his 1980s effort on proportional representation. As with many sequels, his 1997 effort was not as good as the original but it's still a pretty good affair: (Also available on YouTube here.) For my other posts on party political broadcasts, including more clips, see my Party Political Broadcasts page.
From the Yes to Fairer Votes campaign: Over the coming months, the nation will be asking: how will you vote on 5 May? Ralph Hill, 86, knows how he'll be voting – Yes. Ralph fought for democracy in World War II – and he wants to make ours better this May. Watch him explain why: (Also on YouTube here.) You can sign up to help the Yes to Fairer Votes campaign on their website.
Zaphod Beeblebrox entered the foyer. He strode up to the insect receptionist. "OK," he said, "Where's Zarniwoop? Get me Zarniwoop." "Excuse me, sir?" said the insect icily. It did not care to be addressed in this manner. "Zarniwoop. Get him, right? Get him now." "Well, sir," snapped the fragile little creature, "if you could be a little cool about it ..." "Look," said Zaphod, "I'm up to here with cool, OK? I'm so amazingly cool you could keep a side of meat inside me for a month. I am so hip I have difficulty seeing over my pelvis. Now will ...
At last! The City Council looks set to compulsorily purchase the awful run down building opposite Somerfield at the bottom of St Mary's road in Garston Well done to my colleague Councillor Richard Oglethorpe, who in his district committee chair role has been pushing on this (including site visits and so on) for some time now. The CPO would also include a couple of numbers in James Street. The info about this is in the paperwork for the Cabinet meeting on Friday which is in the meetings and agendas section of http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/
The county council is consulting local people on where they think that the cuts in council spending should be made. That's fine by me. These cuts are going to be very difficult, and we all have to face up to the fact that hard choices will have to be made. Three things would make me happier with the process, though: I'd like the numbers to add up. The introduction to the survey says that the council budget is £436 million, but the budgets you're asked to give your opinion on add up to £454.2 million. I know it's only £18.2 ...
AboutMyArea is running a Royal Wedding poll - go here to vote.
Lord Young's forced resignation seems to be to be part of a conspiracy by the political classes - by the Conservatives to justify their ideological attack on the welfare state (to "prove" we can no longer afford it) and by Labour as a convenient stick with which to tag the Tories as unfeeling and unaware of what "real life" is like in the UK. But there is a great deal of truth in what Lord Young claimed. First, on a technical point, he spoke of this "alleged" recession, and he has some justification, in that a recession is defined as ...
This week's New Statesman contains its annual feature in which various figures choose their favourite reads of 2010. People such as Ed Miliband, Bianca Jagger, Margaret Drabble, David Marquand and Jonathan Powell outline their choice. The Leader of the Labour Party opts for David Plouffe's The Audacity to Win, Bianca Jagger chooses In Prosperity Without Growth, Economics for a Finite Planet by Tim Jackson, whilst David Marquand looks at two tomes, one of which is the two volume biography of Edmund Burke by F.P. Locke. I think that this provides a good idea of the brief provided to each contributor. ...
I have just returned from the Berwick Lib Dems annual dinner (yes I know, I lead an exciting life). A good night, apart from not winning a prize in the raffle despite substantial financial investment. In particular I was able to have a quick chat with the other Sir Alan, Sir Alan Beith, veteran MP for Berwick. Alan is chair of the important justice Committee in the House of Commons. As a CAB manager outside of politics, I really appreciated his firm grasp of Legal Aid funding. On Monday, Ken Clarke unveiled a big change to Legal Aid funding, proposing ...
St Albans City and District Council's draft spatial strategy for locating future development in the District, which includes housing targets, is to be considered in full by the Planning Policy Advisory Panel (PPAP) at a meeting on 25 November. This follows the postponement of an earlier meeting of PPAP on 10 November, when uncertainty arose about the position on housing targets after the High Court ruled that a decision by the Communities and Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, to scrap regional housing targets was unlawful. The previous government's Regional Spatial Strategy had set a target of 360 new homes a ...
On Wednesday a new supermarket opened in Morecambe. It is within easy walking distance of my house but you wouldn't walk because you have bags to carry on the way home. So I drove - but walking would have been quicker. We have a problem with congestion between Morecambe and the motorway via Lancaster and to add to this for the last few months we have had traffic problems because they were building the supermarket. This is nothing to the problems we have now. The traffic lights to get you in and out of their car park are causing huge ...
