Tory Competence and the Environment Debate

I have been rather busy lately and have not posted on the blog for some time but now I have the chance.

Well we have had the great budget debate at the beginning of the month here in Reading. We saw the Tories showing unbelievable incompetence but managing to absent themselves from the actual vote which Labour pushing though its budget against Lib Dem opposition. The result is now that Reading’s council tax will rise by an average of 2.2% and all because Captain Mainwaring-Cumpsty’s bungling party could not turn up on time. Reading’s Tories are a sick joke after this fiasco. And this is the team that want to run Reading – they could not organise a a p—- up in a brewery !

Then we had an interesting debate organised by GREN (Greater Reading Environmental Network) in Tilehurst last Thursday where I stood in for our Parliamentary candidate, Daisy Benson, and debated with Alok Sharma (Con), Naz Sarkar (Lab) and Adrian Windisch (Green). Daisy was chairing a meeting of the Housing and Health Scrutiny Panel in the Civic Centre that evening.

It turns out the Alok is a real smooth talker with all the sincerity of David Cameron. Naz is a bit sharper but clearly not at his best on environmental issues. Adrian was at least consistent and set out a green view of the issues with sincerity and plain talking. I am not sure that I am a brilliant debater (actually I know I am not) but I did manage to get some policies over.

The highlight of the evening for me was when I mentioned that we were not making enough use of food waste for energy and that given the fact that over a third of what we currently throw away into landfill, is actually food waste, we should be putting much more effort into making use of it. Alok picked up on this and re-iterated what a good idea using wast for energy was. I then pointed out to Alok (and to Naz) that their local Tory and Labour councillors took exactly the opposite line and when the subject came up at a recent Environment Scrutiny Panel which I chair, they pooh-poohed the idea of using food waste for energy even though other councils manage it successfully and even West Berkshire is moving otwards it. Alok, smoothie that he is took this in his stride and pointedly made a note to look into this. Tory Cllr Emma Warman (who also sits on the same Environment Scrutiny Panel) piped up from the audience that they had only voted against handling food waste as it cost too much. Emma, I think that is exactly the point, if you take officers words for everything (as the Tory and Labour councillors did) no new schemes will ever come about. Councils such as Ceredigion have already taken the food collection route and are supported by the Welsh Assembly, I read that Chipping Norton-based composting firm Agrivert has announced that it has signed a 15-year contract with Oxfordshire county council to process the county’s food and green waste. Apparently here in Reading we are stuck in the dark ages. We do not even compost it.

Wake up and smell the coffee ! Food waste is a huge source of green energy if we are prepared to take it seriously.

Ashcroft forced to come clean

So, finally, after 10 years of obfuscation and mystery, Michael Ashcroft has admitted that he pays no UK tax on his overseas earnings (almost all his earnings come from overseas) despite sitting in the House of Lords and making UK law. And whilst in the Lords he has given £5,000,000 to Tory party funds, especially to key target constituencies where the Tories need to win to gain power.

Why did it happen today ?  Well finally the Information Commissioner has accused the Tory party of obfuscation and is demanding clarity on Ashcroft’s status.The Lib Dems have been prominent in building up the pressure.

Ashcroft gave an undertaking to reside in the UK when he was made a lord. It turns out that not paying tax in the UK and retaining non-dom status is no bar to making laws for the rest of us.

And if you question the power of his money, look around Reading West and see how many glossy Tory leaflets are raining down on the electors.

Update on Ashcroft

Further news on Tory party Deputy Chairman and main donor, Michael Ashcroft, can be found in today’s Observer newspaper. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/feb/14/michael-ashcroft-tax-status .

So much for clean and open government from David Cameron, not that we ever expected anything such  from the Tory Party.

If anyone knows the tax status of this fraud lord, I would love to hear it. In the meantime I will assume that he is a cunning, fraudulent, tax-evader who is well suited to the Tory Party but whose inflence on this country’s politics is a disaster for democracy. He should be banned from participating in our democracy and the Tories should return all the millions he has donated over the last decade since he was appointed to the House of Lords.

Next Meeting on Pincents Hill

The subject of Pincents Hill is due to be raised again  at a special meeting of West Berks Eastern Area Planning Committee on 24 February. See http://www.westberks.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=18800 .

Given that all sides are now opposed to the scheme for Pincents Hill the meeting seems set for some polical posturing and a total rejection of Blue Living’s plans. However, Blue Living never expected local support for their plans and are sure to appeal any decision against them so the real  power will lie with a Planning Inspector who has a very narrow remit that only looks at planning arguments, not local feelings, or possisbly the minister himself.

I wonder what a new Tory or Labour government would do to give local people more power to decide on planning issues for themselves rather than have their decisions made by an Inspector or the minister ?

What a Weekend for Democracy

I  was really saddened to see the newspaper headlines over the weekend, dominated as they were by two big stories.

Firstly, the  chrages being brought against three Labour MPs and one Tory peer for fiddling expenses. These must be really the worst of the offenders, given that the Tory MPs who claimed for duck houses and moats did not warrant any such criminal charges. There is little left to be said about this scandal, other than many more criminal acts have been perpetrated than just those that have led to cahrges against only four people. There are far too many who have got off lightly. Then there is the issue of the four facing charges claiming that they are covered by Parliamentary Privilege, a centuries old law that was designed to protect free speech in Parliament, not for use by miscreants to cover their backsides. Simply by raising the prospect of hiding behind ancient legislation shows how low the morals of thes folk has sunk.

Secondly the story of the largest donor to the Conservative Party and his tax status which has been running for a long time already. Michael Ashcroft is a prominent businessman who made his fortune in Belize where the tax climate for business is so free and easy.  Ashcroft promised to become domiciled in the UK before being made a Tory peer and entering the House of Lords. His tax status is also impoprtant as you cannot legally donate to a UK political party unless you are a tax payer in the EU. His donations to the Tories run into many millions of £s over several years, and he is currently funding Tory campaigns in their key marginal seats, including Reading  West. Recently the Information Commissioner has also criticised the secrecy around the deal that allowed him to enter the Lords as this has never yet been made public.

See Monday’s Guardian article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/feb/08/lord-ashcroft-tax-status-uk

Anyone who doubts the power of Ashcroft money should see the glossy leaflets raining down on Tilehurst. Two through my letterbox within last few days.

All in all a bad weekend for anyone who believes in democracy and equal rights.

Victory on Tilehurst Car Park Charges

The Labour Administration in Reading has today backed down on its decision to charge users of Tilehurst car parks from the moment they park their car. Lead Councillor for Transport Tony Page was forced, in the face of furious Lib Dem councillors from Tilehurst and elswhere, to reduce the plans for car park charges to only charge after the first hour which will remain free, and to put the whole proposal out to proper consultation.

This is a huge relief for residents and shop owners of  Tilehurst and allows residents to do there shopping with free parking in Recreation Road and Dunstall Close car parks. It is a massive victory against an arrogant, out-of-touch Labour council. It also shows the value of electing Lib Dem councillors to represent Tilehurst !

Clearing Chieveley Close

Following last week’s heavy snow (over a foot in Reading), many side roads are still covered with a layer of ice and snow. Quite a few residents have not been able to get out on foot or by car for several days. The council have managed to clear the main roads and grit them and over the weekend they brought in two JCBs to clear the remaining bus routes where snow ploughs could not be used. So after a very long weekend of overtime the highways team have got Reading’s roads back to a state where at least the buses can run normally, they actually ahve done a splendid job. Except of course they are changing the bus routes and timetables tomorrow (Monday). Check the details at:

http://www.reading-buses.co.uk 

Early this morning I spotted a couple of neighbours setting off down the road with shovels. I realised what they were doing and ran out to join them clearing our road (Chieveley Close) of snow, pausing only to borrow a spade from another neighbour (my son took off with mine last Monday when he drove up to Wantage expecting the worst). Anyway, to cut a long story short, what started off with two men quickly grew into a gang of 10 -12 neighbours and in about 3 hours we had cleared the road and the two smaller closes, Enborne and Wootton. Lots of hard work, the odd cup of tea, and the satisfaction of having achieved something between us. A good community effort. It was actually quite enjoyable, if a little exhausting. At least we can all get out now.

Daisy selected for Reading West

 My colleague Cllr Daisy Benson (pictured) Daisy

was last night selected as the Lib Dem PPC for Reading West. She will be taking on both Labour and the Tories at the next general election. Daisy already has a high profile in the local media having been a councillor in Redlands Ward for 4 years, she currently chairs the Housing & Health Scrutiny Panel on the council and is the Deputy Leader of the Lib Dem Group. She has a talent for getting problems sorted for local people and has built up an enviable reputation in Redlands Ward (see for yourself at http://www.redlandslibdems.org.uk ) and on the council. All in  all I think she will make a great candidate and a splendid MP.

We are all now looking forward to a  showing our Labour and Tory opponents what it is to have a local candidate with a track record of action and a party ready to fight for a fairer Britain.

Tilehurst Residents Surveys

I have spent time over the weekend going through the results of the latest batch of Residents’ Survey Forms from Tilehurst. There were a number of gripes but several issues were prominent among the responses (80 recieved so far and still counting):

  1. some residents wanted to return to a weekly bin collection for the grey (landfill) bins;
  2. quite a few residents thought that bus fares were too expensive;
  3. the traffic lights recently installed along The Meadway caused more problems than they solved;
  4. dog fouling was mentioned as a problem several times;
  5. speeding is clearly an issue on some of our roads in Tilehurst;
  6. morning and afternoon parking problems outside local schools;

And what have we councillors been doing about these issues ?

  1. the introduction of fortnightly collections has nearly doubled (from 20 to nearly 40% in round figures) the amount of rubbish that we now recycle as opposed to throwing into landfill . In general residents are content with fortnightly collections though there is always a danger of problems with maggots etc if the weather turns partiularly warm and we will ask council officers to plan for such a contingency.
  2. bus fares in Reading are not cheap but they become a lot cheaper if you purchase bus-about tickets or weekly tickets and even cheaper if, like me, you buy an annual season ticket. Single journeys are still expensive but the TIF bid includes money to subsidise fares in Reading in order to encourage the use of public transport. If the TIF bid is successful then we should see cheaper fares in 2011.
  3. The Meadway lights are an ongoing headache. We have tried telling officers that they serve no purpose but actually slow the flow of traffic for no good reason. They have responded by offering to rephase the lights and reduce the time allowed for traffic turning into The Meadway apart from Church End Lane which can be quite busy. I understand they are still working on the phasing. Like most of our residents, we remain sceptical about the usefulness of these lights.
  4. Dog fouling is the result of anti-social beahviour by some dog owners who think it is fine to leave dog pooh on public roads, footpaths and parksand who clearly do not care about children playing in the area or walking to school. Please let me know (ring 961 4027) if there is any mess on your streets that needs clearing up. If there is a problem with particular dog owners then call the Dog Wardens on 0800 626 540.
  5. Local action on speeding has taken a new turn with the introduction of mobile speed guns in November. This is a Lib Dem initiative and we shall see what effect they have on motorists in Tilehurst.
  6. We had an issue outside Park Lane School soon after I was elected and I got the Traffic Wardens to patrol outside the school at the relevant times. A few tickets later and the parents got the message. Moorlands is different in that parents do not park illegally but for half an hour morning and afternoon Church End Lane does become clogged. We do not have a solution other than to ask parents to drop off children at the entrance to the playing fields if posible.

My thanks to all of the residents that too the time and effort to fill out our survey forms.

Speed Guns in Tilehurst

Speed Gun in Action Picture

Well they have finally arrived and I have been out to see them in action, along with my Lib Dem colleagues from Tilehurst Ward, Cllr Chris Harris and Cllr Pete Beard. We were out in Wetswood Road, Chapel Hill and Halls Road and everywhere we went we had residents come up to congatulate us on taking action on an issue they were really concerned about.

Up till now we have had very little deterrence to make motorists think about sticking to the speed limits. Well now the Lib Dems have got the Council to provide 5 speed guns for use by local Neighbourhood Police Teams.  Whilst this is far from a complete solution to a serious problem on many of our local roads  it does give local police teams a chance to deter speeding motorists.

Several tickets have already been issued in Tilehurst.

You have been warned !!