Adrian Sanders

Herald Express article for Friday 15th October

IT WAS girls like Emily Lewis-Clarke we had in mind when the Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee recommended to the Government in 2005 that the 11th birthday age barrier for girls playing soccer alongside boys should be scrapped.

Emily can no longer play for Newton 66 in the boy's league beyond this season. Should it matter?
Well, after hearing evidence from the Women's FA, England international women footballers, coaches, administrators and players, we concluded that it does.

The present rules have the effect of prohibiting boys and girls beyond the age of 11 from participating in the same match. Most countries do have a rule about the age range in which mixed football is allowed, but there is no consistency about the cut-off age, and the FA's maximum is one of the lower ones.

The FA itself is on record as saying that "the pace of change in the girls' game means that the technical differences between boys and girls are continually decreasing".

The Women's Sports Foundation has described the rule as an artificial barrier to the potential development of girls, and it argues that the separation of young players in coaching and matches should be based on more sophisticated criteria such as weight, height and ability.

The problem for girls is that they may have to give up the game during their secondary education and wait until university or college to take it up again.

They miss out on important years of practice, coaching and experience to improve their game.
We recommended that the absolute prohibition on mixed football over the age of 11 should be removed and that an informed assessment by team managers and coaches of individuals' capacity to play in mixed teams should govern selection policy.

Such a pity that entrenched minds couldn't be persuaded to help the women's game, which in some countries is as big as the men's, and without change our chances of bringing home a World Cup – the women's – is much diminished.

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I WAS always a little uncomfortable with the idea of a graduate tax to make those who gained from a university education pay a higher rate of tax than those who didn't.

Fairness to me is about ability to pay, and such a tax clearly fails that test when a non-graduate hedge fund manager on ten times the salary of a graduate could end up paying tax at a lower rate.

Lord Browne has come up with proposals to meet the costs of providing a university education for the rising numbers who wish to graduate, including a higher maintenance grant to meet the living costs of students from poorer backgrounds and raising the threshold from £15,000 to £21,000 before repayments have to be made.

When I left school only 15 per cent of leavers went to university. Back then the taxpayer could meet all the costs and give students a decent grant. Today 45 per cent of leavers take up a university place and the public purse is emptying faster than it is being replenished.

The Browne proposals not only protect students from poorer backgrounds but, of equal importance, they allow the Government to maintain opportunities for vocational training and the attainment of skills and qualifications for the 55 per cent who do not go to university.

If public funds were healthier tuition fees wouldn't have to rise, and when they eventually are we can seriously consider scrapping them altogether – which has always been my preferred option.

Herald Express Article for Friday 1st October 2010

The International Monetary Fund has given strong backing to the Coalition Government’s approach to sorting out the economic mess we inherited.

Some very difficult decisions still have to be made to reign in the £158 billion the country is currently spending over and above the income we are generating.  An announcement on how we are going to do this will be made on 20 October.  

There is still time to influence that announcement and I would urge readers to visit  http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/spend_index.htm and have their say.

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I hope the weather is going to be fine for the reopening of Rock Walk tomorrow.  It’s taken a long time and I am sure visitors and locals alike will be delighted at what they see.  But then for over £3 million of council tax-payers money it ought to look good. 

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New Labour Leader Ed Miliband received the support of only 19 of the 69 Torbay Labour Party members who voted, so I don’t suppose he will be rushing down to the Bay to thank a local party that gave over two-thirds of its first preference votes to his opponents – most of them to his brother.

The fact that fewer votes were cast in Torbay than in any other Labour Constituency Party in England won’t help either in attracting the attention of Her Majesty’s Official Opposition to focus on the particular problems we face.

Having embraced AV as the system for electing their leader, surely now they should apply the basic principle that a one member, one vote, secret ballot, is the only way to ensure the wishes of the membership, rather than the Unions, are reflected in the result.  

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In the last round of Post Office closures 46 were threatened across Devon and only two, both in Torquay, were saved. 

I’m really pleased to have got an assurance out of the Government that the Post Office is not for sale, and there will be no further programme of closures.

Sadly, Royal Mail is a different business, with different challenges. We have got to take action to save the universal postal service for the future.  What we don’t want is a service where it costs more to post a letter in the westcountry than in our major cities, simply because it costs more to collect and deliver.  The principle of a universal postal rate wherever you live is what we must protect.

The Royal Mail is in a dire financial position and not taking action would represent a much greater risk for the taxpayer. We want to ensure a sustainable future for the company, a fair deal for the taxpayers, and a role for employees in the company.  Ideally this would be within a not-for-profit arrangement, but one doesn’t yet appear to be on the table. 

Labour ducked taking a decision and now we may have to sell off more of the postal service to protect jobs and pensions than would otherwise have been the case.  

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Next surgeries:  

Friday, 8th October, 4pm to 5.30pm, St Martin’s Church Hall, Barton Hill Road, Torquay.  
Saturday, 16th October, 9.30 am to 11.00am, the new Paignton Library, Great Western Road, Paignton.

No appointment necessary.  

Advice line 200036. www.adriansanders.org or email: [email protected]  
Also on Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and the MyMP phone App.

Herald Express Article for Friday 3rd September 2010

I think the Torbay Council switchboard is one of the best, most courteous and efficient around.  Over the years when I have called in at the Town Hall I have always been afforded the most pleasant of welcomes at the reception desk, but it is when I have had cause to phone the Council that the switchboard has excelled putting me through to the appropriate person or department in hardly any time at all.  

What a contrast to the ever increasing number of organisations who have switched to a time wasteful, stressful and impersonal recorded message service that asks you to press a number according to your likely enquiry.

We have all experienced the recorded message as you wait to speak to someone as it apologises for the delay claiming that the organisation is experiencing high call volumes.  What they actually mean is that they do not employ enough staff to answer more than one call at a time.

They all declare that this call may be recorded for training and monitoring purposes, which is code for we know how much trauma we are adding to your life and understandably you might swear or threaten us, so don’t as we’ve got you taped.

The message usually ends by offering the caller an alternative to email them on www.poorservice.com - which simply allows them to ignore you for another 24 hours. 

Whatever money is saved moving to automated answering it is far outweighed by what that organisation loses in customer goodwill.  Fortunately, I am not aware of any proposed changes to Torbay's excellent human service.

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I've really appreciated the time I've spent with numerous people and organisations during this recess, none more so than when in the company of some of the bay’s army of volunteers.

The so called Big Society is nothing new, there are thousands of volunteers across the three towns providing the glue that binds our communities together, supporting people in all sorts of situations, from total desperation to over-exuberance.  I mention two of the many groups I met only because they work at both ends of the spectrum.  

I opened the Torbay branch of the Samaritans refurbished HQ and spent some time chatting over tea and biscuits to some of their helpers.  There’s no cure for loneliness, but a patient listening voice on the end of a telephone can be all that prevents someone from harming themselves, or even ending their life.  

Patience is a quality shown by Torbay’s Street Pastors whom I went on patrol with on a busy Saturday night in Torquay.  I was struck by how warmly welcomed they were by revellers on their way between pubs and clubs.  Their presence seems to act as a safety net while the pastors offer advice, clear away discarded bottles, and act as extra eyes and ears for the police.  

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Next surgeries:  
Friday, 10th September, 5 pm to 6.30 pm, St Martins Church Hall, Barton Hill Road, Barton, Torquay. Saturday, 18th September, 10 am to 11.30 am, Chelston Methodist Church Hall, Old Mill Road, Torquay.

No appointment necessary.  Advice line 200036. www.adriansanders.org or www.myspace.com/adriansandersmp  

Herald Express Article for Friday 20th August 2010

Since the election the most common question people have asked is what it’s like being in Coalition?   I’ve yet to work out a simple, one line answer.  

I can say it is more satisfactory to be on the inside influencing decisions than on the outside criticising them, and some of the people now leading Government departments are long standing friends or colleagues of mine.  

I can also say that it is very different sitting on the Government side of the House and that consequently there are more three-line whips than there were in opposition.  

Other changes are more to do with being a longer serving MP giving me more opportunities to speak in debates, serve on committees and take on responsibilities – for example, I was elected Vice-Chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association just before the recess.

The surprise is that Government isn’t anything like I imagined it would be, and that is entirely down to the magnitude of the financial difficulty our country is facing that we must now tackle.

We can do this following the principles of fairness and protecting the vulnerable laid down in the Coalition agreement and our programme for Government.  But when suggestions are made that contradict these aims, I voice my concerns.  I really don’t understand those who think you should stay quiet.  After all if more members of the previous Government had dissented we wouldn’t be in the mess we are now in.  

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Now the Council has decided to engage in proper consultation over the future of Beacon Cove I hope people will get involved.  When you involve people in sharing decisions that need to be taken you get better ideas and arguably more successful outcomes.

If only the Council had consulted more before contracting with May Gurney, or as part of the contract, over the need for more recycling and how to implement a new system with support for those who now fear difficulties.   We will hear many complaints over the next few weeks that will all stem from people having had change imposed upon them without their engagement.

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Following my protests at suggestions that people could be evicted from social housing if their incomes rose – a ridiculous idea given housing benefit subsidy is automatically cut in such circumstances, and most tenants move of their own volition in any case - the Government has had to issue a statement saying:  “We are committed to protecting the security of tenure and rights of those currently in social housing.”  Quite right, now let’s get on with helping the record 1.8 million households on social housing lists that doubled under Labour by providing more secure tenancies at affordable rents.

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Next surgeries:  
Tuesday, 31st August, 5 pm to 6:30 pm, Preston Baptist Church Hall, Old Torquay Road, Preston, Paignton.  
Friday 10th September  5 pm to 6.30 pm, St Martins Church Hall, Barton Hill Road, Barton, Torquay.
No appointment necessary.  
Advice line 200036. www.adriansanders.org or  www.myspace.com/adriansandersmp  

Herald Express Article for Friday 6th August 2010

According to the National Housing Federation, last year the average house price in Torbay was £179,729 while the average income was only £15,480, meaning the average house cost 11.6 times the average salary.  No one is going to get a mortgage at that ratio and one would expect a caring local authority would have a duel aim of ensuring an adequate supply of social housing and the raising of local incomes at the top of their economic regeneration strategy.

I’m pleased that Torbay is going to make the latter a priority in the future, but progress on the former has been lamentable.

The statistics record there were 6,493 households on the council’s waiting list last year living in inadequate or inappropriate housing for their or their families needs.  At the current rate of social housing allocations many of the people on the waiting list will never obtain a secure tenancy with a regulated rent in a home maintained to a decent standard. They will literally wait forever.

Studies show the negative impacts on people’s lives, especially children’s, and the added costs to society from poor housing.  If we could ensure the provision of an affordable decent home for everyone we would reduce demands for health and social services, improve educational attainment and cut crime.

One suggestion for helping to house people on the waiting list would be to limit the number of years a person could stay in social housing.  The idea is that after 5 years the tenants would have to undergo another application process or means test and would face eviction if the home was no longer deemed to meet their needs.  This is David Cameron’s brainwave and like Mrs Thatcher I say no, no, no.

The answer to the housing crisis, locally and nationally, is to secure more social housing, not to it take away from one person to give to another.

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When you refer to something as being Plan A, it hints there is a Plan B. 

Where the Kingskerswell Bypass is concerned there is only one plan and that is to get it funded by the general taxpayer just as every other road linking a large community to the main highway network has been.  No way should we have to pay for our road twice. 

If we can keep the alliance of political and business support together, and remain focussed on getting the funding out of central Government, then it won’t be if, but when the road is built.

To use one of Mrs Thatcher’s quotes again, this is the TINA plan for a by-pass, There Is No Alternative.

Article for Friday 23rd July 2010 from Adrian Sanders MP

The NHS White Paper announced last week sets out the Coalition’s plans to make health outcomes for patients among the best in the world.

The reforms aim to improve the quality of the care patients receive. Instead of top down control and political targets the proposals will hand back power to patients and NHS professionals.

It could mean the abolition of Primary Care Trusts and I raised my concern that in Torbay we have a Care Trust that is doing much of what the reforms wish to achieve.  The Health Minister assured me that the Torbay model is one others could follow and he has indicated a keenness to visit and see for himself how well we do things.

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As the Finance Bill has progressed through Parliament Labour’s attacks have become more and more desperate.

Fairness underpins it with the richest contributing most to reduce the deficit, making it the most progressive Budget the country has seen for many years.

• Labour had no bank levy.  We’ve imposed a bank levy.
• Labour had a system where the richest paid lower tax rates than those who cleaned their offices.  We’ve raised Capital Gains Tax.
• Labour hit the lowest paid with the 10p tax fiasco.  We’re lifting 880,000 of the lowest paid out of tax altogether.
• Labour increased the pension by 75p.  We’re reintroducing the earnings link – something they didn’t do for 13 years.
• Under Labour child poverty was rising.   We’re making sure it doesn’t.

Most people have recognised the need to take urgent action to reduce the deficit, and while VAT rises are never welcome Lord Mandelson has revealed Labour would have raised VAT if they had won the election. 

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Finance Bills are one of the few times nowadays when business can run to any hour, so long as Members wish to continue debating.  The items announced in the Budget are broken down into different actions and published as a Bill that the whole House scrutinises. 

This can mean some late nights, and new MPs got their first taste of a proper late sitting recently when we went on until 2.30 in the morning.  Sadly a couple of them made the news for being a little worse for wear when it came to vote. 

You are not allowed to accuse another MP of being drunk and neither of the new MPs were in as bad a state as a former women MP I witnessed in my first term regularly being carried from the division lobby and placed onto the back seat of a taxi at the end of business.

Drinking while at work would not be tolerated in any other profession, perhaps it’s time we closed the bars during Finance Bills.

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Next surgeries: 

 Saturday 24th July, 10am to 11.30am, Swim Torquay, Marnham Road, Plainmoor, Torquay.  

Friday 30th July, 10.30am to 12pm, Age Concern, 4 Dendy Road, Paignton.  

No appointment necessary.  Advice line 200036. 

Article for Friday 9th July 2010 from Adrian Sanders MP

The Mayoral vision may be in need of a visit to Specsavers.  Just about everyone can see it’s not always the ideas that attract opposition, but the way they are presented.
I heard about the proposals for Beacon Cove and understood the idea was for the community to be involved, with plans shared with the community partnerships before they appeared in the press. 

How it read in the Herald as part of the Mayoral Vision, linked to the great sell-off of public assets to external developers, is sure to make this another project that will have folk up in arms rather than taking ownership of it.

You can't win support for change when you impose it top-down via the press.

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There’s a café on the sea-front at Brighton I came across one conference that stays open 24 hours offering the ‘Gutbuster’ breakfast.  I tried it once and couldn’t finish all that had been offered.   Last week I visited the new St Peter’s Church Restaurant in Queensway where Kath Roberts and her helpers offer a breakfast that makes the Gutbuster look decidedly small toast.  The Rev Anthony Macey has great hopes for this community facility and I think his enthusiasm is well placed.  

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Every week I’m sent a complimentary copy of the Labour supporting New Statesman magazine and each week since the election there has been an attack on the Lib Dems for allegedly selling out.  Laughable given over half of the polices in the Liberal Democrat manifesto have been adopted by the Coalition Government.  

The New Statesman’s right-wing opposition is the Spectator magazine which last week attacked the Conservatives for selling out to the Lib Dems.  The editor Fraser Nelson calculated that the Conservatives jettisoned 190 manifesto pledges in order to meet Lib Dem demands. 

Accusations that this is a Tory Government are beginning to wear a little thin, but I’m the first to accept that this isn’t a Liberal Democrat Government either.

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In retrospect I didn’t really miss much when I agreed to record an interview about the Budget for the BBC, attend a meeting of the anti hunting alliance, and hear what the British Marine Federation and Royal Yachting Association had to say to politicians at a Westminster reception, all during England’s World Cup game against Slovenia. 

Sadly the interview was not chosen for broadcast - but can be found via a link on my website - the anti-hunt meeting went well and I learnt that I had won the first ever League Against Cruel Sports Parliamentarian of the Year Award.  When I arrived at the BMF/RYA meeting I was the only MP to turn up before the final whistle, although I am sure it was Parliamentary duties that prevented others from being there.

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Next surgeries: 
Friday 9^th July, 5pm to 6.30pm, Preston Baptist Church Hall, Old Torquay Road, Preston, Paignton.
Friday 16th July, 4pm to 5.30pm, Connections Office, Castle Circus, Torquay. 

No appointment necessary.  Advice line 200036.  www.adriansanders.org or  www.myspace.com/adriansandersmp 

Fortnightly Herald Express Article

From a Torbay perspective I think the Coalition Government has made a good start when prioritising spending commitments. 

Cutting taxes for the low paid will help everyone in work or currently paying tax on their income in Torbay.  The extra pounds in peoples pockets are likely to be spent locally thus helping our economy to grow.

Same is true for restoring the pension link with earnings given the number of pensioners locally.  Easing the burden on their finances will help our local economy more than most.

The Pupil Premium will target resources at schools in areas like our own helping to reduce class sizes and offer more one to one support and ensure our youngest get the best start in life.

But there are going to be cuts, unavoidable when the country is borrowing an extra £3 billion a week to meet the spending commitments left by the last government.

It’s a bit like having taken over a property where the previous occupant had left all the lights and taps on before vacating the premises.  Turning things off without creating total darkness or cutting off the water supply was always going to be the most difficult task for whoever formed the next Government.

That’s why any new spending commitments are going to have to be subjected to a review, including those that to us are self-evidently beneficial.

We have had spending reviews before and they have often appeared to me to be simply mechanisms for delaying expenditure that was going to have to be made anyway.  I hope the outcome for proposals we want in South Devon will simply be a short wait before approval, but the approach the Coalition is taking is very different from the past.

Firstly by suggesting an unprecedented public consultation exercise asking what people expect from public services and where they think cuts should fall.

Secondly through a re-evaluation of the relationship between government and the public sector

Finally by creating a new ‘Star Chamber’ of Cabinet ministers to vet every department’s spending proposals.

Quite how that affects any objective decision making over the cost/benefit analysis for the South Devon Link Road is anyone’s guess.  But I’ll wager it will score well given the amount of work Devon and Torbay have put into the business case for the road. 

The delays, such as the de-trunking of the A380, regionalisation, and national rule changes have been beyond our control.  The slippage from choosing unitary status and changing to an elected Mayor was self-inflicted.  Now it’s down to the facts and figures making the case.  It’s no longer if, but when.

Fortnightly Herald Express Article

It’s a great feeling when an idea you stood behind and were ridiculed for becomes the idea of the moment for regenerating the tourist industry and helping to tackle the country’s balance of payments deficit.

 

I can’t claim the origin of the idea, it predates me by decades, but I can say I was the first to resurrect the proposal of British Double Summer Time in recent years when I was given the Tourism brief for the Liberal Democrats.

 

I first had to persuade the Party conference to adopt the policy.  The opposition, mostly from Scotland, was fierce.  I then promoted it within and outside Parliament and received all sorts of negative feedback and irrational opposition for an idea that could generate over £2 billion for the leisure and hospitality industry, reduce health and insurance costs, and reduce carbon emissions by ten per cent!

 

I suppose you can only hold onto such a good idea for so long before everyone else wants to claim it, and that’s what has happened with both Labour’s Culture Secretary and now the Conservative Shadow Tourism spokesman supporting the idea.  They can both see that such a simple change could give our region a £200 million shot in the arm at a time when every little helps.

 

The opposition will come overwhelmingly from Scotland, and from a few anti EU obsessive’s who will claim the UK shouldn’t share the same time zone as other European countries.  But as South West Tourism expert Malcolm Bell has noted; the light evenings would last longer meaning we’d be more likely to stay out later. He said: “It’s about enjoying life a bit more, and when that happens, tourism benefits.”  It's what I've been saying for years.

 

 

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Torquay hotelier Luke Tillen popped up on my Facebook page the other day asking if I could help publicise the Torbay Holiday Helpers Network.  It is an honour to do so for such a brilliant idea and worthy organisation that promotes such a positive image of our area and its people.

 

Luke has created a network of hotels, accommodation providers, tourist attractions and businesses that are all committed to helping give away free holidays, services and experiences to families who have terminally ill, seriously ill and recently bereaved children.

 

Luke first got the idea to set up the Torbay Holiday Helpers Network after watching an episode of Channel 4's Secret Millionaire early last year.  The episode featured multi-millionaire scrap merchant Gary Eastwood visiting the town of Blackpool to find worthy causes in need of financial help.

The THHN works in conjunction with a growing list of charities such as: NACCPO (National Alliance of Childhood Cancer Parent Organisations), Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity, Great Ormond Street Hospital, The Royal Marsden Hospital, Child Bereavement Charity, Winston's Wish, Donna's Dream House. 

Holidays are only awarded by referral via a registered charity or healthcare professionals.

 

If you want to know more you can contact the network at: www.thhn.co.uk

 

 

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Britain faces an enormous budget deficit: £178bn of which the government estimates £80bn is structural. The Government has set out plans to eliminate this deficit in eight years, halving it in the first four, a pledge now enshrined in legislation. It has not, however, set out the full details of how this will be achieved.

 

Uncertainty about the deliverability of this plan, and questions over whether it would eliminate the deficit quickly enough have led to market instability that could raise the cost of government borrowing.

 

The next government has an enormous challenge: not only to reduce the deficit in a responsible way but also to carry the confidence of the markets, keeping down the cost of borrowing, and persuade people to accept significant cuts in public expenditure without industrial or social unrest

 

Even a “strong” government with an overall majority in the House of Commons will find this difficult because it will not have a majority in the country.

 

A government elected on 40% of the vote with a turnout of 60% has, in effect, the support of just 25% of eligible voters. No British government has been elected by a majority of electors since the introduction of universal suffrage. The current Labour government was elected by just 22% of eligible voters.

 

Any government that attempts to impose difficult cuts with such a slim mandate is likely to create strong and growing resentment which will, in turn, weaken market confidence.

 

Furthermore, it is almost certain that it is not possible to eliminate the full deficit within a single Parliament. Because this is a long-term challenge, there must be consensus between all parties that might form part of either the next or the subsequent government to sustain market confidence that the deficit will be eliminated, whatever the political future.

 

Agreement between the parties on the economics of deficit reduction (timing and scale) would also have the benefit of focussing inter-party debate on the political issues (what to cut and what taxes to raise).

 

This would improve political debate, ensuring the parties come clean about what their spending priorities would be, rather than hiding these details behind the veil of a dispute about timing.

 

This is why we need a Council for Financial Stability to prepare and oversee an agreed plan to deal with the deficit. It will involve representatives from all parties, the Bank of England, and the FSA.

 

Its remit will be limited to the economic issues: timing and scale of deficit reduction. It will not seek agreement on the essentially political questions of the balance between spending and tax rises and what specific spending items or taxes should be increased or decreased.  Like double British Summer time this is another idea whose time has come.

Fortnightly Herald Express Article

It’s all getting a bit silly in Westminster at the moment.  We are all working towards May 6^th as the date for the General Election and cranking up our campaign teams on the ground in anticipation. 

Yet we are going through the motions of business as normal with new bills being scrutinised and a full Budget next Wednesday that may be completely overturned in less than 50 days time.

If ever there was a case for fixed term parliaments this is it. Whether for four or five year terms, each parliamentary year would be fixed so no time and effort would be wasted in a phoney period of uncertainty as to when exactly an election is going to take place.

Just about every other Parliament in the world works to fixed terms, but then most countries have written constitutions, fair voting systems and a bill of rights. Nevertheless it’s time we changed, and perhaps a Parliament where no party leader has an overall majority will be the chance to take the decision away from the Prime Minister of when to call an election.

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I’m a great fan of social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace and have built up many hundreds of local contacts with young people who wouldn’t otherwise have come into contact with their MP.

Every week I pick up casework, get lobbied, or receive questions from young people who might not have contacted me through other ways. 

But as with every technological development there is a dark side, and the recent murder of a young woman is a case in point.

It is very disappointing that Facebook, which was used by the murderer Peter Chapman to make contact with his victim Ashleigh Hall, is the only big social networking site not to install the button that allows users to get advice on, and to report, suspicious on-line activity from so-called friends.

If Bebo and MSN can install the button from the Child Exploitation and On-line Protection Centre, then so can Facebook.

Until Facebook acts on this, its protestations that it cares passionately about the safety of people who use its site will look like empty words. Facebook urgently needs to take this clear, simple and practical step.

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It is a common misunderstanding by the public, and sometimes by Councillors themselves, that Councils are free to determine applications on the basis of the number of objections or letters of support.

In fact what Councillors (and their professional advisers) have to do is judge applications against planning guidance laid down by Parliament and against the Local Development Framework, or local plan as we used to call it, drawn up by the local Council and approved by Parliament – or in reality approved by the Secretary of State on behalf of Parliament.

Our system of planning law presumes in favour of the applicant.  Those affected by a decision cannot appeal.  This is unfair because an applicant can appeal if their planning application is rejected. 

If Councillors have not found good reasons in planning law for an application to be turned down a Court will find in favour of the applicant and not only charge the costs of the appeal against the local authority but sometimes an additional charge for the costs of delaying the development. 

Only if the Council failed to follow the procedures laid down by Parliament in the way it dealt with an application could a case be made for that application to be looked at again.  This could be a failure to advertise the application or a decision taken contrary to the Local Development Framework (LDF) - such as a change of use from a previous designation to whatever the applicant was proposing to do.

In short, under the existing rules, Councils cannot turn down applications simply because local residents are against them.  Consequently this skews the planning system in favour of an applicant who has researched the LDF and the latest Government planning guidance.  The only concessions a Council can extract are minor restrictions on design and/or operation, and/or to negotiate infrastructure improvements through what are called Section 106 agreements.

I am in no doubt that too much power rests with the developer and our planning laws need major reform to change the bias against rather than for development. 

I voted a couple of years ago for amendments to planning rule changes that would have allowed a right of appeal to third parties affected by an application.  Sadly, not enough MPs agreed.

My view is that we also need to find a better mechanism than Section 106 agreements for compensating the community for planning permissions.  Section 106 agreements are messy and inconsistent and only apply to developments over a certain size.  Land value taxation would be a better way of taxing the unearned value of a development.

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A new community radio station for the Bay, Riviera.FM, has begun broadcasting on the internet. 

The demand for community radio station licences has massively exceeded the expectations of the Government and the regulator Ofcom, so there is a backlog in dealing with applications to transmit on the fm band, but Torbay’s Riviera.fm is very much in the frame to get one eventually.

With backing from the lottery and a partnership with BBC Radio Devon a full schedule is being developed offering a mix of information, music and entertainment.

I should declare an interest as I present a modest classic rock show on Friday evenings between 9 and 10.  I’m on after the far more professional and entertaining duo of Smashie and Nicey from this newspaper, or Guy Henderson and Jon Paul Hedge as they are known in real life.   Have a listen at www.riviera.fm