Christine Headley

I can hardly believe that the changes in housing benefit were successfully railroaded past the LibDems in Cabinet. What was Danny Alexander thinking of? Even if the Tories didn’t realise that their proposals would lead to people currently caught in the safety-net of housing benefit to be evicted by private-sector landlords, and thus to more homelessness when the lower limit is imposed, couldn’t our chaps have pointed it out? Not to mention the months of worry for the likely victims, as so clearly expressed on Money Box Live programme on Wednesday. (The link is to the main page. It is currently available on Listen Again; there will also be a transcript in perpetuity. Links to both are towards the bottom of the page.)

Similarly,  commentators (one wonders about self-interest here) are horrified to find that the retirement age for men is to be raised. Mine was raised - with lots of notice -  in the days when Anne Widdecombe was pensions minister. (I will first be able to draw my pension at an Adrian-Mole-type age of something like 64 3/4.) But I am all too aware of the impact the new proposal will have on the young. Either way, they have got the worst of the deal - either they work to  pay for their elders to be retired, or they are under- or unemployed because of those bums on seats upstairs.

My elder daughter was wanting a gap-year job in London. (A year’s accommodation no problem.) I had persuaded her to learn to touchtype while she was doing A-levels; she came out with a good speed and better accuracy than I can achieve. Could she find an entry-level admin job? Doesn’t the civil service want people to do photocopying? It would appear that these jobs are now the province of recent graduates, who have incurred all that debt for less-than-fascinating work and no  prospect of quick promotion to something more interesting.

Many young people have had enough of being force-fed education by the time of A-levels (if not before) and want to earn their own living. It is doing them no favours to clog up the top of the hierarchy with those who would rather be retired. It is also horrible for their slightly-seniors to come out of expensive education, burdened with debt their parents were spared, wondering when on earth they will be able to afford to buy their own place,  and unable to find anything that suits their qualifications.

We had a good public meeting yesterday at Kings Stanley Village Hall on the question of the future of the Kings Head pub just the other side of the road.

During the general election campaign, it was pointed out to me that the pub had recently closed. After the election, and fearing a planning application if the pub remained empty, I set up the meeting and publicised it in the post-election Focus leaflet. As soon as we started delivering them, it was pointed out to us that it clashed with a vital World Cup tie. However, the village hall is in use almost every night of the week, so we didn’t have much choice in the booking.

A good couple of dozen people attended the meeting, from all parties, and covering many areas of village life - B&B owners, an ex-publican, a parish councillor, members of CAMRA, parents of schoolchildren, and skittles players. The subject was introduced by Cllr Dennis Andrewartha, LibDem parliamentary candidate in May, district council group leader, county council deputy group leader and a long-serving member of Stroud’s Development Control committee.

I had previously contacted the pub’s owners, who assured me that they were actively trying to get the pub back up and running. This was good news, though the pubco’s advertisement, promoting the pub as located on the outskirts of Gloucester, seemed not to encourage the sort of publican who might prefer its actual position between the Cotswold and the Severn Vale, and the possibility of catering for walkers on the Cotswold Way.

There was much helpful discussion, and it was eventually agreed that I should write to the pub’s owners, encouraging them to get in a tenant as soon as possible and emphasising the importance of having the pub open again by September,  as it has a much-used  skittle alley and should not lose out for the next season. Should the pubco think of selling the pub for another purpose, they should be aware that the village would strenously oppose a planning application for change of use.

Out delivering leaflets recently, I was asked about charity bags and  given 18 which had been delivered in the last few months to take away.

Charity collectors need a licence from the local authority, though the biggest charities are licensed nationally by the Home Office.

People wonder which are the best charities to give to. The answer seems to involve charities that have well known shops, like the Red Cross and the British Heart Foundation. Charities that aren’t noticeably active locally might well have an arrangement with a clothing dealer who gives them, say, £ 30 a tonne to use their name. These dealers, being commercial organisations, don’t need to be licensed.

If you really want to give impact to your gift, and can deliver the goods to their shop yourself, Oxfam add 28% to the value of your donation if you fill out a GiftAid form and use their tags on later donations.

There is a Stroud District Council factsheet here. For further information on the national scene, look here.

A week after the General Election, we found we had Liberal Democrats in government! As well as Nick Clegg (Deputy Prime Minister), Danny Alexander (Scotland), Vince Cable (Business), Chris Huhne (Climate Change/Energy) and David Laws (no. 2 in the Treasury) in the Cabinet,  there are appointment in six other departments - including Andrew Stunell, Liberal Democrat local government veteran, at the Department for Communities and Local Government - and Deputy Leader of the House of Commons.

However, the deal only applies to central government, not the parties in Europe - where we are part of ALDR and the Conservatives are still in the grouping Nick Clegg called ‘nutters - or at local level.The local LibDem Focus Team reserves the right to disagree with Conservatives at any time!

The Liberal Democrats are not going to lose their identity - as someone said at the Special LibDem Conference last Sunday, ‘it’s a fruit salad, not a smoothie’.

Stroud District Council are starting a consultation on the broad management of where roughly 2000 homes should be built after 2016. The aim is to create sustainable communities, with homes and jobs not too far away from each other. This is the beginning of the new Core Strategy process, which will eventually culminate in a Local Development Framework replacing the current Stroud Local Plan.

There are eight options, ranging from all 2000 dwellings at Cam or in the Eastington area, to between ten and fifty homes built in each of forty parishes.

There will be drop-in exhibitions for the ‘Stroud Valleys’ area at the Mortimer Rooms in Nailsworth Library  on Tuesday 2 March and the Sub Rooms in Stroud on  Saturday 13 March between 10 am and 1 pm,  and for the Stonehouse Cluster at the Stonehouse Town Council offices on Thursday 4 March.

Personally, I favour a mixture of the proposals. I think half the homes should be located to tap into the second phase of the canal development, balancing the building already envisaged in Brimscombe. The rest should come from a couple of dozen sites around the District, with about thirty homes in each, and perhaps a couple with a hundred or so. Larger developments bring benefits like children’s play areas, or a school or a shop with them. Rodborough, Woodchester and the Stanleys will have to expect their share and could expect to gain affordable housing, so that both old and young can hope to continue to live locally rather than have to move to other parts of  Stroud because there is nowhere available here.

For more information, check out the SDC website.

Last night I went to the Cheltenham Literature Festival to hear Vince Cable speak. I had expected the talk to be about his book on the credit crunch, “The Storm” , but it turned out to be more about his memoir, “Free Radical”, to be published on 1 November. This sounds like a must-read.

He had spoken earlier in the evening as one of a panel (along with  Stephanie Flanders from the BBC and John Micklethwait of The Economist), so didn’t go into as much detail on the banking crisis as some in the audience would have liked to hear.

It wasn’t the first time I had heard Vince speak on “The Storm”. At Conference I happened to be in the room - not having left the previous lunchtime fringe meeting - when it became clear that something involving books was about to happen. Not overcome with enthusiasm for the walk back to the conference centre and the next session, I hung around. It turned out to be Vince, Paddy Ashdown and
Shirley Williams talking about their new books. Unfortunately, there had been a complete SNAFU on the publicity side - no advertisement or listing had appeared in any conference document, there had just been a notice on the LibDem Image stall (which I had visited and not noticed). So in a room with seating for 300 and space for many more to stan, there were fifty of us spread around.

It was the most amazing treat. Vince explained that he had written his book in order to understand the credit crunch himself. Paddy started off with moving recollections - described as the best and worst days of his life, one after the other - of a visit to Bosnia in the early 1990s, and later told a familiar story concerning casework on a cold night while he was still a prospective parliamentary candidate. Shirley read an extract from her book and then ran through a few highlights.

Vince warmly recommended Gillian Tett’s book on the credit crunch, which he said had helped him to understand it.

Incidentally, while I have given links to the books on the Amazon website, I must encourage you to buy them (if you wish to) from a local bookshop that really appreciates your custom.

Yesterday I was out with the petition for the speed limit in Amberley to be reduced to 20 mph.

The limit is currently 40 mph, because that is the speed limit on the Common (to preserve the cows!) and apparently the National Trust won’t let it be reduced in the built-up area. Residents have been concerned by this for some time. Part of the village is very narrow and steep; however, the street lighting (such as it is) is not enough for a mandatory 30 mph limit. The school - just to the south of the crossroads - is slightly away from the main residential part of the village, so there is a lot of concern about the safety of children walking to school.  Boy racers see the 40 mph limit as a challenge.

Before the County election I started a petition, but during the campaign was more interested in canvassing, though I had the petition with me. The post-election leaflet had a short version of the petition on it.

There has been considerable enthusiasm in Lower Littleworth and Theescombe, along the lane to the north of the main part of the village, and I think this could be fertile territory for a Quiet Lane, as is coming to fruition in the more rural part of Rodborough.

I was asked to take sheets in to the Post Office and did so about a month ago; I collected the completed sheets yesterday morning and they make a significant addition to the number of signatures - even discounting several people who have now signed three times! I took the petition house to house yesterday afternoon with considerable success. we now have over 100 signatures from a widespread village of less than 400 homes. However, there is more to do and I will be out again today and later this week.

I return from holiday (having easily resisted the temptation to post to mycouncillor from various European internet cafes) to a 70-page report from Tribal and one of 16 pages from KPMG, both addressing the problems of Stroud District’s council housing.

Some weeks ago, it was  discovered that the housing revenue account had been overspent by up to £ 1.2m. At this point Stroud District Council (SDC) commissioned these reports, arranged policy seminars for councillors and set up special cabinet, scrutiny and council meetings for September. Subsequent investigation has brought the figure down to £873,000 - quite bad enough!

Starting to read the Tribal report last night, I was surprised to find it is all about the Future of Stroud’s Council Housing, rather than the whys and wherefores of the overspend. Seems to me that the baby is ready to be chucked out with the bathwater.  According to SDC’s website, there are three reports - I look forward to finding out what the third is about.

Some years ago, SDC tenants voted to remain so and not be handed over to a housing association, or any of the other options presented by the government at the time.

Green  -  716 (21%)

Conservative  - 1196 (35%)

Christine Headley (Liberal Democrat)  1061 (31%)

Labour  - 415 (12%)

Turnout 47%

While I would have preferred to win, this result is not in the least depressing and reflects the work I have put in over the last year. The next campaign starts now!

A further instalment  from Gloucestershire LibDems’ county council manifesto.

* ensure school buildings and facilities are fit for purpose

A Liberal Democrat run council will act to remove all temporary school buildings attached to schools, ensure ICT facilities are up to date, and support outdoor areas at school. We will work with government to fast track funding for the county from the ‘Building Schools For Future’ programme.

* stop house building on the flood plain and protect the green belt

Liberal Democrats will work to stop government plans to build  houses on the green belt and on flood plains. We opposed the Tory council bid for ‘growth point status’ that encouraged accelerated house building on green fields.

* adopt new estate roads more swiftly

The county council is too slow to adopt new estate road, with some remaining unadopted five years and more after they were built. Our administration will put in place new policies to tackle these unnecessary delays.