Concern over Labour plans to silence voice of local people on planning
Whitehall to push through controversial developments and gag local communities

Conservative Prospective MP for Brigg and Goole Andrew Percy this week criticised new proposals from the Government to change planning rules and weaken the say of local communities. The policies were unveiled by Whitehall ministers in a Planning ‘White Paper’.

·Sewage plants and incinerator chimneys dumped in your neighbourhood: A new centralised planning quango will strip local communities of any say not just over airports, power stations and motorways, but also on incinerators, sewage plants and hazardous landfill sites. Its powers also include compulsory purchase of land.

·Unsackable quangocrats: The new unelected ‘planning commissioners’ will effectively be unsackable and unaccountable. The Government propose fixed eight year terms, and no ability for their removal on grounds of their decisions – giving a green light for the quangocrats to ignore public opinion.

·Supermarkets favoured over small shops: Controls will be weakened on out of town development, giving the dominant supermarkets even greater power over small shops and local high streets.

However, Andrew Percy expressed an open mind on proposals to make it easier for households to build an extension – provided that neighbours were still given the opportunity to object if it affected their property or local amenity.

Andrew Percy said:
“After ten years of Labour in office, the number of people who own their home is now falling. Labour’s regional planning red tape and Whitehall targets have snarled up the planning system, whilst restricting the say of local residents. Ever higher stamp duty and soaring council tax have made it harder for people in the East Riding and North Lincolnshire to get a foot on the first rung of the housing ladder. Residents also risk being subjected to stealth Council Tax revaluations as I highlighted just a few months ago in the local press.

“Gordon Brown has shown his true control freak instincts by backing moves to strip local communities of their say over incinerators, rubbish dumps and sewage plants. Labour has sided with large developers, rather than the people.

The voice of local communities must be preserved and a democratic, accountable process must be maintained. That means we have to ensure that the local community are more actively involved in the planning process, including on emotive issues such as the siting of phone masts which Councils presently have little say in. This is especially important in the Goole area were we have seen a number of very controversial developments in the past few years. If these changes go ahead then local people will potentially have even less say in local planning issues.”

Outrage at MPs Tactical Support for Secrecy Bill

Prospective Conservative MP for Brigg and Goole Andrew Percy today attacked current Labour MP Ian Cawsey for helping the passage of a bill which would exempt MPs from the Freedom of Information Act. Last Friday Mr Cawsey voted in favour of motions which allowed the bill to be proceed to a vote. These votes killed attempts by those who opposed the measure from filibustering the bill which would have meant that the bill would have died due to a lack of parliamentary time. Cleethorpes MP Shona McIasaac also voted in favour of the bill.

Andrew Percy says, “Many residents will be as shocked as I was to discover that our local MP played a central role in destroying the tactics of those who opposed the bill. Although Mr Cawsey was absent from the final vote on the bill, his tactical votes against those attempting to kill the bill show his tacit support for this measure.

I believe that the public have an absolute right to know exactly how much our elected representatives are costing us and to know exactly what they are doing in our name. I am therefore outraged that our local MP was central in helping this bill clear the House of Commons.

It can surly be no coincidence that this bill has come so quickly after MP’s travel expenses were revealed following a Freedom of Information disclosure. Clearly, there is a need to keep personal correspondence between MPs and their constituent’s private, but this is already covered by Data Protection legislation. In any event, if privacy of constituent correspondence was the main reason for this bill than surly councillors and MEPs should also have been exempted.

Although this bill has attracted the support of MPs of both parties it is a disgrace that so few MPs turned up to vote against this bill. I hope that this proposal will now be defeated in the House of Lords. Whether or not the bill eventually makes it on to the statute books, I pledge that, if elected to represent Brigg and Goole at the next election, I will make all my travel and office expenses public.”

Labour’s Post Office cuts will be ‘hammer blow’ to community life
Uncertainty for local Post Offices and residents across North Lincolnshire fears Andrew Percy

Prospective Conservative Brigg & Goole MP Andrew Percy today reactly strongly at confirmation that the Government is to push ahead with the closure of 2,500 Post Offices across the country, on top of the 4,000 already shut since 1999. In Brigg and Goole, this could potentially mean the closure of 6 more Post Offices, from the current level of 34.

Andrew Percy said,
“The Labour Government already holds the record for closing Post Offices faster than any other, they are now going to shut at least a further 2,500 branches over the next two years. This will be a hammer blow to community life. By the time of the next election, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown will have closed over one third of the entire Post Office network.

“I fear local communities across North Lincolnshire will lose their only shop and vulnerable people will lose a service they depended upon. We have already seen the loss of a number of Post Offices in this constituency, including in my own village of Airmyn. Labour Ministers have taken no account of the needs of the elderly, of disabled people or of the most disadvantaged - the very ones who will lose out most as this cuts programme rolls out. The Prime Minister may be changing, yet Gordon Brown is not going to offer the change that we need to save our local Post Offices.”

Conservatives have called for Sub-Post Offices to be given greater freedoms to offer a wider range of commercial products, are pushing for more Post Offices to be ‘one stop shops’ for local and central government services, and want to make the Post Office Card Account a more flexible financial tool with much greater functionality.
I recently launched a petition calling upon the Government to do more to protect this essential service and to allow Post Offices the freedoms they need to survive.
The petition is on-going and can be signed via http://www.brigg-gooleconservatives.co.uk, by writing to me at 32 Main Street, Normanby, DN15 9HS or by e-mailing brigg.goole@gmail.com

Photograph is Andrew Percy and Cllr Rob Wlatham at Gunness Post Office

I was pleased to host Mr Cameron this week in one of the schools I use to teach at, Kingswood High School on the tough Bransholme Estate.

New housing red tape will add to cost and stress of moving home

Home owners forced to pay £600 to put up a ‘for sale’ sign from 1 June

Home owners looking to sell their house or flat will have to pay £600 under new Government regulations from 1 June. Andrew Percy, Prospective MP for Brigg and Goole and Conservative Parliamentarty Spokesman warned today that this new red tape could undermine the stability of the housing market, would increase the costs of moving and would discourage potential sellers from advertising their home.

From 1 June 2007, anyone wanting to sell their home in England and Wales will be forced to pay for an inspector to come into their home and produce a Home Information Pack. If they put up a ‘for sale’ sign or advertise their home without a Pack, they face repeated £200 fines levied by town halls. Estate agents are already encouraging home owners to put their home on the market before 1 June, to avoid the need to pay for a Pack. Conservatives are leading the opposition to the new rules in Parliament.

Andrew Percy explained,
“Moving home is one of the most stressful things anyone can do. Yet Labour’s new red tape threatens to make it worse, not better. Rather than protecting consumers in the East Riding and North Lincolnshire, these new regulations will increase the cost of moving and threatens to undermine the stability of the housing market.

“The central part of the Home Information Pack, the keystone around which everything else was constructed, has now been demolished. The Government should go back to the drawing board, rather than introduce ‘half-baked’ HIPs purely to avoid further Ministerial embarrassment. These Packs will be just an additional burden on home buyers on top of soaring council tax bills and stamp duty.”

Brigg and Goole is now officially a two horse race. Despite one of our best wards still yet to be decided in a by-election in June, local election results show that the Lib Dems can't win in Brigg and Goole.

This is the popular vote in Brigg and Goole from Thursday - figure in brackets shows % change since General Election

The local election results show that the Conservatives would have won the Brigg and Goole constituency if there had been a general election yesterday.

Despite one of our best wards being subjected to a by-election in June, and so not included in these results, we would have swept to victory in a General Election.

The figures show that the Conservatives polled 7874 votes to Labour's 6655 across the constituency.

We took Labour's safest seat in Burringham and Gunness thanks to the hard work of Rob Waltham. In the East Riding part of the seat we managed to de-capitate the Labour Leader on East Riding of Yorkshire Council by winning both seats on the former Labour stronghold of Snaith, Airmyn and Rawcliffe Ward. We won by over 200 votes!

My thanks to all the hard work of our campaigners and councillors.

Conservatives set to win Brigg and Goole Constituency

Figures from the May 3rd local elections show that if there had been a general election on the same day, the Conservatives would have stormed to victory in the Brigg and Goole constituency. The constituency, which straddles two different local authorities, recorded 7874 votes for the Conservatives to just 6655 for Labour. Conservatives gained the safe one member ward of Burringham and Gunness and stormed to victory in the East Riding Ward of Snaith, Airmyn, Rawcliffe and The Marshlands, removing two sitting Labour Councillors.

Prospective Brigg and Goole MP Andrew Percy says, "These are fantastic results and would have been even better if figures for the Tory stronghold of Brigg and Wolds were included. Those figures will be delayed until the by-election scheduled for June, caused by the sad death of an election candidate.

These results show that local people want a change in Brigg and Goole. Although I am disappointed by the loss of North Lincolnshire Council, the results across the constituency clearly show that local people want a new Government and an end to Labour's national and local spin. I personally spent a great deal of time campaigning in the Snaith ward and was struck by how many people told me they had voted Labour all their lives but never again. The results also show that the fight for Brigg and Goole will be a clear two horse race between Labour and the Conservatives.

* In multi-member wards the figures used represent the average vote for each party in that ward.