Don't Believe the Benefits Hype Part One - Housing Benefit

The scene of the fallen tree that killed a homeless woman

Last Saturday night, during some of the worst storms and flooding seen in the westcountry in years, Michelle Conroy - a 21 year-old homeless woman - died when a tree came down on the tent in which she and two men were sheltering in Exeter. 

Early reports from the BBC simply stated that "a woman had died" when a tree fell on her, then as details emerged that she had been in a tent, BBC changed their reports to say that she was "camping." She was not camping. She was homeless, and she had died seeking shelter where she could.

In recent weeks Exeter Council has had several discussions and presentations about the changes and cuts this government is making to the welfare system. With a now tragic irony, many in Labour's ranks, and local voluntary agencies, have described these changes as an approaching "perfect storm". The stormy events of last Saturday night now create a desperate metaphor of the impact the seismic changes in the benefits system can have on the most vulnerable members of our community.

Shelter cannot guarantee service delivery
in Exeter beyond next March

Government cuts implemented by Tory-led Devon County Council has seen Exeter lose over 200 emergency and supported beds, while cuts are also seeing advice agencies that can help to prevent people losing their homes - the Citizens Advice Bureau and Shelter - losing staff at a time that demands on their services are soaring. 

One of the frustrations for me has been that public antipathy to the benefits system (and by extension to the recipients of those benefits) has been at a record high. An autumn poll for the Telegraph of over 3000 people showed 62% saying that they felt unemployment benefits are "too high", and a YouGov poll showed 36% being in favour of benefits being capped at under £20k a year. (The current cap will be set at £26k) In short, the idea of the "undeserving poor" - feckless, irresponsible, work-shy - has taken a hold. The rhetoric of the Tories has set working poor against workless poor, as was illustrated by the speeches George Osborne and David Cameron made to their Party's autumn conference. 

George Osborne at Conference 2012

"Where is the fairness, we ask, for the shift-worker, leaving home in the dark hours of the early morning, who looks up at the closed blinds of their next door neighbour sleeping off a life on benefits?" - George Osborne

"What are hard-working people who travel long distances to get into work and pay their taxes meant to think when they see families - individual families - getting 40, 50, 60 thousand pounds of housing benefit to live in homes that these hard working people could never afford themselves? It is an outrage. And we are ending it by capping housing benefit." - David Cameron

When the Left points out that this year the pay of top executives rose by an average of 27% when most workers' pay is not even keeping pace with rising food and energy costs, it is accused by the Tories of engaging in "the politics of envy". Yet when it comes to the poor, their strategy appears to be precisely to "divide and rule" - to persuade those that are working that those on benefits are somehow taking "their" money, getting "something for nothing", living an idle life on soaring benefit payments while those working are the "strivers." It's a sadly popular image.

Local Tory leader Yolonda Henson:
"They don't want to work!"

Even locally, the Tories peddle this view. At a recent meeting of Exeter Council's Executive Committee, as Labour Councillor Rosie Denham was stressing her concern about the growing number of local long-term unemployed, the Exeter Conservative leader was heard to say, "But they don't want to work!"

Here's a conundrum. In October, the government told us that employment  - those in work - rose to a record level. In the same month, local housing allowance (housing benefit) also rose to a record high. How can that be? If the Tories' economic strategy has somehow moved the "feckless and work-shy" reluctantly into employment, then surely our benefit payments should be falling, not rising? It is by answering these questions that we start uncovering the truth. 

The reason housing benefits are often so high is that private rents are high. The lack of affordable homes and social housing is pushing growing numbers of people into the private rental sector, which in turn is pushing rents up. The average rent of a 3 bedroom family home in Exeter is over £900 per month. The benefits paid to cover some of that (capped incidentally at just £700) is not money going to the claimants - it goes straight into the pockets of the landlord - and with the family concerned needing to find the additional £200.

93% of new housing benefits claims last year were from
households in work

According to the DWP, the government's own definition of "affordable" housing is rents costing no more than 25% of a household's gross (pre-tax) income. So, in order to afford, say, a modest £800 a month rented family home in Exeter, a household would need an income of £3200 per month, or £38,400 per year. The mean average household income is £31,500; but it is estimated that 21% have an income of less than £15,000 and 10% have an income of less than £10,000. Housing benefit costs are rising not because there are growing numbers of unemployed, but because rents are rising, and people who are actually in work simply do not earn enough. Last year, a staggering 93% of all new housing benefit claims were made by households that had at least one working adult. Yet the government has persisted with its caps and cuts, painting pictures of large, idle, workless families enjoying palatial homes at tax-payers expense. It is a myth. (Incidentally, 93% of benefit-claiming families have 3 children or fewer, and less than 1% have 5 or more children to support.)

From 2014, it is mooted, housing benefit will be removed altogether for those under 25. Even if young people of Michelle Conroy's age approach services for help, they will not be entitled to housing benefit. What other impact can such measures possibly have than to increase the number of young, vulnerable people on our streets?

What is to be done?

• Labour voted against a welfare cap, recognising that what is needed is greater regulation of private landlords, reducing rents, not capping housing benefits.
• Labour is calling for a huge building programme to provide more homes, more jobs and to boost a flagging economy. 
• In Exeter, over the next 5 years our Labour-led Council is on target to deliver more affordable homes (including housing cooperatives) than any other area in the southwest
• "Making work pay" and ensuring people are not "better off on benefits" is not about cutting benefits to poverty levels, but about ensuring that employers pay a living wage. Exeter Labour councillors and Ben Bradshaw MP have all voted against regional pay in the southwest, and are working on plans to make Exeter a living wage city.



Michelle Conroy, who died homeless
in Exeter this week.

• Exeter Labour is introducing a more strategic response to delivering benefits payments, by a complete business transformation review of the Council's Customer Service Centre, to ensure it functions as a "one-stop shop" for advice, and is directly linked with Citizens Advice Bureau, Shelter and other community sector services.

While this government remains in power, I am not at all confident that tragedies such as the death of Michelle Conroy will not happen again on Exeter's streets. However, Exeter Labour will be doing all it can to coordinate its reduced resources and pressured but excellent frontline services to minimise the impact of government cuts on the most vulnerable in our city. 

Nationally or Locally - It's the Same Old Tories

Many Tory backbenchers are said to be "furious" at the PM's continued
defence of embattled Whip, Andrew Mitchell

This government is increasingly looking like it may be a one-term administration. Opinion polls make grim reading for Tory agents these days, as Labour enjoy a consistent lead of 9-12% and - critically - Cameron's own approval ratings have crashed. Just 26% think his government is doing a good job, while 61% disapprove. One area that comes up again and again for voters polled is that the Tories are seen as "out of touch" with the lives of ordinary people. While the rest of us see our income down in real terms because of inflation racing ahead of pay increases, with surges in energy, fuel and food bills, the Tories have cut the taxes of the wealthiest so that their millionaire friends have at least an extra £48,000 a year in their pockets.

In recent weeks, the government's cause was not helped by the hapless Andrew Mitchell, the government's Chief Whip, becoming a poster boy for this out-of-touch elite as mid-tantrum he allegedly screamed "Best you learn your f***ing place. You don't run this f***ing government. You're f***ing plebs." Of course, he denies using those words, but he has yet to say what he thinks he did say. And yesterday, the Prime Minister declined to give his account to set the record straight, and continues to back his man. (We've been here before of course - with Andy Coulson receiving Cameron's ill-judged support when it was clear to everyone else that he had to go.) Labour is pressing for a vote on the issue.

Under these circumstances, you would have thought Tories would be bending over backwards to show that they DO understand, that they DO realise that times are very hard indeed for many, many households, and that they are busy making things better for all the people of the nation that they govern - not just their wealthy friends and supporters. That's why I was amazed to see this tweet from Newton Abbot town councillor and election agent & organiser for Exeter Tories, Neil Wilson:

Needless to say, Exeter Labour councillors who saw this statement were outraged. We get letters and emails every day from local people who are struggling to make ends meet, who are skipping meals so that their children can eat, who are struggling to meet rent payments, energy bills and council tax payments. Yet, the Conservatives' local organiser - the man responsible for coordinating their elections - believes the idea that those who already have little are struggling with even less is "sh*t". It's time Neil got out there and spoke to some struggling families!

Neil soon realised his public Tweet may not be voter-friendly though, hastily deleting the offending statement, but not before a quick-thinking Cllr Catherine Dawson & Cllr Paul Bull had retweeted it.

He had deleted it, he said, because it was "not his most eloquent argument" and because "certain people seem intent on misconstruing a historical fact, for their own political purposes."

Two days later, I tweeted a report that showed that the highest proportion of children relying on foodbanks for nourishment in the UK is in the southwest. It was the most re-tweeted article I have ever posted from my account. I suggested Neil read it. Maybe he had learned something from our previous discussion. He hadn't:

I was gobsmacked. Our Tory organiser appeared to be suggesting that charitable food hand-outs were some kind of Big Society project to be welcomed, rather than a desperate charity safety net that shouldn't  be necessary in the first place if people had decent jobs at a living wage.

Sadly, Neil is not alone in his views within the local Tory Party. On Tuesday night, at Exeter Council's Full Council meeting, Labour councillor Phil Bialyk tabled a Notice of Motion opposing the Government's proposals to introduce regional pay for public servants. What followed was extraordinary.

Local authorities up and down the country, of all political colours, have opposed regional pay. In areas like Exeter, where so many people work in the public sector, the local economy would be hard hit by a significant number of workers with less to spend each month. We expected a common-sense and relatively short debate followed by unanimous support for the motion.

Before Phil had even got to his feet to introduce the motion, Tory councillor Norman Shiel (no stranger to controversy) asked the Lord Mayor to move straight to the vote, with no open debate of this important issue. His proposal was immediately seconded by Tory Leader Yolonda Henson (below). The motion was, they tried to argue, party-political, and an opportunity for "grandstanding" from the Left. This despite the fact that many business leaders have spoken out against regional pay - this is not a public sector versus private sector debate!

The Labour benches were disgusted at this attempt to stifle debate, it showed a complete contempt for democracy and a disdain for our many local public sector workers. The Chief Executive interjected and explained that as debate had not begun, we could not yet go to the vote, and that debate should be allowed. Tory Jake Donovan was first to his feet, and spoke passionately (if not altogether coherently) about the injustice of public sector pay, and said that he would oppose the motion. Second, came another local Tory, Andrew Leadbetter, who said he had some sympathy with the motion, and would not oppose it - but nor did he feel he could support it either.

So much for the issue being "party political". Labour and the Liberal Democrats all spoke in support of the motion, while Tory after Tory spoke in different directions. Again, Cllrs Shiel and Henson moved to go to the vote. They were overruled by the Lord Mayor, and debate continued until everyone had had their say. In his summing up, Cllr Bialyk reminded Cllr Donovan that many public sector workers lived in his ward, Pennsylvania; and then requested a recorded vote - where rather than a show of hands each councillor has the way they voted recorded publicly and individually. The Tory councillors who had spoken so fiercely against the motion - Donovan, Shiel and Henson - appeared to lose their nerve. Every single Conservative councillor abstained. Every single Labour and Liberal Democrat councillor voted in favour of Exeter opposing Regional Pay. 

Exeter, thanks to Labour and with support from the Lib Dems, now officially sides with public servants in resisting the cutting of their pay. We will stand with those families who are struggling to make ends meet in this recession - the deepest since the Second World War - and will oppose Tory cuts, whether to pay, welfare, or to local services.

And the local Tories? They seem as aloof as Andrew Mitchell, as dithering as Cameron, and as out-of-touch as their own local agent. 

Credits: PMQs photo via BBC. Photo of Cllr Henson via This Is Exeter website, Express & Echo.

Q. What are the Liberal Democrats FOR anymore?

Maybe it's just the benefit of the coverage of their conference last week, maybe it's Nick Clegg's (brief) stint in the charts for the remixed version of that apology (left), but the Lib Dems seem to be getting a little more coverage than usual. Nick Clegg may have apologised for making the tuition fees pledge (not for breaking it you understand), but otherwise he used his conference speech to defend Osborne's calamitous budget, and insisted that the government - and the Lib Dems in it - must press on with its austerity agenda. He defended the tax cut at the top rate that puts £40k a year in the pockets of millionaires. At the same time he refused to rule out further cuts to welfare, when most frontline agencies are expressing profound concerns about the impact on those already announced on the poorest and most vulnerable in our communities when they come into force next year. As Ed Miliband said in interviews this weekend, far from being a "brake" on the ideology of the Tories, the Lib Dems are an accomplice to swathing cuts that are not only damaging to our communities, but are damaging to the economy. 

When you give tax cuts to millionaires, they do not spend that additional money - they invest it. The economy does not grow through a policy like that. It grows when the millions of ordinary people in this country have jobs that pay a living wage, and the taxation and spending that results lifts business and public spending across the board. The policies of this Tory government - and their Lib Dem co-conspirators - are choking off any hope of growth, and the deficit - the very purpose the Lib Dems said they went into coalition - is growing as a result. The policies are failing, the government is failing, and the coalition partnership is failing.

Nick Clegg's determination to defend austerity (like his decision to defend rises in tuition fees) is entirely at odds with his pre-election message:

"Imagine the Conservatives go home and get an absolute majority, on 25% of the eligible votes," Clegg said. "They then turn around in the next week or two and say we're going to chuck up VAT to 20%, we're going to start cutting teachers, cutting police and the wage bill in the public sector. I think if you're not careful in that situation… you'd get Greek-style unrest. And so my warning to people who think the old politics still works, is be careful for what you wish for."

Since that Observer electioneering interview, Clegg & the Lib Dems have voted through:

• VAT rise to 20%
• Cuts to teaching budgets (of up to 40% in the University sector, despite rising tuition fee income)
• Huge cuts to the police, that see Devon & Cornwall Police seeing the fifth highest cuts to officers in the country 
• Public sector pay freeze that means a real-terms cut for over 4 million workers, while job losses in the sector continue

ALL the things Clegg cautioned would lead to "Greek-style unrest". What has changed? Why were these policies disastrous as far as the Lib Dems were concerned before they gained power, yet now are "necessary"?

The party also sought election on a platform of constitutional reform and human rights. They failed spectacularly to get a "Yes" to an alternative voting system in the referendum, that was called ridiculously prematurely in the parliament. Nor could the Lib Dems wield any influence whatsoever over their Tory masters on Lords Reform, while the draft Communications Bill will give security forces the powers to monitor internet use and mobile communications that would make most libertarian Lib Dems squirm. 

Clegg wows the Lib Dem activist base at conference 2012!

It's hard to see how any Lib Dem activist could possibly look a voter in the eye ever again and claim that Lib Dems are a force for progress and change. They are either impotent, or complicit. Either they lack principle or spine. 

All this is, of course, concerned with the national picture. But what of our local Lib Dem presence? Lib Dems have often enjoyed local support as a party of "good local people", even if their national party is in the doldrums. In Exeter, the local Lib Dems' fortunes have been closely mirroring those of their national colleagues. In the heady days of 2008 the Lib Dems were the largest party on Exeter City Council with 13 councillors, and enjoying 27% of the vote across the city. Their close (if antiquated) Liberal allies had a further 3 councillors. Since the 2010 General Election, and their sudden chuminess with the Tories, it's all been downhill.

In June 2010 Cllr Rob Hannaford and then Cllr Adrian Hannaford defected from the Lib Dems to Labour in protest at the coalition government. They could hardly be accused of "glory-hunting" or "opportunism" at a time when Labour still trailed in the polls and the coalition enjoyed its (admittedly brief) honeymoon period with the press and electorate. Then, an extra set of autumn elections was triggered by the coalition's decision to reverse Labour's decision to allow Exeter unitary status. The Lib Dems lost one of the three seats it was defending. 

Lib Dem leader Adrian Fullam watches over counting on
a depressing night for his party in May (via BBC)

In 2011 they lost a further 2, as did the local Liberal Party; but then in May of this year the Lib Dems were reduced to just 5 City councillors - with just 14% of the vote across the city, as Labour (already the largest group since 2010) took outright control. In amongst these results there were some shocks. County councillor Vanessa Newcombe lost her City seat to Labour newcomer Rob Crew in Alphington, a full 10% behind in the share of the vote. In St Davids, Labour's Sarah Laws surprised herself by unseating Philip Brock - one half of a well-established husband-and-wife Lib Dem team with his wife, Stella, while in St Thomas the local voters re-elected Rob Hannaford - now firmly in the Labour camp. Both Philip Brock and Vanessa Newcombe will no doubt be nervous in May 2013 as they have to defend their County Council seats against a strong Labour challenge - and the Lib Dems face being wiped out as far as the County Council is concerned in Exeter.

What have they learned? Nothing it seems. The local Lib Dems continue to defend the absurd positions adopted by their national leaders, still vainly trying to persuade local voters that the policies that we all know are choking recovery, and are hurting us - or the lives of those we know - are a good thing. The Exeter Lib Dem website still carries an article stating that the 2012 budget, almost universally derided as the most disastrous budget in living memory, was in fact a budget "for the many not the few"! No lessons have been learned. I would invite anyone in Exeter to attend Council meetings and witness the Lib Dems (and their leader in particular) enjoy the cosiest of relationships with the Tory "opposition" on the Council. 

Let me be clear. I have many friends who are current or past Lib Dem activists. My favorite newspaper - the Guardian - came out in favour of the Lib Dems in 2010. For many, the Lib Dems presented an option in 2010 that was carefully crafted to supposedly offer a "more progressive" alternative to those on the Left than Labour. I don't blame anyone for looking for an alternative when Labour looked like it was running out of steam. However, those that fell for it, now feel duped. One of the saddest developments recently is that a local (and somewhat secretive!) Lib Dem blogger, Lonely Wonderer, stopped writing in July signing off by saying, "I think I've largely failed to get through to fellow Lib Dems" - and this after his / her penultimate posting asked the pertinent question, "Is the Lib Dem core vote circling the plughole?"

I believe there are some good, principled people in the rank-and-file of the local Lib Dem supporter base. However, these people are not served by a party leadership that is still in denial about its own role and complicity in implementing a vehemently Tory agenda that even Thatcher could only have dreamt of. I understand that the previous Labour government got things wrong, things that may make some Liberal and Social Democrats question - but those same debates rage in the Labour party too. Indeed, Ed Miliband has voiced his own reservations about some aspects of our recent history. The difference is that Labour is facing up to its record and refounding itself, and - against all odds if the media is to be believed - is doing so under a unified leadership and re-energised activist base. 

There is every prospect that the Liberal Democrats will take another beating in the 2013 County Council elections. And in 2014's City Council elections. Why would someone who cares about progressive politics stay in a party facing electoral irrelevance? "Because we're a Party of principle - we don't just seek power," was an explanation offered to me by one local Lib Dem friend. This may have carried some weight had the "principles" of no rises in tuition fees, no increase in VAT, no tax cuts for the wealthiest not been so readily sacrificed on the altar of coalition politics. 

Exeter Lib Dems' group of councillors is dwindling fast, its supporter and activist base is shrinking and it will struggle to defend the seats it has - never mind fight to make gains for some years to come. Meanwhile Exeter Labour - with  a growing band of councillors and an experienced and heavyweight MP - is ensuring the city rides out the double-dip recession that was made in Downing Street. 

Maybe, one day, a re-energised third centrist party will emerge again from the ashes of this calamitous Lib Dem era - but let's not pretend that the Lib Dems are a force for good in the coalition, or that they are either "Leftist" or "progressive". If you counted yourself as on the left or  a progressive in 2010, then the Lib Dems have failed you, but it's an exciting time to be part of Labour. This nation and this city still has some huge problems to face up to and solve no one is pretending otherwise. Yet neither the Tories nor the Lib Dems have the answers, that much is clear. But in Exeter Labour you will find a vibrant and energetic local party that is getting on with working at community level to find the solutions we all need. 

If you voted Lib Dem last time and feel as betrayed as the polls suggest so many do, then come home to Labour.

Exeter - A Great Climate for Business

Exeter has opportunities for small artisan
traders as well as big High St brands

As those of you that followed my election campaign might recall, my Tory opponents tried to make much of the fact that I used to be a councillor in Weymouth. I represented Littlemoor there, an estate that was not without its social and economic problems, but that came together as a community, and successfully bid for £1 million of Lottery money under the Big Communities initiative to improve the ward and develop community facilities.

Despite the success of projects like this, and despite the fact that the resort has just hosted the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as I follow Weymouth's fortunes I am sad to see that the Tory-run town is quite clearly struggling. There was embarrassment during the Olympics when the Bayside Festival - supposed to be a showpiece feature of the Games - went bust. Recently, high street fashion retailer Next announced it was leaving the town, following a similar move from Top Shop and Evans last year. All of this gloom came on the back of the Channel Isles Condor Ferries operation pulling out of Weymouth port following health & safety concerns over the state of the quayside.

Exeter is increasingly drawing major retail investment

By contrast, in Labour-led Exeter I am finding that we have much to be optimistic about - despite the national gloom. You won't need me to remind you that we are in the throes of a double-dip recession, with economic growth and employment forecasts both recently revised downwards by the CBI, the IMF and the British Chambers of Commerce. All serious economists are now forecasting a sustained period of recession under this government, characterised by reduced consumer spending and increased unemployment. Nationally, the average proportion of empty shops (Retail Unit Vacancy Rate) has risen to a record 14.6%, or 1 in 7 shops now empty. Yet in Exeter, our vacant shops have actually fallen - to just 6.96% - less than half the national average!

RAMM Manager Camilla Hampshire receives the Museum
of the Year award

Why is Exeter booming when so many comparable towns and cities are struggling? Exeter Labour is serious about getting business investment in our city - but we also believe that a strong, resilient  community requires the private, public and voluntary sectors to work together and to play to one another's strengths. The newly crowned "Museum of the Year", our own Royal Albert Memorial Museum is a perfect example. Still very much in City Council ownership, the RAMM has seen investment from the Council, partnership with the local private sector, and an army of community volunteers delivering an inspirational attraction of which we can all be proud. Exeter Labour held its nerve over continued investment, believing in its vision for a world-class facility, at a time when Tory and Lib Dem councillors fretted and sniped from the sidelines and through the local press. Labour showed leadership, and our staff and volunteers delivered. The result? Museum of the Year, and record visitor numbers coming to Exeter for the RAMM - and then spending money in our local shops and restaurants. 

Ben Bradshaw MP helps cut turf on a new
researchcentre at Exeter University

On Tuesday evening at the Council's Scrutiny Committee for Community, we also heard from Exeter University. The university was this year awarded prestigious Russell Group status, which will bring more students to Exeter, and will see an expansion (and increased recognition) of the university's research programmes - which in turn will attract greater investment. The university aims to increase its capacity from its current level of 17500 students to around 20000. A stroll through Exeter's shopping districts and seeing new brands like Hollister, Jack Jones, Urban Outfitters and Republics will tell you what effect the "student pound" has on our local economy, and nationally it is worth noting that UK wide overseas students are estimated to contribute over £14 billion to our economy.

This is no time to be sending the signal that educating students - and specifically international students - are not a welcome part of our economic recovery. Yet the government's handling of debacle over the London Metropolitan University and the hike in tripling tuition fees that has seen an almost 8% fall in applications are all combining to undermine higher education in this country.

I welcome the growth of our local university, but my challenge to Exeter University is that it must do better on opening access to students from less privileged backgrounds. I am glad to see greater student numbers - including overseas students - bringing valuable income to our city, but I want the education that they benefit from to be open to all. A report in 2011 suggests Exeter remains a university that is "failing" poorer students. Labour is serious about business growth - but the benefit of that wealth must be for the many, not the few.

Exeter Science Park will bringer technological skill, investment and jobs
to our city

I could go on... The development of the Science Park, the partnership of Exeter City Council with neighbouring authorities to develop growth points at Cranbrook and Exeter Airport, the forthcoming opening of the new John Lewis store, the increased investment in the development of medical research facilities in the city are all bringing economic boosts to Exeter, and enabling us to the weather the storms of a fiscally incompetent government and the ever-deepening Euro crisis. 

Exeter Labour has the talent, the steel and the leadership to continue to grow our local economy, and make Exeter a beacon for investment. We can be trusted with the economy. But perhaps more importantly, we can be trusted to be  fair in how the benefits of growth are distributed, and to balance the needs of business, community, our precious local environment and our thriving cultural scene. 

Under Labour, Exeter is a great place to live, and it's a great place to do business.

Important consultation event

Have Your Say: Building Pinhoe

An important consultation event is being held to give residents a say in future developments in and around Pinhoe, and will give local people a chance to speak to local councillors, but also to Planning and Transport officers from ECC, DCC and EDDC. The event is to be held at Pinhoe Primary School on Wednesday 29^th August from 3pm to 7pm. (Directions here)

Pinhoe is set to grow

There are a number of significant developments in the pipeline for the Pinhoe area. Planning permission has already been granted for building much-needed new homes in the Ibstock Quarry & Brickworks sites, and there are now consultations underway from Barratt Homes and Eagle One to build more homes in the Monkerton and Hill Barton area.

In the City Council's Core Strategy, the Monkerton and Hill Barton area is allocated for the development of up to 2,500 new homes. Development in the area is guided by the Monkerton & Hill Barton Masterplan, which was consulted on and agreed in 2010. The Masterplan was designed as a supplement to the Core Strategy, and indicates how the site could be developed based on key principles. It is an important document guiding planning applications for the site, but it is not a definitive plan and planning applications may propose slightly different combinations of land use. 

Checking new EDDC plans with
Labour County Cllr Saxon Spence

Meanwhile, in neighbouring East Devon, permission is being sought for several new developments on the edges of Pinhoe that would undoubtedly have an impact on our ward. At the June meeting of its Planning Committee, ECC objected to development at Pinn Court Farm on the basis that EDDC had not adequately considered the traffic implications for Pinhoe village. We will certainly be lobbying Tory-controlled EDDC to ensure that any future developments over the border make allowances for the added pressures on infrastructure in Pinhoe. You can keep up to date with these developments at http://planning.eastdevon.gov.uk/online-applications/

You can view the Core Strategy, Masterplan and planning applications at the Civic Centre, Paris Street, or online:
www.exeter.gov.uk/corestrategy
www.exeter.gov.uk/monkerton
www.exeter.gov.uk/planning

The upside!

With development comes resources to invest in community infrastructure. Your Exeter City councillors, Moira MacDonald and Simon Bowkett, recently attended the Pinhoe Community Association Family Fun Day to talk to local residents about the services they feel Pinhoe village currently lacks.

Public toilets, warden-assisted housing for older people and youth facilities scored very highly. What do you think? Email your ideas to simon4pinhoe@gmail.com

We are also keen to speak to residents in or around the Summerway area of the ward about the possibility of a new community facility for your area. Would you like to get involved? Contact either cllr.simon.bowkett@exeter.gov.uk or cllr.moira.macdonald@exeter.gov.uk to set up a meeting with us.

Pinhoe Developments: Have Your Say

On Saturday, Councillor Moira MacDonald and I had a very good day at the Pinhoe Community Association Family Fun Day, a celebration of the diamond jubilee of our community centre, America Hall. The event was very well attended, and though overcast, the day was largely dry. Moira and I used the opportunity to talk to local residents about their ideas for new community facilities in Pinhoe.


We asked locals three straightforward questions:

• What do you most like about Pinhoe?
• What do you least like?
• What does Pinhoe lack that you would like to see?

The top answers to question one were no surprise to Moira and I. People overwhelming like the sense of the community here, the facilities and the friendliness of the people:

What do you most like about living in Pinhoe?

When we asked what people dislike most about living in Pinhoe, the answers were similarly predictable. Most people dislike the traffic - particularly at peak times - and there is concern that this traffic will get worse with planned developments in the area. Traffic "pressure points" that came in for specific mentions included the double mini-roundabouts in the village, Chancel Lane bridge, and turning right out of Venny Bridge onto Pinhoe Road. Many were concerned about further development generally, and this scored second-highest after traffic as an issue.

What do you least like about living in Pinhoe?

However, with increased development will come increased community investment. Moira and I wanted to get a sense from local residents what they feel Pinhoe lacks - what the community most needs. Here's what people told us: 

What does Pinhoe most need?

Public toilets (possible sites mentioned were adjacent to the changing rooms at Station Road Playing Fields, and next to Lloyds Bank on the Main Road); supported, warden-assisted housing for older people; and a base for youth-work in the area were the ideas most commonly suggested. What do you think? Email me your thoughts: Simon4Pinhoe@gmail.com or add a comment to this blog.

Whether there will be development in our area is not up for debate. The Exeter Core Strategy was agreed by a cross-party meeting of Full Council in February 2012; and the Monkerton Masterplan was consulted on in 2010, and duly adopted. However, what is not yet set is the density and design of developments, and the allowance for open spaces and community facilities within them. There is still much for people to examine and have their say on.

On 14th June a meeting was held with residents in the area immediately around the Hill Barton site to discuss ways of getting more involved in the planning process. As a result of that meeting, it was agreed that the Council would hold a community consultation event to allow residents to view and comment on current planning applications. This will also give residents the chance to raise important issues for the future development of site, including things like open spaces, housing density and housing styles, access and transport links. 

Make sure you have your say!

The consultation events will be held at St Lawrence Church, Lower Hill Barton Road on the following dates:

Monday 2nd July, 7.30pm - 9.30pm 
Thursday 5th July, 3.30pm - 7.30pm

This will allow residents time to submit responses to the planning applications before the earliest planning committee meeting on 23rd July. City Council planning officers will be available to answer questions at both these events, and officers from Devon County Council's Highways team have been invited.

You can view the Core Strategy, Masterplan and planning applications at the Civic Centre, Paris Street, or online:
www.exeter.gov.uk/corestrategy
www.exeter.gov.uk/monkerton
www.exeter.gov.uk/planning

There will be additional consultations shortly on developments around the Tithebarn Lane area, keep an eye on the local press and this blog for details. 


Finally, East Devon District Council are also considering applications for major developments at Pinn Court Farm and Old Park Farm, each of over 400 units. Exeter City Council has already expressed concern that one of these developments does not pay adequate attention to transportation issues, and we will be lobbying Tory-controlled EDDC to ensure that any developments over the border make allowances for the added pressures on transport infrastructure in Pinhoe. You can keep up to date with these developments at http://planning.eastdevon.gov.uk/online-applications/

Sleepwalking...?

Shaun (Simon Pegg) gloriously oblivious to the
catastrophe unfolding around him
[Universal Pictures 2004]

I have a guilty secret. I like zombies. Well, not so much the things themselves, but I have a modest collection of films, books and comic books all set on a post-apocalyptic earth where humans (the living ones) face a breakdown of all the systems they have previous relied on, fighting a daily battle for survival. 

There is something reassuringly formulaic about the genre. Most zombie stories start before things go so catastrophically wrong. The zombie-spoof movie "Shaun of the Dead" opens with the hero waking up, and sleepily stumbling his way to the electrical goods store where he works. All is normal it appears, and people are going about their lives. Yet every radio he passes, every TV in the shop, and every newspaper hoarding outside each shop is carrying a news story about the spread of a mysterious new virus. Yet it is never more than background chatter to Shaun, and he (along with everyone else) is unaware of the significance of the reports, and oblivious to the news as he sleepwalks towards his new destiny... 

Sometimes I feel a little like Shaun, stumbling through day-to-day living while seemingly every news bulletin carries a story - often lower down the news order - about some new disturbance in the national or global economic markets. Greek elections fail to secure a government that will see through austerity measures... Spanish banks may require a bailout... UK manufacturing index falls... billions wiped of global markets as US recovery stalls... all stories from the past few weeks that could be pointing to a wider storm that threatens to undermine the security we have all taken for granted, and to be propelling us to a harsher new world. 

Locals queue at a soup kitchen in Athens
[Guardian Newspaper Group, 2012]

Two years ago, my partner Jenny and I went to Athens for her birthday. It was a busy, bustling and glamorous city. The food and drink in the elegant bars and bistros were expensive, and designer outlets for every major western fashion house stood on every major street. Now the images coming out of Athens are of food banks, soup kitchens, riots and social upheaval. In April, a 77 year-old man committed suicide, shooting himself outside the Greek Parliament because, his note revealed, his dignity would not allow him to "search the garbage for food."

Greece still maybe feels a little distant from us, so Shaun-like we stumble on, the news of social unrest in Athens remains background noise. It couldn't happen here, could it? Maybe we sit up a little more when Spain is mentioned - after all, we have heard of Santander Bank. Still, it's the Eurozone. "Thank God we didn't join," we think, and go back to our cornflakes.

The present government came into power likening the UK deficit to a household budget that had been left vulnerable by too much spending on the family credit cards. After the harshest budget in a generation in June 2010, George Osborne "hit back at accusations that his spending cuts will plunge the economy into another recession" saying that he had "no choice" but to cut, and that  "...we are shaping the economy of the future by promoting a pro-growth agenda."

Spain next?

Less than two years on, the then-feted "Plan A" has failed. The UK is back in recession. Manufacturing is in free-fall. Greece may have this weekend seen the very close election of the pro-bailout New democracy Party to form a new coalition, but after initial relief, most observers feel even this step is still simply delaying the advance of the Eurozone "virus". How long the Greek people will stomach the levels of austerity demanded of them is anyone's guess, and prolonged and sustained social unrest could well bring any newly-formed government down quickly. Other economists say Greece is a mere sideshow, and the real threat is Spain's banks falling. Today, interest on Spanish government bonds exceeded 7% - above the "danger levels" that indicate a banking system in profound peril. The collapse of a Spanish bank would have global consequences, as the collapse of the Lehman Brothers Bank did in 2008.


And here's the point. This is a global economic market. Likening the economy of UK Plc to a household budget of overspent credit cards, storecards and overdrafts is crass, and simplistic. However, it provides a useful scare story if your true intention as a government is to promote cuts and austerity as the necessary "medicine" to get things right again, while pursuing a more ideological agenda of shrinking the state and public sector, and out-sourcing to the private corporations that fund your party. In a global economy, my spending is your income; and your spending mine. If we both simultaneously cut our spending, you become deprived of income, and so do I. The debt looks scarier when faced with this reduced income, so in panic we cut still deeper... You see the problem. The lesson of every good zombie story is that no one survives by simply barricading themselves in and seeing their resources deplete. They survive through co-operation, communication, and trading. 

Ed Balls has overtaken Osborne as most voters' preferred Chancellor
to handle the UK economy

The solution to the economic crisis is not more austerity. It is not working, and it will not work. The solution is to increase investment in the programmes and projects that will create social infrastructure, that will support growth, that will provide jobs to give nervous households greater income. As these businesses and households feel more hop and less fear, they will begin to spend and invest again themselves, and the ever-decreasing circle of austerity is reversed as once again my spending provides you with an income, and your spending provides for me. In France, the people have chosen a government with such a policy; and in the UK people are increasingly supporting Labour. Last week, for the first time, opinion polls started to show that most voters trust Ed Balls, not George Osborne, with our stuttering economy. 


The people of Greece are facing desperate times. Spain may soon follow. In the UK we still have choice - do not let the Tories tell you otherwise. There is a way to deliver growth and jobs, and Labour is arguing hard to see it made policy.  If you agree with us, join us