Thursday 31 July 2008

Lib Dems launch proposals to tackle fuel poverty

Energy companies should be compelled to use the money from a £9bn European windfall to help protect some of the most vulnerable people from the effects of fuel poverty, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said today.

The call comes as the Liberal Democrats publish their document Tackling Fuel Poverty, which sets out measures designed to help people struggling from rising energy costs.

The energy firms received the multi-billion-pound windfall thanks to the giveaway of free permits to emit Carbon Dioxide under the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme. Previous estimates have put the proceeds of that windfall at £9bn, although a recent letter to Nick Clegg from Ofgem estimates the true figure could be even higher.

Proposals in Tackling Fuel Poverty include:

· Making energy companies invest £500m a year into a rolling programme to make sure homes are properly insulated

· Requiring energy companies to roll out social tariffs to over two million vulnerable customers

· Installing smart meters in homes, which display real time consumption costs

WITNEY LIB DEMS WELCOME RURAL HOUSING REPORT

Witney Liberal Democrats have welcomed a new report setting out how more can be done to provide affordable homes and a vibrant economy in the English countryside.

The report, ‘Living Working Countryside’, was commissioned by the Government and produced by Liberal Democrat MP Matthew Taylor, who has been a prominent campaigner on rural housing issues for many years.

There is a real shortage of affordable housing across the country, but the shortage is at its worst in rural areas like West Oxfordshire. Houses in rural areas are more expensive than in bigger towns and cities but average salaries are lower. This means it is particularly difficult for first-time buyers to get their foot on the first rung of the housing ladder here. Young local families are being priced out of their own communities.

There is a real problem with second homes dominating some parts of the country. We should look at requiring planning permission for second homes in areas where this is a particular problem.

The Taylor Review is right to look at how we can create more jobs in rural areas. Without jobs more and more of our countryside will become a zone of just second homes and retirement cottages. Small businesses should be encouraged in the countryside and we should make the planning system more flexible to enable this - particularly when it comes to work-based extensions to homes. The report is also right to propose that housing associations should end their ban on people setting up home-based businesses in their properties.

There is a lot more the Government could do to deliver more affordable rural housing. Unused land owned by the Government and other public sector bodies should be used for building affordable housing. And we need much more action from the Government to bring empty homes back into use.

This is an important report. But there has been no shortage of excellent reports on housing issues over the last few years. What we need now is government action.

Sunday 20 July 2008

LIB DEMS PROMISE TAX CUTS AND SENSIBLE POLICIES TO HELP FAMILIES IN WITNEY

Liberal Democrats in Witney have welcomed the launch of the Liberal Democrats’ vision for Britain by Party Leader Nick Clegg MP. Called ‘Make it Happen’, the paper will be debated at the party’s conference in Bournemouth in September.

In ‘Make it Happen’ the Liberal Democrats say:

They will cut taxes for ordinary families
If your local hospital can't see you on time, they will pay for treatment elsewhere
They will switch taxes from people to pollution - so it pays to go green
To improve standards in education, they will fund extra help for those who need it most
They will put Britain at the heart of Europe to make us a force for good in the world
They will stop ID cards so we can keep control of our privacy
They will change the voting system so everyone's voice counts
They will bring communities together with local people in charge
They will give communities a say in how offenders pay for their crimes

'Make it Happen’ sets out how the Liberal Democrats will run Britain. No resident of Witney has escaped the rising cost of food and fuel. The credit crunch is biting hard and local people are feeling the pinch.

Nick Clegg has set out how we can help ordinary people through cutting taxes on those on low and middle incomes. Thousands of people in Witney will benefit from this.

Monday 14 July 2008

TACKLING YOUTH CRIME: MORE ACTION, LESS TALK

The Liberal Democrats have today outlined radical plans to tackle youth crime.

The dual approach aims to stop young people committing crimes in the first place by enabling them to play a full role in society through increased training and volunteering, as well as stopping criminal behaviour early by making young offenders face up to their crimes.

The main proposals contained in the paper A Life Away From Crime include:
The creation of a Youth Volunteer Force, to engage with young people, involve them in community projects and give them skills to benefit them in later life
Establish Community Justice Panels across the country, where offenders admit their guilt to the community and agree on a Positive Behaviour Order as a course of action
Create a dedicated PCSO youth officer within every Safer Neighbourhood Team to identify and work with teenagers most at risk of offending
10,000 more police on the streets by scrapping the ID cards scheme
Intelligence-led stop and search and ‘hot spot policing’ targeted at gun and knife crime
Restorative justice programs to be run in every community, specifically targeted at early intervention with widespread use in schools and care homes

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Affairs Secretary, Chris Huhne said:
"This Government has spent 10 years trying to sound tough while failing to cut youth crime. In fact, ministers have embarked on the mass criminalisation of a generation of young people. By dragging more and more young people through the criminal justice system, they have reduced the fear of a criminal record and contributed to the problem. Instead of shock tactics to grab headlines, we need practical measures that are proven to work. Only the Liberal Democrats propose a dual approach to stop kids from getting involved in crime in the first place, and measures to make them face up to the consequences of their actions if they do.”

Monday 7 July 2008

CAMERON'S CONSERVATIVES WALK AWAY FROM PHONE MAST BATTLE

Liberal Democrats in Witney have attacked the Conservatives for refusing to support calls to tighten up planning rules on mobile phone masts.

Currently, fewer restrictions govern planning applications for phone masts up to 15 metres in height, often making it difficult for councils to refuse permission for controversial proposals.

Liberal Democrats in Parliament recently moved an amendment to the Planning Bill which would have meant applications for phone masts would have required full planning permission and therefore be considered in the same way as applications for new buildings or change of use of existing ones.

But Labour MPs voted against the call and Conservative MPs did not bother voting at all.

Communities can sometimes be powerless to stop inappropriately sited phone masts going ahead because the planning system has fewer restrictions on them than for many other planning applications. This gives phone companies an advantage which is not enjoyed by other individuals and businesses applying for planning permission.

The Liberal Democrat amendment would have made the system fairer but the Conservatives did not bother to vote for this change. They simply sat on their hands, despite telling everyone at the general election that they support this policy.

'SET COUNCILS FREE FROM WHITEHALL' - Clegg

Councils should be set free from depending on Whitehall funding by raising three-quarters of their money locally, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said today in a speech to the Local Government Association Conference in Bournemouth.

Explaining the Liberal Democrats’ position as the only party willing to properly devolve power and money away from central government by re-localising business rates and scrapping the council tax, Nick accused the Government and the Tories of only ‘talking the talk’ about empowering communities. Nick also labelled the regional ministerial posts introduced a year ago by Gordon Brown as ‘pointless gimmicks’ and call for them to be scrapped. Nick said:

"Centralised government simply doesn’t work to deliver the change I want for Britain. It doesn’t improve services fast enough.

"And it certainly doesn’t deliver fairer outcomes - where everybody gets opportunities no matter what their background is.

"If the New Labour decade has taught us anything - this is surely it.

"The great experiment of trying to improve our public services for everyone by pouring money in through a tight funnel in Number 10 Downing Street has failed."Speaking about radically reforming how local government is funded, he will say:

"The Liberal Democrats are committed to scrapping Council Tax. It’s Britain’s unfairest tax. Based on property values nearly twenty years ago, instead of what people can afford to pay.

"But our commitment to Local Income Tax isn’t just about fairness. It’s about localising power, too. Because with a local income tax in place, we can decentralise our tax system. Transferring tax-raising powers from national to local government.

"My ambition is to switch from a regime where councils raise just a quarter of the money they spend, and get the rest in handouts from the centre. To a regime where they get a grant for just a quarter of the money they spend - and get the rest from local taxes, decided by local people."

Calling for regional ministers to be scrapped, Nick said:

"It’s time to scrap regional ministers and spend the money on something useful.

"Devolving power isn’t about having a national minister ‘advocating’ national policy in the regions.

"It’s about letting the regions - and below them, councils, communities and people - make decisions for themselves.

"I’ve looked into this - and by the time of the next general election we taxpayers will have spent well over two million pounds on this futile project. In fact, it’s not clear what these pointless gimmicks spend their time doing. Except costing us a lot of money."