Our campaign to get Yeovil going …

Ric Pallister at the Preston Road roundabout

You may have seen SSDC’s LibDem Leader, Ric Pallister on the front page of the Gazette this week. If so, you will already know that we have put in a substantial bid to upgrade the road junctions in western Yeovil to cope with the traffic which comes from growth in this area. A key part of the plan is strengthening the options for pedestrians and cyclists … for years it has been very difficult to cross near the ASDA and Bluebell roundabouts and the plan is to fix this so that kids can get to school. Other crossings will give people the option of walking safely to work. Our hope is that we will get every front door within a few yards of a safe off-road network.

For my part, I sent last Saturday lobbying Norman Baker, our excellent Transport Minister to make sure that the “pich point” funding stream would get enough money to do our scheme because, in common with many other bids, it pays for itself very quickly in savings to business (as well as kick-starting the Lufton and Brimsmoor sites which are much needed).

This is yet another example of Yeovil’s Liberal Democrats working together at all levels of government to put Yeovil on the national agenda. It’s also a good example of hard work and close co-operation by officers at SSDC and the County council. Let’s be clear, it’s not the officers at County who are dragging their heels!

Coker Protest divides communities – updated

April”s meeting of South Somerset District Council was unusual. More than 60 members of the public asked to speak on the development plan for the district, almost exclusively on the plans to set a new direction of growth for the town of Yeovil. A long, well-publicised campaign by the East Coker Preservation Trust was attempting to prevent the direction being south and west, towards East and North Coker (and, potentially, towards Barwick).

Unfortunately for them an early East Coker campaign tactic, to push for a North West direction of growth, backfired spectacularly in the meeting with villagers from Chilthorne Domer, Montacute, Odcombe, Thorne Coffin and Lufton turning up to praise the Council, the methods it had used in making the plan and to refute, one-by-one, the arguments which the Coker campaign had relied upon.

The actual farmers involved pointed out that a NW option would mean much greater food production losses than for the Coker option. They refuted ECPT’s claim that Grade 1 land allowed double-cropping and criticised the way land had been managed to the south.

Historians pointed out that there were twice as many heritage assets in the NW direction and that Montacute and Ham Hill were of considerably greater value to the local economy than some ashes. Indeed in a poetic twist, Thomas Hardy’s words about the beauty of Vagg Hollow was contrasted with T.S. Elliot’s lines recognising development (specifically in East Coker) as a necessary thing.

For each “transport expert” who stood up and talked about the difficulties of Hendford Hill, an accredited transport consultant living in the NW stood up and pointed out that the NW option (and other options such as the “string of pearls”) would be even worse.

Business leaders spoke about the need for a positive plan, especially the attractions to potential inward investors of setting out a credible agenda. Church leaders spoke on the opportunity for community support and facilities. Engineers spoke on the advantages for controlling flooding, and so-on. Members of the public even praised the planning team (surely a first!).

Of course, for each of these an equally valid counter-claim was made but my point is that pure NIMBY-ism polarised the communities. It was only after 3 hours of this well-informed public speech-making that the Council’s own officers stood. The effect of the public debate had been profound, obviating the need to repeat many points and shortening the Council’s meeting (a second day had been anticipated). Furthermore, it was seen that the public engagement had clearly won over some opposition politicians (against a Conservative 3 line whip) and firmed up support among the Independents.

It was interesting to review the press coverage this morning. Although the coverage was carefully edited to avoid legal challenges, it was clearly trying to follow the “unfair plan” line of earlier coverage and ITV in particular have a single (protestor) interview on their web-site. They seem to have missed the 2 bigger stories: a NIMBY campaign resulted in pitching village against village and Chard, working a community-led, economically-driven plan right through the process and into the Local Plan, exactly what we all aspire to.

I hope that the public now engage in a similar way during the final public consultation on the deposit draft Local Plan, so that the inspector has evidence in front of him from all sides.

Working to get the economy going … Unlike the Tories!!

I thought that with Cameron taking an axe to all that protects South Somerset I would do a blog on planning again.

Percentage of Major Planning Applications Decided in 13 Weeks (2011)

A constant accusations made by tories is that South Somerset’s Lib Dems are useless at running the council and love to spend your tax money recklessly. They also accuse us of the “politics of jealousy” and say we’re lovers of “red tape” (especially EU tape) and always getting in the way of “wealth creators”. All this is clap-trap!

I happened to be doing some comparisons the other day using the “sparse” database, which lets me compare performance in my Portfolio with the performance of other, similar councils. I thought the above chart was very interesting. It compares our planner’s performance with all Districts, with councils in the Sparse group, with a group of 50 rural councils, with a small “family” of very similar councils and with the other Somerset Districts. Of course, in the most recent local government elections, the Lib Dems took a pasting and nearly all of the comparisons here are with TORY-run councils!

We even beat (Tory-run) East Devon.

If you check elsewhere in the Sparse database (publicly available, as are most local government figures), you’ll also find that we cost the South Somerset taxpayer less than the tory councils for this better performance.

Finally, if you were a fly on the wall at one of our regular meetings with local small builders and agents, you’d know they prefer to deal with South Somerset because they know where they stand (and we help them deal with any objections in a fair way).

So two points to remember.

(1)    Lib Dems are more business-friendly than tories

(2)    Lib Dems run councils better than tories.

The 2011 Census is out


This comparison of the local age distribution with the national picture shows a “waist” as young people move away to study or to find work followed by a bulge further up where they return with their families, and they stay until old age. The 2011 Census also shows that as a nation we’re living much longer: 16.4 per centof the population is aged 65 and over, that is one in six people in the population was 65 and over. There were 430,000 residents aged 90 and over in 2011 (compared with 340,000 in 2001 and 13,000 in 1911).

The slight surprise in these “actual count” Census numbers is that they’re higher than the “population estimates” that government has been using for planning purposes. This confirms the need for the growth in the proposed South Somerset Local Plan, which is currently out to public consultation until 10th August. Fortunately, the plan was designed to be flexible, so that if growth was higher than expected, control would not be lost and the plan would still be coherent.

No matter what “The Sun” says, this increase in population is isn’t caused by “Eastern European Immigrants” (though they are mixed in), the trend has been going on for more than a hundred years.

The ONS have also produced some fantastic Census visualisation tools such as this interactive chart which shows how the two World Wars affected the population distribution (just look at the “notches” as you slide the slider). Another chart shows the internal migration to and from South Somerset. Finally, take a look at the fertility rates over the years. Things are not going to get better!

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/index.html

A303 progress

Back in March, I attended the A303 Summit at the House of Commons. I was there to represent South Somerset and to support David Laws MP. Click here to see the leaflet produced to explain the issues raised and the state of play. If you have views, please make them known to me, to David or to Sam Crabb.

SSDC 2012-13 Budget

SSDC’s net revenue budget is £16,577,000, a cut of £768,400 (or 4.4%) from 2011/12. This has been achieved in the face of significant cost inflation (e.g. fuel) and without any significant loss of front-line services. The Council’s share of the total Council Tax (for a Band D property) will remain at £150.74; which is 10 % of your total tax bill.

The full budget book can be downloaded from here. Alongside each service heading, it is made clear how the service is funded (business rates, council tax, grant, etc).

Can you help by doing a Spring Clean?

RSPCA The local branch of the RSPCA would really appreciate your help. They are in urgent need of items for sale at their shop at Street. Although the shop isn’t in Brympton, the funding raised supports critical work done here.

In particular they want clothing for sale and for “ragging”. They can also take small items of furniture and modern, working electrical items. Please have a sort though your wardrobes and houses and tell your friends. The RSPCA can arrange collection within a radius of 20 – 30 miles of Yeovil (phone 07885 295208 or contact them at rspcasomerseteast@hotmail.com).

Without items for sale the local RSPCA will be unable to maintain the high level of animal welfare in this area (something in which you can take some pride).

Yeovil Urban Extension – Site Visit

By now, everyone will have realised that an american poet’s ashes are in the church of St Michael and All Saints and that John Craven can see Yeovil from the top of the church tower.

Those with a deeper interest in the evidence will know that within the next 20 years, Yeovil will have to grow beyond its current boundaries if our children and grand-children are to have homes to live in. Fortunately, we live in some of the finest countryside in England, surrounded by fantastic heritage and served by a fragile road system. Unfortunately that makes growth without pain impossible. Councillors are faced with the difficult decision of choosing a “least worst” option.

Cllr Oakes within the southern option site

On Tuesday 8th November a number of councillors carried out a site visit to areas within the two growth directions still being considered, south/southwest and northwest.

Whilst there are maps being published by campaigners showing more specific detail, ignore them. Most are fakes or older working drafts and all are irrelevant. Only the broad direction has to be decided now, the draft maps were produced to prove to Councillors (and the Planning Inspector) that these directions are viable options. The actual form of any growth will be decided by locals, much later in the planning process.

Councillors at Windmill Lane, Montacute

The visit involved travelling around the edges of the two areas being considered and also looking at them from key vantage points such as the ridge south of the Cokers and Ham Hill Country Park.

We also walked out into the sites to look at the lay of the land, its current uses and its relationship with neighbouring areas.
One of the many difficulties with any growth near Yeovil is the loss of agricultural land, the settings of the many historic sites, listed buildings and conservation areas. To be fair, this is true throughout South Somerset, we have 4,650 listed structures, 87 Conservation areas and 17 Historic Gardens! Click here to find out more.

Part of the North-West option

Many other factors have to be taken into account, including the effect on the road system in and around Yeovil and the effect on the A303, which is strategically important to the South-West peninsular. Transport choices will be particularly important in reducing congestion and in a world where oil and energy costs are rising.

Back in 2009, I initiated a study into whether the Urban Extension could be made to eco-town standards. Early indications are that this has a critical benefit in reducing the traffic throughout the rest of the town. It also means that fully 40% of any urban extension will be green-space, allowing high levels of protection to be provided for neighbouring areas, as well as securing quality in the new homes and employment.

On critical thing we must do is to ensure that all of the required infrastructure is delivered in a timely fashion and not piecemeal. Things like bin lorries and GP surgeries don’t just happen, someone has to pay. More studies have been started and we have decided to allow more time to complete those, putting the final decision on direction back into spring.

As you can probably tell from the serious faces in the pictures above, this will be a very difficult decision … but we will do our best.