Monthly Archives: November 2017

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

19 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Economy, Inequality

Chancellor says “there are no unemployed”

“Philip Hammond has claimed “there are no unemployed people” in the UK in a major slip-up as the chancellor prepares to fight for his political life in this week’s budget.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Hammond made the gaffe as he argued there had been no need to worry about jobs disappearing due to technological advances such as computers in the past.

Downplaying worries about automation technologies including driverless cars, he said: “It’s a simple choice: either we embrace change or we try to hide from change and we allow ourselves to slip behind … I remember 20 years ago we were worried about what would happen to a million shorthand typists in Britain as the personal computer took over. Nobody has a shorthand typist these days. Where are all these unemployed people? There are no unemployed people. We have created 3.5m jobs since 2010. This economy has become a jobs factory.”

In fact, there are about 1.42 million unemployed people in the UK and many more who are underemployed and would like more hours. .. “

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/19/there-are-no-unemployed-in-uk-says-philip-hammond-tv-gaffe?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

19 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Austerity cuts, Democracy, Post-Brexit Adjustments, Privatisation

It’s a mystery

So, the Conservatives get in because, although not enough people voted for them, they could bribe the DUP with £1 billion to prop them up.

They leave it to developers to decide housing policy and the developers get mega-rich while saying they are too poor to build affordable homes and even renting a home is now beyond many (working) people.

They cut public services such as the NHS, education – to the bone.

They privatise anything that can be privatised – including the NHS and education.

What they can’t privatise, they put under the control of unaccountable quangos such as “business led” Local Enterprise Partnerships, which make Walter Mitty claims that they will get “productivity” soaring (by making sure that government money gets funnelled into THEIR companies) and councils roll over for them (they are given no choice).

Public utilities – water, gas, electricity, railways – are now all mostly owned by foreign companies which repatriate profits to their own countries.

They cut benefits whilst allowing tax dodging by rich individuals and powerful companies on a truly breathtaking scale.

They get most of their funds from donors who benefit from privatisation and austerity and tax dodging.

They say they are returning “sovereignty” to the UK but strip MPs of their voting powers.

They refuse to accept that “green energy” is now cheaper than nuclear power and fossil fuels and instead commit to a nuclear white elephant that belongs to the French and Chinese (who are ceasing building massive nuclear power stations at home and investing instead in renewables)

We won’t mention the Brexit omni-omni-mega-no-words-good-enough-for-it shambles. Except that we can, they say, rely on the United States to see us right.

Yet, come the time when it looks like their “leader” is on her last legs and a snap election may be on the horizon they tell people they are going to do “something” about housing and the NHS – as if the mess they are in is not their fault. Perhaps a commission, perhaps a policy paper, perhaps a “consultation” … perhaps.

A little money will be shaken from the magic money tree (soon to be swallowed up by not-so-magic higher prices).

And thousands of people will say “Good enough for me – I’ll vote for them again”.

Truly we live in strange and frightening times.

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

18 Nov 2017

Posted under

Air pollution, DCC, EDDC, Rural communities, Transport (local)

Wilmington A35 Action Group presses for action on road improvements.

Press Release.

“Following the lack of progress over the last 30 months to fund and install agreed road safety measures in Wilmington, the village action group recently held a meeting with local MP Mr Neil Parish and representatives from Highways England, Devon County Council, East Devon District Council and Widworthy Parish Council to discuss the current position and the way forward.

Highways England has undergone some major staff and structural changes and these changes account for the lack of progress over recent months. However, everyone attending this meeting agreed that Wilmington’s traffic problems are severe and immediate action is required.

Over the past 12 months Wilmington has been operating what has proved to be a very successful Community Speed Watch Scheme. Whilst this has been effective in helping to reduce excess traffic speeds, crossing the road is still hazardous, especially for school children catching buses an there are many roadsides without pavement.

Over the past 30 months or so, Highways England has been examining measures to not only improve the safety of pedestrians in Wilmington, but also to calm the very high volume of traffic that flows through the village. Among the proposals being considered by Highways England are the installation of two pedestrian crossings, an extension of the 30mph speed limit, and the construction of a pavement to the eastern end of the village.

Wilmington is blighted by air pollution, noise pollution, high volumes of speeding vehicles and a lack of pavements to enable residents to negotiate the village without imperilling their lives. The short lengths of pavement that do exist are totally inadequate and in places do not meet with modern standards. The A35 also has to contend with severe flooding every winter or whenever torrential rain is experienced.

In the longer term, The Wilmington A35 Action Group believes that the only real solution would be the construction of a by-pass, to re-route the A35 around the village as was planned nearly 20 years ago. The group also plans to talk to other villages along the A35 with similar problems such as Chideock, Morecombelake, Raymonds Hill and Kilmington.”

Tony Phillips,
On behalf of the Wilmington A35 Action Group.
01404 831360
e.mail: rap24081963sp@hotmail.co.uk

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

18 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Coastal communities, Environment (local)

“UK considers tax on single-use plastics to tackle ocean pollution”

“The chancellor, Philip Hammond, will announce in next week’s budget a “call for evidence” on how taxes or other charges on single-use plastics such as takeaway cartons and packaging could reduce the impact of discarded waste on marine and bird life, the Treasury has said. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/18/uk-considers-tax-on-single-use-plastics-to-tackle-ocean-pollution

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

18 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Local Enterprise Partnership

Comments

1 Comment

LEP needs help on productivity strategy – public meeting 21 November, 11am, Exeter

Tue 21 November 2017
11:00 – 12:30

Regency Suite, Devon Hotel
Exeter EX2 8XU

“You are invited to our joint consultation event to seek your views on the Heart of the South West Partnership Productivity Strategy.

Our morning event will provide you with an understanding of the main drivers and objectives of the Productivity Strategy and an opportunity to comment and give feedback. We are very interested in the views of our stakeholders and the business community.

Our partnership consists of 2 County Councils, 2 Unitary Authorities, 13 District Councils, 2 National Parks, 3 Clinical Commissioning Groups and 1 Local Enterprise Partnership covering Devon and Somerset.

We have joined together to produce the HotSW Partnership Productivity Strategy which outlines our vision for driving productivity and prosperity for all in the Heart of the South West.

We are looking forward to your views and feedback on the current draft strategy.”

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/heart-of-the-south-west-draft-productivity-strategy-tickets-39834875184

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

17 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Austerity cuts, EDDC, Housing (local)

How many council houses equals a new headquarters?

The £10 million being spent on the new EDDC HQ could pay for 80 new council houses in our district.

Yes, EDDC will say it will SAVE money.

BUT if EDDC had properly maintained Knowle over the last 10+ years as it should have, they would not have needed to move.

“Councils are on course to spend more than £1bn on commercial property this year, investing more in shopping centres, country clubs, hotels, offices and other assets than in building council houses, figures show.

Town halls in England and Wales spent £758m buying up commercial property in the first eight months of this year, according to property market data from Savills, but are only building 1,730 council houses a year, government figures for 2016-17 show.

The £1bn councils are on track to spend could produce more than 8,000 new council homes, an expert estimate suggests. Earlier this year, Downing Street indicated that amount could deliver 12,500 homes.

While no nationwide figure is available for the total cost to the taxpayer of council houses built in 2016-17, expert estimates putting the cost per property at up to £125,000 would suggest local authorities spent in the region of £250m. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/nov/17/councils-commercial-property-spend-council-housing-housebuilding

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

17 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Cranbrook, EDDC, Public Open Space

New Cranbrook Play Area – a muddy situation

CRANBROOK TOWN COUNCIL FACEBOOK PAGE:

NORTHWOOD ACRES PLAY AREA – OPENING CEREMONY POSTPONED
East Devon District Council is sorry that the opening of the Northwood Acres play area has been postponed, so won’t now take place on Saturday 18 November.

This is due to safety concerns and poor ground conditions following heavy rain which will delay the opening by up to 3 weeks and allow outstanding landscaping work to be completed safely.

COMMENTS ON CRANBROOK TOWN COUNCIL WEBSITE:

Perhaps in those 3 weeks they could move the gate to the park so it doesn’t open directly onto a road?

I live opposite the park gate and have raised this as a concern since day 1, I know how fast some people come round that corner and it is an accident waiting to happe

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

17 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, DCC, Democracy, EDDC, Great South West LEP, Greater Exeter, Local Enterprise Partnership, Scrutiny, Transparency

Comments

1 Comment

“ Abolish Devon district and borough councils to create super authority’ “

BUT, BUT, BUT – it’s already happening – EXCEPT we are keeping district councillors on the payroll!

Why does Owl say this?

Currently we have (at least) these new bureaucratic (and non-accountable) quangos in our area:

The Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Council
The “Greater Sourh West” group of LEPs
The “Joint Committee” of councils, NHS quangos and others in Devon and Somerset
“Greater Exeter”

and others working in the shadows.

In the middle of all this East Devon District Council is paying millions to build a new HQ and has not reduced its staff numbers throughout the period of austerity.

Questions … questions … but none of these groups are answerable to us and all choose how much (or more likely, how little) scrutiny they wish to have.

“The Government could deliver a £31 billion boost to the economy over five years by abolishing 201 district and borough councils in England and handing over their powers to county halls, a new report has said.

The report from think tank ResPublica calls for the abolition of the historic two-tier system of local government, which sees most rural areas of England covered by both a county council and a smaller district or borough authority with sometimes overlapping responsibilities.

ResPublica director Phillip Blond said the system is causing “needless confusion”, as businesses and developers find their plans frustrated by “parochial” decision-making on strategic issues.

Ditching the two-tier system and following the example of unitary councils adopted by most cities would help iron out wide variations in productivity which see workers in Cornwall take five days to produce the same value that can be delivered in three days in Surrey, he said.

With uncertain economic conditions after Brexit, the report said it was “vital” for counties to be prepared to weather the possible storm, particularly as those which voted most strongly to leave the EU are thought to be most vulnerable to any decline in trade resulting from it.

“The needless confusion that frustrates the ambitions of business and government alike in our county areas must end now,” Mr Blond said.

“With Brexit on the horizon and our city-regions already benefiting from devolution, we can’t afford the waste and complication that the current system creates.

“Single councils at the county scale are the future and we call on the Government to move rapidly to encourage them.”

Baroness Jane Scott, the leader of Wiltshire Council, said the move to a unitary authority in the county in 2009 had been a “great success” and warned that counties which fail to follow its lead face “the real risk of … being left behind”.

“Streamlining counties will contribute billions to the national economy and will be good for business,” said Lady Scott, the County Councils Network’s spokeswoman on reform.

“But the real winners are local residents who will benefit from improved public services, less bureaucracy, and access to more housing and facilities that meet local need and demand.”

The report will be launched at the County Council Network’s annual conference on November 20.

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: “Moving to a single tier large unitary authority can often give residents a better deal for their local taxes, improved local services, less bureaucracy and stronger and more accountable local leadership.

“However, we are clear that any such move must be both locally led and have support from the community.”

http://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/abolish-devon-district-borough-councils-790015

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

16 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Economy, Great South West LEP, Local Enterprise Partnership

Our local LEPs: do they know something nobody else in western Europe knows?

The plan to double our regional economy in 18 years is indeed very ambitious.

Not a single OECD country out of 35 is predicted, by the OECD, to double its economy in 20 years, let alone 18 years, so Devon and Somerset will be doing remarkably well!

The UK is not predicted to double its economy in FORTY years, nor is the United States or the Eurozone.

The basis for Great South West predicting we will comfortably outperform the rest of the Western world appears to be the cleverness of the people at Great South West…

Weren’t they the ones who can’t even spell?

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

16 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, East Devon economy, Joint Committee, Local Enterprise Partnership

More pain for our LEP’s “productivity strategy”

Office for Budget Responsibility downgrades its productivity growth targets.

Will our councillors on the “Joint Committee” with our LEP show similar responsibility?

“… The Office for National Statistics reported last week that the UK’s level of productivity fell 0.3 per cent in the three months to June, meaning that the national output per hour worked is below where it was in the final quarter of 2007, almost a decade ago.

The OBR said that the recent productivity fall was “almost certainly” exacerbated by the impact of the 2016 Brexit vote, but it added that the weakness in productivity since the financial crisis was a global phenomenon too.

The OBR had projected in March that UK productivity would grow by 1.6 per cent in 2017, by1.5 per cent in 2018, by 1.7 per cent in 2019, and 1.8 per cent in 2020.

“It no longer seems central to assume that productivity growth will recover to the 1.8 per cent we assumed in March 2017 within five years,” the OBR said on Tuesday.

“We expect to lower our forecast for cumulative potential productivity growth significantly over the next five years, without going so far as to assume that there is no recovery at all from the very weak performance of recent years.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uk-productivity-growth-latest-treasury-watchdog-forecaster-november-budget-public-finances-philip-a7992326.html

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

16 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local)

Austerity is “economic murder” say academics in British Medical Journal

Where EXACTLY are the “12,700 more doctors and 10,600 more nurses” the government says we have had since 2010? How many have left during that time? How many are employed in the privatesector treating private patients? And IF we HAVE had them why are avoidable deaths rising?

“An extra 120,000 patients have died in the past seven years following cuts to health and social care budgets, a major study has found.

The patients were all over 60 and the majority died in care homes or their own homes, rather than in hospital.

Researchers from Cambridge University likened the cuts to ‘economic murder’ and said local NHS and social care funding means vulnerable patients are not receiving the help they badly need.

They also linked a fall in nurse numbers, particularly to district nurses who work in the community, to the additional deaths.

The study by Cambridge, Oxford and University College London is the first of its kind to look at the effects of funding reductions.

It is based on a computer model which calculated how many deaths should have occurred between 2010 and 2017, based on the number of deaths from 2000 to 2010.

It also predicted that if the current trends continue, there would be another 100 excess deaths a day between now and 2020. Researchers said that, although they could not prove the deaths were caused by the fall in health and social care spending, there was a very strong link.

One of the lead authors, Professor Lawrence King, from Cambridge University, said: ‘It is now very clear that austerity does not promote growth or reduce deficits – it is bad economics, but good class politics.

‘This study shows it is also a public health disaster. It is not an exaggeration to call it economic murder.’

The study, published in the BMJ Open journal, is complicated and the researchers admitted there may be other ‘factors’ behind the increased deaths such as the fact the population is ageing, unhealthy lifestyles and deprivation.

Dr Ben Maruthappu of University College London, senior author of the study, said: ‘While the Government’s investment into social care earlier this year is welcome, it is clear that more must be done, with better modernisation of services, and protection of health and social care funding.’ The research also found that previous rises in life expectancy rates had stalled.

The average woman was living 3.8 months less than previous predictions and the average man 5.2 months less.

Life expectancy rates are 82.9 for women and 79.2 years for men. The findings come amid calls from the medical profession for the Government to substantially increase health and social care funding in next Wednesday’s Budget. A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘As the researchers themselves note, this study cannot be used to draw any firm conclusions about the cause of excess deaths.

‘The NHS is treating more people than ever before and funding is at record levels with an £8billion increase by 2020-21. We’ve also backed adult social care with a £2billion investment, and we have 12,700 more doctors and 10,600 more nurses on our wards since May 2010.’ “

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5087527/NHS-cuts-blamed-120-000-extra-deaths.html

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

16 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Austerity cuts, Developers/ Development, Planning System

Comments

1 Comment

“Theresa May to renew ‘personal mission’ to fix broken housing market”

Summary:

Rhubarb … rhubarb … build more houses … rhubarb … build a Britain long journey … fit for the future … robust action …

Oh, just read it for yourself … if you think it will make any difference … sticking plaster on an amputation …

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/15/theresa-may-conservatives-broken-housing-market-housebuilding-budget

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

16 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, East Devon economy, Education (local), Hinkley C, Inequality, Local Enterprise Partnership

Can productivity and growth be increased outside the South East except for Hinkley C?

Our Local Enterprise Partnership’s draft economic strategy is making enormous claims about how much it will increase productivity in Devon and Somerset – its predictions outstripping those of historic precedent and some of the most productive areas of the UK. This in spite of our ageing population and the effects of austerity on skills and training (our LEP’s investment in this sector appears to be limited to training only for Hinkley C nuclear plant).

Our councillors might well examine our LEPs claims with some disquiet:

“… Cities such as Stoke, Blackburn, Mansfield and Doncaster had productivity 25% below the national average, the Centre for Cities said. Raising all parts of the UK to the national productivity average would increase the size of the economy by £203bn – equivalent to Birmingham’s output four times over.

The report showed that cities outside the greater south-east had weaker productivity because they were failing to secure the higher-skilled work of productive sectors and firms.

“Firms choose to locate their high-skilled operations in cities which can offer them access to a high-skilled workforce and other relevant businesses, and will base lower value components in places where land and labour is cheaper,” the thinktank said.

“Barclays bases its high-value banking activities in London and its low-skilled call centre in Sunderland. Similarly, clothing company Asos has a large distribution centre with low-skilled jobs in Barnsley, but its headquarters is located [in London].”

The report said another factor explaining the regional divide was that highly productive sectors and firms made up a larger shares of jobs in cities in the greater south-east than in urban areas in other regions.

On average, cities in the region had a larger proportion of workers in sectors and firms that contributed most to national productivity – in 2015, the information and communications sector made up 7% of jobs in cities in the greater south-east, compared with just 3% in other cities. The financial services industry accounted for 6% of jobs in cities in the region compared with 4% of jobs in cities elsewhere in the country. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/16/poor-productivity-outside-south-east-hurting-uk-economy

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

15 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Economy, Inequality, Tax avoidance

Comments

5 Comments

“Why do people care more about benefit ‘scroungers’ than billions lost to the rich?”

“Last year’s British Social Attitudes survey asked Britons about their feelings on this issue. Our analysis of this data (with Ben Baumberg Geiger of the University of Kent) revealed that the British public believes tax avoidance to be commonplace (around one third of taxpayers are assumed to have exploited a tax loophole). In moral terms, people seem rather ambivalent; less than half (48%) thought that legal tax avoidance was “usually or always wrong”.

By contrast, more than 60% of Britons believe it is “usually or always wrong” for poorer people to use legal loopholes to claim more benefits. In other words, people are significantly more likely to condemn poor people for using legal means to obtain more benefits than they are to condemn rich people for avoiding tax. This is a consistent finding across many different studies. For example, detailed interviews conducted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis found that people “tended to be far more exercised by the prospect of low-income groups exploiting the system than they were about high-income groups doing the same”.

This discrepancy is reflected in government priorities. Deep public antipathy towards benefit “scroungers” has been the rock upon which successive Conservative-led parliaments have built the case for austerity. Throughout his premiership, David Cameron, along with his chancellor, George Osborne, kept the opposition between “hardworking people” and lazy benefit claimants right at the centre of their messaging on spending cuts. Though gestures have been made towards addressing widespread tax avoidance by the wealthy, very little has actually been achieved. This stands in stark contrast to the scale and speed with which changes have been made to welfare legislation.

Will the Paradise Papers shift the public’s focus? The leaks alone are seemingly not enough. The 2016 British Social Attitudes survey was conducted just four months after the release of the Panama Papers. Even then, the British public remained more concerned about benefit claimants than tax avoiders.

…”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/15/benefit-scroungers-billions-rich-paradise-papers-tax-avoidance

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

15 Nov 2017

Posted under

Misc

Here’s an article about cash-strapped councils selling off town halls in order to save money. There is NO comparison with councils such as ours which are then SPENDING EXTRA MONEY on their new HQ.

£10million or so in our case:

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/nov/15/britain-council-civic-centre-sell-off-newcastle-durham-county-hall-swansea-plymouth

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

15 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, AONB, Developers/ Development, Planning System, Rural communities

“Beauty spots spoilt by rise in new homes”

“Scenic areas are being blighted by new housing, with the number of homes approved in protected landscapes doubling in five years, a study has found.

The Cotswolds and High Weald areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) are facing the greatest threat. Developers target the areas because new homes within them sell at a 30 per cent premium to homes outside.

The number of homes given planning permission in England’s 34 AONBs has risen by 82 per cent in five years, from 2,396 in 2012-13 to 4,369 in 2016-17, says research commissioned by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). Applications for 12,741 homes in AONBs are pending.

The CPRE said the threat was not just from new homes on greenfield sites but the conversion of existing farm buildings into what it described as “mega-houses” for the very wealthy, who install high fences, CCTV, warning signs and automatic gates. The report said: “These urbanising elements can reduce public enjoyment and make the countryside much less welcoming.”

The CPRE said developers were “exploiting poorly defined and conflicting national planning policy” in order to build in AONBs.

The government’s planning guidelines state that “great weight should be given to conserving landscape and scenic beauty” in AONBs. This year’s Conservative manifesto vowed to build more homes but also to maintain the AONBs’ “existing strong protections”.

But guidelines state that major development can be permitted in the areas in “exceptional circumstances” and where it would be in the public interest. These terms are not clearly defined, creating loopholes for developers to exploit.

The CPRE said local councils were under pressure to find land for housing “irrespective of any constraints imposed by protected landscape policies”.

The report said there had been “a shift in the emphasis of planning practice from landscape protection to addressing the housing shortage”.

The CPRE urged the government to amend planning policy to include an explicit presumption against proposals for large housing developments in AONBs. It called for targets to be set in the long-promised 25-year environment plan to ensure that development did not damage landscape quality.

The Department for Communities and Local Government declined to respond directly to the CPRE’s recommendations.”

Source: The Times (pay wall)

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

14 Nov 2017

Posted under

Affordable and Social Housing, Austerity cuts, Developers/ Development, Planning System

Inquiry: Housing for older people Communities and Local Government Committee

“The Communities and Local Government Committee is holding an inquiry on housing for older people. The Committee has set up this web forum to hear directly from older people about their experiences of moving home in later life. This will help us understand the challenges people face and help us to focus our inquiry on the key issues.

If you, or a family member, have recently moved home, are considering doing so, or have decided not to, we want to hear from you.

The web forum will be open until

Monday 27 November 2017.

If you would like to submit a comment but do not want it to be made public in this forum, please start your post with NOT FOR PUBLICATION.

Specifically, we are interested in your answers to any of following questions that apply to you:

Have you moved home recently or are you considering doing so?

If so, why?

Have you considered moving and then decided against it? What were the reasons for this?

Do you know where to obtain information and advice about moving? Have you ever sought this type of advice?

What are your experiences of obtaining finance to move?

Have you experience of adapting your home to make it more accessible?

How did you go about this and did you seek advice in doing so?

How do you feel your home affects your health and wellbeing?”

Have you experienced an improvement in your health and wellbeing as a result of moving?

…..”

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/communities-and-local-government-committee/housing-for-older-people-online-forum/

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

14 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, Planning System

Comments

1 Comment

“Overhaul stamp duty and build more bungalows to tackle housing crisis, says Treasury select committee chairman”

Are these people MAD?

Reduce stamp duty – keep developers in business.
Build expensive bungalows – keep developers in business.

BUILD MORE SOCIAL HOUSING – Benefit the “just about managing”

Any chance of this? Beggar all!

“Stamp Duty must be overhauled in next week’s Budget to help young people get on property ladder, the chairman of the influential Commons’ Treasury Select Committee has said.

Nicky Morgan, a former Tory Cabinet minister, also called for new measures to encourage developers to build more bungalows for pensioners to move into and free up larger family homes.

New research from the Taxpayers’ Alliance, seen by The Telegraph, also warns that – without reform – the tax will be paid by nine of 10 home owners by the time of the next general election in May 2022.

Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, is under pressure to cut stamp duty to encourage more pensioners in large homes to move out and free them up for younger families.

The news came amid reports that Mr Hammond was looking at easing stamp duty bills for first time buyers.

Speaking to the Resolution Foundation thinktank, Ms Morgan said that she supported reform of stamp to encourage home owners to downsize to smaller properties.

She said: “We have got to go back to building housing stock that people are going to move into in later life – in the Midlands there is a desperate shortage of bungalows and suitable accommodation for older people.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/13/overhaul-stamp-duty-budget-build-bungalows-tackling-housing/

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

13 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts

How the other 1% lives – part 2

No worries about making ends meet or ‘just managing’ here!

“Her mother is the daughter of billionaire Bernie, the former chief executive of Formula One.

And Sophia Rutland, three, may be the luckiest girl in the UK – as her luxurious lifestyle is revealed on mother Tamara Ecclestone’s new reality show, Tamara’s World.

In a teaser for the new episode, the 33-year-old details the running of her £70 million mansion – which hosts more than 50 staff, as well as a sprawling playroom for her daughter, complete with a life-size dolls’ house and even her own ice palace.

A number of servants, clad in black, are seen cleaning various spots in the house, including a huge dining room, extensive walk-in wardrobe and a luxurious bathroom, complete with gold bath.

While the extensive household duties are carried out, Tamara is instead seen sweetly colouring with three-year-old Sophia in her pink and cream playroom. …

They tell her: ‘You’ve got pilates this morning, which I’ve confirmed for you. Then we’ve got a stylist coming in at 4, then we’re going to do your nails and pedicure straight after.’

Before they ask: ‘We just need to know when you want your massage tomorrow?’, while Tamara jokes in a VT: ‘My PAs help me get out the door! And to live the life I do.’

Assistants Danni and Megan themselves then detail their hectic working schedules, revealing: ‘It’s more than five full time jobs, and we have in excess of fifty staff.’

Tamara goes on to reveal she and Sophia have a number of personal butlers and housekeepers, who ‘keep the house presentable and make sure all the clothes are ironed and put away’.

She also gushes of her ‘amazing’ private chef Jonah, and her own personal dog walker – and laughs of their pets: ‘I’m not sure why we have 9 or 10 dogs!’

Further clips give insight into the family’s sun-soaked holidays, as well as the mother and daughter duo’s days spent baking and playing together at home.

While endless staff members are seen tending to the house in the footage, Tamara admits the 57-room pad is just as comfortable as a normal home.

‘It still feels homely despite there being so many people,’ she adds.
Tamara and Jay bought their Kensington home for £45million back in 2011, but it is believed to have doubled in value.

The brunette is the daughter of Bernie Ecclestone, the former chief executive of the Formula One Group. His involvement in the sport is thought to have resulted an estimated fortune of £2.5billion.

Tamara herself is thought to have an estimated net worth of £232million herself, and spent £7million on her wedding to Jay in 2013.
The pair said I do in front of 150 guests at the French Riviera’s most luxurious hotel, with Tamara dressed in a couture Vera Wang gown complete with 30 ft train and crystals on the bodice.

She took her first dance as Mrs. Rutland to a cover of Lionel Richie’s Endless Love, performed live by Mariah Carey — hired for £2.5 million.
Sir Elton John also played an hour-long set, dedicating his song Circle Of Life, from the soundtrack to Disney film The Lion King, to the happy couple. It is thought the singer was paid £1 million to attend. …”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5077495/Tamara-Eccelstone-gives-glimpse-home-life-new-show.html