Gary's views

PLANNING BILL

There was a big vote in the Commons this week on something that seems obscure: how big planning decisions are made. Hardly the stuff to get the revolutionary juices flowing, you may think, but think again, for this is the kind of thing that can make a huge impact on a community.

In the planning bill going through Parliament the government is proposing a new quango to make big planning decisions for us, the excitedly named Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC). There has been a lot of controversy about this on all sides of the chamber.

We know all about these kinds of decisions because we have been through the mill on this with the new town at Sherford, a project which would clearly come within the new regime. It is true that for most of us the existing planning regime delivered the wrong result – we didn’t want it, but we had to have it. But at least the process was of a sufficient length and involved several opportunities to have our say. The fact that South Hams has been the planning authority has meant that they have listened to strong local views and tried to accommodate them in the scheme.

The power station at Langage on the other hand, was not decided by local people because it involved a licence granted by the DTI a top down decision that we could not oppose.

My worry is the new system for major planning decisions would be more like that, more like the French system: new rail link – no problem just crack on with it, irrespective of protests.

The new IPC would bypass the orbit of the planning authority, where at least local councillors have a proper feel for the heartbeat of a community. The IPC would be completely disconnected. Many of us feel that the local community should have a greater say in planning decisions even than now, because local decisions are too often overturned on appeal by remote inspectors from Bristol.

We are the ones who live here; we should decide what our community looks like and how it grows. As is it is we now have a gas fired power station on our doorstep that will not be delivering cut price electricity that we were promised and will not be attracting firms to relocate here as we were promised and there is still no sign of the 4000 job energy park that we were promised.

FUEL

This time it was a few hundred lorry drivers; next time it could be the Russians! The sight of empty service stations in our area is a reminder that we all depend so heavily on fuel and that we are at the mercy of those who produce and supply it.

North Sea oil will be largely gone within 10 years or so whereupon we will import virtually all of our oil and gas. Unfortunately the places around the world that still have plenty of supply are not exactly stable places: the Middle East, Russia and Nigeria to name but a few.

We know how volatile the Middle East can be. If, for example, Iran acquires nuclear capability, or Israel and/or the USA launches a first strike to prevent them from so doing, the entire region could easily collapse into turmoil, affecting oil production. Russia is enjoying a renewed influence thanks to extensive oil and gas resources, but is not above exercising its muscle by denying supply to western countries to make a political point. Nigeria, well, where do we start?

Energy security has now become a huge long term issue for the future of this country. That’s why we need to move much more quickly to build a new generation of nuclear power stations and increase the practical deployment of renewables into the national grid. But that won’t help us stay mobile unless we move to electric cars. So one crucial duty of any government over the next few decades is to guarantee oil and gas supplies.

But that doesn’t let the rest of us off the hook. The interruptions this week should serve as a reminder that the good times, the times of plenty, are coming to an end.

We have to gradually change our ways and become less reliant on our cars. Easy to say, hard to do. We must certainly all review the fuel efficiency of the vehicle we drive and tax policy should encourage us to do so, although, this should not be retrospective. Green taxes must give people the chance to change their behaviour before they get clobbered with extra taxes, otherwise the least well-off (who have less capacity to change) will be penalised once more.

How much oil is left beneath the surface of the planet? Nobody really knows, but it could well run out altogether within my lifetime. What will we do then? I hope somebody has got a plan!

Nigel Double
Special Adviser

Tel: 020 7219 5033

Mobile: 07718 349853

Room 484

Portcullis House

House of Commons

London

SW1A 2LW

YOUNG PEOPLE

A major report this week by the UK Children commissioners have called for a change in the way we deal with young people offending. We lock up more young people than any other country in Western Europe, 2,900 in the past year alone.

It is certainly true that we do not want to make criminals out of decent young people who are just going through the high jinks phase of adolescence. If a person has not entered the criminal justice system by the age of 21 they are unlikely to do so (apart from traffic offences) so keeping youngsters away from the university of crime that prisons and young offenders institutions clearly are, is a good thing. When I look back on the stupid things I did in my youth, I often think, there but by the grace of God go I.

On the other hand, we do not want tearaway teenagers ruining things for the rest of us, as they sometimes do even in our leafy suburbs. The recent spate of problems in Plymstock is but one example of where teenage action went well past exuberance and into criminal activity. I wrote immediately to the local police inspector supporting his force’s robust response. We should not have to put up with drunken aggressive behaviour in our public spaces.

This is a difficult balance to strike. I was interested to hear the chief constable speaking recently about the number of calls they get reporting youngsters playing football in parks! Isn’t that partly what parks are for? Also we have to recognise that standards of behaviour in public have changed, but that does not mean that youngsters are being offensive. Every so often a teenager in the street will greet me with “Hi Gary!” Some may think this is over familiar, (and certainly I would never have dreamed of addressing my MP by his first name when I was young) but I think it’s great.

The answer is to give more discretion to the police to exercise their on the spot judgment. They can identify, especially since the welcome re-introduction of community beat officers, the real trouble makers from the also-rans and should have the freedom to deal with each incident accordingly. The Crown Prosecution Service should heed the voice of the police more in deciding when to prosecute. We need more common sense policing, and I see the first signs of it.  

What do you think?

TROUBLED TIMES

I suppose we will look back on the past decade as a time of plenty. Looking forward, it is hard not to simply see troubled waters, and we cannot even pour oil on them, for it is too expensive!

There has always been an ebb and a flow to all economies and those who think we have somehow overcome this natural cycle have failed to grasp the lessons of history. The British economy, as a trading nation, has always been impacted by what happens in the USA and Europe, now we can add the rest of the world to that list – the global economy as truly arrived.

The main driver of these troubled times is, I think, no longer the credit crunch, but two other crucial factors. First, the sharply rising price of oil, which impacts all of our lives, whether in increased fuel costs or the price of the transportation of goods. The last time we suffered such major increases of this most important commodity was in the early 1970’s just after the Arab/Israel war and it led to a decade of inflation and economic hardship in the UK. In a world where China and India are demanding more and more oil to fuel their surging economies and in a world where oil is obviously a finite resource (maybe 30 years left) – it is hard to see the price of crude coming down again.  Expect $100 per barrel plus until the oil runs out.

Second, we are coming to the inevitable end of a period of too many of us, as well as the government, living beyond our means fuelled by cheap borrowing. The bubble has now burst. We can expect to see house prices falling for quite a while, a necessary correction in the market where prices have become disconnected from ability to pay. It won’t all be bad, in that falling prices will in time put the price of houses within reach of ordinary families once again, but sadly, much pain will be endured along that corrective journey.

Is it all the current government’s fault? Of course not. These are largely global circumstances beyond the control of any one administration. But when will we learn to store up some reserves in times of plenty so that we can help the vulnerable in times of need? Joseph cottoned onto this 3,500 years ago, but unfortunately we come to these troubled times with empty barns.