Peter Burgess

Plans have been submitted to the councils planning department to develop a Seafood village on old coal sidings between the Yardley cold Store and the river. Cleck here to view the application http://planning.nelincs.gov.uk/portal/pls/portal/NLWEB.RPT_APPLICATION_DETAILS.SHOW?p_arg_names=reference&p_arg_values=DC/252/10/SSU

This article was written by Vince Cable and appeared in this weeks Mail on Sunday

We keep hearing a smooth soundbite –  that we live in something called a ‘broken society’. Polls suggest that a majority of people agree. I just don’t believe it.

To be sure, there are occasional well-publicised horrors: ghastly crimes involving children; some estates where drug dealers terrorise the local population; some elderly or ill people who are isolated and neglected; some chaotic families with no stable relationships or discipline.

But I simply do not accept that these problems are typical. My own experience as a constituency MP is that the vast majority of people are law-abiding, live in stable relationships, care for their families and participate in their local communities.

Last week I attended a party organised by a voluntary group that helps the elderly and disabled by giving them lifts to shopping centres or appointments. Numerous people spend their spare time raising money for many charities.

Come the summer there will be fetes and carnivals, local schools have flourishing parent-teacher associations, hospitals have fundraising Friends, the Scout movement is growing and I notice that many local churches are increasingly populated by young families.

At weekends, parks and open spaces are full of sports clubs. Art, theatre and music societies are well supported. Most neighbourhoods have resident associations that kick up a fuss over planning and parking matters. Hardly evidence of a ‘broken society’.

I will be criticised for quoting experiences from a ‘middle class’, prosperous, suburban area. But most British people consider themselves ‘middle class’.

And while my Twickenham constituency has above average incomes and well above average levels of education, the examples I have given of voluntary work and community activity apply elsewhere – in gritty industrial areas as well as prosperous suburbs or countryside.

I am also struck by the fact that it is among the modest semi-detached and terrace houses and the former council estates that there is the greatest commitment to the network of volunteer drivers, the Scouts’ gang show and the St George’s Day parade.

There is a vast reservoir of civic pride and community spirit and it is insulting to say that these people belong to a ‘broken society’.

So what on earth is meant by a ‘broken society’? Part of it is fear and loathing of the so-called ‘underclass’: the world of ‘sink estates’ supposedly populated by feckless, teenage single mothers on benefits; children who are out of control; rampant crime; drug addicts and alcoholics. Some of these problems undoubtedly exist but exaggerated fear of an underclass is nothing new.

Respectable Victorians were outraged by gin palaces and prostitution among the ‘undeserving poor’. There is undoubtedly a modern equivalent of that underclass and there is a depressing tendency, despite all the Government money thrown at the problem, for the problems of one generation to be passed on to the next.

Mothers who smoke tend to produce children who smoke. Homes without books produce children with poor reading skills. Sex abuse often stems from childhood experience.

The lazy assumption is that the position is hopeless; nothing can be done; society, or at least part of it, is broken beyond repair. In fact there are many examples of people overcoming their hardships.

We could talk about a ‘broken society’ if there were serious evidence that order and respect for the law were breaking down and crime was getting out of control. There isn’t.

Crime statistics can be confusing, not least because there are two separate sources based on crimes reported to the police and surveys of the public. They often contradict each other. In the coming General Election these figures will be bandied about with little respect for the truth.

What we do know is that many of the crimes that worry people most – robbery, burglary, assaults, murder – are declining. My local police superintendent scratches his head in bafflement when all the evidence locally points to falling crime yet people’s fear of crime is growing. It is fed mainly by reports in the media of gun and knife crime that they will never encounter.

The other ‘evidence’ for a ‘broken society’ is teenage pregnancy. This is not a new problem. In the Sixties my teenage friends ran the gauntlet of getting ‘in the family way’ and some were caught out.

This was widely attributed to a moral collapse into the ‘permissive society’, the equivalent of today’s ‘broken society’.

What I dislike most about the ‘broken society’ message is that it distorts the facts for political advantage. Far worse, it breeds cynicism and despair in our basically decent and healthy society.

Britain is not broken. We need leaders to lift us up, not run us down.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable

The council has made available extra funding to assist residents living in houses built before 1919 reduce their heating bills.  As the majority of homes in the Sidney Sussex ward were built before this period I would urge residents to enquire if they are eligble

Grant Procedure 

·         Interested householder can phone our Energy Efficiency Hot Line - 324782, visit CAPs or completed a form on the internet.·         All details will  be taken over the phone and eligibility checked.·         We pass the details to the supplier who visits and undertakes a survey.·         If there are no structural or other problems they arrange with the householder a convenient date and time to undertake the work.·         Once the work is done, the householder completes and signs a short form ·         We undertake spot checks on the quality of work etc.·         If there are any problems, such as an elderly or disabled person with items in the loft  they can not move, structural issues, property in a very poor state of repair, no heating etc the case is referred back to the us to take matters up with and offer further assistance.·         We pay the contractor direct on receipt of the completed forms.

The People’s Park bandstand is now available to groups who wish to do musical practice sessions or performances.

Whatever the type of music, if you wish to use the bandstand please contact Sarah Wright, People’s Park manager, on (01472) 325785 or alternatively email her at sarah.wright@nelincs.gov.uk for further details.

Posted January 28, 2010 Comments(0)

Following a written parliamentary answer, to a question from the Liberal Democrats the MoD have revealed said that its fixed-term appointees – who include external consultants and civil servants seconded from other departments – were paid bonuses worth an average of £31,890 in 2008/09.

The news will naturally reignite the Government speculation that there is ‘bonus culture’ within Whitehall.

The largest single bonus was £84,563, the MoD said, without identifying the recipient. The payment is worth four times the minimum salary paid to soldiers serving in Afghanistan.

The figures will come as a setback to the Chancellor, Alistair who said at the weekend that he wanted to see public sector pay and bonuses cut within line with those in the private sector.

At the MoD, bonuses worth a total of £52.9 million were handed out. Another £58.4 million has been put aside for bonuses in 2009-10.

There are 85,000 civil servants at the MoD, one for every two active troops. Around 50,000 of them will get a performance bonus this year.

The MoD has claimed that the bonuses would average less than £1,000, but some officials will get much bigger payments.

Last year, the department had senior 95 employees who were paid salaries of more than £100,000. The average bonus for a senior civil servant in the department was £8,000.

An Army private can be paid as little as £16,681. Additional payments for serving in Afghanistan mean front line troops are paid at least £20,255.

Last month, an MoD review of defence procurement found that the department has overspent its equipment budget by £35 billion yet is still putting British troops on the front line at risk by failing to provide the right kit.

Liberal Democrat Defence Spokesperson, Willie Rennie said: “With so many projects late and over budget, people will find it hard to accept that highly paid officials deserve extravagant bonuses.

“People will find it hard to accept that highly paid officials deserve extravagant bonuses.

“These sums certainly leave a bad taste in the mouth when you consider we have front line troops earning so little.”

In a new report looking at children’s Christmas gifts, Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire, Jo Swinson has called on the Government to crack down on excess packaging.

In her report, ‘Excess Packaging: Are your Christmas gifts over-wrapped?’, Jo has highlighted good and bad examples of packaging on children’s toys.

The report points out that while the law requires manufacturers to keep packaging to the minimum necessary, the Government is failing to enforce this.

Jo has highlighted a cuddly polar bear sold by WWF as an example of a minimally packaged gift, comparing it with Mattel’s Waybuloo soft toys which come in an unnecessary cardboard box. She praised marbles, sold with a fabric bag, while criticising a Rubik’s “4 x 4 Revenge” Cube which comes in plastic casing and a large cardboard box.

Commenting, Jo Swinson said: “At the end of Christmas Day we all end up with an abundance of packaging to throw away - whether it’s from food, gifts or crackers, it all adds up. But how much of that packaging was really necessary in the first place?”

“Excess packaging imposes a triple cost on us as consumers - we pay for it at the checkout counter, we pay for it to be disposed of and we bear the environmental costs. Manufacturers have a legal responsibility to minimise their packaging and to ensure as much of it as possible can be recycled. The examples I have highlighted demonstrate that this is clearly not happening, and I’m sure members of the public can come up with even worse examples.

“It is not all doom and gloom though - I have also picked out some good examples of gifts which are minimally packaged but still maximum fun.”

Key facts:

Ø     The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2003 require all packaging put on the market to be “limited to the minimum adequate amount to maintain the necessary level of safety, hygiene and acceptance for the packed product and for the consumer” and to be designed to “permit its reuse or recovery, including recycling”.

Ø     The UK Government’s Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) says that families in the UK now spend some £470 on packaging each year - one sixth of their food budget.

Ø     Most packaging which is not recycled goes straight into landfill. Landfill sites produce methane, which is twenty times more dangerous a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Ø     Every UK household is currently paying £30 a year in landfill taxes alone.

The Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg re-iterated his message that that he was “delighted” that leader’s debate would go ahead during the general Election. 

Nick Clegg said: “Well, I am delighted now the debate looks set to happen because it’s been a truly terrible year for politicians; in the wake of the expenses. 

“Because people have lost so much trust in politics; so that it’s right we try to do something different at the next General election. 

“So that people can have a look at the leaders, and compare and contrast them. Look at their values, policies, and their ideas before casting their votes in the ballot box – it will be a very good thing!”

Deposits on drinks bottles and cans are now compulsory in many countries. What are your views on this? Please complete the survey on the lefthand side of this page.

  “Had the UK concentrated on building up infrastructure and jobs rather than wasting money on the VAT cut, then we would be in a much stronger position,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vice Cable. 

  Commenting on the news that the Eurozone economy has emerged from recession after growing between July and September, Vince Cable said: “This is further evidence of how hard Britain has been hit by the financial crisis.

  “There is now a real danger that the heart attack the British economy suffered has made us the sick man of Europe.

  “While in the short term the combination of a weak pound and a return to growth in the Eurozone is good for our exporters, consumers will feel the pinch from the increasing cost of imports.

“It is clear that the growth in the Eurozone is due in good part to a successful fiscal stimulus. Had the UK concentrated on building up infrastructure and jobs rather than wasting money on the VAT cut, then we would be in a much stronger position.”

I am delighted to advise that we have now received confirmation from WREN that the funding application towards the new play area development at Sussex Recreation Ground was successful. (£29,379)