Welcome to my weekly update no.361

Welcome back. I hope you had a restful break. I dragged my family around India and although we had a lovely time I think my daughters will murder me if they have to see another temple…anyway parliament has returned with a bang – two appearances from Andy Burnham and a major opposition reshuffle. And the big question: is anything really going to change?
 

WESTMINSTER WHISPERS 

BURNHAM’S BIG DAY PM Burnham's first week as Prime Minister has so far been a reminder that governing is much harder than campaigning. He comes across as sincere but wanting to keep everyone happy – and that doesn’t really work in a combative House of Commons. We need our new PM to succeed but for me there are two warning signals: firstly his obsession with blaming everything on Margaret Thatcher and secondly his apparent unwillingness to confront difficult trade offs in areas like welfare reform. 40 years of ‘neoliberalism’ has actually seen the economy and living standards double (after a very troubled 1970s) but if we are going to get growth back it will need more than vibes.
 

SAVE OUR SCHOOLS We have had a big u-turn on the early release of PC Andrew Harper's killers but worryingly the government is digging in on some of its education policies. Money for free schools has been stopped and Ofsted inspections have been watered down with no ‘outstanding/good/requires improvement’ one word ratings any more. All when English state schools have soared right up the international league tables and now have the highest reading standards in the Western Europe. Surely the biggest single thing we can do to spread opportunity and boost social mobility is to have great state schools – but it only happens if you call a spade a spade and really make sure failing schools are turned around. 
 

BUDGET BLUES The new Chancellor John Healey has announced the budget will be on 28 October. It won’t be an easy one for him, as I explain in this article in the FT. One thing I hope he does not do is massively increase taxes on business because that would kill off growth. We saw the damage from Rachel Reeves’s increase in employer national insurance but I worry that this time he will target the City. As I said in this speech in parliament yesterday, international capital is highly mobile and there is a real risk the tax take would go down not up. So where should he find the money to fund defence?  You can find out in my next fortnightly ‘Thoughts’ email. For those who don’t know, I am now doing a fortnightly email designed to be positive, non party-political and about solutions not problems so sign up here if you would like to get them (you can unsubscribe at any time).

LOCAL LIFE 

REFORMS TO NATIONAL PLANNING POLICY Over the summer the Government announced further changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Planning policy can be very boring – but these really will affect us. In particular there is  a new presumption in favour of denser housing within 800 metres of mainline railway stations. Theoretically it makes sense to build homes near good public transport hubs – but this could have a big impact on towns like Ash which already suffer from over-development as well as on smaller villages with very limited infrastructure such as Witley, Milford, Shalford, Gomshall and Chilworth. I am urgently trying to find out how widely the net will be cast.
 

⛽ BRAMLEY FUEL LEAK UPDATE Some residents have understandably been concerned to see the removal of remediation equipment from the Asda forecourt over the summer. I have looked into it and been told that no floating fuel is now being detected in the monitoring boreholes around the village or stream with vapour levels significantly down. This is actually good news and means the clean-up is able to move on to its next phase, tackling dissolved contamination in the groundwater. Work on that is expected to begin in the autumn. In the meantime together with Cllr Jane Austin I will continue to press for the remediation to be completed properly. More detail on my Facebook post. 
 

PROGRESS ON LAW BROOK BREACH Earlier this year, a breach in the bank diverted the watercourse near Albury, leaving Gunpowder Mills and a number of downstream ponds, fields and properties without their usual water source. This has become a significant issue, causing wildlife deaths and real difficulties for local landowners, some of whom have had to find alternative water for livestock and farming. So I wrote again to the CEO of Network Rail (one of the principal landowners) pressing for urgent action and can now report that stakeholders including Network Rail and the Environment Agency met in July to develop a solution. We need action before winter!
 

SURGERY CALLS  My first call was to an Alfold resident trying to get started on his first job in the defence/international affairs space. He would love to work for a local firm so please email me if you’re looking for someone. I then spoke to a locksmith in Godalming about the issue of rogue locksmiths and the need for professional regulation. There is obviously a security worry here so I will write to the Home Secretary. I then spoke to a Godalming resident about a terrible tragedy involving the private prescription of medical cannabis and what can be done to mitigate the risks, something I will raise urgently with the Health Secretary. 
 

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