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MY WEEKLY UPDATE

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Dear John,

This week Labour called on the Prime Minister to change one of his most
controversial proposals he’s looking to introduce to the planning system.


Our planning system urgently needs changing but the Government's proposed
reforms do nothing to allow developers or councils to build more affordable
homes or to address the worsening housing crisis.

It is these types of houses which Birmingham urgently needs. Over the last
ten years, services that would prevent families falling into homelessness
have been stripped away by the Conservative’s cuts. Now, the council’s
housing waiting list has surpassed 18,000 and 3,500 people are in temporary
accommodation. However, the council's housing stock has reduced by more
than half due to Tory policy, from 120,000 to 60,000. How can the housing
crisis be solved if we aren’t fundamentally bringing in policy that
encourages more homes to be built?

The Government’s proposed reforms are simply another way of making their
friends and donors richer. It does nothing to address the crisis and will
mean local communities are entirely bypassed and their voices discarded by
the planning system.

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ENHANCED SUPPORT FOR BIRMINGHAM

Last week Birmingham was placed into enhanced measures. This was due to the
rising Covid rates and low vaccine uptake across many parts of the city.
With figures still rising, the number of cases increased by 287 cases
compared with last week. Our constituency follows this trend, with the case
rate in Edgbaston Ward becoming particularly high, reaching 263 per
100,000.

With the number of cases rising, it is so important that you book your
Covid vaccine as soon as possible. Moving into enhanced measures, means
that the City Council has been able to work with key partners to organise a
range of locations for walk-ins only. This weekend, you can visit one of
the venues and times, in the above photo, to get your jab without an
appointment for residents over 18.

ALTERNATIVELY, BOOK YOUR VACCINE HERE

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CHECKING IN ON EXEMPT HOUSING

I recently wrote to the 40 providers that operate over 280 exempt
properties across our constituency of Edgbaston. These houses are often
situated in residential areas and are intended to support to some of our
most vulnerable members of the community.

However, standards of the support provided varies wildly and where help is
not adequate, it is attracting high levels of anti-social behaviour and
crime which their neighbours have to live alongside. With this in mind, I
have called on all operators to sign up to the Birmingham Quality Standard
or risk being closed.

This week, I visited a number of properties in Quinton to carry out spot
checks from a range of different providers. This was very beneficial and
will feed into the work I am doing with the Council, the Police and
resident groups. While visiting, I was able to speak to residents to make
sure they had the proper support needed and check that the quality of
housing was at a decent standard.

I will be continuing to personally undertake visits of this type, to ensure
our community remains a great place to live and work.

If there is an exempt property that is causing issues in your local area,
please contact me at [email protected]

READ MORE HERE

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EDGBASTON SUPPORTS BATLEY AND SPEN

Next Thursday a by-election will be taking place in Batley and Spen. Our
Labour candidate, Kim Leadbeater, is a compassionate campaigner, sister of
Jo Cox and the only candidate that is from the local area.

I will be leading a phonebank on Thursday to support Kim and help elect a
local candidate we deserve. Register below to join me on Thursday and help
get out the vote.

REGISTER HERE

© 2020 Printed from an email sent by Preet Kaur Gill. Promoted by A.J Webb
on behalf of Preet Kaur Gill, both at 56 Wentworth Road, B17 9TA.

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