Unified Opposition Defeats Developers: Campaign Round-Up

#rdgnews - The plan to build 750 new homes on Pincents Hill has been rejected at a meeting of West Berkshire council's planning committee at Little Heath School.

The Pincent's Hill site from the air

The issue became a highly controversial feature of the Reading West parliamentary campaign as candidates on all sides spoke up against the proposed development while developer Blue Living failed to turn up in person, instead sending legal representation who accused politicians of 'trying to win cheap votes'.

Linda Fort notes Labour and Conservative candidates welcomed the rejection.

Conservative Alok Sharma commented on the 1,400 people who signed a petition against the plan, stating that "local people are overwhelmingly opposed to any development on this site."

LibDem candidate Cllr Daisy Benson, who chairs Reading's housing scrutiny committee, paid tribute to the work of community activists organised by her party colleagues Cllr Ricky Duveen and Jean Gardener, as well as Joan Lawrie and the Save Calcot campaign, explaining that the reasons for the rejection are all "closely linked to the detrimental effect the development could have on the environment and the quality of life of residents. "

Meanwhile Labour's Naz Sarkar highlighted two 'major' points of opposition, namely that the site is located outside current settlement boundaries and that the greenfield site is a vital open space between Tilehurst and Theale. He also pays his tribute

"to the dedication of Joan Lawrie and the Save Calcot Action Group who have raised and publicised this issue providing detailed evidence of why this planning proposal should be rejected."

The Pincents Hill site from the ground

However Cllr Ricky Duveen picks out the continuing bone of contention between local and national government, asking,

"I wonder what a new Tory or Labour government would do to give local people more power to decide on planning issues for themselves rather than have their decisions made by an Inspector or the minister?"

This is significant, as Pamela Owen reports, because the Local Development Framework set out at national level continues to include a desired figure of 10,500 new homes in its' core strategy to be built in the area over the course of the next decade.

And Green Party candidate Adrian Windisch made it a full house by collecting a selection of sources on the subject, describing the 'rapurous applause' which greeted the decision.


Oranjepan asks:
After they criticised local politicians for hindering economic development by being disunited during this year's budget debate, will the good people in the local media now give credit to the political classes for being united on this issue or continue to stand full square on the bottom line?

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More on the campaign to save Pincent's Hill and White Hart Meadows.

Twittergate

...is what it's being called.

Conservative executive member in West Berkshire and Purley-on-Thames representative Cllr David Betts is facing strong criticism after he unleashed a barrage of offensive comments against his political opponents via social-media microblogging network Twitter.

The incident started when Theale's Cllr Alan Macro (LibDem) gave an interview on local radio station 107fm on June 23rd regarding the recently lodged outline planning application for Pincent's Hill and White Hart Meadow.

Cllr Betts wrote the update:

"Woke to Alan Macro talking bollocks on 107FM. Failed to point out we are consulting on housing in Theale, or that it is Government imposed."

Cllr Macro soon responded that Cllr Betts' language was "immoderate, unnecessary and did not conform to his council's requirement to treat people with respect."

The war of words threatened to bubble over into official business, but council leader Cllr Graham Jones refused to take any questions on the potential subject of an official code of conduct when Cllr Betts presented a report into an ongoing review of the authority's ICT strategy.

Cllr Betts was less than penitant when he subsequently sent an apology to Cllr Macro, saying "you have to accept a bit of knocking about on Twitter" and "I've got to ask whether there was really anything to get upset about."

He then fired his second barrel of criticism by taking offence that his apology wasn't acknowledged.

Meanwhile local PR guru Nigel Morgan says 'shame on Cllr Betts' for his bad manners, and wryly notes how the inconsistency in the excuse of the "foul-beaked local politician" given Cllr Betts has "ignored repeated invites to join the debate over his own bad language on Twitter".

The Newbury-based Public Relations professional delved deeper into the episode and highlights Cllr Betts' self-description: "He calls himself a PR Consultant on his Twitter bio, but it doesn’t take a great deal of PR savvy to know becoming the story isn’t such great practice, especially online when it will be around long after..."

Another nugget of information came from Cllr Betts' discussion with ConservativeHome editor Tim Montgomery, in which he was clearly seeking advice on how best to defuse the embarrassment caused. He Twittered: "On reflection, I should not have used the term, for which I apologise. However, mountains and molehills spring to mind."

Nigel Morgan compares Cllr Bett's online habits to that of a stroppy teenager and forcefully argues that this is completely inapropriate for a man in such a senior position in public office - and it is apperently far from being just a one-off slip from a grumpy old man who woke up on the wrong side of bed!

Using the case as an example of bad practice in social media he concludes: "Don’t swear on Twitter. (Especially if you are an elected councillor!)" and "Don’t swear in business... unless you really have to!"

And just to reiterate the consensus view within the industry, Swindon-based Ant Hodges is emphatic: "Swearing does not belong in any professional business context."

More Housing Planned On Reading Borders

A new planning proposal for 450 new homes on the edge of Theale has stirred an activist councillor to go online an an attempt to involve residents in the consultation process.

LibDem representative for Theale, Cllr Alan Macro has set up a website which he helps will enable people to voice any concerns about potential development in the vital buffer zone between the village and M4 at White Hart Meadow.

Cllr Macro said he wants "to ensure that residents are fully informed... [as] information regarding the proposal is very hard to find"

The official consultation period is open for six weeks from the end of May, but early comments and contributions can be sent to:

Bryan Lyttle
Transport and Planning Policy Manager
West Berkshire Council
Market Street
Newbury, RG14 5LD

All sides can now be considered to have declared their intention to prevent development on this site, with Rob Wilson declaring the Conservative position that saving green belt 'buffer zones' of exactly this sort remain an essential part of their strategy and Labour's Martin Salter continuing campaign to get people to "register their opposition to to... the expansion of the existing settlement boundaries".

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Update: Congratulations go to Linda Fort for picking up on the story!

Oranjepan asks:
With every party united in opposition to the development of this location, will the Newbury-based West Berkshire council listen to citizens on the edge of Reading?

How Green Is Green?

Green activist Adrian Windisch has launched a broadside against local PR consultancy Green Issues, which handles the communication strategy for a range of projects, including the Pincent's Hill development.

The Green Party candidate comes out against the urban regeneration projects they are involved with as he argues they are "anything but green". He says the company should instead be named 'Grey Party leftovers' due to their employment of specialists in political communication, which includes some politicians (or maybe he's just miffed that they won't employ him to use his skills...).

Meanwhile Matt Blackall writes in a similar vein, pointing out how the urge for popularity leads "many companies and politicians... to jump on the populist bandwagon". He draws our attention to leading wind energy generator Vestas, which Alex Race reports recently slashed employment due to declining government investment in renewable energy projects.

As Clare Buxton asks: did the government do enough for renewables in the budget?

Just as a 'green new deal' is widely considered [Gordon Brown PM, United Nations, Conservatives, LibDems, Green Party] to hold many answers to the current economic difficulties Matt says, "if now was not a perfect time to create jobs, expand what should be a thriving energy industry and fight climate change then I do not know when is," but adds that we may actually be "being betrayed by those pretending to be ‘green’," due to different interpretations of what this means.

A national lobbying group has been set up to push the idea of investment in the low-carbon economy, as it is claimed only 0.6% of the recent government stimulus package is aimed in this area. While this may be seen as negligible by some, others say proposed environmentally-friendly measures are not sustainable.

Check out The Independent's 'Green List', with which it compiled from a desire "to provoke a debate about what makes a good environmentalist" [1].

Oranjepan asks:
What exactly does is mean to be green?

Pincent's Hill Ablaze With Blame

The blame game and petty politicking over the proposed Pincent's Hill development went up a notch as both Labour and Conservative parties accused each other of supporting the plans while simultaneously campaigning to prevent them from going ahead.

Reading West MP Martin Salter (whose constituency includes the parts of Tilehurst in West Berkshire council) attacked the local authority for 'dumping' housing on the outskirts of Reading and concreting over greenfield sites, also explaining that similar practices in tory dominated areas resulted in the high-density estates in Calcot and Lower Earley.

Mr Salter described the Conservative councillors who missed the opportunity to block the unpopular plans as "gutless and unprincipled".

Conservatives struck back by stating the centrally-imposed targets for regional housing had been forced upon local representatives by Labour bureaucrats in Whitehall and Westminster and called Labour's 'hypocrisy' over the issue 'disgraceful'.

Meanwhile, amidst the frantic positioning by both parties to prove they are each local champions on the side of residents, the proposals edge one step closer as West Berkshire approved it's draft housing strategy.

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For more information visit the Save Calcot campaigning website and join the facebook campaign group.

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Update: Alex Gore reports the Conservative party angle.

Linda Fort reports on the open letter explaining the details of the proposed development which has been sent to "all interested parties" as Blue Living consult the public in preparation for the submission of their outline planning application.

Matt Blackall encourages readers to take action.

Whether it is to copy one of the template letters or only to sign the petition if you don't make your voice heard you won't be justified in complaining later.

Matt also notes inconsistency in the tory ranks - although all three Birch Hill councillors have been campaigning against the development Cllr Emma Webster abstained, Cllr Joe Mooney voted for the plans without amendment and Cllr Tony Linden, well, he didn't even turn up to vote.

If you oppose the development please sign the petition, the online version remains open until 26 February 2010 and already counts over 400 signatures.

Pro-Business or Not Pro-Business?

Hopeful Conservative candidate for Reading West, Alok Sharma, has run into trouble over a local campaign.

After collecting 896 signatures on a petition against the proposed Pincent's Hill 'sustainable village', Mr Sharma's has managed to simultaneously aggravate environmentalists and the local business community amid accusations of partiality and lack-of-objectivity.

Housing developer Blue Living has responded to the results of a survey conducted by Mr Sharma questioning the Conservative's methodology and their statistical conclusions.

According to Reading West Conservatives, 96% of the respondents are 'concerned about the impact of traffic from any development', 87% are 'concerned about the loss of a green space', 86% are 'concerned about the pressure on local public services such as education', while 82% are 'worried about the impact of development on the environment and wildlife'.

Yet the survey contained no reference to the actual plans for the 37-acre site, so how could they then conclude that 85% of the respondents are against the development, spokesperson Jonny Anstead asked. He admitted the survey did highlight local concerns, but added that plans were in place to increase biodiversity and promote environmentally and socially-sustainable community living.

Mr Sharma is quoted as describing the company's comments as “a cocktail of gibberish”.