Cai Qi, secretary of the Communist Party of China Beijing Municipal Committee, has ordered a city-wide safety check after a deadly fire killed 19 people and injured eight others. A fire broke out on Saturday night at a three-story apartment at Xinjian… read more
China’s court system intranet has been extended to 3,523 local courts and 9,277 tribunals across China, enabling all judicial officers to receive the same information when doing legal work, according to an official from China’s supreme court. “Based o… read more
Before the election I was asked about my attitude to the possible construction of more homes in Grazeley when Wokingham next needs to find new areas for development after completing the four large areas currently underway.
I said I would want to know what investment would be needed in schools, surgeries, roads and other public facilities and how these would be paid for. I would also want some reassurance that making a plan around one main development for the next plan period would not leave us vulnerable to landowners and developers persuading Planning Inspectors to grant them additional planning permission elsewhere in the Borough. The Council may wish to concentrate the growth in one major new settlement but needs to know this will not be overturned.
I have been in discussions with Councillors and Ministers about these issues since the election. This post is to confirm that so far I have not seen details on how either of these two matters would be resolved, so I am still pressing for more information. There is no great urgency, as there are still many planning permissions outstanding for the current plan period, where the Council has identified where it wishes the new homes to go. I remain open minded over how many homes could be accommodated in our area in the next plan period, and where they might best be delivered. I am very conscious of the strains placed on all our infrastructure by the pace of building under the current plan.
I will be supporting the Council on appeal where developers are trying to secure permissions outside the approved places under the current plan and where the Council asks for my assistance.
read moreAhead of the Universal Children’s Day on 20 November, Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the Commission, Neven Mimica, Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Dimitris Avramopoulos, Commissioner for … read more
Jon Trickett MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, responding to Phillip Hammond on the Marr show saying there are no unemployed people, said:
“The Chancellor is living on another planet. If the person in charge of the country’s finances doesn’t know, or chooses to ignore, the fact that nearly 1.5 million people are unemployed, and almost a million people are on zero-hours contracts, then he is clearly losing a grip on reality.
“The Tories have become even more out of touch and are now so inwards looking that they have no clue of the experiences of ordinary people suffering from seven years of Tory austerity.”
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