Lots of children, no school places. We need the council to listen to us now!
Laurence Phillips's Page
Profile Information
- Where do you live?
- In Long Ashton
- About Me:
- Have lived in Long Ashton for over seven years with wife Karen. Have two sons Xavier (4) and Luca (19 months).
Laurence Phillips's Blog
Politics Show feature
The Politics Show ran a feature focusing on the school issue in Long Ashton on Sunday 22 June. Michelle Pascal who works at the BBC will be going through the angst of the school allocation soon and put this together for the programme. Please follow the link and click on latest programme.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/regions/west/default.stm
Posted on June 23, 2008 at 12:11pm —
BBC Radio Bristol - 30 May 8am
Just so you know, myself, Tamar and Tabetha are being interviewed tomorrow morning on BBC Radio Bristol at around 8am to discuss the petition prior to next week's handover. Please tune in if you fancy it!
Posted on May 29, 2008 at 4:45pm — 1 Comment
Evening Post call
1) Compulsory purchase of land next to Northleaze
2) Temp accommodation at Bridwell
3) Extending Flax
My response was that although this is relatively good news that at last something seems to being done a) it's too late b) this should have been done two / three years ago c… Continue
Posted on May 15, 2008 at 4:48pm —
BBC TV
Just to keep you all in the loop, myself and Sarah (Hughes) were interviewed last week by the BBC. The reporter, Michelle, lives in LA and will find herself in a similar position next year. She's hoping to run the feature in the next couple of weeks (subject to scheduling / interviews) on the Politics Show which is aired on Sundays. Will mean a longer feature approx. 7 mins instead of a shorter news item on the general news. Fingers crossed.
Will let you all know if and when a date… Continue
Posted on May 12, 2008 at 10:54am — 1 Comment
Total Contibutions
I've heard a number of different figures regarding developer contributions etc.
This is what I've been told to date:
George WImpey sec. 106 = £557,237.34
StrongVox sec. 106 = £129,280.66
Northleaze School sale = £650,350
Total = £1,336,868
Is this right or does anyone else have different figures. Thought it would be handy to have the right figures when lobbying over the next few months.
Cheers
Laurence
Posted on March 19, 2008 at 4:44pm — 1 Comment
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I got this today (please see below), following my enquiry into the sale of Northleaze. Shall keep the councillor nameless as he was good enough to send this through.
Basically saying that the council (whoever that was at the time) made an almighty error in the sale, pushed the issue of affordable housing despite the concerns of local councillors and that it was sold at a discount. I’ll keep this info dry for a quiet news day!
Cheers
Laurence
Planning is not a political process and it is an offence to bring political bias or direction into a planning application. Oddly the council does turn down its own applications occasionally. The committee sits in a quasi judicial capacity.
The main issues over the sale were that:
1. The need for ‘affordable housing’ was not supported by the people of Long Ashton.
2. The resultant properties would be very expensive to live in and given they were affordable would it not have been better to buy the same or even more from the community.
3. We could foresee a need for capital expenditure in the Authority as whole and was it wise to sell at a discount.
The former administration was driven by an obsession for affordable housing at any price. There were parties who would buy the site for far more than was proposed.
I voted against the proposals because I firmly believe in doing things the right way. I wanted to make sell the land at arms length and use the proceeds to buy homes scattered across the village. I am strongly opposed to clusters of affordable or social housing as they create ghettoes and division. Who am I to judge someone because they cannot afford to buy a full price house? Income does not equate to value to society etc.
It is worth noting that my predecessor, a Liberal Democrat, for the most part sat on his hands on votes for the sale because he appears not to have agreed with it. He is the most honourable of men and highly capable.