Draft Northamptonshire (Structural Changes) Order 2019

Jim McMahon Excerpts

Monday 10th February 2020 General Committees

[Jim McMahon (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray.

None of this is new. We have been anticipating a conclusion and, in some ways, I welcome the fact that we are now beginning to get to the end. At least the local authorities that will be created there can begin to rebuild public services in their area. As time has gone by, without doubt public services in those areas have been affected.

We ought not to forget why we are here in the first place: the financial crisis that was created in Northamptonshire and led to commissioners going into the council. We are now at the end of the process, but it meant that spending on all but non-essential services stopped completely on two separate occasions. To help fund the gap, £17 million of capital was given, which effectively involved a fire sale of the assets owned by the county council. The reason for that was pretty self-evident. A lot of the neighbourhood services, regulatory services, public protection services and housing, which are delivered by the boroughs in metropolitan areas such as London, have been squeezed to help fund adult social care and children’s services. In a two-tier area, the county bears the pressure of adult social care and children’s services without the ability to squeeze the neighbourhood services that are being decimated elsewhere around the country.

There were particular problems in two-tier areas. The order will not resolve those structural problems, and neither will the fair funding review. The truth is that there is not enough money in the system to fund adult social care. That is relevant, because the funding base was why we have ended up with the reorganisation that we are now discussing and reaching a conclusion on. The fair funding review will mean that money is just being shifted around the system.

[The Chair]

Order. The hon. Gentleman must stick to the statutory instrument that we are currently considering.

[Jim McMahon]

The Government will need to be able to convince not just the Opposition, but the residents of the two new unitary authorities, that there is enough money in the system to fund services. What is the point of reorganisation if it does not deal with the crisis that led to it in the first place?

I make this call whenever we discuss reorganisation, particularly in two-tier areas where there is not entire agreement among the component local authorities. When a new authority is created, there is sometimes a danger that, in order to assert its own identity, it almost tries to erase the identity of all that went before it. We need to make it clear that the people who administer public services in an area do not make the identity of the place. It is important that the historical identities of local communities are respected through the reorganisation, and that councillors keep an eye on that throughout the transition period.

I place on the record for Hansard my thanks to Councillor Tom Beattie, the leader of Corby District Council, for the fantastic work that he has done. I hope that one day Labour will control those two unitary councils, but I think that we are some way away from that. Councillor Beattie’s sterling work in steering Corby District Council over a number of years has not gone unnoticed, and I place on the record that he is one of our best in local government.

It has been a very turbulent time for councillors, public officials and the people who work for the local authorities concerned. Although there is not entire agreement among local councils that this is the right move, it will at least settle the matter. Hopefully they can rebuild and move on.

Planning System: Gypsies and Travellers

Jim McMahon Excerpts

Wednesday 29th January 2020 Westminster Hall

[Jim McMahon (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab/Co-op)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone) on securing the debate. We may have had some idea about the nature of the debate. Unfortunately, when it comes to the Gypsy and Traveller community, the prejudices that we have heard are all too common, and they are as old as time itself. I would have expected, though, that in the Parliament that makes the laws of the land, the debate would be based far more on fact and evidence, and far less on anecdote and local constituency casework. I fully accept that there is always a need to provide balance in debates and to be honest about some of the pressures.

I congratulate my hon. Friends the Members for Hammersmith (Andy Slaughter), for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green) and for Coventry South (Zarah Sultana) on their contributions to rebalance the nature of the debate. I felt that I was in a different debate when we talked about a community that expects special treatment, that takes out but does not want to pay in, and that is ruining our country. It could have been a debate on Amazon or Facebook, but it was not; it was a debate about people—human beings; members of our community who deserve respect and empathy.

What is it like to be a member of the travelling community, travelling around to secure work, providing for their family and living a lifestyle that they choose for themselves? Some people do not believe that the lifestyle is legitimate. We have heard before, “Why live in a caravan if you can live in bricks and mortar?” It is as if the way we choose to live our lives is the way that everybody ought to live their lives, because our way is perfect and others’ are de facto imperfect.

There are legitimate issues that we should be honest about and debate, but those issues come from injustice, not a community that is not willing to play its part. That is where we should start. Let us have the debate about educational attainment, but let us talk about how an education system should reflect a lifestyle that requires more flexible education that follows and supports the child throughout their educational life. Let us talk about housing and provision.

[Andrew Selous]

I am intrigued about how flexible education could follow a Traveller child around the country. Could the hon. Member expand a bit on how that might work?

[Jim McMahon]

We are not here to design an education system, but there could be a system similar to an education passport, in which the child’s curriculum follows them throughout the journeys they take around the country. That would at least be a start. Part of the issue is that education authorities do not talk to one another when children move from one school to another. The education experience that child might have had in one primary or secondary school is not necessarily carried on to the next. That is a big gap.

On land supply, when we talk about illegal sites, nobody supports breaches of planning law. The planning law is there for a reason, but we have to address the underlying causes. If I look at the terraced houses in Oldham and I see overcrowding, I do not blame the tenants; I look at housing supply and affordability. I see people being ripped off, paying massive amounts in private rent, but who want a decent social house that is affordable, safe and clean for their children. It is the same for the Traveller community. They want clean, safe and well-maintained sites, but all too often local authorities do not step up to their responsibilities. I say that as an advocate for local government and a standard bearer.

Too many authorities do not take responsibility. The nature of that presents in different ways, with a very different impact in a mainly urban area from in a rural area. Unfortunately, many urban authorities view the Traveller community as a problem that must be tolerated, rather than a legitimate community that should be supported. All too often the sites chosen as Traveller sites will be near the waste transfer site or the industrial estate, in the back of nowhere that we can ignore, hoping that the settled community does not kick up an objection. That is no way to treat people. What other community would we treat in that way?

We can call out bad behaviour. I get as frustrated as anybody else when a Traveller community comes in and commercial waste is left behind, but I can drive down a road in Oldham and see exactly the same from a tradesperson who does not want to pay the charges at the local tip, and who therefore leaves waste at the end of a lane or at the edge of a playing field. I do not say that the whole community of that person should be evicted as a result of the actions of an individual. That is where this debate goes wrong. We talk about anecdotes and the worst excesses of an individual member of a community, as if somehow that is the reputation of the whole. I might expect that on Facebook or an internet site, where people get angry and wind each other up, but I would not expect it in Parliament. We are here to make laws that are meant to be about rights, responsibility, balance and evidence.

Whatever we do, we need a proper joined-up strategy that covers health and wellbeing, housing, education, employment and the very real issue of the gap in life expectancy and the unacceptable levels of male suicide.

[Andrew Selous]

I tried to be as fair and balanced as I could in my contribution. If the hon. Member came to my constituency, he would meet many decent, tolerant constituents who would have harrowing tales to tell him about what they have experienced. That is not anecdote; it is fact, and it has gone on for well over a decade. That has to be reflected in this debate as well.

[Jim McMahon]

It is for the Government and local councils to be supportive and to facilitate good community relations. They do not do that when the planning, education and housing systems are stacked up to make the people we are talking about part of the problem, not the solution. The reason there are illegal encampments is that often not enough authorised sites are provided. Even so, 88% of the travelling community are on authorised sites, whether local authority or privately owned. We do not talk about that; we talk about the unauthorised ones, as if that is somehow representative of a whole community. It is not.

Those in positions of power and leadership have a responsibility to build bridges, not walls, and to bring people together. They must use the levers of government, whether about regulation, tax or spend, to make sure that we create a long-term solution. We will be having this debate in another 10 years. If the Government put in place even harsher laws, which the police will not even implement because they recognise the reality on the ground, that will not solve the problem at all. We need positive solutions, looking at communities as human beings and recognising that people have the right to live the life they ought to lead, whether as a Traveller or in a settled community.

Perhaps some cross-party support is needed. If the Government want to look at the issue from a human being’s perspective, I am sure that they will find useful participants in that conversation on this side of the House. If the Government do not want to do that, but instead build walls and further the division, they can expect very firm opposition.

[Sir George Howarth (in the Chair)]

Before I call the Minister, may I remind him that he should leave a little time for Mr Hollobone to make his final remarks?

Oral Answers to Questions

Jim McMahon Excerpts

Monday 13th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Jake Berry]

The planning White Paper will come out after the conclusion of the debate on the Queen’s Speech, and, looking at how CPO works in our town centres and other parts of the country will be part of the consultation. On the specific issue that the hon. Gentleman raises, it would seem to me a crying shame if this issue could not be dealt with, as we head towards the rugby league world cup. If he would like to come to see me, I will certainly make it my job to do so.

[Jim McMahon (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab/Co-op)]

Mr Speaker, it was a pleasure to see your journey down here with Patrick the cat and Boris the parrot a couple of days ago—a preening, repetitive, attention-seeking Boris; I am sure he will fit in quite well here.

Our high streets and town centres are in crisis, with more shops closing than opening. The Government keep falling way below what is needed to take real action that will make a difference. When will they take real action to address the fundamental weakness of our business taxation system to give our high streets and town centres a fighting chance? As a practical suggestion, why not look at enterprise-type zones for our town centres with incentives to make sure that they have a future?

[Jake Berry]

In terms of practical action, the £3.6 billion towns fund seems to be a good place to start. When we add to that the £13 billion that we are saving for businesses in business rates, we are certainly making some progress, but I will go away and look at the hon. Gentleman’s suggestion about high street enterprise zones.