Christmas Adjournment

Fiona Bruce Excerpts

Tuesday 20th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con)]

I would like to raise a number of points in relation to both home and abroad. I raise the first on behalf of Eaton Bank Academy in Congleton. The energy efficiency payments that the Department for Education has provided this month will be put to excellent use on quick-win projects such as LED lighting, but to achieve longer-term efficiency saving goals such as photovoltaic panels or door and window replacements, the school is asking the Government to consider a return to the Salix loan scheme that was recently available but seems to have been replaced by a more complex decarbonisation fund that is harder to access and targeted at larger multi-academy trusts. With energy prices on the rise, the return of Salix loans would be welcome, given that schools are not allowed to borrow money by any other route. While I am on schools, I want to thank the Government for including Sandbach School in the recent announcement of refurbishment funding under the Government’s school rebuilding programme. Sarah Burns, the headteacher, says that

“this will secure the wonderful buildings that are part of the heritage of Sandbach town, ensuring the school can continue to provide the best possible learning environment for students.”

Next I wish to ask a question of the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on behalf of constituents who are seriously concerned about activities at their town council. They are at a loss as to how to have their concerns independently investigated and addressed. The principal unitary authority, Cheshire East Council, does not see this as its responsibility, saying:

“Cheshire East Council has no power over the town and parish councils within its Borough and has no legal or other standing to involve itself in a matter in respect of which it has had no involvement. Neither does Cheshire East Council have power to scrutinise the precepts issued by town and parish councils within its Borough.”

The local government ombudsman does not cover town and parish councils either, so how can residents get their serious concerns about management by a town council effectively addressed?

I turn now to support for my farmers, whom I meet regularly. Cheshire farmers remain gravely concerned about bovine TB. The current policy of badger culling on a discreet basis in Cheshire has been evidently effective, and more effective than any alternative, according to my farmers. They are asking for Ministers to agree to an extension of the current policy for a further three years from when it would otherwise, very shortly, be finished.

I now turn to the issue of outstanding facilities and other services on new home sites. I welcome the advent of the new homes ombudsman service, and I hope it will be a great aid for the many homeowners who live in the plethora of newly built houses on a number of developments across my constituency who find themselves experiencing difficulties getting developers to complete sites, sometimes years after the last house was built. Homeowners can get support from the ombudsman service only if the builder has registered with the ombudsman. Will Ministers look at how constituents can get recourse to resolve such matters, particularly if the initial developer has passed the estate to a management company?

I want to speak briefly about the Alsager sports hub in my constituency. I fought a long local campaign with residents, in which Sport England was very helpful, to install new state-of-the-art sports pitches, but sadly, only three years later, the pitches have deteriorated to such an extent that I was obliged to indicate to Cheshire East Council that they have been deemed by some to be “unplayable”. I was proposing to raise these concerns in the House, but I am pleased to say that after indicating that to Cheshire East Council, I have now received a letter stating that action is being taken to bring them back up to their previous standard. It is regrettable that they have deteriorated in such a short amount of time. I want to place on record my continuing support for the Alsager community to help to ensure that these sports pitches are properly maintained.

I want to speak about concerns over local train services to Congleton station by Northern and CrossCountry. Constituents regularly tell me that the services are much worse since the pandemic. Indeed, last week on a day outside the strike times, I was unable to get any train from London to Congleton station at all. I call on Ministers to impress upon those operating companies the need to fulfil their franchise agreements and provide a viable service to the people of Congleton. Also, I need hardly mention that my constituents continue to raise concerns about Avanti West Coast services to stations across my constituency including Alsager, Sandbach, Holmes Chapel and Goostrey. This completely inadequate service cannot go on. I understand that the Secretary of State has extended the franchise to give Avanti time to fix matters, but can I press upon him the importance of resolving these issues as quickly as possible?

After the recent revaluation of business rates, one of my constituent business owners has had his rateable value increased by 10%, taking it just over the threshold for small business rate relief, which he will therefore lose, potentially along with other reliefs and grants. He suggests that, alongside a review of rateable values, the threshold for small and medium-sized enterprise relief should increase to £16,500 from April 2023. Can this be looked at?

Moving abroad to two issues on freedom of religion or belief, there is no let-up for persecuted minorities in Iran while the regime pursues its vicious crackdown on dissent. I condemn the recent sentencing of Baha’i leaders Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi to a second grievously unjust 10-year sentence after they have already lost 10 years of their lives incarcerated with five other Baha’is. They are mothers and grandmothers, and they are among the longest-suffering prisoners of conscience in the world.

Also, I draw Ministers’ attention to the humanitarian plight of Armenians since a blockade was set up a few days ago on a road connecting the historically Armenian land of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and thus to the rest of the world, cutting off 120,000 Armenian residents. I will not go into in the detail I would like, because other Members need to speak, but I ask the Government to look at the urgent need for humanitarian relief for those people.