Mark Pawsey
Main Page: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)
11. What steps he is taking to promote neighbourhood planning.
Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)
16. What steps he is taking to promote neighbourhood planning.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Nick Boles)
Neighbourhood planning is proving to be one of the Government’s most popular reforms. Nearly 1,000 communities across England are working on neighbourhood plans, and all eight of the plans to go to referendum thus far have commanded popular support.
Mark Pawsey
The pre-submission draft of Coton Park neighbourhood plan in my constituency is now ready for approval. It covers 950 properties. The team of residents who are drawing it up, ably led by Jill Simpson-Vince, are able to be close to the economic factors and have identified a number of key issues in respect of transport and social well-being. Does the Minister agree that Coton Park sets an excellent example of how a well-run neighbourhood plan process can give people a real say in improving their local areas?
Nick Boles
I greatly enjoyed visiting Coton Park with my hon. Friend and meeting Jill Simpson-Vince. It is a textbook case of how a community can come together to improve their lives through neighbourhood planning.
Mr Pickles
The right hon. Gentleman will recall that it was on the urging of the Labour party that we adopted the spending power regime. He will also recall that we moved from a need element to a consequence element. Those who are prepared to have houses built and to provide additional facilities to improve their tax position will benefit. We have moved from a system of the begging bowl to a system in which consequences follow economic and entrepreneurial activity.
Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)
T5. The Secretary of State will be aware that Rugby borough council is not just freezing council tax but reducing it by 3%, while Warwickshire county council is raising it by 1.9%. However, the county council has chosen now as the time to present proposals for a unitary authority. Given those contrasting approaches to the setting of council tax, can the Secretary of State suggest any reasons why my constituents would consider the unitary proposals to be a good idea?
Mr Pickles
I said before the last general election that any authority official who came to me with a proposal for a reorganisation would be met with a pearl-handled revolver that I kept in my desk. It sounds as though it is time to oil the thing again.
We have no intention of carrying out a reorganisation. Any spending on a reorganisation is a fundamental waste of taxpayers’ money.