Policy in Practice

At lunchtime today I waved my hand to gain access to a community, five minutes later that community voted me down. Yet rather than harbouring anger it’s only frustration and desperation I feel. At thirty four I feel it’s time to buy my first property; rent is not an efficient use of salary when my pension is already behind. However, a move from Birmingham to Brighton has filled me with trepidation. In Birmingham I could buy a three bedroom house for less than £150,000 but in Brighton I’d be lucky to get a studio apartment. Therefore, I've been looking for more creative ways to stay a Brightonian. Brighton and Hove has no tangible policies to help people stay in the city, despite supply being at an all time low. Local plans are not supportive of self-build and neighbourhood planning is becoming preclusive. Brighton is in a perpetual state of investor and renter. That’s why when I found a plot of land at auction that could fit one very small home I jumped at the chance. The ...

Many people questioned whether Britain would have any influence outside the EU. Well a week after Brexit it seems we’ve changed the complexion of a whole continent. Britain’s exit from the EU surprised many but the signs were always there, even if a Londoncentric media forgot to cover it. London and the South is a prosperous place, even if many of its workers are treading water. Yet outside the capital, globalised wealth is not the primary driver. Instead it’s the local economy and regional business. And these vital businesses are where the ‘remain’ debate should have focused, questioning whether the EU stifles a more equal distribution of investment. Instead, remain focused on the ‘leave’ argument. With immigration, racism and little England taking centre stage. Yet little England’s groan of restlessness struck a chord internationally, with other EU nations reporting discontent. And at this sensitive time for learning what is our media reporting on? The right wing agenda of co...

The Housing and Planning Act is a mess, it should've been redrafted entirely. However for now, we're stuck with it. Though the Act is a fine example of how not to draft policy the Conservatives have received a lot of negative press surrounding their complete efforts. But are all their efforts on housing so dire? In the 1980's housebuilding was led by housebuilders, development was mostly organic and industry prescribed. We built a lot of houses and locally. In the 90's things changed, local authorities began deciding community expansion and local housebuilding became a lot more centralised.  At first local authorities were equipped to deal with this change, many of the same decision makers remained. Yet as time passed local authorities saw themselves as the deciders and not the enablers. Today the culture of co-operation has almost disappeared with planning being used as a tool of revenue and political gain. Austerity is another conversation entirely and onl...

The Brexit debate has given me a new focus on what’s important for Britain, and I believe it’s the local and regional economy. Small and medium business (SME) employs over 50% of the UK workforce but they appear fairly hampered by EU regulation. These concerns have also been expressed by leaders of other EU nations, with one being somewhat comparable to Britain. Poland has one of the largest populations in Europe, almost 40 million. Their population increase mirrors the UK until three years ago where the UK spiked. House prices are rising every year in part fuelled by foreign investment. Supply has been constrained and demand has been stoked by Government programmes. Proportionate to population they have similar numbers of MP’s, with similar statistics of female representation. Both nations share similar GDP growth and income equality ratings. Interest rates are at historic lows in both nations and like Britain, keeping their own currency has meant responsible integration. Lik...

The scaremongering has worked; I think we might be better out.  Listening to David Cameron talk about our hopeless potential without Europe reminds me of the 1990’s when car manufacturing decimated my amazing city of Birmingham. I grew up experiencing my father lose his job countless times, manufacturing was dying in my city. When Rover finally fell in 2005, Birmingham’s unemployment levels were at breaking point and reinvigorating manufacturing was deemed impossible. (unsurprisingly the supply chain did come back, but now it's foreign owned). Watching the car industry fall in Birmingham was painful. I understood why it was happening but I've always struggled with why it needed to happen as it did, especially when tax breaks are given to large players in other West Midlands cities. I wondered why the Government couldn't bail them out? Perhaps structuring finance to involve the regions internationally recognised engineering Universities. Now renewable-energy special...

A few months ago I wrote to the various policy machines at the three big parties, I also called UKIP but their best suggestion was to search out their local candidate. None of the parties replied so I thought I would update my blog with the content; just a flavour of ideas...I'm not writing a report... Employment Service; getting people back to work We should be encouraging the public sector to work with clients instead of acting as a referral agency to private providers. Providers are extremely savvy at adjusting their aims when market environments changes, the new system is far superior in terms of delivering accountability but perhaps quality is sporadic. The third sector has been furthered from the discussion and the large providers are not actually assisting the ‘hardest to help’ despite claiming for them. Flexible target contracts to assist the hardest to help would be of huge benefit; the current system discourages this and a flexible contract would see morally ...

In 2011 I fell out of love with English football; the FA had pulled the final plastic rod and I kerplunked. This week when Suarez missed lunch these feelings resurfaced and we now wait to see which moral judgement has been selected by our great Football Association. The FA’s history is sporadically positive; the national team is treated as a cashcow, smaller teams at the top make up the numbers and teams outside the Premiership are expected to chase unobtainable, unsupported potential. Changes in the last few years have given many hope but the issues of racism, hate and violence are still very prevalent. As we finally see goal line technology many might question why the FA cannot affect problems destroying our game on a more regular basis. Below is the incident in 2009 which has shaped my desire for change; a despicable act that was not dealt with in any manner and is one of many incidents which show huge ineptitude on the part of our decision makers. For t...