I wrote a letter to my MEP, Catherine Bearder. (It’s the first time I’ve done that!)

In it, I asked, “Dear Catherine.

“I wonder if you can help me understand why the EU requires nations to charge VAT on ebooks, but paper books are VAT free. That doesn’t seem fair. And it’s not immediately clear what the justification is?”

She (well, her staff) replied today. She says:

“Dear Ms Hallett,

“Thank you for your email about VAT on books and ebooks.

“I have considerable sympathy for the sentiments in your email, I think books and education are of fundamental importance to our society. As part of its 2016 Work Programme, the European Commission announced that it will look at VAT and include any changes in a revision of the VAT Directive, and the European Parliament has voted to allow individual EU countries to reduce the rate of VAT on e-books to match the rate on printed books.

“Therefore, the ability for Member States to treat ebooks the same as traditional books is on its way.

“I hope you find this response helpful and supportive. If you feel I can be of any further help on any European matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

“Yours sincerely,

“Catherine Bearder MEP”

This week I’ll be taking part in the inspector’s public examination of Local Plan Part 2. One of the main objectives of LPP2 is to provide policy for how Vale will meet its share of Oxford’s unmet need.

I oppose the plan for one basic reason: the evidence used to underpin LPP2 is out of date and known to be false. It’s arguable that Oxford HAS no needs it cannot meet for itself.

Government recently consulted on a new algorithm to define the number of houses an area needs, its Objectively Assessed Need (OAN). Using this new calculation Vale, and Oxford, have a much lower OAN than the old SHMA dictated. In fact, it’s likely that the new, lower OAN means Oxford can meet its own need without help from Vale.

Green Belt land and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are protected from development except in the case of “exceptional circumstances”. Once open spaces are turned into urban sprawl, they are gone forever. Oxfordshire’s extreme need for housing was used in 2016 as justification for large developments in Vale’s open spaces.

Now we know that Govt considers the old OANs for Oxfordshire to have been unnecessarily high. That means several things.

LPP1, which placed some strategic housing sites on Green Belt land, was based on evidence now known to be false. (As an aside, when these large SHMA figures were introduced, Vale councillors tried to scrutinise how such large figures were derived. We were told that information was proprietary and not available to study.) Liberal Democrats across the county argued that the SHMA produced figures that were unrealistically high, which would crowd the countryside with more housing than was needed. Turns out we were right.

So the too-high SHMA led to strategic sites in the Green Belt in my area in the LPP1 adopted in 2016. It’s probably too late to save them. There are better sites, but the Green Belt sites are already underway.

The new calculations cut significantly the OAN in Vale. That leads to the situation where Vale has inappropriately approved development in the Oxford Green Belt.

Oxford’s OAN is also greatly reduced, to the point where Vale doesn’t need to help. LPP1 would fully meet all Vale’s housing needs, and nothing further is needed in Vale for Oxford Housing.

But then there’s Dalton Barracks. It’s a military base in the Vale’s part of the Green Belt, soon to be closed. It is therefore available for many hundreds of homes, provided there are exceptional circumstances. Evidence does not support the claim for exceptional circumstances. But still, it is brownfield land, more suitable for new housing developments than the Green Belt sites already allocated in Sunningwell, Radley and Kennington.

What a mess.

In my opinion, a plan that makes permanent changes to the city, towns, villages and countryside cannot be considered sound when it is based on evidence known to be false.

I and my Liberal Democrat colleagues called for Vale to pause and reassess. Tories voted against that. They want to move forward with a reckless plan to take up limited open spaces with more houses, which will be too expensive for local people to rent or buy, and that aren’t really needed anyway, all based on evidence they know to be outdated and false.

Sound familiar?

So this week I’ll be participating in the Local Plan Examination in Public.

… on the grounds of the plan not being viable.

My opinion letter was printed in the Oxford Times today.

The Oxfordshire Growth Deal is where Govt gives us a bit of money in exchange for local authorities’ promises to build 100,000 new homes across the county. I was the only councillor in all of Oxfordshire to vote against the deal.

Here’s a view from a former strategic planner for the county. (From Oxford Times)

The Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member for environment will decide at her meeting on 12 Apr whether to approve the new puffin crossing on West Way. The meeting is 10am at County Hall. If you wish to speak, notify officers before 9am the day before

Changes are coming to how HMOs are regulated. HMOs are Houses of Multiple Occupancy, where 5 or more people making up 2 or more households are sharing quarters.

Right now, licensing regulations only apply for 3+ storey homes, which omits most of the examples in Vale of White Horse.

The new regulations, expected later this year, delete the 3 storey criteria. That means there will be several hundred (a best guess) HMOs in Vale that will become subject to regulation. There will be a minimum room size per person, accommodation requirements, and requirements for rubbish storage capacity. I don’t know if there are local flexibilities; we really REALLY need parking regulations for HMOs.

This is good news for British renters at the lower end of the rental scale. They are often vulnerable and victimised by unscrupulous landlords, and these changes in regulations will help.

See more here: http://blog.shelter.org.uk/2016/10/license-to-thrill-new-changes-to-hmo-licensing-are-worth-getting-excited-about/

This only affects you if you pay the Vale by bank transfer or standing order. Direct Debit payments are NOT affected (so 81% of is aren’t affected.

Anti-fraud measures taken by the Vale’s bank mean a new sort code number.

For the details, see the website: http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/news/2018/2018-02/extra-bank-security-means-changes-some-council-tax-payers

Here’s the latest word from officers about our waste collections.

“As you can imagine Biffa are behind this week because of the conditions. They have been out each day and have remarkably managed to make collections from the majority of places. They estimate to be about 2 to 3 hours behind on this week’s work. They are reducing this time each day as conditions improve but it may mean they will have to do some properties from Thursdays collection on Friday. If they haven’t managed to catch up by the close of play on Friday they will complete on Saturday. If you are contacted by any residents please ask them to leave their bins out.”

The Liberal Democrat Group of Vale of White Horse DC have submitted our response to the inspector’s consultation.

The whole doc can be accessed via this link to Dropbox:  Liberal Democrat Group response

Here’s a summary of our points raised:

In Summary, we request the following modifications to Local Plan Part 2:

1. a) The housing need targets for Oxfordshire’s unmet need should be reviewed before this plan is adopted considering the Government’s housing white paper ‘Planning for the right homes in the right places’
   b) The Vale plan should be paused until the Oxford City Local Plan is adopted and we are clear what their unmet housing need figure is.
2. The safeguarded land for bus and cycle routes in Sunningwell should be removed from the plan (Core Policy 12, appendix B, page 32)
3. References to Dalton Barracks being serviced by a Park and Ride at Lodge Hill should be removed from the plan ((Policy 2, paragraphs 2.81 and 2.82, page 40 of the Plan and page 15 of the appendices)
4. Green Belt status to be retained for the parts of Dalton Barracks that will be used as a country park and for the existing village of Shippon
5. The 90 Homes at Marcham will have a negative impact on congestion and the AQMA therefore should be removed from the plan
6. References to ‘Dalton Barracks’ should be changed to ‘Dalton Barracks and Airfield’ through the plan
7. An Electric Vehicle Charging Point policy for the Vale should be included
8. a) The housing sites identified in Part 2 to help meet Oxford unmet need should provide 50% affordable homes (as per the Oxford City policy)
9. b) A new affordable housing policy should be included, to increase the proportion of affordable homes delivered across the Vale