Promoting the Politics of Courage
Tackling the housing emergency For too long, the UK planning system has been fuelled by greed, not by need. The core of its failure has been handing responsibility for the delivery of the homes we need to speculators primarily interested in filling their boots. That’s why I’m pleased that, at it’s recent conference, the Liberal […]
Weekly blog • Incredible news that India has landed a spacecraft near the south pole of the moon. Wonderful news that our own local Goonhilly Earth Station (GES) played a pivotal role enabling it. Cornwall may not itself have joined the space race. But GES and its 50 staff are playing a critical role on […]
The government should stop the developers’ charter – and instead set targets to meet housing need, not developers’ greedI’ve long proposed that local authorities should be required to set targets to meet need, rather than simply housebuilding targets.Cornwall is a classic example which demonstrates that setting very high housebuilding targets has massively failed. Cornwall has […]
This week’s column • This week’s announcement of a scaled-down new-build of West Cornwall Hospital’s Outpatient Dept. is of course welcome. Though the building is unlikely to win awards for beauty nor enhancing the aspects of the hospital, it will be welcomed by both staff and patients as a better replacement for a long out-of-date […]
“This is a welcome move in the right direction. But it’s still a long way short of what’s needed. “The Conservatives were finally shamed into promising they’d do something about the appalling housing injustice created by the proliferation of second homes and holiday lets way back in 2018. Though they keep promising, nothing happens. […]
Without a hint of irony Conservative Ministers now declare themselves devotees of mandatory safe staffing levels in our hospitals. But only as a tool to attack staff who are striking largely because of the lack of safe staffing. When I led a parliamentary campaign for safe NHS staffing, Conservative Ministers bluntly rejected it. If we […]
All Parties should come together to secure the long-term future of our NHS and care services. I’m calling on those fellow politicians who truly care about what’s happening to our NHS and care services to join community leaders, health and care professionals to agree a way forward. We cannot carry on like this. Hundreds needlessly […]
If money for second homes went to first homes instead we’d have all but solved Cornwall’s housing problems The Conservatives have handed more than £385 million in tax subsidies to second homers in Cornwall in the last decade. If that had been granted for the delivery of first homes for locals instead there’d be […]
Fellow housing justice campaigners and I can celebrate a campaign success – a boost for those who have been fighting to put first homes before second homes. It’s taken decades and won’t happen for another two years – but the prospects of success look encouraging. The proliferation of second homes, holiday lets and Airbnbs have come […]
Cornwall in the national news again. And not for a good reason. We have amongst the worst ambulance waits in the country. Many patients die unnecessarily. Hundreds more experience life limiting disability because they can’t get the timely treatment which would avoid this. It doesn’t have to be like this. Proper investment in core NHS […]