On Wednesday the 17th June, pupils and teachers from the Emmbrook and Willink School were treated to a day out at the Houses of Parliament by John Redwood.

As a prize for winning the 2008 Wokingham Schools’ Debating Competition, Adam Connell and Florence Curtis of the Emmbrook School, along with their teacher Diana Collins, joined runners up Lawrence Hill and Dominic Murray-Vaughn, and their teacher Lorraine Gordon from the Willink, on a trip to Westminster where they enjoyed a guided tour of Parliament by John Redwood and had the chance to watch Prime Minister’s Questions.

Following a two hour tour of the Palace of Westminster, where John explained the history behind the building and also outlined in some detail the intricacies of how the Lords and Commons operate, the debating students from the Emmbrook and Willink were able to witness Parliamentary debating first hand by watching Scottish Questions and Prime Minister’s Questions from the public gallery. Amongst the political heavyweights the pupils were able to see in person were Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy and former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell.

The day ended with lunch in the Adjournment restaurant, where the group was joined by David Wilshire MP, a seasoned Parliamentary debater and Vice-Chairman of the Political Affairs Committee in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Speaking after the visit, John Redwood said: “It was a pleasure to one again welcome Wokingham pupils to the Palace of Westminster, and, at a time when politics has a poor reputation, show them how Parliament operates and why our democratic traditions are so important”.

“In these challenging times employers are looking for people with the skills to succeed. Public speaking and the ability to think on one’s feet are important life skills that offer an advantage in a competitive job market. I am pleased that by organising the Wokingham Schools Debating Competition and bringing the winners to Parliament, I have been able to help Wokingham’s pupils develop these important life skills”.

Notes for editors:

The Wokingham Schools Debating Competition is an annual tournament organised by John Redwood and his office for secondary schools in his constituency. The competition aims to encourage sixth form pupils to develop public speaking skills, think on their feet and develop clear and concise arguments. The winners of the competition are awarded the John Redwood Cup and the winners and runners up receive the trip to the Houses of Parliament.

The 2009 Debating Competition will be held in October, with the final taking place at Wokingham Town Hall on Friday the 27th November.

Please feel free to reproduce the attached photographs. Photograph 1 shows Adam Connell and Florence Curtis with John Redwood. Photograph 2 shows Adam Connell, Florence Curtis, Diana Collins, Lawrence Hill, Dominic Murray-Vaughn, Lorraine Gordon and John Redwood. If you need the photographs in a higher resolution, please contact Carl on 020 7219 4205.

The sponsors of the 2008 competition were 3M, Classicstone Properties, RBS, Mr. William Clark, Clifton Ingram and Titcheners. We are grateful for their support. The sponsors of this year’s competition are Mr. William Clark and Clifton Ingram.

For more information please contact Carl Thomson on 020 7219 4205

Wokingham MP John Redwood has welcomed a Government decision that allows blind people to receive a benefit called the Higher Rate Mobility Component of Disability Living Allowance. This is a small sum of money to help disabled people with extra mobility costs, such as taxis or private hire vehicles. Currently, blind people are excluded from receiving this benefit, despite facing some of the biggest obstacles when trying to travel independently.

After meeting with a group of his constituents last year, John Redwood threw his weight behind the campaign to give blind people an extra helping hand. He supported a parliamentary motion calling on the Government to stop excluding blind people from eligibility for the benefit, and wrote to the Minister for Disabled People at the Department for Work and Pensions arguing the case.

During Report Stage of the Welfare Report Bill in the House of Commons, the Minister for Disabled People said that from April 2011, people with no useful sight for mobility purposes will be able to claim the Higher Rate Mobility Component. This will give them an extra £29 a week. Although this is not a huge sum of money, the RNIB has estimated that it will assist some 26,000 people, helping them to travel to job interviews, visit friends or family and engage in their local communities.

Speaking about the Government’s decision, John Redwood said: “I was pleased to have been able to lend my voice to this important campaign. My constituents put forward a powerful case, and I was glad to have been able to represent them to the Minister”.

“The public finances are tight and the Government does need to find ways to cut its expenditure. However, the way to do this is not to neglect disabled or other vulnerable people but to reduce wasteful spending like regional assemblies, Identity Cards, bank bailouts and the lavish pension benefits of Whitehall bureaucrats”.

“I am pleased the Government has shown a degree of sense and compassion in this case, and that my constituents who lobbied so hard for such a change will benefit”.

I met Chris Smith, the CEO and the Thames area Manager of the Environment Agency today to chase progress on the Winnersh and Wokingham Emm schemes, the need for a wider Loddon plan and projects, and to chase issues where there are still disputes over which agency is responsible. I will keep you all posted of their written responses which they have promised.

The Bracknell News is fifty years young. When the journalists start to look young you know you have a bit of experience behind you, but fifty is the new forty. I expect the Bracknell News to show plenty of vim and vigour in the years ahead.

Local newspapers do an important job. They bring the community together. They enable us to share the highs and lows with the neighbours, to tell people about forthcoming events and great services available in our locality. They allow us to say “thank you” to those who have done good things or have served us well. They let us send sympathy to those going through difficult times, and congratulations to those riding high on success.

In these dark days of recession, with falling advertising revenues and economic stress, it is not easy reporting the local news. We look to the papers to tell it as it is. We also need them to help raise our spirits from time to time, so we can get through this trough of gloom.

Don’t let this nasty recession wreck your Christmas. One of the things I most like about the Christmas break is you have time to do more homely things for yourself, and more time to think of others. So often what people want is some company and thoughtfulness rather than expensive presents. The comfort of the family group, the warmth of neighbourliness is easier to achieve when you do not have to do battle with peak hour traffic or wait on a cold station for the delayed train.

Of course this Christmas has an economic shadow over it. On the High Street some famous stores are struggling. Many are nervous of how long their jobs will last or whether the incomes for their businesses will hold up. I am doing all I can to explain the crisis to government and to offer advice to try to lift us out of the downturn.

In the meantime against such a background the true spirit of Christmas can make a difference. The work of our local charities and the countless deeds of friendship and helpfulness of so many in our community are all the more welcome at a time when people are counting the pennies. I want to say a big Thank you to all the volunteers, carers, Mums and Dads, and good neighbours who do so much to make the lives of others better day by day.

Christmas got off to a good start in Wokingham thanks to the organisers of the Winter Carnival. The lights came on to the sound of the first carols. There are many good Christmas events planned over the days ahead to light up the dark winter days. If we can all recapture some of that magic of Christmas that most of us were lucky to experience as a child, it will have done its job. It’s not how much you spend or what it says on the label that makes the difference. It’s the spirit you do it in that matters most. Sometimes the most modestly priced gift gives the greatest joy because it is what the person wants, or because they are moved that you bothered.

So what can I give, poor as I am? Give my heart.

I ought to be a natural member of the National trust. I like to see our important heritage buildings preserved and open to the public, without being a burden on the taxpayer. I want some of our beauty spots to be acquired and held by a long term trust that keeps them free of development and allows sensible use of them by the public for recreation.

Yet in recent years I have found myself in strong opposition to the management of the trust. I also like rhododendrons. The trust seems to hate them with a passion, and is set on rooting them out of its land, even where they are an improtant part of the landscape and have graced it with the beauty of their late spring blossoms and their dense evergreen foliage for so many decades.

In Berkshire the Trust has rooted out rhododendrons and some trees it objects to, leaving a much bleaker heathland landscape along with stumps and dead trees in the name of going back to some imagined past period of different and sparser vegetation. Realising some still object to this assault on our countryside, the Trust has now briefed the Telegraph that the rhododendron is a wicked carrier of Phytophthora, so it deserves to be rooted out before it infects the rest of our flora. Please will the Trust think again and end this victimisation? They claim the rhodo is not a native species. They are using all the worst techniques of black propoganda to make the rhodo an unwelcome presence in our land. They should remember that many plants like people came here from somewhere else at some point in evolution. They should be welcomed, not condemned.

The semi-final of the annual Wokingham Schools’ Debating Competition is just around the corner. On Thursday the 20th November, teams from the Emmbrook, St. Crispin’s, the Holt School and the Willink will compete against one another, with the two winning teams going through to the final eight days later to compete for the John Redwood Cup.

The semi-final will take place at Wokingham Town Hall, at 7pm, on Thursday the 20th November. The motions to be debated are as follows:

Emmbrook (proposer) vs. St. Crispin’s

This House welcomes the slump in house prices

The Holt (proposer) vs. the Willink

This House welcomes the big cut in energy use as a result of the economic downturn

The final round will take place on Friday the 28th November, in Wokingham Town Hall at 7pm. John Redwood will act as Speaker for the semi-final and final, and the panel of judges will be made up of Sally Bryant from the Wokingham Times, Donald MacDonald from the RBS, and Ian Graham from Clifton Ingram.

The winners of the competition will receive the John Redwood Cup for their school and the two teams to compete in the final round are also invited to spend a day in the House of Commons with John Redwood, which includes lunch and the chance to sit in the audience for Prime Minister’s Questions.

The competition is generously sponsored by RBS, Classicstone Properties, Bill Clark, Clifton Ingram, 3M and Ticheners.

For more information please contact Carl Thomson on 020 7219 4205

John Redwood has today responded to the Department of Transportation’s consultation on the safeguarding of the Maidenhead to Reading route for the potential future expansion of Crossrail. The consultation does not provide a commitment to extend Crossrail to Reading, but seeks views on whether formal Safeguarding Protections should be issued on the stretch of land that would be used to expand Crossrail from Maidenhead to Reading in the future.

As part of his response to the consultation, John Redwood highlighted the unprecedented population growth which is projected to take place in the South East over the next few years, and pointed out that Wokingham and the area around Reading has borne the brunt of development pressures. Allied to these pressures is the fact that this growing number of people must carry out their business on a transport system that is increasingly unable to meet the needs of a modern economy. John Redwood has told the Department of Transport that the expansion of Crossrail to Reading would help in easing these pressures on commuters, businesses and families.

Speaking about the consultation, John Redwood said: “The sad reality is that my constituents face considerable problems with insufficient capacity, very high fares and an unrealisable service. My constituents often tell me stories of very overcrowded journeys. Other services in the Reading area do not offer enough choice of journey times to be attractive for commuters, forcing people onto the roads when they might be attracted back to the railways by more frequent services”.

“It would be reassuring to know that Reading is being seriously considered for the more regular and faster services to London that would come about through a direct link to Crossrail. The population pressures on Wokingham and the South East demand a transport system that is able to move people about quickly and allows them to carry out their business. The expansion of Crossrail to Reading would be a huge contribution towards meeting that demand. It is for that reason that I support the objectives set out in this consultation”.

The first round of the annual Wokingham Schools’ Debating Competition kicks off this Thursday the 9th October at the Emmbrook School, as the Holt School compete against Luckley Oakfield and Bearwood College go up against Emmbrook. The second round will be on Thursday the 16th October at the Willink School, where Maiden Erlegh, St. Crispin’s and the Willink will compete to go through to the next round. The two winners of each of these rounds will progress through to the semi-finals at Wokingham Town Hall on Thursday the 20th November, and the final will be chaired by John Redwood at Wokingham Town Hall on Friday the 28th November.

John Redwood has been organising the annual debating competition for several years. Last year the competition was won by the Emmbrook School and Luckley Oakfield. All participants receive certificates and prizes from the House of Commons with the winning school receiving the “John Redwood Cup” for debating. The four finalists and their teachers spend a day in London at the House of Commons, which includes lunch with John Redwood and a tour of the Palace of Westminster, followed by a chance to watch Parliament in action. The John Redwood Cup is engraved with the winners’ names and presented to the school for the year. The winning school also receives an overhead projector donated courtesy of 3M.

Speaking about the competition, John Redwood said: “The Wokingham Schools’ Debating Competition gives young people a chance to engage with the issues of the day and gain experience in public speaking and defending their arguments in front of an audience. I hope many people will come along to hear the debates and support the participants. The competitions are lively, fun and informative, and have been well attended in the past”.

Notes for editors:

The first round of the debating competition will take place at the Emmbrook School on Thursday the 9th October at 7pm. The timetable of the debates is as follows:

The Holt School vs. Luckley Oakfield

This House believes government can cure fuel poverty

Bearwood College vs. Emmbrook

This House believes exams get in the way of education

Luckley Oakfield vs. Holt

This House believes government can make housing affordable

Emmbrook vs. Bearwood College

This House believes A-Levels are too easy

The second round will take place at the Willink School on Thursday the 16th October at 7pm. The timetable for the debates is as follows:

Willink vs. Maiden Erlegh

This House believes government can cure fuel poverty

St. Crispin’s vs. Willink

This House believes exams get in the way of education

Maiden Erlegh vs. St. Crispin’s

This House believes government can make housing affordable

The semi-final will be held at Wokingham Town Hall on Thursday the 20th November, and the final will be held at the same location on Friday the 28th November. John Redwood will act as Chairman for the semi-final and final. The motions for these rounds will be released closer to the time.

The judges for the first two rounds are as follows:

Rebecca Johnson of the Wokingham and Bracknell News
Cllr. Beth Rowland
Cllr. Annette Drake

The judges for the semi-final and final rounds are as follows:

Sally Bryant of the Wokingham Times
Ian Graham of Clifton Ingram
Donald MacDonald of the Royal Bank of Scotland

The sponsors of this year’s competition are as follows:

RBS
Classicstone Properties
Mr Bill Clark
Clifton Ingram
3M
Ticheners

We would be grateful if you could mention the sponsors in any story as they have been very generous and are the ones who make this competition for the school pupils possible. We would also appreciate media outlets encouraging as many people as possible to attend and support the students. It makes the competition much more fun if they have a good audience.

For more information please contact Carl Thomson on 020 7219 4205 or Christine Hill on 0118 962 9501

John Redwood has today written to Pat McFadden, Minister of State at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform responsible for Royal Mail, asking him to look into the sudden closure of the Post Office on Eversley Road in Arborfield and ensure that another operator will be found so postal facilities in the area can be retained.

In his letter to Pat McFadden, John wrote:

“The closure of Arborfield Post Office would cause considerable difficulties for many local residents, particularly as the recent review of postal services deemed that the London Road and Barkham Road Post Offices in the constituency are to close.

I understand that, as Arborfield does not appear on any list of Post Offices which are due to close, Royal Mail is obliged to do what it can to help maintain the same level of postal facilities in the immediate area.

I would be grateful if you could also look into this matter and see if there is any action that can be taken to protect postal services for Arborfield residents in light of the strength of feeling amongst the local community over what would be a huge inconvenience for many of my constituents”.

Speaking about the potential loss of a third Post Office in his constituency, John Redwood said:

“There is a general feeling that communities like Wokingham have borne the brunt of the Government’s sweeping closure of local Post Offices. Having already been told that we are to lose two branches, it would be unacceptable for a third one to go without serious attempts being made by Royal Mail to find an alternative operator. I want to see postal services in Wokingham strengthened and retained and will press the appropriate authorities to do so”.

John Redwood has thanked all the people who voted to make his website, www.johnredwood.com, the top ranked MP’s website as chosen by the readers of the top sixty political blogs in the UK and Total Politics magazine. John Redwood’s blog was voted the best blog produced by a Member of Parliament. The full results will be published in the “Guide to Political Blogging in the UK 2008-2009”, which is published on the 5th September.

John Redwood said: “I am pleased so many people nationwide enjoy my blog and log onto it regularly. I produce at least one daily story to keep it topical. I am setting up a seperate local issues page, and would like more people from the Wokingham and West Berkshire areas to write in with their views and issues on local matters to complement what I do on the national concerns that I deal with in Parliament”.

Many of my constituents have written to me expressing their opposition to the inclusion of Kennet Valley Park as a Strategic Development Area in the Government’s South East Plan. I have today written to the Government Office of the South East setting out my opposition to any proposals to build an estimated 7,500 homes in this area, and have highlighted my unease over the potential flood risk from building on a functional floodplain based on the Environment Agency’s interpretation of Planning Policy 25. I have also outlined my concerns about the serious problems such development would create for the road and rail network, along with other types of infrastructure. I have told them that this Wildlife Heritage Site, which contains designated wildlife areas of locally and internationally recognised importance, should be protected and an investigation carried out to determine whether there has been any contamination of the land, as was recently reported in the Newbury Weekly News.

I would urge all constituents concerned about the inclusion of Kennet Valley in the South East Plan to lobby the Government Office of the South East by writing to: The R. S. S. Team, GOSE, 1 Wilnut Tree Close, Guildford, Surrey GU1 4GA. The reference numbers H1B Greater Reading and H1B West Berkshire should be included in any correspondence.

As damaging uncertainty continues over whether or not the Government will introduce a stamp duty suspension or deferment scheme, John Redwood today called on Gordon Brown to use government powers to suspend Home Information Packs (HIPs) to help boost the beleaguered housing market.

Twelve months on from their introduction, there is growing evidence that HIPs deter speculative sellers, increase transaction costs, discourage sellers from changing estate agent and reduce the number of housing transactions – all compounding the economic downturn.

Ministers have powers to introduce a HIPs holiday now. When the Government pushed the Home Information Pack laws through Parliament in 2004, it slipped in a last minute concession to allow a government to suspend any or all of the HIP laws. Parliament does not need to be sitting for such a power to be used.

Five ways HIPs are harming the housing market:

1. HIPs discourage speculative sellers from putting their homes on the market and act as a barrier to entry; this restricts housing supply and so reduces the number of net housing transactions.

2. By duplicating the need for searches and not providing reliable information, HIPs increase transaction costs, increasing the net cost of moving home.

3. HIPs reduce market responsiveness, by discouraging people from changing estate agent if their house does not sell – as they may be asked to buy a new HIP.

4. The searches in HIPs go ‘stale’ if a house is left unsold for too long, increasing transaction costs in a slow market, and acting as a further deterrent to would-be sellers.

5. If the seller has opted for a so-called ‘free HIP’ – a deferred payment option – they will be hit with a fee if they want to change estate agent, on top of the cost of any new HIP with their new agent.

The Government has ignored warnings of harm to the economy from HIPS. Research by independent experts, Oxford Economic Forecasting, warned back in 2006 that HIPs would deter sellers and curtail the number of housing transactions by between 10% – 25%. In turn, this would cut consumer spending, reduce labour mobility and increase the medium term level of unemployment. Ministers ignored these warnings.

The Government claims that HIPs are necessary to meet an EU Directive which requires Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). Yet in Northern Ireland since the start of July 2008, such Certificates have quietly been introduced for home sales without HIPs. Whitehall’s own Better Regulation Commission has slammed the UK Government for “gold plating” the EU Directive on EPCs, and imposing “additional administrative burdens [of HIPs] without adequate justification”.

Speaking about the need for a HIPs holiday, John Redwood said: “I believe that urgent action is needed to kick start the housing market in Wokingham. The Labour Government is dithering – and their spin and speculation over stamp duty is further undermining the market by making buyers wait and see.

“Before Home Information Packs were introduced, Labour Ministers ignored warnings from experts and industry that this new red tape would harm the housing market and the economy. These warnings are coming true, but Ministers are more interesting in saving face than saving homebuyers money.

“Gordon Brown only wants to talk about housing to create a distraction from Labour leadership speculation. If he genuinely wanted to help, he would use his powers to suspend Home Information Packs straight away. A future Conservative Government will scrap this unnecessary red tape completely, but a suspension now will deliver those benefits sooner rather than later.”

John Redwood today welcomed the Government’s announcement that Wokingham Borough Council and West Berkshire Council are to receive additional funding to help develop and maintain their flood defences.

The Department for Communities and Local Government has allocated £30.6 million through its Restoration Fund to help local authorities affected by the floods of June and July 2007. West Berkshire Council is to receive a grant of £491,854 and Wokingham Borough Council is to receive £310,244. The Minister responsible for allocating these funds has said there will be no strings attached on how local authorities decide to use this money, provided it is used to address issues related to flooding in the community.

Speaking about the announcement of the awards, John Redwood said: “I welcome the £801,000 extra for Wokingham Borough Council and West Berkshire Council. It is a shame it has taken so long for this to be forthcoming, and unacceptable that almost a year after the floods there are still people who have not received the proper assurances that action has been taken to prevent a repeat of similar incidences in the future.”

“I hope both local authorities will now set out sensible schemes to help prevent future flooding. This must include a detailed breakdown of just who is responsible for each aspect of the flood defences, clearance and maintenance of the ditches and culverts, and an expansion of water capacity where this is sorely needed.”

Yesterday at a Prize Giving at a local Comprehensive School I asked the children, students and parents if they thought the prize winners had mainly won prizes because of their genes, and who their parents were, or because of the effort and the enthusiasm they had put into their studies. By a wide margin the audience told me the prize winners had done so through their own hard work. It had been a long hot evening of speeches, with many prizes. I kept my remarks short, conscious that people had homes they wanted to return to, seeing the audience had reached the point where the chairs seemed hard and the air too warm.

I said something along the following lines:

“You too can live your dreams. In this age of watching celebrity on TV, when the best performers in the world of sport, drama and song can be in our living rooms and bedrooms at the touch of a button, it is all too easy to think the successful are born with different genes. People think Johnny Wilkinson was such a good kicker of the rugby ball because he was born with that skill, or they believe Ronaldo can show poetry with a soccer ball because his parents so endowed him. They ignore the hours of practise both put in as youngsters before fame beckoned, when their friends were spending more time watching TV or engaging in a more active social life.

Somewhere in a hall like this is sitting a 15 or 16 year old who will lift a gold medal at the London Olympics. It is unlikely to be someone here tonight, because the best in the world today are so good, and make such a sacrifice. But it could be someone here tonight, if one of you really really wanted to be the best in the world at something which requires youthful muscles and hunger to be the fastest.

There may be many parents here tonight who have long given up on their dream. They may not be able to see their way past the mortgage payments and the school run. My message to you is the same. In a few years you will have no more school run. Eventually the mortgage will be repaid. Sometimes it pays to be brave, to say I am not going to just dream my dream, or let my dream fade into the cynicism of middle age – I am going to seize the moment and advance my dream. You might surprise yourself at what you can do, if you really really want to . Tomorrow you could make that first step to what you have always wanted to do – so why delay, why not start today?

If you do start to live your dream you will find in some ways it is so much better than the dream itself. Yes, there will be the rebuffs and the rejections, the days, weeks or months when it does not work. There will be times when you are not good enough, and other times when you may be good enough but others do not recognise it. There will be times when you are living your dream when it becomes a nightmare and you will wonder why you ever dreamt it. You will need to be your own best critic, constantly striving to do better and to learn more each day. If you want to be good, strive to be the best.

I always dreamt of one day representing people in Parliament. It took me 14 years to get there from the time I first became a Councillor, with many rebuffs on the way. Each time I wondered if it would be worth it. It was. Every day I walk into the magnificent Victorian building at Westminster and see our history in the murals, paintings and statues, I know it was worth it. Every time I make a speech, I am humbled by the thought of some of the great speeches that changed the nation, and inspired by the thought I too can make my contribution to our democratic traditions. Even though I am a well known critic of how Parliament is run and handled by the present government, I never doubt its importance to our liberties, and the need for those who believe to make it better. In a way the defects of the present mount a greater challenge to my generation to do something to sort it, so we can pass it on with greater lustre.

And when I manage to fit in a game of cricket and play well below the standard I would like to, I remember the great saying – my luck at sport always improves, the more I practise. You will find it difficult to live more than one dream!”

One of the many policies and aspirations of the present government that lies in tatters is its wish to see many more houses built in Britain. With an impeccable sense of timing and no sense of irony, the government chose the top of the housebuilding cycle to announce that it intended the building industry to step up from around 180,000 new homes a year to 240,000. With all the certainty of the old Communist regimes announcing their tractor production targets, Minister told us solemnly that another 3 million homes will be built by 2020. The policy was to be pushed through by the construction of numerous “eco” towns on greenfields, coupled with brownfield redevelopment, town cramming and back garden building. Doubtless Ministers would like to force too many new homes on us here in Wokingham, without making the money available to build the schools, roads and drainage systems they would need.

All of this looks absurd when you see the reality of the Credit Crunch. The first thing the government did to “help” implement its policy was to nationalise the most aggressive of the mortgage banks, and then stop it undertaking new lending! The Bank of England and the government failed to keep markets liquid enough, so credit dried up at many of the smaller lenders, and the larger banks all had to rein in their lending and raise new capital. As a result in the first quarter of this year only 32,000 new homes were started – an annual rate of a mere 130,000 if the first quarter’s activity levels can be sustained, or little more than half the government’s ambition.

At the same time the government decided it needed to speed up the granting of planning permissions for major projects. It has chosen to do so by legislating to set up a new quango to become involved in these decisions. In our recent debate on the subject Ministers were themselves unable to confirm it would be quicker to wait for the new quango if you want a major planning permission, whilst the Opposition pledged to abolish it and pointed out it was likely to delay matters with judicial review of decisions a distinct possibility.

Regional government – unelected, expensive and much disliked – is currently dividing up these top down government targets for more housebuilding. It is playing the part of a faithful retainer in this process of illusion – instructing Councils to make land and planning permissions available on a huge scale, as if the industry wanted to build all these homes, or people could borrow the money to buy them. I look forward to a Conservative manifesto pledging to abolish both these hated regional governments and the silly housing targets they generate. Planning applications should be considered on their merits by the local authority involved. If a company or a landowner wishes to gain a permission which greatly enhances the value of their land, they should make it worth while for the local community and the people who will be adversely affected by the development. They should not be able to rely on unelected regional officials, on Chief Executives of Councils keen to do the government’s bidding to advance their own careers, and on the idiotically optimistic government view of how many houses people can afford to build and buy.

I was pleased to hear Shadow Spokesmen sharing my view that top down targets, regional control and over optimistic plans are a bad idea. The planning system at the moment suits no-one. Developers think in better economic times they cannot get the planning permissions they want, whilst most people feel the system fails to take their views seriously and fails to protect communities against unwanted development or to provide the additional facilities needed to make a housing estate part of a thriving community.

So what should Councils about the pressures from the top to identify more greenfields to be bulldozed? They should argue, remonstrate and use every clause in the long manual to slow things down.It’s time for masterly inactivity. There is no need to identify new sites at the moment. This system cannot last. There is no need for more planning permissions this year, as the housebuilding industry is going through extremely difficult times. Land values are going to fall. There is too much land with planning permission around for current needs. Leading housebuilders need to sell land and finished houses to pay off some debt. The government is in a world of its own. The problem today is not a shortage of planning permissions, but a shortage of mortgages and people to buy the homes.

John Redwood has welcomed the findings of the Pitt Review, published today. He is pleased to note that his urging for clarity of responsibility among the relevant authorities is a central tenet of the report’s recommendations. The report proposes a framework, overseen by the Environment Agency, in which all responsibilities are clearly mapped out on a local level. Mr Redwood very much hopes that this will, finally, translate into some action on the ground, ensuring the gully clearance and capacity increases that are needed to avoid risking a repeat of last July.

Having submitted concerns to the review regarding the planning process, John Redwood also welcomes the report’s emphasis on the need either to implement properly, or strengthen, existing planning legislation, in order to reduce the flood risks posed by new building developments.

He is concerned, however, that the lack of urgency in producing the final report will also characterise the implementation of its recommendations.

Speaking today, John Redwood said: “It has taken more than a year for the government to come up with a report, chronicling the obvious failures of the authorities’ responses to floods last year. Meanwhile some people are still not back in their homes one year on, and many still face the threat of floods if we have more heavy rainfall. It is vital that the government accept the main thrust of this report, and get on with accepting responsibility to carry out the works needed and to make the planning decisions that are required, to prevent so much flooding of people’s homes in the future.”