No-sooner has the Conservative Party been returned to power, then The Independent(11th June) is 
reporting attempts to fast track test drilling for shale gas by dropping the requirement for public
consultations when issuing drilling permits.

The Liberal Party is opposed to any restrictions on the rights of individual communities to meaningful
consultation over fracking franchise in their geographical area.

As discussed at the Liberal Parties Party Assembly in 2013, we remain unconvinced of the economic
benefits of fracking, and remain concerned at the potential for environmental damage.

Our national addiction to 'cheap' energy means that we seem willing to despoil out own countryside with
no concern for the long-term consequences for the environment, as further emphasised by the
reported discovery of oil in the vicinity of Gatwick and prospective drilling off the Isle of Wight.

Our country relies heavily on ground water sources and bore holes which supply drinking water to the
general public with no guaranteed way of preventing contamination by the cocktail of chemicals injected
into the ground to flush out shale gas.

As popular support ebbs away for fracking, the government instead seems determined to press ahead
with a deaf ear to public opinion.

Recent weeks has seen the undignified and ugly face of European migration, with the virtual siege of the channel tunnel complex in France by waves of migrants seeking a better life in our country.


The Sangatte refugee camps, with their third world poverty have been a fixture of the French side of the channel for some time, as both the French and British authorities have simply washed their hands of their responsibilities and hoped the problem would simply go away.

These men and a few women, most with barely the clothes on the backs and pitiful few possessions, have now reached such a sustained level that regional governments are now publically falling out with each other over their treatment.

These people have little if anything to offer to European economies and job markets, yet they appear to be caught up in some sort of migration frenzy. One does have to ask to what extent global communications and globalisation has convinced people from other continent’s to attempt a vast human migration in search of some fabled garden of Eden.

No doubt regional conflict, economic hardship and unreasonable expectations about employment in Western Europe have all played a part in this mass movement of humanity.

There is no possibility on Gods earth of holding back this tidal wave of humanity with fences, teargas and batons and the reality is that the only practical solution for the UK and French governments is to detain, registration, accommodate and then swift repatriation to their homelands of those deemed economic migrants. And all this will have to be done at the tax payer’s expense.

Anything less will simply been a rejection of our humanitarian duty.

Recent weeks have seen a series of senior police officers telling the general public nationally that changing police priorities now mean that we no-longer expect a proper response to such bread and butter policing issues as attempted burglaries if you live in an odd numbered home or have a missing person to report.


Such a high handed approach simply confirms the long held suspicion that the Police would rather not have to deal with the more mundane issues of everyday society, and the public in general and would rather be chasing terrorist and other nebulous criminals in cyberspace.

No one can argue that Police budgets haven’t been disproportionately cut in the name of austerity, perhaps in the region of 20%, with further deep cuts forecast, but this no excuse for abandoning the basic provision of community policing we all justly expect.

Thames Valley Police chief constable Francis Habgood is quoted as saying in a BBC interview that the general public will now have to deal with “lower level crime”. This instead risks exposing the general public to the vagaries of the law when the authorities already takes a dim view of people taking the law into their own hands when defending their own homes and property.

It also says much about senior police officers regard for their local Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), that they and not our elected representatives are now dictating priorities again. This is the direct opposite of what we had been lead to believe our elected representatives would be doing, that is localising policing priorities to address local needs.

Stephen Graham
Newbury Liberal Party(Organiser)

***********************************************************************************
This letter was printed in the local media and was followed by a promptly printed reply from the Thames Valley PCC himself listing the various % cuts in types of crime set against cuts to police budgets which had been achieved whilst he had been in elected office.

Visiting the Thatcham Nature Discovery centre most recently, I was disappointed, but not at all surprised, to see two of the Solar powered parking meters recently installed in the parking areas.


Having obviously failed to generate enough voluntary 3 pound ‘donations’ in recent years, and following a recent leaflet drop, BBOWT now appear to have resorted to peer pressure to bolster revenues.

Presumably if you are not displaying a ticket, you are a bad citizen, and need to be shamed into contributing to what should be a resource freely accessible to all. A recent report by English Nature highlighted cost as a major factor restricting access to the countryside, particularly for minority groups

Even before the management of the site transferred to BBOWT, I was left with the impression that elements of West Berkshire Council saw the on-going funding of the service as an inconvenient cost, one to be dropped at the first opportunity.

As a former resident of the Newbury area, I actually recent being asked to make further contributions to a facility I indirectly contributed to via my council tax over the years, but after years of unjustified cuts to public services, pay to use is now becoming a reality.

The biggest shame is that this country actually possesses the wealth to properly funded local services, but the Conservative Party are the last people likely to promote any form of modest wealth redistribution to the benefit of all not least Land Value Taxation.

*************************************
I never submitted this one as it was taken over by events and blanket coverage in the local media 
after local parish councils objected to the signs. I did post the same text on the local bird watching forum which elicited the following response:

I think you will find the "Pay and Display" machines are in fact voluntary donation posts and will have notices attached making this clear[which the parish councils objected to - SG]. There was a substantial article about this in this weeks Newbury Weekly News. I see no reason why those who are not members of the Wildlife Trust should be asked to contribute towards the facilities they are using. If you go to any other organisation such as the RSPB or WWT or other Wildlife Trust reserves non members usually have to either pay for parking or pay an admission fee. Sad as it is these organsiations don't run on fresh air!

I read with interest the Newbury Weekly front page story(27th August)
detailing the anonymous West Berkshire councillors who have reportedly
been summoned to court  over council tax arrears.

A similar story line was run in Reading a couple of years ago as I
remember, in which case the offending councillors were actually named.

In fact all these headline stories nicely illustrate is the
difficulties many ordinary people have with what is probably their
largest monthly household bill after their rent or mortgage.

Council Tax is a regressive tax in that those in the lower bands
actually pay proportionally more than those in the higher bands as a
percentage of a home’s value.

The Liberal Party believes that both the regressive nature of the tax
should be revised, and Council Tax should be continuously banded so
that mansion owners and owners of more expensive properties pay more
without any need for a mansion tax.

Ultimately we believe that a properly implemented Land Value Tax would
adequate fund local services, although it has the one drawback in that
it redistributes the income from land rather than redistributing the
ownership of land.

Local taxation in the form of a Council Tax makes local politicians
accountable to the electorate for their decisions; unfortunately they
are no more or less likely than any other person to fall prey to its
financial demand.

Stephen Graham
Newbury Liberal Party(Organiser)

I have taken the liberty of uploading the NEC Press release
issued in March 2014 in relation to the unfolding crisis in the Crimea.

************************************************
Meeting on Saturday The Liberal Party National Executive noted with
grave concern, the increased tensions and provocations which have
emerged in the Ukraine and the Crimean peninsular .

We call upon both national and regional leaders to do all in their
powers to defuse tensions, and allow the rule of law to take its
course both in regard to the   legitimate government of the
Ukraine and the impending referendum on Crimean ties to the Ukraine.

We also recognise the historic ties and strategic role of the Crimea
to Russia and urge all parties to allow the people of The Crimea to
be allowed to determine their future without duress, just as the
people of the Ukraine aspirations be respected.

We likewise urge the Western Powers do nothing to inflame tensions
and divisions within the Ukraine.

Released by
Cllr Steve Radford
President of he Liberal Party

Over the 5 years I have been with the Liberal Party I have submitted a regular stream of letters to both the local and national media.

Over the coming days and weeks I am intending to progressively upload all the drafts I have, which cover a wide range of local and national issues, and which should provide a rich source of inspiration to others.

Although I have had good success locally, I have never had a letter published nationally, and with the demise of two Reading centric titles, the Reading Post and Get Reading, my options locally are now rather limited.

Thanks

Stephen

The Liberal Party wishes to share its heart felt sympathies with the people of France after the recent terrorist attacks in Paris.

Islamic extremism is a phenomenon of today. It has little to do with the Islamic religion, and more to do with the complex rivalries and intolerances of a region fuelled by outside interventions.

These people are certainly not represtantive of the religion they allegedly stand for. History is punctuated by episodes of violence in the name of religion and hate and violence can only lead to more hate and violence.

The Middle Easts problems will not be solved by further foreign military intervention, but by complex negotiations and bridge building under the obsesses of a recognised international instituation such as the UN.

Stephen Graham
NEC member

This was the original policy discussion document, which in turn was used for an Assembly motion in October 2015.

I have uploaded it here as it contains a lot of information for a better understanding of the housing market.

Stephen

****************************************************************************************

As the first in a series of policy discussion's, I'd like to start with a highly topical issue, that of the countries housing shortage, highlighting some of its causes, obsticles and potential solutions.

To meet an ever increasing demand for new homes, driven largely by demographic changes originating in an ageing population and more people wishing to live on their own, along with the natural retirement of older stock, we really need to be building over 225000 new homes annually in this country.

As a nation we haven't built a sustainable number of homes annualy for decades, the pre-recession high was 183000 and after recovering to 110000 in the period 2010 & 2011, it declined in 2012, before recovering again with an estimate of 89000 in the first 3 quarters of 2014.

The government has proposed building 100000 affordable homes, but this is a one off plan, when what we need is this number year on year almost indefinitely. Having failed to build a sustainable number of houses for so long, we have in fact built up a housing deficit of 1.5 millions homes which also needs to be taken into account.

It should be pointed out early on that there are in excess of 900000 empty homes in this coutry, but getting these back onto the market has provide almost imposisble, and doing so would have a major impact on the volume of new housing needed to meet our domestic needs.

The first issue is where should the new housing  be built, both on a regional and national basis. The economic boiler house of the south east is crying out for affordible homes for essential worker, but there is also demand across the nation, a proportion of which will be social housing, and not for working households.

I was unable to establish what proportion of new builds are 1, 2, or more bedrooms in size, although anindotal evidence potints to a steady decrease in 3 bedroom, but an increase in 4 or more. Parlimentary select committee's have frequently referred to a 35% target of affordible housing, which I take to be 1 or 2 bedroom.

As Liberals we value local decision making, but successive governments have seen local opposition to planning applications as an annoying inconvenience and made change to the process which give a presumption of approval, leaving communities with limited grounds to object to over-developments, infilling and the creation of conurbations.

It isn't being a NIMBY to object to thousands of home being paracheted into your neighbourthood, such as Enborne in the Nebwury area, or the Kennet Valley south of Reading, when concerns over access, transport, schools and GP surgeries has been brushed aside in the haste to submit the planning application.

The previous Labour governments flagship strategy was the South East Plan, 640000 homes in the South East by 2026, which saw counties allocated seeminly arbitary housing quotas, and obliging fast track public enquiries with limited scope to reject often unimaginative housing developments.

In any case having worked in the building trade its very likely the economy will find it impossible to sustain a domestic building program of this size without resorting to importing building materials from abroad. There were brick shortages during the last 'boom' and the cement industry has been seriously demished since the recession.

Then there is the issue of skilled labour. Despite the best endeavours of the construction industry to increase training, it will struggle to find enough workers as much of the workforce is transient, with people moving in and out of the industry, often never returning after a relativly short period of participation.

The obsticles to developing a national housing policy aggreeable to all are many, but a balanced approach to new build and restoration, a mimum 35% afforidible housing and the stimulation of regional development to take the pressure out of the south east all contribute to a sustaiable policy.

In the final analys though, a houseing policy doesn't need to be complicated. In the simplest form people just want somewhere affordible to live which they can call call home, and within a short travelling distance to work.

An area of policy which I haven't seen a significant amount of comment on in our party is our relationship, both economically and personal, with the banking sector.

Banks have been transformed in recent decades, and after the crash of 2007-08 this is now belatedly being seen as not having been for the better. Embolden banks knowing they were 'Too Big to Fail' indulged in the much maligned casino banking, venturing into area's of complex trading that required the employment of physicists and mathematicians.

Funding for business both big and small, has taken on a secondary importance, the later finding is increasingly difficult to find vital funding. This is even when central government has directed banks to dispense state assistance such as the Funding for Lending(FfL)scheme.

A recent article in The Economist suggested that banks in fact now do over 60% of their business in relation to mortgages, and that business banking is now a stagnant area of activity. Large business have been driven into the bond markets, which by their very nature are only suited to the largest corporate borrows. and completed unsuited for small businesses.

In fact banks have seemingly adopted a cut off our noses to spit our faces mentality towards regulators and customers. Told to bolster reserves to mitigate future shocks, they have almost deliberately cut lending and closed off lines of credit to struggling businesses knowing full well that by doing so, they would choke off the economic activity we need to expand our post-recession economy.

What we need is a fresh appreciation of the banking sectors rule in our society. I would assert that banks should function in their simplest form as the providers of finance and expertise to fund the creation of new business, stimulate economic activity, creating prosperity and employment.

To return to this simpler model will mean a major change of mind set not just for bankers, but also politicians, businesses and ordinary customers. Banks will no-longer be allowed to treat customers, both business and personal, solely as a source of profits, and must be whiling to re-invest in the wider economy and society in general and on a longer time-scale.

As Liberals we wish to intervene as seldom as possible in economic activity, but the banking sector will need to be guided into a more responsible mode of operations. The financial industry in general has for decades been lorded as the high alter of Mammon, where greed was good, and this mindset is no-longer socially acceptable.

One alternative option for business funding has been the creation of a national investment bank. Indeed we do have British business bank PLC, a state-owned economic development bank established by the Coalition government as originally announced in 2012.This has now received over 1.25billion pounds of funding to assist the small business sector with funds and expertise.

As much as this move must be applauded, it can also be seen as a realisation that conventional banks are no-longer able or willing to help business, when they simply have to, whether they want to or not.

As we have already painfully seen a banking sector which is not receptive to the wider needs of the economy has been detrimental to the health of this country, long-term economic prosperity and a burden on the tax payer.