Thursday last week saw a plethora of different elections across the UK and among these polls was a referendum in St Ives. Local folk voted by 83% to 17% in favour of a policy to ban the building of new second homes. Faced with a housing market described as ‘financial cleansing’ of the locals, that’sContinueContinue reading “Thou Shalt Not”
Tag Archives: Devon
Gearing Up
Surveyoris the magazine for highways and transport professionals. This month’s issue is headlined ‘Return of the Regions’ and opens to reveal an editorial by Dominic Browne, and more besides. The editorial starts as follows:“In January of this year the Department for Transport (DfT) launched a small (by government standards) pilot competition for local authorities toContinueContinue reading “Gearing Up”
The Value of Difference
We recently reiterated that regionalisation doesn’t stop just because the ruling parties at Westminster have an ideological blindspot about it. Budgetary pressures are forcing all the emergency services to think about sharing work to spread the burden. The ambulance service is now fully regionalised, apart from the Isle of Wight. Fire brigade mergers are allContinueContinue reading “The Value of Difference”
I See No Ships
Horatio Nelson is often misquoted as saying these words; relying on the London media might leave you equally in the dark about the ways in which the governance of Wessex is changing. On Friday, the Coalition announced yet more devolution to Wales. An extensive package in fact, even though, as Plaid Cymru have noted, itContinueContinue reading “I See No Ships”
Lesser Lands?: A Postscript
“Universal peace will be impossible, so long as the present centralised states exist. We must desire their destruction in order that, on the ruins of these forced unions organised from above by right of authority and conquest, there may arise free unions organised from below by the free federations of localities into provinces, of provincesContinueContinue reading “Lesser Lands?: A Postscript”
Kleptocracy UK
The MP for Maidenhead made a very interesting speech this weekend. Theresa May set out what some observers perceive to be her stall in a future contest for the Tory leadership. (Sad isn’t it, that the chatter is about what British politics can do for her career and not what she can do for British politics?)ContinueContinue reading “Kleptocracy UK”
Devon’s Difference
Racial purity is a fancy term for in-breeding. Those who like that sort of thing will carry on doing it. And those who don’t, won’t. In a free society, politicians shouldn’t normally be that bothered either way.Genetics becomes politicised when it is used to bolster or attack treasured historic identities. Such identities should be strongContinueContinue reading “Devon’s Difference”
Whose Trains?
A report last month in the Western Boring Views informs us that both Cornwall and Devon County Councils may be looking to take over from Whitehall the supervision of local rail services in their areas. All worthily localist, of course. Whether that approach works elsewhere depends on how good the fit is between railway geographyContinueContinue reading “Whose Trains?”
The Campaign for Real Constituencies
Followers of this blog will know that we have consistently opposed the Coalition’s efforts to force all Parliamentary constituencies to be the same size, along with all of the nonsense this will mean on the spot. County boundaries respected since the first ‘knights of the shire’ attended the first Parliaments over 700 years ago areContinueContinue reading “The Campaign for Real Constituencies”
Tackling the Taboos
“There are those who say the system is broke. It’s not. That’s how it was built. It is there to make rich people richer.” Bilbo GoranssonIn parts of Wessex, second homes are an epidemic. In the coastal communities of south Devon, including towns such as Salcombe, second homes and holiday lets now account for overContinueContinue reading “Tackling the Taboos”
Wessex Regionalists 