Busy Week For New Waveney District Councillor
DAVID BEAVAN SPEAKS TO LIB DEM BRIGHTON CONFERENCE & VOTES AGAINST THE ST FELIX SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PLANS
It was a busy week for new Lib Dem Councillor David Beavan. On Monday he summated an amendment to the Party's debate at the Brighton Conference on Affordable Homes and raised the issue for which he has campaigned long and hard -the closure of the tax loophole on second homes. On Tuesday he was back in the Waveney Council Chamber to speak up against the plans for the St Felix School site in Reydon, near Southwold and add his support to the Campaign Group RAGE who are attempting to stop the sale of school land to allow 69 houses to be built.
IN HIS SPEECH TO A PACKED BRIGHTON CONFERENCE ON MONDAY, DAVID SAID:
"I live in the best place in England. The sun comes to us first every morning, before all the rest of you.We have a little harbour to buy fresh fish, a massive common to walk the dog, a thriving arts community, quaint architecture and a rugby team that beat Norwich on Saturday. We have 2 main industries - a brewery making beer and pubs drinking it.
For centuries we have welcomed visitors from the smoke. We live in Southwold on the Suffolk coast. But, like the Shires in Tolkein's Hobbit, a dark cloud hangs over us
In the last 20 years, our population has halved, We have lost our hospital, two pubs, our police and fire stations. 60% of our houses are second homes. I will say that again - 6 out of 10 houses are not lived in - empty most of the time.
Our young families cannot afford to stay here - the lifeboat crew live inland. Empty, gaunt towers of new holiday homes now stalk our skyline.
To cap it all we have found out that a third of these second home owners pay no council tax or rates, losing us half a million pounds every year. They can register as a holiday let, even though they don't let at all, and then claim 100% small business rate relief. People are buying houses and leaving them empty. Unlike our traditional visitors, they care nothing for the town - only their profit when they sell.
Well us hobbits are now revolting. We have bought our own hospital site back from the NHS, to save our library.
We are banning new holiday homes in our neighbourhood plan. We have a parliamentary petition to close the rates loophole, backed by national and local papers.
Best of all, in July. We won a council by-election from the entrenched Conservatives with 71% of the vote. I am the first Lib Dem councillor on Waveney for ten years. The fight back has begun.
Like many small communities around the country from Cornwall, Devon, the Cotswolds, the Lake District. Northumberland & Norfolk, we need your help to stop the spread of second homes before they kill off our communities.
Conference, this amendment will give councils the power to limit holiday homes and make others pay their fair share, and I urge you to support it".
To loud cheers and applause from a packed Brighton Conference Centre, David added: " To the Conservative government, I say this. Don't claim there is no money for vital services while you fail to collect these rates. Don't dare claim to be a one nation party until you abolish this loophole which means that people with two or more homes are subsidised by those with one home or none. Thank you".
(David's speech is reported in full)
ON TUESDAY DAVID WAS BACK IN LOWESTOFT TO ADD HIS VOICE TO THE ST FELIX SCHOOL PLANS:
Waveney District councillors passed the next stage of the plans by a single vote, by six votes to five going against issues raised by campaigners.
Saint Felix School, applied for outline planning permission for the homes to enable the sale of the land to proceed.
Campaigners and councillors highlighted the fact the new playing fields will be on grounds already used for athletic activities, concerns over affordable housing turning into second homes. and safety issues.
The decision was branded by Southwold and Reydon district councillor David Beavan, who has campaigned against second homes in the area, as "wrong".
David Beavan said: "I am extremely disappointed and I don't see any benefit to houses we can't afford and a swimming pool we can't use. It isn't nimbyism, it is the wrong time, the wrong place, and the wrong decision."
RAGE, a 160 members strong campaign group has been lobbying against the proposal said: "We were disappointed by the result on St Felix but it is not the end of the road. The planning officers and the Planning Committee have got the law wrong and if or when tonight's decision is formally confirmed we expect to go to court for a judicial review."
Acknowledgement to Conor.Matchett@archant.co.uk - East Anglian Daily Times 19th September 2018.
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