Julian Sturdy

I am delighted that York City Council has refused the latest application to build a mobile phone mast on Green Belt land at the bottom of Church Lane in Huntington, thank you to everyone who joined my campaign against the proposal. However, as York City Council goes through its latest Local Development Framework proposals looking at where the City will be able to provided the 850 houses a year the Government is imposing on us, it begs the question, surely there must be a better way?   

Our green and open spaces provide a precious amenity which is important to people living in and around York. However in our area, just as all over the country, the Government is implementing binding top-down housing targets through regional plans on local authorities. These are imposing unsustainable levels of development on local communities and as a consequence are putting our green belt under threat.

An incoming Conservative Government in direct contrast to Labour’s top down approach would abolish the whole process of regional planning, scrapping regional spatial strategies and return powers to local Councils. This means the number of homes to be built would be decided locally, putting local decision making at the heart of housing policy. This would enable us to protect our green belt and open spaces, which should be treasured for future generations to come.

Following a recent meeting myself and Cllr Wiseman had with the Highways Agency regarding our campaign to improve road safety at the notorious A64 Hazelbush Crossroads, I am pleased to say that officials have agreed to look into improving safety at this accident black spot.  

Over 12 hundred people signed our petition calling on the Highways Agency to provide funding options for improving road safety at this junction. This huge amount of support from local residents enabled us to send a strong message to the Highways Agency at the meeting, that action must be taken.

The Highways Agency is now revisiting this junction once again and has already earmarked funding options for improvement work in the 2009/10 budget. We have also been lobbying York City Council to work alongside the Highways Agency to help provide improvements on the access roads that serve the A64 at this busy junction.

Local bus company First York  have announced plans to cut services. They are proposing the removal of the evening service after 7.30pm on the number 10 route (Stamford Bridge to Poppleton) which comes through Dunnington, the number 13 route (Copmanthorpe to Monks Cross) and the number 12 route (Haxby to Acomb Park).

I am very disappointed the bus company is proposing to cut some of its services for villages on the edge of York, particularly in the evening. People living in these villages without direct access to a car rely heavily on these services to get them in and out of York and will be isolated after 7.30pm. If we are to persuade people to use public transport on a more regular basis to cut down on the ever increasing traffic congestion, it is essential to provide a reliable integrated transport system that can meet everyone’s needs, cutting these services is a backward step and does nothing to help achieve this.  This week I attended the Annual Parish meeting in Dunnington, one of the villages to be directly affected by the proposed cuts. It was made perfectly clear to me the strength of feeling against the bus companies decision, these local bus services are a vital life line for rural villages like Dunnington and we must fight to keep them.

I will be meeting with First York to discuss the proposed cuts over the next few days and keep readers informed of my progress.

Following the successful campaign at the end of last year against the original proposal to construct a telecommunications mast on Green Belt land at the bottom of Church Lane, Huntington, the applicants have re-submitted the proposal. The site which is located on farm land just south of Hall Farm is on the edge of Huntington Village’s Conservation area and close to the popular public footpaths that run along side the river Foss.

I have to say that I am disappointed but not totally surprised that two months after successfully protecting our local green belt from this development, we have to do it all again. The proposed mast is completely inappropriate to this area of natural beauty on the edge of Huntington village. It would have a detrimental impact on the local amenity and green belt area used by local residents who at present enjoy the beautiful surroundings.

The application is scheduled to be determined by York City Council’s East Area Planning Committee on the 12^th March. Resident’s wishing to object to this application should respond by writing to:

The Planning Office, York City Council, 9 St Leonards Place, York, YO1 7ET

Quoting Planning Application Reference 09/00143/FUL

William Hague has launched a ‘Commission on Transport in the North’ to help shape the future transport policies of a Conservative Government for our region. Mr Hague was joined by the Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers at the event held in Leeds.

I was also attending to raise the issues of York’s transport infrastructure which has been ignored for far too long. I am delighted as a born and bred Yorkshire man that yet again the Conservative Party is showing it’s long term commitment to our region by launching this Commission. It has been set up to listen to people’s views on the transport challenges for our area. Everyone is invited to have their say, so please put your views forward, the Commission wants to hear from you. The Commission’s website which can be found at www.transportinthenorth.com

The Commission’s launch followed on the back of the disappointing news that a £42 million bid for road improvements to York’s Northern Ring Road was turned down by the Regional Transport Board, which is something I raised with Theresa Villiers. As the congestion levels only get worse it is important that we continue to highlight the problems facing local residents who have to use this road on a daily basis. I will certainly be pressing to make sure that the York Northern Ring road as well as rail halts for Haxby and Strensall are high up on the Commission’s agenda.  

We had our first big campaign day of the year on Saturday, which saw just short of thirty of us go out delivering leaflets around Skelton, Rawcliffe and Clifton Without. We all met in the morning at the River Side Farm pub on the A19, before braving the cold weather and heading out leaflets in hand, then back to the pub for lunch,  for a bit of a social and the chance to warm up for a while before some more campaigning in the afternoon.

My thanks to everyone who turned up to help. It is really encouraging to see the increasing numbers of people joining our campaign for change in York Outer, as we go from strength to strength.   

Over the last few days David Cameron has outlined a number of proposals to help the country through the recession, and to provide strong foundations for a new economy fit for the twenty-first century. Amongst our new proposals; abolish income tax on savings for basic rate taxpayers and a rise in pensioners’ personal allowance by £2,000 to £11,490. You can see David Cameron set out the plans here >>

It is time to cut taxes for savers and pensioners in our region, who are the innocent victims of Labour’s recession, suffering as the income from their savings falls. Over the long term, cutting taxes on savings would help build a savings culture and end Britain’s addiction to debt.

Conservative plans:
•          Basic rate taxpayers would pay no tax at all on their income from savings, making them up to £7,200 a year better off.
•          The income tax allowance for pensioners would be increased, with age-related personal allowances rising by £2,000, helping them by up to £400 a year.
•          The package would be paid for by reducing the growth in government spending by £5 billion. Instead of rising by £30 billion next year, the increase would be £25 billion. Spending on the NHS, schools, defence and international development would all be protected.
•          An estimated 1,794,321 people across our region would benefit from these tax cuts.

Savers and pensioners are the innocent victims of Gordon Brown’s recession. They are being punished for putting aside money. We need to cut taxes for them and help turn Britain from a spend, spend, spend society into a save, save, save society.

James Clappison MP shadow employment and welfare reform minister was in York yesterday, where he accompanied me on visit to Browns department store to speak to director Nick Brown about the current state of our local economy ,and how the local retail sector has fared over the Christmas period.

Nick Brown commented “Pre-Christmas, a lot of people found margins a little more pressurised, but where we’ve had a bit of a surprise is in sales after Christmas. Whether there are more and more people asking for money for Christmas, I don’t know, but the first day this year was better than last year.” 

I was delighted that James took the time to visit York following his earlier visit to Selby. Small and medium sized businesses are the lifeblood of our economy, and under these difficult financial times it is so important that we are actively talking too these businesses to find out about their concerns and issues they have, so we are best placed to help safe guard their future and the jobs they create.

The York Press has the full story here of James Clappison visit.

Over 12 hundred people including local MP John Greenway have backed our campaign to improve road safety at the notorious Hazelbush crossroads on the A64. Local residents who share my concerns about the dangerous crossing were asked to sign a petition calling on the Highways Agency to provide funding options for improving road safety at the junction.

The support we have received for the campaign has been absolutely fantastic. This junction is the main access onto the A64 for residents of Strensall, Towthorpe and Stockton on the Forest and has been the scene of a number of accidents over the last few years. With over 12 hundred people backing our campaign we feel that the Highways Agency must act now to improve safety for motorists and local people who use this important crossroads.

There have been 17 accidents causing injuries recorded over the last three years at the junction and some residents have told me they avoid using it for fear of having an accident, it is now time for action.

John Greenway MP for Ryedale said “The Highways Agency refusal to upgrade the A64 means that we must give urgent attention to these junctions in an effort to improve road safety and the flow of traffic. The Hazelbush junction is a notoriously dangerous crossing point and the Highways Agency has previously acknowledged this. It is now time we saw some action.”

City of York Council’s East Area Planning Committee last Wednesday (17th December) turned down the planning application submitted by a mobile phone company to construct a 21 metre high telecommunication mast, along with three antennas and two transmission dishes on Green Belt land at the bottom of Church Lane Huntington. The site which is located on farm land just south of Hall Farm is on the edge of Huntington Village’s Conservation area and close to the popular public footpaths that run alongside the river Foss.

At the planning meeting which I attended with local residents, the Planning Officer reported the 82 objections I had received from residents of Huntington as well as the local Parish Council’s objection. Thankfully the committee listened to all the arguments made against the application and refused it on the grounds that the mast would be harmful to the character, appearance and visual amenity of the area, a victory for common sense. Thank you to everyone who took the time to return objections to me.