Crispin Blunt

Conservative Party | Reigate

Letter published in Surrey Mirror

The Editor
Surrey Mirror

14th September 2004

 

Sir,

Samuel Townend, Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Reigate should be congratulated on the energy with which he is defending the Government in Reigate.  I remember performing a similar role in West Bromwich in the early 1990s .  I would be surprised if Mr Townend does not become an MP in due course. As the Conservative PPC I will be doing my best to ensure it is not for Reigate.  His latest letter published by the Surrey Mirror contains some flawed analysis, dubious point scoring and a perfectly sensible suggestion to begin a Surestart scheme in Merstham . 

I profoundly disagree with his analysis about the responsibility for local areas of deprivation.  We have these areas of deprivation largely because of the action of government.  In Preston three councils have nomination rights to properties that are outside their council area. This has given them an opportunity to move problem families away from their own area and has created an artificial concentration in a small area.  Unsurprisingly this has created particular challenges for everyone in Preston.  The results of this, as your leader recognised, are being energetically addressed by all the responsible public authorities, notably the Borough, the County and the police.  But let us be in no doubt, the cause is not neglect by public authorities, it is the unintended consequence of government policy.

In Merstham we would not today build a large estate of public authority housing.  Its design addressed the challenges of its day, but socially and economically mixed communities are now recognised as much more likely to avoid future problems.  I saw evidence of this first hand during my time on the Commons Environment Committee.  Huge investments in public housing have been ineffective because the communities created were not self-sustaining.  New developments such as Poundbury, famous nationally, and locally Netherne seem to offer a much better prospect for new housing schemes.

However if there is a Labour government scheme that can help people locally, plainly we should seek to take advantage of it.  Reigate taxpayers are paying for a very large number of these schemes in other parts of the country. 

Surestart is a central government funded scheme to be administered primarily by the local education authority in areas of deprivation to provide increased childcare and support to parents.  Whilst I believe this top down approach to public administration is totally wrong, with Ministers in Whitehall effectively deciding which childcare schemes should be provided in Merstham, it is the way in which the country is currently run.  Mr Townend’s assistance in bringing some return to local people in return for the enormous increase in taxation is welcome.  I support his idea as does the leader of the Borough Council. 

I hope in the best tradition of local politics Samuel Townend and I can unite in the interests of local people, whilst we will profoundly disagree on the merits of the system his Party has imposed on us.        

Yours sincerely,

Crispin Blunt MP