Rural life
We live in a society divided by a range of different issues.
Whether it is Rich V Poor, Black V White or Muslim V Jew, both Government and opposition have set up community cohesion committees, Neighbourhood Renewal Units, Urban Regeneration groups etc. But the one division for which there has been little help is the growing divide between Urban life and Rural life.
Yes, there have been Rural task forces, and rural reports, and there is even a Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. But the very fact a department for rural affairs has to exist merely serves to reinforce the impression that rural life is forgotten in the affairs of Westminster.
As more and more people work and live in the sprawling urban conurbations of our cities and towns we need to see Government work harder to bring about a new understanding that what it does it does in the name of all its citizens, and that in the day-to-day running of Government, rural affairs will not play second fiddle to urban life. There are a great many constituencies, up and down the country, that spread across both urban and rural areas and we need to see them returning members to Parliament who can bring their practical experiences of what works to the heart of Government. They need to return Conservative MP's whose voice will be heard and not Lib Dems who voices are drowned by their lack of influence.
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"But the one division for which there has been little help is the growing divide between Urban life and Rural life."
I do not know in what sense you mean this divide to be, but speaking on behalf of the rural population this suits many just fine! Why should we be presurised into being being more urban when we like our rural life very much. It is horrible when councils begin their "improvement schemes" in rural villages building masive estates of social and normal housing. Many small villages in Somerset are hardly recognisable as villages anymore and are fast becoming sprawling towns. True villages are becoming very rare.
Small villages have a nice sense of community, and suit those that don't like the hussle and bussle of towns, we enjoy the peace and quiet and love our natural suroundings, we want them to stay just that natural! Why must councils insist on grabbing every spare bit of farmland and covering it up in concrete. Every minority seems to have rights but what about the rights of rural people who don't want to live in a built up place? Who enjoy living in small communities and want to live along side the natural world. This right or choice, is slowly but surely being taken away as villages become larger and larger and farmland is sold off to developers. We already know that the government plans to build a large proportion of the three million houses needed on Green belt land. I am so worried about this as I dread to think what the impact of this will be on rural places. I hope that if this really needs to be done they concentrate this building on brownfield sites within towns or on the grean belt areas on the outskirts of existing towns rather than masacre our villages and wildlife anymore then they already have.
I entirely agree with all that you have said.
I think my concern is that too often the views of the rural community are ignored in Government and this breeds a sense of resentment in the country. The Housing example is a very good one. The current Government has set a target to build another town the size of Yeovil in South Somerset, to meet their government targets. Fortunately the current recession has probably knocked that on the head. But the point is we all want our children to grow up and be able to be housed but citizens want to feel they are part of how that is planned and not lectured and told like naughty children, that you get what you are given, where the Government wants to put it.
The simple fact is that I believe the days of Government directing the citizen to do what the Government wants have got to end - people resent that way of doing things. If Government wants to do things it has to learn to bring people with them and work hard to convince them that it is the right thing to do. The recent example fo Gordon Brown doing little to help the British people understand why we are fighting in Afghanistan is another good one.
You have my vote! It is really refreshing to see mps and potential conservative mps taking the side of local people (under dogs) in these planning issues as you have done in hinton st george and liam fox has done with the Bristol airport expansion which I think is madness from a transport but most importantly an environmental point of view. While I recognise the need for future planning and affordable housing, it has to be done with careful common sense.
I believe that expanding existing towns is less destructive to the environment as these areas tend to be less wildlife rich then rural areas, also most people live in towns because they are not particularly bothered by peace and quiet or living in a small community. They like the hussle and bussle and enjoy having facilities on their doorstep, I know this because my grandparents chose to live in the town for this exact reason. Towns are also better equiped to cope with large housing estates due to having better transport links, jobs and other facilities.
Please continue to help protect our rural villages from bad development. Our villages are the envy of the world but are constantly targeted by developers who want to make a fast buck.
Thanks for this.
I agree with you whole heartedly but given the numbers of houses that the Government want us to build I am not sure even the towns can cope. Whatever else, destroying villages is not the way of doing things.
I agree Emma we need to protect the quiet villages, I think it looks horrid when they build a new modern looking housing estate and cram in as many houses as possible on a postage stamp. It's a shame that they can't be more 'in keeping' with the current housing styles rather than taking their design from legoland.
I think one thing I am noticing more with the towns (Crewkerne, Yeovil etc) is quite a few of the empty shops. Crewkerne is a busy place esp with Waitrose there now but still there are a number of shops that lay empty or are being hosted as a charity shop (Yes we give to charity but I do think they can look a bit tatty sometimes if that is all the shopping you get) It is a shame that an empty shop can't be used for something a bit more interesting. Or better still find a way to help small companies to be able to come back. There are a lot of people here but with no shops then a lot of people just pass through.
What is particularly worrying now are proposals that seem to be about that we start to infill with houses on the green spaces between the towns and the villages. If we are not careful the countryside will become one urban sprawl and we need to prevent that.
You keep blabbering on Kevin about protecting our area but you're not from our area (or anywhere remotely similar) and I get the impression that you know little about the area as in all your above replies the only place you specifically refer to is Yeovil. In your last reply to Debs' comments about empty shops in Crewkerne you have absolutely nothing to say on this issue and simply return to the seperate issue of housing on greenfield sites. Is there a reason for this? How well do you know Crewkerne town centre? How many shops are standing empty in your London suburb?
Sophie, please do not insult me.
This constituency is called Yeovil and for that reason it is often the case that I am referring to the whole constituency when using that name. I would like to rename the constituency South Somerset but that is for after the election.
I know this constituency very well as I rent a home in Somerset and have spent nearly three years working here two days a week at no cost to you. My parents live here.
David Laws did not come from this area until he inherited the seat from Paddy Ashdown.
We will see more shops in Crewkerne when we elect a Conservative Government who can get out economy moving again.
Sorry, my comments were not a question just simply pointing out that it would be nice to have something a bit better for the future. Everyone one keeps on taking about jobs, jobs tax etc but DC seems to be the only one that mentioned helping companies with corp tax (I believe - I may be wrong I don't know all the inns and outs of it). If there are no companies then there are no jobs. simples. If he can help small companies then it will fill up the shops again. There is money in Crewkerne, Waitrose is doing really well - better than they thought. The cafe at no7 always seems packed. It just seems that small companies find the rent too much and the result is empty shops.
I am not from here, but I moved here ...it took us a year to sell our house.. just like Kevin is trying to do. This place is now our home, I am sure with his parents living here that he would want to be close to them. I don't know why this is a point that is always brought up?
Sorry, my comments were not a question just simply pointing out that it would be nice to have something a bit better for the future. Everyone one keeps on taking about jobs, jobs tax etc but DC seems to be the only one that mentioned helping companies with corp tax (I believe - I may be wrong I don't know all the inns and outs of it). If there are no companies then there are no jobs. simples. If he can help small companies then it will fill up the shops again. There is money in Crewkerne, Waitrose is doing really well - better than they thought. The cafe at no7 always seems packed. It just seems that small companies find the rent too much and the result is empty shops.
I am not from here, but I moved here ...it took us a year to sell our house.. just like Kevin is trying to do. This place is now our home, I am sure with his parents living here that he would want to be close to them. I don't know why this is a point that is always brought up?