Now the County Council elections are behind us my next big milestone is the General Election. I was the  candidate in the 2005 election in Bognor Regis and Littlehampton and was successfully re-selected in December 2006 as the Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the next General Election. As well as carrying out my duties as a local councillor I will now be knocking on doors regularly throughout the constituency as well as challenging the 2 established parties on a range of issues.

Unlike the other main parties the Liberal Democrats were visible at the door canvassing and leafleting regularly. The anger out there over MPs expenses was very evident. I would say at an educated guess that 1in3 doors I knocked wanted to raise the issue with me. I was able to defend my own position as a local councillor on the basis that whilst I claim my basic and responsibility allowances I have not for some years claimed for petrol expenses or running costs towards my car. That message went down well with local electors who realised I was in politics to serve the community.

Whilst I aspire to be elected to Westminster I have no intention of joining the gravy train that currently exists. In my view they have got away with it for too long and in many cases especially on claiming for mortgages that do not exist I believe they should be prosecuted for fraud. Our own MP Nick Gibb has this week published his expenses in the Bognor Regis Observer. It will be interesting to see what reaction there is in next weeks letter page.

The Liberal Democrats have taken a strong robust stance on this pushing for the whole system to be shaken up from top to bottom. Nick Clegg has published a timetable for change which could be achieved within 100 days and has a launched a national campaign on this issue. Further details can be found at . Why not take a look and join our campaign for a renewed political system.

www.takebackpower.org

As many of you will know I was successfully re-elected to West Sussex County Council on June 4th. I would like to thank all of you who voted for me and help me increase my majority within the County Division. The election for the Liberal Democrats was a watershed in so-far that we gained seats 5 in total across the County against a national tide that see the Conservatives do well across the country. The biggest win for us locally was the outstanding win for Paul Wells who took the Conservative safe seat of Bognor Regis West and Aldwick.

 Clearly our message on ASDA, Chalcraf Lane and Regeneration was well received by local residents.

The Chalcraft Lane area is under threat of development. It is proposed to build 2,500 houses to meet the government targets of housing in the South East. I am totally opposed to development on this site and have been working alongside our local MP  on a cross party basis to try and halt development of this site. I sincerely believe this issue is far more important than political point scoring and is a fight our community cannot afford to lose.

This development is a step too far and will damage the nature of Bersted and its community forever. The main reasons I am opposed to the development are:

·         THE ROAD NEWORK CANNOT COPE

·         THE VIABILITY OF THE SITE IS QUESTIONABLE

·         THERE IS NO MAIN EMPLOYER IN PLACE TO BRING IN NEW JOBS

·         THE SITE IS PRONE TO GROUNDWATER FLOODING

·         THE VIEWS ARE PANORAMIC AND THE LAST OF THEIR KIND IN THE AREA

·         THEY ARE NOT ADDRESSING THE INFRASTRUCTURE DEFICIT WE ALREADY HAVE

·         THIS SITE WILL NOT BENEFIT BOGNOR REGIS REGENERATION

·         NO IMPROVEMENT TO RAIL TRAVEL

I was particularly disappointed when the Conservative controlled Arun District Council turned down the planning application for a new ASDA store which would of created 500 new jobs in the town. I supported the application to go ahead and led a vigorous fight in the Council chamber to ensure that local residents views were acted upon.You have seriously been let down by the Tories. The nearest stores we have are in Havant and Brighton and I am certain this would have attracted new visitors to the Town area and helped the local economy. This short sighted attitude will do nothing to help the local economy out of recession.

With 27 days to go the the West Sussex County Council elections I have never been more up for a fight. This will no doubt be the biggest election challenge in my 18 years as a councillor. With Tory fotunes on the rise they are clearly scenting blood locally depsite the fact the word on the ground is local people are fed up with the Tory controlled District and County Councils. I will be keeping you posted here on my activity during the campaign and any breaking news during this period too.

Labour are clearly out of the race having finished a poor 5th in a local by election 5 weeks ago with less than 5% of the vote. The BNP and UKIP will no doubt declare as the elections are on the same day as the european Elections. But locally here in Bersted the contest will be between me and the Conservatives. I will be making sure that people are reminded of the most recent decisions they have made which are so unpopular with local residents.

• THEY SAID NO TO ASDA
• THEY WANT TO INCREASE COUNCILLOR ALLOWANCES
• THEY WILL NOT LISTEN ON REGENERATION
• THEY WANT TO PUT 2,500 HOUSES ON CHALCRAFT LANE
• COUNTY COUNCIL HAS INCREASED COUNCIL TAX BY 120% plus IN THE LAST 12 YEARS

LiberalDemocrat County and District Councillor Simon McDougall has joined forces with Local Conservative Member of Parliament Nick Gibb and other local councillors across the political spectrum to fight against development of 2,500 houses at Chalcraft lane. In a move that is unprecedented in this area they have agreed to fight the development on a non political basis so the community of Bersted has a very powerful voice working for them. Simon McDougall said” I am delighted to be working with Nick on this issue as I have done over the proposals for St Richard’s Hospital. Nick has called in the past for the end of yahboo politics and I have long held the belief that the Community benefits when politicians work together across the political divide. This issue is far more important than politics as the character of the whole area could be changed forever. This is a fight we can not afford to lose otherwise the begining of Bogchester will start. Our road network is not capable of taking this development and the site itself is prone to groundwater flooding during the winter months.  

The infrastructure needs for such a development are massive. New schools,doctor surgeries,dental surgeries along with major road development are the tip of the iceberg to make such a large scale development sustainable in the long term. The new Community College being built is only capable of holding a maximum of 1800 pupils. Despite me raising the issue of this development during the planning stages of the School my concerns fell on deaf ears. What’s really needed before more development is jobs for the long term and an A259 and A27 that can cope with the increase in traffic to cope with development of this site and housing proposals in Chichester. Development on this scale also highlights the need to keep St Richard’s hospital running at full capacity. 

Local Lib Dem councillor Simon McDougall has today criticised Conservative Councillors on Arun District Council of putting themselves before local residents. During the recent budget debate Simon McDougall put forward a proposal to freeze Councillors allowances for the coming financial year in recognition of the severe financial crisis that the British economy is in. Cllr McDougall said” I made the proposal after we had agreed to freeze allowances on West Sussex County Council and because in all conscience I could not accept an increase in my allowances when local residents are having such a hard time during the recession. A major part of our role is service to the community and 30% of our time is not paid to councillors in recognition of that fact. However I believe in the current circumstances we should be giving more of that time freely to meet the challenges head on we are facing our community .  

Bognor Regis Community College will benefit from a £1.5m new youth wing thanks to lottery funding on its new campus. It took Simon McDougall to highlight the fact that this vital building was absent from the original proposals.  It was Simon who put pressure on Tory-controlled West Sussex County Council to take action. He was very much the lone voice in the community calling for funding for this vital building. The Youth wing has an average attendance of 600 plus youths per month and on a Friday evening this can be as high as 130 Youths in one evening. I have been personally involved in youth matters for several years as a Management Committee Chairman and have seen at first hand the excellent work done by the Youth Service on a shoestring budget. The funding for this building will ensure a state of the art Youth Centre will be built on site by the Arena. With the high levels of deprivation in the area I am particularly pleased that my voice was heard and common sense prevailed.

Residents in Bersted,Ford and the 5 villages are facing the possibility of a 2,500 house development in their area. This is the result of land searches done by Conservative controlled Arun District Council in order to meet the 11,500 houses being forced on the District by the Labour government. The Area in question for Bersted is Chalcraft lane and the fields surrounding it in Bersted and Pagham.

These proposals are due to go out for public consultation in Mid February until the end of March. There will be many ways for residents to make their views known with public exhibitions. Public meetings, stakeholders meetings and surveys both online and paper versions.  County Councillor Simon McDougall said” I would urge all residents to make their views known about development in this area during the consultation period. The future of Bersted is at stake and it is vital you have your say on whether you want development or not. This is your opportunity to voice against development or look at ways on how proposals can best be developed for the long term interests of Bersted resident’s.”

The proposals will have a major impact on the local road infrastructure and it is questionable at this stage that the developers are going to be able to fund measures to improve the network. The government is dragging its heels in bringing forward much needed flyovers on the A27 which must be done before any development is to go ahead. The New Relief Road still to be built is only a 50 mph single carriageway and studies show this to be working at full capacity before 2026. This will almost certainly need to be dual carriageway and questions remain where the money to pay for it all is? The site itself is known to have major ground water problems, whilst not in the flood plain this area is known to saturate in winter and nobody is coming forward with solutions on how this will be overcome. Make sure Arun knows your views

At their recent one day conference in London held at the London School of Economics Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman Simon McDougall had the opportunity to talk to Nick Clegg the Leader of the Liberal Democrats. The conference theme was Social Mobility and this gave Mr McDougall the opportunity to raise issues with the party leader about the levels of deprivation and fuel poverty within Bognor Regis and Littlehampton. He also mentioned to Mr Clegg the impact the recession is having on local residents.   Mr McDougall said “The more I talk to local people the more they are telling me how worried they are for the future. Many fear losing their jobs and the risk of home repossessions. With rising bills and the failure of many high street firms and the dire trouble of the banks the recession is having a real impact in our area. I took the opportunity to tell Nick just what was happening in our area especially on the effect of low income families.” The Conference saw the launch of the independent report on Social Mobility commissioned by the Liberal Democrats and Chaired by Martin Narey Chief Executive of Barnardos and former Director General of the Prison Service. Mr McDougall said “Unlike the labour government who have just brought back Alan Milburn to head up a government taskforce the Liberal Democrats have done the work and have policies form this that will radically change the way service could be provided in the future. Every child deserves the best start in life they can get it is morally wrong that the live chances of a child is linked to the circumstances they are born into. In some areas of out Towns residents can expect to live up to 13 years less than neighbouring communities. This is a sad reflection on the Labour government and the Conservative controlled councils in our area who have constantly failed to deliver on deprivation over many years”.