This week I supported a Private Members Bill which seeks a change in the law to prevent rogue developers and to stop those that do break the rules from profiting from their illegal developments.
While most people adhere to the rules, the impact of rogue development on our communities can be devastating. Currently developers can continue to use and profit from activities that are in breach of planning rules and to make repeated applications after the event. This can result in long, complicated cases which see illegal developers profiting while neighbours suffer. This Bill would help protect our residents and our natural environment by preventing retrospective applications and creating a national database for planning enforcement action, giving local authorities the tools for the first time to track those who repeatedly breach planning rules.
On Monday and Tuesday in Westminster I supported an historic plan for adult social care that will protect individuals and families against unpredictable and potentially catastrophic care costs. From October 2023, no eligible person starting adult social care ever will have to pay more than £86,000 for personal care over their lifetime. Previously there was no limit, which has seen far too many people lose their whole life savings and assets to pay for their social care.
Once again, there have been many misleading reports in the media. What has changed is that people will now be allowed to keep more of their own assets and the taxpayer funded state will pick up the bulk of the cost. The new system is not perfect but crucially, everybody will be better off under the system we are proposing than the current one.
Finally, having recently joined the Arundel Town litter pick, I welcomed a new consultation of how to replace on commonly littered single-use plastic items such as some wet wipes or ketchup sachets. The disposable plastic cups, knives, forks and spoons that many of us throw away every day often find their way into roadsides, fields, landfills or even our rivers and oceans where they can harm wildlife or pollute delicate environments. The consultation asks members of the public for their ideas on how we can replace these things with sustainable alternatives that do the job just as well.
As the Government’s Net Zero Ambassador I speak with businesses every day about the steps they are taking limit their unsustainable waste – including small local firms, such as the Pulborough Flower Shop, who exchanged their reservoirs with biodegradable alternatives. We are all each other’s keeper on the environment, and I hope that readers will consider contributing their own ideas to me.
