Simon Galton

Not my professional thing anymore... but did I just hear Nadine Dorries tell @BBCWorldatOne that Harborough MP Neil O'Brien would be among Tory MPs welcome in Reform UK?

Tory leadership at Leicestershire county council only put their bid in to cancel May’s elections in order to scrap the Boroughs & districts & create a super sized Unitary authority the evening before deadline. Government shouldn’t be accepting such last minute slapdash requests

Disappointing to see acting Leader of Leicestershire County Council has declared the County Council in favour of single Unitary authority & therefore abolition of all the Boroughs & Districts in Leicestershire. The Lib Dem opposition at County will oppose this centralisation

@CllrPhilKing What if you are wrong? As you know the policy team @harborough are going through the NPPF with a fine tooth comb and will advise on the impact for the District ASAP. Why not let them do their job? I would rather put my trust in them to get it right.

Mandatory housing target for #Harborough district has been increased to 723 per year, despite record growth of 2976 homes between 2020-23= 210% of the current housing delivey target requirement of 534pa.

Running late isn't an excuse to break the rules. Plan ahead and give yourself plenty of time to arrive safely.

Its not clear if these figures include the 30% uplift for mayoral authorities? If not Leicester City's figure will be a lot higher and they still won't be able to meet the Government's mandatory target.

This is the defeated Conservative MP for Yeovil ⬇️ x.com/MarcusFysh/sta…

By-election RESULT Barry Walker (LD) – 1,496 Maddie Lee (Con) – 880 Jamie Ross (Lab) – 401 Rhiannon Carter (Grn) - 138 Barry Walker is elected as County Councillor for the Burbage Division

BREAKING: Tories on course for a worse result at general election than John Major's defeat in 1997, new Yougov MRP poll finds Labour poised to take 403 seats, Tories reduced to 155. Starmer expected to get 154 majority The result is *worse* for the Tories than the last MRP Yougov conducted in January 11 Cabinet ministers face losing their seats: Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Grant Shapps, Mark Harper, Alex Chalk, Michelle Donelan, Simon Hart, Victoria Prentis, Johnny Mercer, Michael Tomlinson, David TC Davies Labour 403 Con 155 LD 49 SNP 19 Plaid 4 Greens 1 Lab 41% Con 24% Lib Dems 12% Greens 7% Reform 12% SNP 3% Others 1% thetimes.co.uk/article/tory-p…

Utterly saddened by this. Generations grew up with this man's original, infectious and laugh-out-loud radio. Thank you for inspiring so many Steve! RIP

We are holding a public drop-in event tomorrow, sharing more about proposals & options for the new Local Plan in #Harborough district. 🙌Please pop in to the Community Hub in #Scraptoft anytime between 3.30pm - 7.30pm tomorrow, Wednesday 31 Jan'24 👉harborough.gov.uk/new-local-plan

It remains to be seen how much @LeicsCountyHall will get bearing in mind it is the worst funded County Council in England under this Government. Given this why did some Leics MPs not sign the letter pressing for extra money?

This is simply a weak and feeble plan from a government that has dragged it's heels on the sewage scandal for too long.  It's welcome the Minister has finally ended the farce of self-monitoring, that we have have long called for, but the truth is you have to follow the money.

NEW: The Conservatives have picked the partner of disgraced ex-MP Peter Bone as their by-election candidate to replace him in Wellingborough.

All opposition political parties should be shouting from the rooftops about the dire financial situation that local councils find themselves in. They provide absolutely crucial services and support initiatives that enrich hundreds of thousands of lives.

@CllrFinan @aliciakearns @rejecthoughton @hfmnews And they have chosen to ignore the Kings Counsel's advice on how to protect the district against unplanned speculative development as happened under the Conservative led council between 2013 and 2019

@aliciakearns @rejecthoughton @hfmnews @SimonGalton Fourth - the quantity of housing built is determined by your colleagues in the government and finally - the NPPF guidance released by Michael Gove prior to XMas points out that councils who do not enter into a duty to cooperate will be punished! So Alicia - what did HDC do wrong?

Full investigation to be carried out into flooding across Harborough as MP calls for meeting with authorities: harboroughfm.co.uk/probe-to-be-la…

@rejecthoughton Please see my piece on facebook which explains that changes to the planning system mean we have to progress a new local plan now to stay in control of planning decisions. All Leics districts want to get their plans approved under the current system. facebook.com/www.simongalto…

@SimonGalton Thank you for sharing - regarding FAQs, cooperation does not compel and it is not clear how HDC is assured that City has taken all reasonable steps to fulfil its allocation. It appears that it is easier for the City to transfer its obligation rather than deliver it.

@rejecthoughton yes the decision was taken just before Christmas. By pressing ahead with a new local plan we can base it at 2020 and count the overprovision of nearly 2000 houses. This will mean lower numbers going forward. We took king's Counsel's advice that I can send you.

@rejecthoughton Sadly the MPs have chosen to ignore the Kings Counsel's advice obtained by HDC which is essential reading to understand the Government's planning guidance and how Council's will be punished if they ignore it! The KC's advice is published on this page.

@SimonGalton Be keen to see the advice - to understand how accepting the city quota results in lower targets in absolute terms.

@rejecthoughton cmis.harborough.gov.uk/cmis5/Document…