Secretary of State answers the public's December 2014 #AskPickles questions
18 December 2014
On Tuesday 16 December the Communities and Local Government Committee held its annual #AskPickles session with Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
Click on the links below to see Mr Pickles' answers to particular questions.
Subject areas
Planning
- What help is there for small villages with no local plan under threat of development? Don’t say neighbourhood plans (@CathBM)
- Should councils be advising communities not to bother with a Neighbourhood Plan as it will be overruled by the presumption? (@SwantonClerk)
- What challenges do you see local authorities having to deal with when handling applications for fracking? (@RUKGEmmaG)
- From a number of questioners: What impact are your interventions on wind farms having on the development of renewable energy?
Funding of local services
- With tight budgets how can non-statutory but essential services such as parks be adequately protected? (@FreeRangeAdult)
- What in your opinion are the ‘essential’ services that local government should provide? (@onlybobhere)
- Will you act on the NAO report to analyse the impact of cuts on the delivery of statutory services? (@AscnNE_Councils)
Local Democracy
- What happened to electronic distribution of council agendas? (@simonghill @Gary_xiv @ADSO_UK)
- Why do councils not have an obligation to engage formally with young people through youth councils? (@JamesCainMYP)
- What will the Government do to encourage more people to stand for local councils? Is engagement good enough? (@TotnesTCouncil)
- How effective do you think local government scrutiny is? How could it be made more effective? (@Foamy606)
Local government finance
- Why are councils cutting staff but not red tape and waste? (@Joeyfoff71)
- Will the Government publish an analysis of the cumulative impact of funding reductions since 2010-11? (@AscnNE_Councils)
- Will you address the financial pressures facing children’s services from a 40% cut in funding since 2009? (@AscnNE_Councils)
- Should local authorities prioritise investment in their procurement depts to increase SME engagement? (@fmbuilders)
Devolution and localism
- Why has the creation of new unitary councils been blocked? (@shrop52)
- Why does local government here have such limited control over taxation compared other countries? (@peckersley)
- Is devolving resources and powers to unaccountable LEPs a threat to local democracy? (@SimonBowens)
Local government management/standards
- After clamping down on ‘propaganda’ freesheets, what about councils using social media in a similar way? (@RochdaleOnline)
- What evidence is there that the new standards regime has been successful? (@TotnesTCouncil)
- Are you concerned about the levels of low pay in local government and the large numbers of council employees working below the living wage? (@MikeShort8)
House building and housing markets
- What’s the solution where affordable housing is unaffordable even for those earning above the minimum wage? (@JenniferLine32)
- Compulsory purchase powers are being used for private development. Shouldn’t they be used for affordable housing too? (@bshf)
- Is the Government doing enough in its commitment to facilitate community-build and self-build housing? (@UKCohousing)
- Why shouldn’t developers have to contribute to affordable housing, even on small developments? (@southdownsvg)
- Community-led housing epitomises localism. Why are there so many hoops to jump through? (@JenniferLine32)
Other topics
- From a number of questioners: Do you support councils being given tougher powers to deal with pavement parking?
- With virtually no redeployment opportunities surely firefighters failing fitness tests will lose their jobs? (@fbunational)
- Should people be punished for leaving wheelie bins out on the street after they’ve been emptied? (@Plantzzman)
- Will you improve litter enforcement? (@binwars)
- Why can’t councils make their own Traffic Orders for simple changes like car parking or speed limits? (@CllrWhitehead)
And finally...
- What is your biggest regret after almost five years as Secretary of State? (@DanatTheMJ)
- Is it fair for you to be demanding savings from councils given the size of your dept’s limousine budget? (@gareth0108)
- If you were given a role in a Christmas show, which would you like?
About this session
Between 2 and 8 December the Committee asked the public and those with an interest in local government to tweet questions for Members to put to Eric Pickles using the #AskPickles hashtag. Following the success of the last #AskPickles session in January 2014, the Committee wanted to give those interested and involved in local government another chance to put a question to the Secretary of State.
The headings outline the broad areas of questioning covered; the links correspond to the relevant point of the #AskPickles recording. The questions listed are either those that were asked directly to the Secretary of State or examples of the kinds of questions that inspired the Committee’s lines of questioning. Time restrictions limited the number of subjects that the Committee was able to address.