WE HAVE a number of important local elections facing us, our local elections and the referendum on our membership of the EU.

We all want outcomes that meet the best interests of ourselves, our families and our communities.

To make the best decisions we need to know the facts, and be confident in our choices.

Unfortunately political interests often mask the truths and we are disheartened in our democracy.

I am a local parish councillor, and involved with the development of our Neighbourhood Plan, an opportunity to draft a vision for the best possible future in the face of rapid housing development in a parish with little services to support it.

Knowing a little about this process I was disappointed to read Neil Carmichael’s recent newsletter – Reforming Local Government – which I felt was misleading.

Neil states: “Unfortunately, the existing Labour-led administration based in the rather grand Ebley Mill failed to produce a plan in a timely manner.

"This left many communities totally exposed to the machinations of unscrupulous developers, chiefly because, without a plan, the ultimate recourse was to rely on the appeal process rather than local community decision making.”

As I am aware, Stroud district is the ONLY district in Gloucestershire with an adopted plan! And four out of the five yet to produce a plan are Conservative-led districts.

I believe the Stroud local plan was a long time coming because it was done as a consultative exercise and SDC did its best to keep housing numbers at a level it felt could be reasonably accommodated.

Despite having a district Local Plan or even an adopted Neighbourhood Plan does not prevent any developer from going to appeal.

We don’t need to look beyond our district for examples of development potentially outside Local Plan allocations – Chestnut Park in Kingswood is a very controversial example.

And in our parish of Brimscombe and Thrupp we have a greenfield site that has been refused planning by the district – it falls outside the settlement boundary but it has gone to appeal despite overwhelming local opposition.

Neil also says: “To make sure local people are involved in often contestable decisions in local planning, the Coalition Government put the responsibility of formulating and agreeing a local plan firmly in the hands of local councillors.”

However all Local Plans have to conform to and are largely imposed by a national (Conservative) Government that favours housing development.

There is little room for community involvement and we are seeing evidence that adopted plans do not have the teeth to support the vision of development they portray.

SDC is not entirely Labour, it is also Green and Lib Dem, and works to try and meet the needs of all interests.

Whilst frustrating, it does a pretty good job. I have heard this from people who work with district councils all over the UK.

Neil concludes: “We need councillors with a capacity to plan strategically, behave transparently and properly prioritise local interests.”

Neil has on every occasion voted on national party lines, which, by the nature of the electorate represents less than half of local interests.

I appreciate in politics we may have different ideals, however, for the sake of public confidence, we need to have integrity, be transparent and tell the truth.

The local elections are an opportunity to transcend political ideology, glimpse through the mist of rhetoric and oppositional politics, and vote for good people who demonstrate a genuine interest in the welfare of their local community.

A group of people able to work together at Ebley Mill, restored for purpose and reflecting a positive approach to development in the district.

Greg Pilley

Parish councillor

Brimscombe and Thrupp Parish