NEW GUIDANCE FOR HOUSES OF MULTIPLE OCCUPATION

Members of the council’s Planning Committee have approved new guidelines which aim to prevent unacceptable concentrations of Houses in Multiple Occupation across Thanet.

At their meeting last night (Wednesday 19 February) members agreed that although applications would still be considered on their individual merits, they would give special attention to applications that would result in more than 10% of HMOs within a 100 metre radius.

The approach has been introduced following concerns raised by local people around the number of houses being used, or proposed for use, as multiple occupancy student accommodation close to the University Campus at Broadstairs.

Cabinet Member for Planning, Cllr David Green, wanted to see clearer guidelines introduced when determining whether HMOs are approved. He said: “I’ve raised the issue at Planning Committee because it’s clear that local people are concerned. The current guidelines are open to quite wide interpretation. We need to be sure that we can legitimately consider whether approving a new HMO is ultimately right for the local community.

“These new guidelines will ensure that we can objectively assess whether approving a new HMO would constitute an unacceptable concentration and potentially detrimentally impact upon the character of the area.

“We’re keen to get the balance right here. We support the local University and want to ensure there are facilities in place to support the further education of our young people, but this needs to be done in a way that complements the local community.”

The guidance has been introduced as an interim measure and will be replaced by the district’s new Local Plan once approved.

The new policy will not impact on the Cliftonville West Renewal Area where a restrictive approach is already applied to prevent high concentrations of HMOs.

TDC

David Cameron’s so-called ‘moral crusade’ on welfare has been a disaster - Reeves

Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, responding to David Cameron’s claims that his welfare changes have given people ‘hope’, said:

 

"David Cameron’s so-called ‘moral crusade’ on welfare has been a disaster.

 

"There’s nothing moral about working people paying more and disabled people being hit hardest.

 

"Under David Cameron’s government, for the first time more people in poverty are in work than out of work. More than two thirds of the people hit by the one per cent cap on working age benefits and tax credits have a job. The Bedroom Tax has hit hundreds of thousands of disabled people and their carers, and the number of young people on unemployment benefit for over a year has doubled since 2010. Meanwhile, the Government’s flagship welfare reform, Universal Credit, has cost an astonishing £225,000 per person using it. No wonder David Cameron has presided over a tenfold rise in people relying on food banks.

 

"This Tory-led Government’s welfare reforms have penalised, rather than helped, those doing the right thing. The idea that disabled people hit by the Bedroom Tax, young people desperate for a job but stuck on benefits, and working families struggling to survive on low pay have been given ‘hope’ by David Cameron is preposterous.

 

"A Labour government will introduce a compulsory jobs guarantee to ensure those that can work do so, strengthen the minimum wage and scrap the hated Bedroom Tax."

 

Ten facts you need to know about David Cameron’s “moral crusade”:

 

1.   Two thirds of the 660,000 people hit by David Cameron’s hated “bedroom tax” are disabled (1), and 60,000 are carers (2)

 

2.    The number of young people left on unemployment benefits for over a year has doubled since the election (3)  

 

3.    The number of adults left on unemployment benefits for over two years has quadrupled since the election (4)

 

4.    Millions have been wasted on David Cameron’s flagship welfare reform Universal Credit, with £225,000 spent for every person receiving it at the end of last year (5)

  

5.   Child poverty is set to rise by 400,000 under David Cameron’s government, and 900,000 by the end of the decade (6)

 

6.   Women have been hit twice as hard as men by changes to benefits and tax credits under David Cameron’s government (7)

 

7.   More than 500,000 people were referred to food banks for emergency help between April and December last year – more than ten times as many as in 2009-10 (8). The Trussell Trust have cited benefit delays and measures such as the bedroom tax as key causes, along with rising in-work poverty (9)

 

8.  For the first time since relevant records began more households living in poverty are in work than out of work (10). 68 per cent of the people hit by David Cameron’s one per cent cap on working age benefits and tax credits are working (11)

 

9.  Changes to rules on working tax credits have left some families with children better off out of work (12) and cuts to childcare support mean that families have lost up to £1,500 a year (13)

 

10.  The number of people who want to work full time but can only get a part time job has risen by 350,000 under this government (14) and the number of people earning less than a living wage has risen from 3.6 million in 2010 to 4.8 million in 2012 (15) and is now more than 5 million (16)

LABOUR PARTY

Labour to reverse Cameron’s tax cut for people earning over £150,000 to get deficit down in a fairer way, Ed Balls announces

The next Labour government will reverse David Cameron and George Osborne’s tax cut for people earning over £150,000 for the next Parliament to help get the deficit down more fairly, Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls announced today.

 

In a speech to the Fabian Society Annual Conference, Ed Balls said that fairer deficit reduction meant that the top rate of tax would need to be raised from 45p back to 50p.

 

Ed Balls also announced a binding fiscal commitment that the next Labour government will balance the books, deliver a surplus on the current budget and get the national debt falling in the next Parliament

 

Latest figures from HMRC show that people earning over £150,000 paid almost £10 billion more in tax in the three years when the 50p top rate introduced by Labour was in place, then was estimated when the government conducted its assessment of the tax rate in 2012.

 

As part of plans for a fairer tax system that backs ordinary working people, Ed Balls said that Labour also wanted to introduce a lower 10p starting rate of tax to help make work pay and cut taxes for 24 million working people on middle and lower incomes.

 

In his speech, Ed Balls said:

 

"We will make changes to create a fairer tax system. So we will crack down on tax avoidance, scrap the shares for rights scheme and reverse the tax cut for hedge funds.

 

"We want a lower 10p starting rate of tax, which would help make work pay and cut taxes for 24 million people on middle and lower incomes.

 

"And today I want to go further, to ensure that those with the broadest shoulders bear a fairer share of the burden.

 

"The latest figures show that those earning over £150,000 paid almost £10 billion more in tax in the three years when the 50p top rate of tax was in place than when the government conducted its assessment of the tax back in 2012.

 

"And when the deficit is still high, when tough times are now set to last well into the next parliament, when for ordinary families their real incomes are falling and taxes have risen, it cannot be right for David Cameron and George Osborne to have chosen to give the richest people in the country a huge tax cut.

 

"That’s why for the next parliament the next Labour government will reverse this government’s top rate tax cut, so we can finish the job of getting the deficit down and do it fairly.

 

"For the next Parliament, we will restore the 50p top rate of tax for those earning over £150,000. Reversing this unfair tax cut for the richest one per cent of people in the country. And cutting the deficit in a fairer way."

LABOUR PARTY

COUNCIL TAX FREEZE FOR THANET

The leadership of Thanet District Council is to recommend freezing Council Tax for a fourth consecutive year, despite a further significant reduction in its formula grant from central government.

The council’s Cabinet will consider the 2014/15 budget proposals when it meets next week (Tuesday 21 January at 7pm).

It is expected to propose no increase in residents’ bills once again, despite having to find an additional £850k to offset the loss of income from former Ramsgate ferry operator Transeuropa. 

Overall the council has identified £1.2m of savings to reduce its net revenue budget requirement from £19.3m in the current year to £17.9m in 2014/15. Almost £400k of this reduction has come from tasking managers to save 20 per cent of their budgets for items like printing, stationery and equipment purchase, with another £100k from contract savings.

Cllr Rick Everitt, Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “I am delighted that despite the acute financial pressures on the council, we are in a position to make no increase in Council Tax for a fourth year running.

“We recognise that most residents are still feeling the pinch financially and we have been determined not to add to their problems. 

“Equally important, I am confident local people will notice no reduction in front-line services as a result of this budget. 

“Council staff at all levels have made their share of sacrifices to keep costs down and this also needs to be noted with our appreciation.”

The likely standstill means that the Thanet District Council element of bills for a band D household will remain at £209.97 a year and the council will benefit from a government freeze grant of £80k, equivalent to a 1% rise in Council Tax.

A final decision on TDC’s Council Tax will be taken by Full Council at its meeting on Thursday 6 February. The council last increased its share of residents’ bills in 2010.

However, the amount residents pay in Council Tax overall could still increase, depending on decisions reached by Kent County Council and the other precepting authorities, including the Isle’s towns and parishes.

Thanet District Council collects Council Tax on behalf of other authorities. Its share is only 14% of the overall bill. The rest is split between Kent County Council (71%), The Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent (10%), Kent Fire and Rescue Service (5%), and the town and parish councils or charter trustees.

TDC PRESS RELEASE

Prince’s Trust study should be a wake-up call for this complacent Government on youth unemployment - Rachel Reeves

1. Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, responding to research by the Prince’s Trust on the effects of youth unemployment, said:
   
   ”The Prince’s Trust study should be a wake-up call for this complacent Government which is failing to tackle youth unemployment.
   "With youth unemployment at worryingly high levels this is no recovery for those young people who are facing a cost-of-living crisis and risk being locked out of earning their way to a better standard of living in the longer term.

   "Labour would act to tackle youth unemployment with a compulsory jobs guarantee, funded by repeating the tax on bank bonuses. This would guarantee real paid work for young people unemployed for a year.”

   
   

   LABOUR PARTY

HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR

FROM THE TDC LABOUR GROUP

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE OF THANKS

From:

Cllr Clive Hart

Thanet District Council Leader.

It's Christmas and looking back over the year, there are a lot of people to thank for keeping our district going through what have been very difficult times indeed.

I have to start by thanking Thanet's residents - every one of you. In 2013 government led austerity started to bite 'big time' for local people. The response from our residents has been second to none and I am very proud indeed to represent such a strong and resilient local population. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank all our residents involved in the recently introduced Thanet waste and refuse recycling scheme. Your patience, help and understanding has helped TDC to increase our recycling rates from 23% to almost 50% in just the first few weeks.

I also wish to thank our TDC staff who work tirelessley day in - day out, often behind the scenes, delivering a wide range of services and schemes that support local residents. They often work under enormous pressure and I cannot thank them enough for their sterling efforts in times when we in local government are being so unfairly 'squeezed' by the current coalition government.  

Newcomers regularly comment on the huge number of resident and community groups we have here in Thanet and it really has been a pleasure to work with so many, on a wide range of projects and schemes across the island in 2013. These organisations are the backbone of the district and are increasingly becoming some of the council's key partners.

Local businesses are also clearly key partners and forging even closer links with them has been a priority for us this year. The Chairman and I started a rolling programme of business visits during 2013 that will continue next year, we now have a memorandum of understanding with the Thanet and East Kent Chamber and we are developing similarly close working relationships with the Federation of Small Business.

I can't begin to cover everyone we work with at TDC but I do finally have to give a special word of thanks to our local emergency services. I've had to call on their assistance for both council, personal and domestic reasons during 2013 and their help and support has been absolutely priceless.

Merry Christmas - it's onwards and upwards for 2014!

Cllr Clive Hart - TDC Leader.