Teignbridge MP Richard Younger-Ross, has been fighter for fairer funding for schools in Devon and reform to the laws dealing with Park Homes. This week he had meetings about both.
Education Funding
My first meeting on Monday was not Parliament but in a conference hall close to the Abbey. The meeting, to look at education funding for schools, took place in a small hall in Church House adjacent the large circular hall where the Church of England holds its General Synod. So in this thoughtful setting I heard the detailed arguments of how the Government should put right a grant system that leaves Devon schools over £400 per pupil short of the average funding for schools.
This is not a new problem and the organisers of the conference F40 (a group representing 40 education authorities) came together under the last Conservative Government to campaign against the same injustice. Then the gap was smaller, but even though Labour have put more money into education the gap has still grown. Today a school in Devon receives £3,842 per pupil a year for the education, £375 less than the £4,217 average and £2500 less than paid to a London inner city school. For a school of 1,000 pupils that is £375,000 less funding than the average school receives or the equivalent of 10 teachers!
In 2003 Labour did a review of the grant system they had inherited from the Tories but little has changed as the way social deprivation was measured always meant we would lose out. After pressure from the F40 campaign and parliamentarians, the Government is undertaking a further review and the arguments put on how sparsity, rural deprivation etc should be measured are being put to the Government. There is still a long way to go and it is too early to say that we have won. So a campaign I have worked on for almost 20 years just maybe about to have some success.
Park Homes Success
A second more tangible, more personal and more immediate victory is in sight and was the reason for two other meetings on Monday. Both were with the same minister, Ian Austin, who is the new Housing Minister and responsible for Park Homes. Park Home sites developed out of caravan parks, but the dwellings are now far bigger and more sophisticated and while by definition they have to be able to be moved, they are not at all like the caravan I lived in as a child.
A Park Home resident owns the unit and pays a fee to the site owner, who they also generally buy their electricity and water from. When they sell up, the site owner will receive 10 per cent of the selling price. Now most sites work well, but there are a small number of rogue owners who are above their position. Reform of this law has been long overdue but we are now getting there. In 2004 I negotiated with the then minister, Yvette Cooper, for a set of amendments drawn up by Hilton Dawson for the All Party Park Homes Group. This was to be incorporated into the Housing Bill but these changes in the law were only minor changes and four bigger reforms were needed.
Firstly, that site owners should ‘fit and proper people’, this, the previous minister Ian Wright promised me two years ago. Consultation is now out on this and a new bill will be drafted next year. Secondly, rent and sales disputes need to go to a tribunal and not the courts. This should be law by next April. Last, Local councils need to pursue rogue owners far more than they do now and a new duty on them to monitor sites will make it harder for them to ignore problems. If they ignore serious breaches, then they may also be liable.
The first of the two meetings was a private session in the minister’s office on the 6th floor of Eland House. This was the detailed discussion on what needed to be changed and involved the minister wanting input into the proposed changes. The second was when Ian spoke to the All Party Park Homes Group. He listened to the problems MPs constituents faced and caught outlines on how some of their problems may be resolved. Changes are coming.
Surgeries
Monday, November 9: The Manor House, Old Town Street, Dawlish.
9am-9.45am
Friday, November 13: Abbotskerswell Village Hall. 5.30pm-6.15pm
Tuesday, November 17: Courtenay Centre, Kingsteignton Road, Newton Abbot. 9.30am-10.15am
See all of Richard Younger-Ross’s columns on the PRSD
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When Richard Younger Ross’s Party supports an extension of the current unfair system, how does he propose to do anything on this issue?
This education campaign sounds all a tad to familiar. May I congratulate Richard in following in the footsteps of his Conservative Opponent.
Remember Richard Younger Ross will tell you whatever he thinks you want to hear because he knows you’ll never give him your vote if you see his true colour.