Edward Davey MP - Published articles

Informer Article..

Well done, Surbiton. Our Thames riverbank saved from developers – well, almost.

As usual, the full story is more complex. But it looks good for our local environment. Let me explain.

Thames Water plc wanted to build blocks of luxury flats on old filter beds by Surbiton’s riverbank, facing Hampton Court Park.

Residents, environmentalists, English Heritage and a host of other organisations fought a three-year campaign against this development.

We all agreed: Surbiton has had plenty of development; we didn’t need more, especially on this unique piece of land. The site’s environmental importance was such that we had to fight.

So we had petitions and public meetings. A Residents’ Alliance was formed, with a few determined volunteers. We even got the BBC to make a documentary, with yours truly as the not-so-objective journalist!

The legal planning process took an age, culminating in a special inquiry with a Government Inspector last December. The developers had top lawyers, but the Council and residents prepared well: after two weeks of inquiry, we had nine months of waiting.

But what a result! Our environmental arguments won! No building in the filter beds, though permission at the Elmbridge end - the reasonable compromise the Residents’ Alliance ourselves suggested.

Moreover, the Government’s provisional ruling goes further than the Inspector’s recommendations. The Secretary of State thinks the site deserves even more protection. John Prescott proposes outright rejection of the developers’ application and tough conditions on any future plan for the site’s less controversial end.

However, this is not the end. The Government’s ruling will not be finalised for some months. Even then, the developers could, in theory, appeal to the Courts.

So we’re still working, though now quietly confident. I’ve just written to the Chief Executive of Thames Water, suggesting his firm accepts the inevitable, works with us, so the whole community determines the site’s future.

Why can’t we have a nature reserve, say, and new public access to the river bank?

We may soon witness the most important victory for the Borough’s environment for decades.

If we do, future generations will owe a huge debt to the residents, council officers and campaigners who worked so hard to win it.

Pensions up by 75p!

Informer Article..

The Commons returned to work this week. Though the summer recess may seem too long, for me it’s my most productive time: without Parliament’s distractions and committees, I get far more done for constituents.

I spoke on the first day back. In a debate on the Office for National Statistics (ONS). That may sound dull, but the figures the ONS produces are crucial for us all.

Take pensions. The annual increase pensioners get is linked to September’s inflation rate. The ONS measured this year’s figure at just 1.1%. So next April the basic state pension will rise by the princely sum of 75p a week.

It will be a scandal if pensioners only get that tiny rise. A closer examination shows just how unfair it would be.

The measure of inflation used to up-rate pensions is the Retail Price Index (RPI). Yet for most pensioners the RPI includes irrelevant things, such as mortgage repayments. However, the ONS produces a figure stripping out mortgage costs – "underlying inflation". This was higher than RPI in September, at 2.1%, and would have meant higher pension rises.

So who decides which statistic is used? An independent panel? The Office for National Statistics? No, the Chancellor.

In the debate I backed a Commons committee’s call for the power to decide "the scope and definition of the Retail Prices Index" to be taken from the Chancellor. Ministers weren’t keen.

They also weren’t keen for the more independent Office for National Statistics to produce a number of key statistics rather than Ministers’ own departments.

To understand Ministers’ reluctance, look at education spending.

Ministers say there’s an extra £19 billion for education. Great? Not when it’s divided by the 3 years it covers and inflation is taken out.

The independent Institute of Fiscal Studies has shown that the average annual share of the nation’s income going to education will be smaller in this Parliament than the last. Education needs an extra £12 billion in the next 2 years just to match the last Parliament’s record!

In an era of sound-bites and spin doctors we need our statisticians to have more independence and protection. This was an important debate to start off the new Commons’ year.

Industrial action on the trains

Informer Article..

Do you use the train? I do. Most days, from Surbiton to Waterloo.

Like me, regular train users will be fed up with the recent spate of cancellations and delays.

It’s annoyed me so much that I raised it at my latest quarterly meeting with the top management of South West Trains (SWT).

Apparently it’s due to industrial action by some train drivers. It’s received little publicity because it’s unofficial action - opposed by ASLEF, the trade union.

Here’s the story.

ASLEF and SWT agreed to reduce gradually "free day working" – i.e., overtime. Such a reduction is good for safety and means drivers can receive a higher basic salary. However, a number of drivers don’t want to see overtime frequency reduced. And are on unofficial action to protest.

The union has acted responsibly and written to these drivers, pointing out they are acting illegally. But a damaging stand-off looks set to continue.

I made it clear to SWT how disruptive these delays were for constituents and urged them to resolve the dispute as quickly as possible. But I gave them and ASLEF my full backing in fighting this illegal action.

My message to drivers engaged in this disruption is simple: you are damaging the railway industry and the public. Don’t let this drag on for weeks. End it now.

But there is some good news. Lower train fares next year!

You see, poor punctuality and reliability of SWT can’t just be explained by recent cancellations. Last year’s overall performance was below target. So they’re to be punished by fare cuts next year.

SWT know they have to improve their performance. Let’s hope the small number of disruptive drivers get the message.

How big are the reductions? Well, it’s complex, but regulated fares, including most commuter tickets, are set to fall by an average of 3.7% next year. Unregulated fares will increase slightly, but the overall average increase will be below inflation, at 0.6%.

That stands in stark contrast to Labour’s outrageous increases in tube and bus fares, of 7% and 43% respectively. If tube and bus prices were based on the performance of London’s tube under Labour, they wouldn’t be on the up, they’d be plummeting!

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