Gloucestershire housing targets 'putting councils under pressure'
House building in Gloucestershire is increasing but councils in the county are concerned the government's targets are too ambitious.Earlier this year the government released proposed housing targets for each local council in England to meet as part of their pledge to build 1.5 million homes by the end of the parliament.But councils such as the Cotswolds and Stroud have found it difficult to find places for new properties."The reality is the planning landscape has changed significantly," said Juliet Layton, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning at Cotswold District Council.
Recently the Hunts Grove phase four on the outskirts of Gloucester was approved, adding 620 homes to more than 1,000 already there.In Tewkesbury and Cheltenham more than 4,000 homes have been approved at Elms Park.Elsewhere, between Sharpness and Berkeley, outline planning permission is being sought for 2,750 homes.The plans also include a primary, secondary school and a railway station.
The Labour MP for Stroud, Dr Simon Opher, said the planning process "simply takes too long in this country". "I think it's essential we build houses for young people and young families in this area, because there's a real lack of housing and that has all sorts of repercussions," he added. "Local people are having to move out of the area, whereas they want to work and stay in the area."Dr Opher has been speaking with government transport bosses around improvements to junction 14 of the M5, which has been cited as one of several issues holding up the approval of Stroud District Council's local plan. "The area that can be developed is limited because we've got the flood plain of the Severn on one side and the area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the other," he added. "This has taken so long to do this. Four or five years of waiting for housing developments, when local people are desperate for new houses to move in to."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
The gold-plated pensions costing taxpayers £400m a year
Taxpayers are spending more than £400m a year on gold-plated pensions for just 10,600 judges, new analysis shows. The average member of the Judicial Pension Scheme now receives £37,000 in pension contributions for each year of work, before being handed almost £40,000 a year in retirement. They have built up £4.5bn in taxpayer-funded pension entitlements, but pay up to 7pc towards the cost of their retirements. The figures come despite major reforms to public sector pensions in 2015 after rising costs pushed the Government to act. The Taxpayers' Alliance said judges should be moved into defined contribution schemes, while the Intergenerational Foundation said the 'profligate pension promises' would be funded by young people. There were 10,578 members of the Judicial Pension Scheme at the end of 2023-24, according to a Freedom of Information request made by The Telegraph. Judicial salaries ranged from £106,563 to £312,510 during the year, according to the Ministry of Justice. As public sector workers, they are entitled to guaranteed, inflation-linked pensions for life. The scheme's 6,162 working judges paid in 4.1pc of their salary on average. As their employer, the Ministry of Justice then added another 51.1pc at a cost of £229m. The required employer contribution increased to 62.6pc from April last year to keep pace with the rising costs of the scheme, but the amount paid in by employees has remained the same. Before 2012, judges did not have to contribute to their personal pensions and only paid towards benefits for their dependants. The scheme's pension payouts are also more generous than other key public sector schemes, with retirees receiving £39,400 on average – costing taxpayers another £180m a year, taking the total bill to £409m. By comparison, the average pension was around £16,600 for teachers and £12,300 for Armed Forces personnel, falling to £11,400 for NHS workers and £9,900 for retired civil servants. Liz Emerson, of the Intergenerational Foundation, said: 'Younger generations can only dream of similar pensions, but they will end up paying for these profligate promises via higher taxation, later retirements and lower pensions themselves. 'At the very least, the Government should levy National Insurance contributions on annual pensions that are higher than the average earnings of working-age adults.' Public sector pensions already cost the UK £54.3bn a year, despite being moved away from final salary schemes in 2015 amid fears they had become unaffordable. Payments are now based on a worker's average earnings, but the final salary entitlement for existing members was extended to 2022 after a legal challenge from members of the judicial and firefighters' pension schemes. Under the new system, judges have 2.5pc of their salary added to their pension each year, which is more than teachers, civil servants, NHS workers and Armed Forces personnel. John O'Connell, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: ' Public sector pensions are extraordinarily generous with employer contributions, often outstripping those in the private sector. 'But what makes them particularly generous is the fact that they are gold-plated schemes, not based on the value of a pension pot, but on the average earnings of the employee, meaning they get topped up above and beyond what has already been contributed. 'On top of this, they are unfunded, coming not from an investment scheme, but general taxation. At the very least, ministers should be moving all public sector workers onto fully-funded, defined contribution schemes which are based on monies actually paid in.' A report published last year by the University College London Judicial Institute revealed that more than one in three judges planned to quit the profession within five years, citing poor working conditions and a continual loss of net earnings amid a backlog in the country's courts. The Senior Salaries Review body recommended a 4.75pc pay rise for members of the judiciary for 2025-26, but the Lord Chancellor reduced it to 4pc. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'The Judicial Pension Scheme 2022 is designed to encourage top legal professionals to become judges who are vital to keeping the justice system running.'
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Holly Valance, 42, SPLITS from billionaire property tycoon husband Nick Candy, 52, after years of living separate lives
Holly Valance has split from billionaire property tycoon husband Nick Candy after 13 years of marriage and a long time living separate lives MailOnline can reveal. The ex Neighbours actress, 42, who has reinvented herself as a conservative firebrand, is said to have been left lonely while the Reform Party treasurer, 52, tends to his business ventures around the world. A source told MailOnline: 'They have been living separate lives for a long time, he's travelling a lot and it's been a lonely life for Holly. 'Nick has businesses in Dubai and London, The Reform Party.' The couple are parents to daughters Luka, 11, and Nova, seven, and tied the knot back in September 2012 in Beverly Hills. A spokesman for the couple said: 'This is a private matter and we will not be making any further comment.' The estranged couple were last pictured together in March, with Holly dressed in £10K of designer clothing as they enjoyed a swanky lunch together in London. They wed in 2012 a lavish £3million ceremony with guests including Elton John, Simon Cowell as well as Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Together they have enjoyed a lavish lifestyle and previously lived in a two-storey Hyde Park penthouse worth £175million, making it Britain's most expensive flat. Nick and Holly have since downsized to a £10million countryside mansion in the Cotswolds, which they have been renovating. In 2020, Nick gifted Holly with a £26million superyacht, despite the mother-of-two famously suffering from sea sickness. The businessman who previously poured millions into Conservative coffers, became Farage's party treasurer earlier this year. Both he and his former singer and actress wife have made little secret of their support for Farage. As far ago as 2022 they joined him and then incoming US president Donald Trump for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. A source told MailOnline: 'They have been living separate lives for a long time, he's travelling a lot and it's been a lonely life for Holly' As far ago as 2022 the former couple joined Farage and then incoming US president Donald Trump for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florid Holly also hosted fundraisers for Reform and they were in the audience when Farage returned as Party leader last year. The former soap star has spent the last decade focusing on her personal life and political interests. She launched her acting career in 1999 after winning the role of Felicity Scully in Neighbours, which she played until 2002. The Melbourne-born actress later moved to America and starred in several popular US movies and TV shows, including Taken, Entourage and Prison Break. She semi-retired from the industry in 2015, although she made a brief cameo on Neighbours in 2022. She raised eyebrows last year after slamming Greta Thunberg as a 'demonic little gremlin' and claiming Australia has become 'too woke' in a TV interview. Holly criticised climate activist Thunberg to podcast host Christopher Hope. 'I don't understand why you have this, like, demonic little gremlin high priestess of climatism as the goddess in classrooms, Greta [Thunberg],' she said. 'All the kids are all coming home with depression and anxiety. She Valance also told LBC radio she had donated around £100,000 to Reform. She and Candy were both seen at the Reform conference at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre. There have previously been signs of a political split in their household, with the billionaire businessman a former Tory donor who backed Labour at the general election, before jumping ship join his wife and Reform.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Derbyshire pip claimants relieved but fearful after PM's U-turn
Sharon Arrowsmith, a Labour voter all her life, says she never thought she would have to "fear" the party in she says the government's plans to change who qualifies for certain disability and sickness benefits had left her "terrified". "I can't afford to lose a single penny", she says. "It's unconscionable."But early on Friday, the government confirmed a U-turn on its cuts to disability benefits in a bid to avert rebellion by more than 120 Labour backbenchers - leaving Sharon, from Derbyshire, breathing "a huge sigh of relief". The Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill was meant to tighten eligibility requirements for personal independence payments (pips), halve the health-related element of universal credit (UC), and increase the UC standard government hoped to save £5bn a year by 2030 with the bill, while slowing the increase in people claiming benefits. It was the changes to who qualifies for pips in particular that caused deep unhappiness amongst pip claimants will continue to receive what they currently get, as will recipients of the health element of universal credit. Planned cuts will only hit future well as changing who will be affected by the cuts, ministers are also expected to fast-track a £1bn support plan originally scheduled for many charities have rejected the Amo Raju, from the Derby-based charity Disability Direct, says the legislation should still be pulled."Welfare reform does need to happen, but it needs to involve disabled people in that decision-making process," he said."Let's pull it, get the right individuals around the table and co-produce the policy in the interests of disabled people." 'There's no fun' Ms Arrowsmith, from Amber Valley, has fibromyalgia, meaning she has difficulty moving about. It causes her chronic fatigue and joint and muscle pain. She struggles to do housework and shopping and often struggles to physically get out of 55-year-old also has other conditions including diabetes type 2, underactive thyroid, and growing cataracts which means she cannot drive and is reliant on autism diagnosis leaves her struggling with impairment of executive function and staying on had to stop working in January due to these conditions, and receives the mobility element of -ip, which is about £400 a month. She also receives universal credit, the vast majority of which is spent on private rent payments and bills. The pip payment used to help her employ someone to help with house tasks, but due to rising costs she says she is now heavily reliant on it to afford food after being left unable to work."I can't afford to lose a single penny. I would no longer be able to buy food or pay rent," she said."I have already cut everything down to the bone. There is no excess. There is no fun."Sharon thought she was likely to lose out because she will not score enough points in certain areas, like being able to wash and dress, which she can mostly manage. The government had been proposing that from November 2026, pip claimants would need to score at least four points from a single pip daily living activity to qualify for the daily living component of pip, as well as scoring a total of at least eight points. Sharon says she is relieved by the climbdown."I'm so proud of [the rebel MPs] for doing that, at the risk of their careers, having the courage to stand up. They are the real Labour people," she she says she worries for new claimants who will be impacted in the future."I am concerned still, I still think they really need to look at this bill and think about the people. Not the money, the people, that's what's important."I feel like I was wrong to vote Labour." Gordon Patten, from Long Eaton, is in his early fifties and is unable to work because of sarcoidosis, a rare condition impacting the lungs that means he must sleep with a machine aid. He also has been diagnosed with depression and type 2 diabetes and has had epilepsy since he was a receives roughly £460 a month through the daily living component of pip, which helps towards expenses such as the electricity bill his breathing aid machine leaves him with, which he says has increased, and hiring a cleaner to help with also receives the standard rate for mobility and is entitled to a mobility vehicle, an element which the government says will not be impacted by the changes. Gordon says he was glad to see the Labour backbenchers who disagree with the policy "standing up" to the prime minister."It is going to be a two-tier situation but we've had this in the past with disability allowance. You're always gonna have that, where people who started on a benefit get more," he he says the Labour Party have "mucked this up completely" for people like him."If you go back to 1945, at the beginning of the welfare state, it was a core [Labour] value"Labour has kind of lost its way with looking after the working person and the vulnerable...I honestly think that being in power has gone to their heads." A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: "Ministers have repeatedly recognised how anxious people are when there is talk of reform which is why we will never compromise on protecting people who need our support."Our reforms will mean the social security system will always be there for those who will never be able to work."
