IN MY LAST Westminster Diary of the year, I want to reflect on the past 12 months.
I think it goes without saying that the biggest issue that has impacted Bromsgrove and the villages this year is the Government’s 85 per cent increase in our house-building target.
The thousands of us opposed to this increase aren’t NIMBYs. We just want the Government to build on brownfield first and, where houses are built, provide communities with the infrastructure they need before any houses are built. It’s just common-sense.
Thank you to the more than 5,900 of you who signed my Parliamentary petition which calls on the Government to reverse the increase in our housebuilding target.
Whilst I’m still waiting for the Government to respond, whatever the outcome is, the fight to save our green belt goes on and I will continue to hold the Government to account for the deliberate choices they have made.
I know the A38 BREP works have also continued to cause frustration this year, which is why I’ve been holding Worcestershire County Council to account over its project.
I’ve been consistent in my view that BREP must deliver both a noticeable improvement in keeping Bromsgrove moving and in reducing the congestion and gridlock that blights the lives of residents and businesses. The county council has assured me this will be the case. Time will tell.
Whilst this work continues, it just makes no sense that non-essential roadworks can take place. It’s just adding to congestion, delays and is further frustrating local residents.
That’s why I’ve been demanding the county council halts all non-essential roadworks until the A38 BREP Scheme has been completed. Again, it’s just common-sense.
The changing nature of our high streets and town centres is also an issue I’ve focused on this year.
Ever since I was first elected, I’ve been campaigning for business rate cuts – and I was proud to vote for that this year in the House of Commons. Labour, the Lib Dems and Reform UK MPs all failed to back the Conservatives’ (fully costed) plan to cut business rates for thousands of retail, hospitality and leisure businesses which would save a typical business around £9,000 per year.
Every high street business I speak to tells me their business rates bill is the biggest blocker to further investment.
If we want to truly revitalise our high streets and to make them somewhere we’re all proud of once again, then the Government needs to abolish business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses just like Conservatives will do when we’re next in government.
Bradley Thomas
Bromsgrove MP
