Recess is often a great opportunity to hold public meetings and to do a little door knocking around the constituency. It is a good way to get to hear what people’s concerns are directly rather than through the media.
There is often a more local focus and one of the issues that was consistently raised over recess last week was about protecting our green spaces. Bolton Conservatives delivered a ten year plan for house building so we were able to gain control of the system and direct new building into brownfield sites rather than allowing developers to target our precious green spaces.
Of course, there was a legacy of poor planning to deal with but my fear is that Labour, in Bolton, will return to the bad old days when the developers could walk all over the wishes of the people. Labour must keep on the track set by the Conservatives.
The omens do not look good. Their leader, Keir Starmer MP, is already demanding that more housing is build on our green spaces when the Conservatives champion a brown field first approach.
It is not the only area where Labour is bad for the environment and bad for Britain. They want to stop exploration in the North Sea. At the same time, Labour admit that they will still have to import oil and gas from the rest of the world. They do not care about British jobs or that their policies will add to the cost of living whilst massively increasing carbon emissions.
I had thought, as we approach the next General Election, that Bolton’s Green Party and Lib Dems would have something to say about these matters but they do not seem interested.
I find it curious that the lead Labour candidate for Bolton West has been channelling his inner Jeremy Corbyn. As the council candidate for Smithills ward, he was styled as the “Smithillsgrad Soviet”, which presumably is in honour of his hero Joseph Stalin.
By taking advice from Peter Mandelson, they have gained the façade of New Labour but it is a thin veil.
This article was originally published in the Bolton News on 10th June 2023: https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/23576563.chris-green-council-must-…
