New 'Green Living' Homes in Bardney

An exciting opportunity to acquire new 'green' properties will be available this month.

The properties, off Wragby Road in Bardney, have solar panels already installed and are built by the Kier Partnership Homes division of the Kier Group in partnership with West Lindsey District Council and Acis Group.

This new development, known as Saxonwood, is offering 17 two and three bedroom houses for social rent and two two-bedroom houses on a rent to homebuy basis.

Housing, Renewal and Community Safety Service Manager Grant Lockett said:

"The properties are due to be completed and ready to move into by the end of March and will be managed Acis, a Registered Housing Provider.

"This is good news for the local people of Bardney, and it will help them to get a home and also get a start on the property ladder."

To qualify for one of these homes you need to be registered on the West Lindsey Housing Register and have a local connection to Bardney.

A local connection means you were either born in Bardney or you are a permanent resident now. If you used to live there but had to move away because of the lack of affordable housing or you are employed in Bardney, also qualifies you. If you live or have lived in one of the villages next to or close to Bardney, may also count.

For more details and information on how to register contact the Home Options Team at West Lindsey District Council on 01427 676676.

The comfortable and spacious properties comprise of an entrance hall, cloakroom, lounge, spacious kitchen/diner, useful storage, two or three bedrooms, family bathroom and an enclosed rear garden with shed.

The scheme was funded by a Social Housing Grant from the Homes and Communities Agency, a Government funding body for Registered Housing Providers (RHP) that supports investment; regeneration and the development of good urban and rural social housing.

Blow to West Lindsey’s housing market from Home Information Pack red tape

New Government rules will make it harder to buy and sell your home

Giles McNeill today expressed concern for Lincolnshire’s fragile housing market, following the introduction of complex and expensive new Home Information Pack rules.

From 6 April, extra Home Information Pack (HIP) regulations will hinder sellers from putting their homes onto the market, mislead buyers and create a real danger of £200 fines from town hall officials.

• New delays if you sell your home: The Government is cancelling the ‘first day marketing’ provision – which allowed sellers to market their home if a HIP had been ordered, but had not yet been completed. Sellers will now have to wait even longer before they can put up a ‘For Sale’ sign.

• New untrustworthy Property Information Questionnaires: Also from 6 April, HIPs must have a so-called ‘Property Information Questionnaire’ completed by the seller. The Questionnaire is useless as unscrupulous sellers can sidestep difficult questions that could reduce their house price by ticking a “don’t know” box. The buyer cannot be certain that the information is reliable about such things as past dry rot or damp, insurance claims, experience of flooding, and whether past alterations had official permission. Honest sellers will also suffer, as disputes over information in Property Information Questionnaires will end up in the courts, with buyers suing sellers.

• Heavy-handed town hall fines: Town halls have been instructed to “identify specific cases of non-compliance and enforce the requirements” – and start fining homeowners £200 a time if they do not follow the new rules.

• HIPs are already harming the housing market: The Government’s own research has found that there is little public knowledge about, or interest in HIPs; that the industry thinks they are a waste of time; that they duplicate costs and that buyers are not bothering to consult HIPs. Ministers have emergency powers under the Housing Act to suspend HIPs, but have refused to use them.

Giles said:

“Home Information Packs have already damaged the market and discouraged sellers. Now Gordon Brown is making things even worse. You cannot trust the contents of a Home Information Pack, and these regulations will lead to yet more wasted time and expense.

“A Conservative Government will scrap Home Information Packs outright. If Ministers really wanted to help homeowners, they would use their emergency powers to suspend HIPs and provide a shot in the arm to the (area’s) ailing market. Only Conservatives are on the side of Britain’s home owners and the many people who want to move on and up the housing ladder.”

A Two Year Council Tax Freeze

Conservatives will freeze Council Tax for two years.

Under Labour council tax bills have more than doubled.

In 1997 the average Band D bill was £688. This year the average bill is £1,374.

It’s time the Government tightened its belt like the rest of the country. Conservatives will slash wasteful spending on Government advertising and expensive private sector consultants – and with the co-operation of local councils, use the money to freeze your council tax bill.

Instead of rising council tax bills under Labour, millions of families
will get help at the time they need it most.

Conservatives policies to help families cope with the rising cost of living:

HELP AT THE PUMPS
We will introduce a Fair Fuel Stabiliser − when fuel prices go up, fuel duty would fall.

HELP FOR FAMILIES
As we save money on wasteful welfare, we will abolish Labour’s couple penalty in the tax credits system – giving 1.8 million couples an extra £2,000 a year.

HELP FOR FIRST-TIME BUYERS
We will permanently abolish Stamp Duty for first-time buyers on purchases up to £250,000 − nine out of ten first-time buyers will pay no Stamp Duty at all, saving an average of £2,000 each.

HELP WITH YOUR BILLS
We will cut the energy and gas bills of up to four million people by £100 by reforming Post Office Accounts to allow families without bank accounts to access cheaper tariffs.

HELP FOR MOTORISTS
We will oppose Labour’s new tax on family cars, which will hit 1 million owners of family cars bought up to 7 years ago with tax rises of up to £250.

1,000 ways for Brown’s state inspectors to enter homes across Lincolnshire

Giles McNeill expresses concern at unchecked state powers of intrusion

Giles McNeill, Nettleham Parish Councillor, expressed grave concern this week at the news that Government and town hall inspectors now have over 1,000 powers which allow inspectors to enter people’s homes and premises. Despite Gordon Brown’s pledge last year to cut back these powers, a further 16 new laws are being pushed through Parliament which entrench or extend powers of entry.

The Govenrment has recently published a full list of the state powers of entry that are now in force. There are now a total of 1,043 state powers of entry, and some 430 new powers of entry have been created by Labour.

A survey of state powers to enter people’s homes by the independent think tank, the Centre for Policy Studies, last year suggested that there were just 266 powers of entry. It warned that due to the “proliferation and variety of entry powers” householders cannot now “realistically be aware” of their rights and legal obligations.

The powers of inspection and entry include:
• Invading your home to see if your pot plants have plant pests or to check whether it has a so-called ‘plant passport’ (Plant Health England Order 2005).
• Inspecting a property to see whther performing animals, such as dancing bears, are being trained or exhibited without a permit (Performing Animals Regulation Act 1925).
• Surveying your home and garden to see if your hedge is too high (Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003).
• Inspecting a property to ensure illegal or unregulated hypnotism is not taking place (Hypnotism Act 1952).
• Checking that accommodation being given to asylum seekers is not being occupied by people who are not asylum seekers (Immigration and Asylum Act 1999).
• Carrying out inspections for the presence of rabbits (Pests Act 1954).
• Raiding a house to check if unlicensed gambling is taking place (Gambling Act 2005 Inspection Provision of Information Regulations 2007).
• Checking and seizing fridges which do not have the correct energy rating (Energy Information Household Refrigerators and Freezers Regulations 2004).
• Allowing state-sponsored bailiffs to enter your home and seize goods, using reasonable force if necessary (Tribunal Courts and Enforcement Act 2007)

In a speech last October, Gordon Brown pledged to curtail such laws with a new ‘liberty test’. He pledged that any change to entry powers would be accompanied by new guidance on their use and on the rights of members of the public to stop their abuse. But 16 new laws are now before Parliament which extending the powers - without any such guidance.

Conservatives are also warning that yet more intrusion is being actively planned by Labour. A cadre of council tax inspectors are being trained and an Orwellian computer database is being created for a council tax revaluation in England. Householders will be fined £500 for obstructing these inspectors.

Giles McNeill said:

“Day by day under Labour, the rights and liberties of law-abiding citizens across (area) are being eroded. Their plans for ID Cards and 42 days detention are examples. There has been a huge surge in powers of entry under Labour, entrenching and extending the surveillance state.

“We need measures to tackle genuine crime and terrorism. But the abuse of surveillance powers by town halls in some parts of the country shows the real danger of ‘function creep’ by state bureaucrats. Conservatives will cut back these unnecessary powers of the state to enter homes, starting off with abolishing council tax inspectors’ rights of entry and reining back in the nosey parker state.”

Giles McNeill on: Budget 2008

Gordon Brown had a decade as Chancellor and jumped ship before things got difficult. But Labour’s record on the economy is bad. Despite fifteen years of economic growth Britain has the largest budget deficit in Western Europe and Gordon Brown has failed to prepare the UK for any global economic instability we may encounter.
Despite fifteen years of economic growth, Gordon Brown has massively increased borrowing. In the past five years Gordon Brown has borrowed £100 billion more than planned. The current budget has not been in surplus since 2001/02. This year’s borrowing forecast has increased by at least £8 billion in the last 20 months. In March 2006 Gordon Brown claimed he would have to borrow £30 billion in 2007-08; in March 2007 he upped this figure to £35 billion, and in October 2007 Alistair Darling upped the estimate again to £38 billion. The IFS estimates that if current spending trends continue borrowing will rise to £41 billion.

The ‘golden rule’ (that the Government should only borrow to invest, and not to fund current spending, over an economic cycle) would have been missed by almost £4 billion without the convenient decision in summer 2005 to add two years to the beginning of the economic cycle.

In 1997 the retail price index showed inflation at 2.6%, last year it was at 4.0%. Inflation is higher under Labour. Earnings are also falling. Consumer debt is also rising in March 1997 total household debt was under £500bn now it is nearly £1,400bn – that £1.4 trillion! Under Labour, lending has been rising at a rate of over 10 per cent per annum, making the debt mountain now greater than Britain’s total gross domestic product. We are all feeling the pinch in our pocket at the supermarket checkout or at the petrol pump.

During his ten years as Chancellor, Gordon Brown introduced 111 tax rises, including the abolition of tax credits on pension funds’ dividends and increases in stamp duty. Gordon Brown also burdened the UK with the longest national tax code in the world. His 2007 Budget took the UK’s tax code to just short of 10,000 pages, surpassing India, which previously held the record with just over 9,000 pages of tax legislation.

According to independent experts, taxes have risen by £5,400 since 1997 for every family in the UK after allowing for inflation and the poorest fifth of households pay a higher proportion of their income in taxes than any other group – under a Labour Government!

Under Gordon Brown chancellorship, ‘green taxation’ has fallen from 9.4 per cent of total tax receipts in 1997 to 7.3 per cent in 2006 – which is why today Alistair Darling will be presenting his so called ‘green budget’.

But it’s not just hardworking families – high tax rates are the ‘most problematic factors for doing business’ in the UK according to the World Economic Forum.

I, like my party, will not promise up-front, unfunded tax reductions. Our commitment to sound money means that we will always put the stability before promises of tax cuts. That's why I am so concerned about the way the Market Rasen Pool project is being handled - £4.1m to build a £4.7m pool which will run at a £250,000 deficit each year that will be picked up by council tax payers in Nettleham who are unlikely to use it.

We need to build a sustainable, low-tax economy. Therefore, as the economy grows, and increased revenue flows into the Exchequer, the Conservative Party will share the proceeds of that growth between increased spending on public services and reduced borrowing or lower taxes.

Concern raised over tax collectors snooping on local homes in West Lindsey

Secret deal between tax inspectors & estate agents must be cancelled – Giles McNeill
Giles McNeill, Nettleham Parish Councillor, today expressed his concern at news of a secret deal between the taxman and estate agents. It has been revealed that detailed information on 9 out of 10 house sales and rentals in West Lindsey are being collected and logged in a ‘Big Brother’ database to prepare for council revaluation tax hikes.

· Estate agents and tax men plunder your data: Unsuspecting homeowners across West Lindsey are putting their property on the market for sale or rental, without realising that the tax collectors will use it to plan for new council tax hikes. HM Revenue & Customs, which has lost millions of personal tax and benefit records, is systematically raiding estate agency records to build up a property database for its council tax inspectors. Rightmove holds 16 million property records, with millions of individual entries being updated every month.
· Big Brother database invades privacy: People selling their home are not informed that information given to their estate agent, which is then passed to internet portal Rightmove Plc, is in turn passed on to the Government’s tax inspectors. Local estate agents in West Lindsey have been kept in the dark about Rightmove’s actions.
· Details on people’s homes: The personal property data being passed to the taxmen include internal and external photographs of the home, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, conservatories, parking spaces, and particulars such as area, layout, style, features and other ‘value significant’ features. The Government claims that the Data Protection Act does not apply to information about people’s houses. HMRC’s council tax inspectors will instruct local councils to increase the council tax on these homes.

Giles McNeill said:

“We already knew that Gordon Brown’s tax inspectors have recklessly lost the tax records of millions of law-abiding citizens. Now the same people are disregarding data protection rules to build up a chilling database of every home in the country.

“Residents across West Lindsey will be alarmed that detailed information on 9 out of 10 house sales and rentals is being passed secretly from estate agents to tax collectors, without public consent.

“Gordon Brown must cancel this deal immediately. Only Conservatives will stop this data plundering of people’s private homes, end Brown’s stealth tax revaluation and abolish state inspectors’ rights of entry into our homes.”