Give us a straight answer on planning proposals

DO come along Bill Armer, try and keep up.

How you can misconstrue my original letter to the extent you think I may be accusing you of taking backhanders from property developers is well beyond me.

I would never dream of making such an accusation in public unless I had concrete proof.

I am not going to reiterate the contents of my reply to Bernard McGuin on planning matters, but I assume you will have read it and might even concede I am not quite as ill informed on these matters as you suggest.

As for your confusion, I accept the comment by Crispin Truman (chief executive of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England) that property developers ‘will be able to build what they want, where they want and for the most part, when they want,’ might be overegging the pudding to a degree, but the gist of it is definitely true.

What I was actually driving at in my ill informed and confusing way, was that taking away pretty much all local oversight of what property developers can do, seems to totally undercut the work that you and others such as Councillor McGuin do on planning matters.

That being the case, and to try and avoid any further confusion, I promise to couch this question in my ‘bestest’ English: Do you support the Government’s planning proposals, and if so,why?

I would also like to ask a question on a different matter.

Dealing with Covid-19 has inevitably taken over the Government agenda, but what is the timeline now for the Conservative Party’s investigation into Islamophobia in its ranks?

As Chair of the Huddersfield branch of the Conservative Party, I assume you will probably be keen this investigation happens as soon as possible and work can then begin to root out what seems to be a nasty undercurrent of racism in the party.

This is a stain on the reputation of the Conservative Party – as indeed anti-semitism is a stain on the reputation of the Labour Party.

Russian link may have some mileage

INTERESTING to read Trevor

Woolley’s latest letter referencing Dominic Cummings’ past Russian connections.

We all know with Boris Johnson as PM, Cummings is behind all of the current policies coming out of Westminster. So why did Johnson stop publishing of the Intelligence & Security Committee Report into Russian involvement in the Brexit referendum and UK elections?

Had Julian Lewis not defeated Johnson’s ‘plant,’ Chris Grayling, to be chair of the committee, then it would never have been published.

Lewis, an MP for 23 years, was then rewarded by being kicked out of the Conservative Party.

Days later Johnson handed Russian businessman Evgeny Lebedev a peerage and membership of The House of Lords (Lebedev is the son of a former KGB agent and personal friend of Johnson).

The Conservative Party have for many years benefited financially with donations from London based oligarchs

Trevor’s theory may well have some mileage.