Harriett Baldwin, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for West Worcestershire has been refused an invitation to speak to the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy (WMRSS) Examination in Public. The session that will examine the South Worcestershire Joint Core Strategy is on June 19th, and Harriett Baldwin had written to the Panel Secretary to ask permission to speak. She had previously sent in written objections to the WMRSS as well as to the Nathaniel Lichfield report.
In a series of letters and e-mails with the Panel Secretary, Harriett Baldwin received the following response:
"It is for the Panel to decide on the Matters to be debated and which participants to invite. As I am sure you will appreciate the matters to be debated have attracted a great deal of interest and many requests to participate. The Panel issued the final list of Matters and Participants on 13 March following the consultation on the earlier draft referred to above.
In order to encourage an active debate on the issues selected it is necessary to limit the numbers of participants selected at any one session and Sub-Matter 8G(i) is already over subscribed."
Harriett Baldwin said, "I am furious about this. I have written in to the consultation at every stage. The refusal to let me participate on the grounds that they want to "encourage active debate" would be farcical if it weren't so serious. How am I supposed to articulate the concerns of people in West Worcestershire to this unelected panel? The democratic deficit in the process which is imposing 24,500 homes on South Worcestershire is incredible. Last week's elections show that the government that no longer has any legitimacy. The Housing Minister and the Local Government Minister have both just resigned. The government is the most unpopular government in history. Can't they just get the message - Go to the Country Now!"
Note:
Sub-Matter 8G (i) is the bureaucratic name for the South Worcestershire Joint Core Strategy, itself a bureaucratic name for the government's imposition of a building target of 24,500 homes in Malvern Hills District, Wychavon District and Worcester City over the next 15 years.