Dr Martin Parsons
Dr Martin Parsons
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I have today raised serious concerns about the decision to fly the Palestinian flag on Colchester Town Hall today

11/29/2024

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                                        Picture from last night

I HAVE FORMALLY OBJECTED TO THE PALESTINIAN FLAG BEING FLOWN ON COLCHESTER TOWN HALL
I have sent a formal letter of objection early this morning to Councillor David King (Lib-Dem) leader of Colchester City Council concerning the decision to authorise flying the Palestinian flag on Colchester Town Hall today.
This is a flag which was waved by large numbers of cheering demonstrators in London and other cities immediately after the 7 October 2023 Hamas’ attack on Israel which murdered, raped and abducted more than 1,000 Israeli civilians including large numbers of women and children. See
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67110119
Thankfully Colchester has to date avoided any such sectarian demonstrations. However, I am appalled that Colchester City Council is now flying this flag which will be seen by many people as showing partisan, sectarian support for one side in the current conflict between Israel and Hamas who despite being a proscribed terrorist organisation have governed Gaza since 2007.
This is not only deeply contentious and likely to seriously damage community relations and community cohesion – with no obvious benefit to Colchester, it is also a clear breach of planning law – which prohibits the flying of anything other than a very restricted list of flags without prior “express consent from the local planning authority”.
The decision to fly this flag was a monumental failure of judgement by the political leadership of the council which can only risk inflaming community tensions in Colchester while bringing no positive benefits to the residents of Colchester.
I have urged the council leadership to immediately rescind the authorisation to fly this flag on Colchester Town Hall.

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BURST WATER MAIN

9/27/2024

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BURST WATER MAIN
Mersea, Peldon, the Wigboroughs, Salcott and Virley are currently experiencing very low water pressure due to a burst water main. I spoke to Anglian Water just BEFORE 8.30AM THIS MORNING– they hope to have it fixed by midday TODAY – after that water will be cloudy for a while – just run your taps for a bit
You can find updates by clicking this link and zooming into Mersea and Peldon https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/your-local-area/report-an-issue/  

I will post any updates on my councillor Facebook page

​https://www.facebook.com/DrMartinParsons4Mersea/
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What Labour’s housing plans mean for our local area

7/2/2024

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Back in March I warned in a letter to the local paper that the biggest threat to Mersea and Pyefleet villages came from Keir Starmer’s “promise” to the previous October’s Labour conference to “bulldoze through” the planning laws so that local councils will no longer be able to stop major housing developments.
So, what’s happened since then? Well unfortunately, since the general election was called that threat has got MUCH worse for 3 reasons:
  1. HOW LABOUR WILL FUND ITS SPENDING PLEDGES: Labour’s spending pledges mean there is a £38.5 billion ‘black hole’ in their budget. When Conservatives pointed out that could mean tax rises of £2,094 for every family, Labour responded by claiming it wouldn’t as they planned to turbo-charge the economy by changing the planning laws to allow developers to rapidly build 1.5 million new houses. In other words. Labour’s whole strategy to fix the black hole in its finances is to allow large scale housing developments – which local councils will have almost no power to stop. (In contrast, the Conservative Party have said new houses should be mainly built on brownfield sites in cities. And they will fund the things promised in their manifesto by getting in inflation down to the normal level of 2% (down from over 10% in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine) which will reduce the amount of interest the government has to pay on the huge debt the country built up during the pandemic: STOP PRESS on 19 June inflation dropped to 2% - THE PLAN IS WORKING!)
  2. THE CANDIDATES: While Sir Bernard Jenkin has strongly opposed major housing developments in our area – see his video The Labour candidate is a housing specialist for a left leaning think tank – who fully supports the Labour Party’s housing plans and has said he wants to see thousands more homes in this area (residents in the north of the constituency around West Bergholt, Lawford and Manningtree are also up in arms – as he is the only candidate who has refused to sign the pledge to oppose huge pylons being routed across their beautiful part of North Essex – as it national Labour Party policy to have them. In contrast, Sir Bernard Jenkin as the local MP has for several years been leading the campaign against the pylons across East Anglia)
  3. WILL FARMERS BE FORCED TO SELL FARMLAND? The Labour Party have refused to rule out forcing farmers to pay either inheritance tax or capital gains tax when farmers pass their farm onto one of their children. This could have a hugely damaging impact on the local environment – as if they have to sell some of their land to pay inheritance tax – it is likely to be brought up by house building speculators. The first things they will do is rip up the hedgerows – as they are more likely to get planning permission without them. This would be an absolute disaster for biodiversity as many of these hedgerows have been kept by farmers for centuries – and the older a hedgerow is – the more species it provides a habitat for.
 
So, although Labour claims it will be a “green” government – this doesn’t seem to apply to the local area. You can have all the low flush loos you like, put solar panels on every house, even call it an eco-town if you like – but nothing can disguise the fact that concreting over the countryside with huge housing developments will be an environmental disaster.

What all this means is all the local sites developers have been trying for years to get planning permission on for major housing developments – and quite possibly many others - will now be much more likely to be built on.

That’s why you should vote for Sir Bernard Jenkin on Thursday. 

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LATEST NEWS - National threat by Sir Keir Starmer to rip up planning laws and impose large housing developments on rural areas

3/9/2024

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My letter in Friday's Colchester County Standard
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Essex County Standard Friday 8 March 2024
So, Colchester City Council’s review of its local plan has led to the usual speculative submissions by developers of sites for possible housing. However, in practice the current planning law mean many will be rejected at an early stage.
What does present a very real threat to rural communities such as those on Mersea and the nearby villages of Peldon, Abberton, Langenhoe and Fingringhoe is the promise that Keir Starmer made to the Labour Party Conference last October. Sir Keir “promised” the next Labour government would “bulldoze through” the planning laws which currently prevent major housing developments being built.
Twenty percent of Mersea Island, Britain’s most easterly inhabited island, is already developed. So, simple message to both the Labour Party and local planners “Twenty Percent’s, Plenty Percent!”.
The same applies to other local villages - from the many conversations I’ve had with people in Abberton/Langenhoe over the last few weeks, not one person has said they want a huge expansion of the village to the south. But many expressed a strong desire to stop inappropriate development. At the moment, we have at least the possibility of doing that – but to “bulldoze through” the current planning laws and impose large developments on rural areas – would be to ride roughshod over local democracy.
I fully understand the need for local people to have houses – we have a housing crisis here on Mersea, with far too many local people unable to get on the housing ladder, including many who have lived on the island all their lives. However, building thousands more homes to the south of Colchester will not significantly lower house prices, not least because a significant proportion of them are sold to people from outside the local area.
More creative solutions are needed to solve that housing crisis than simply concreting over the countryside.
Dr Martin Parsons
West Mersea
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Latest News - local sites submitted to Colchester City Council's local plan as potential future housing sites

3/9/2024

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There are some huge sites here - I've said it before -and I will say it again - I WILL OPPOSE LARGE INAPPROPRIATE DEVELOPMENTS BEING IMPOSED ON RURAL AREAS.
As a former district councillor for a rural and coastal area on the Suffolk coast very similar area to ours I have fought many planning battles - and won many of them...
The sites submitted are below 


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