Plans to sell off Oswestry's council houses were voted against ten years ago. Our attitude to this has not changed. Oswestry needs more social housing, not less. We want investment in building new homes in the right places for our community whilst protecting our heritage.

There are so many people who need a safe place to sleep and we have perfectly good places fro them to stay if they were made accessible and secure.

Many good tenants, who have never been late with rent and look after the property are often asked to vacate a property for various reasons. Sometimes the landlord wants to sell, or let it to his friend, or renovate it, or make it into two dwellings instead of one etc etc etc. But if the tenant is in no way at fault this causes them no end of expense and stress. This is happening to a friend of mine at the moment, and also to me. Its happened to me before and to many people I know. I am actually a landlady myself, I rent out a flat I used to live in, so I see both sides of the coin. But I still think if the tenant is not at fault then the landlord should pay compensation in the form of removal costs.

Current planning law states that if a developer will make less than 20% profit on a new development, they can ignore a council's regulations about building affordable and social housing. Leaked documents from several developers have shown that the maths they use to work out their profit margins are purposefully misleading, allowing them to claim they will make less than 20% profit on a development by undervaluing the prices of the houses they will sell and over-costing the labour. To combat this Islington, Greenwich, Lambeth and Bristol councils have introduced a policy that forces developers "viability assessments" to be made public. By bringing these dodgy maths into the public domain, Councils, campaigning groups and individuals will be able to hold developers to account and force them to use more honest maths.

Current planning law states that if a developer will make less than 20% profit on a new development, they can ignore a council's regulations about building affordable and social housing. Leaked documents from several developers have shown that the maths they use to work out their profit margins are purposefully misleading, allowing them to claim they will make less than 20% profit on a development by undervaluing the prices of the houses they will sell and over-costing the labour. To combat this Islington, Greenwich, Lambeth and Bristol councils have introduced a policy that forces developers "viability assessments" to be made public. By bringing these dodgy maths into the public domain, Councils, campaigning groups and individuals will be able to hold developers to account and force them to use more honest maths.

Displacement caused by gentrification is exacerbated by developers greed for increased in land values. Gentrified areas cover 1/16th of London's area (Akinson, 2008).In a number of instances (Heygate Estate, Aylesbury Estate and Carpenter Estate) whole communities have been displaced in the process of physical renewal. Many areas of London have been occupied by the middle classes causing the original working class residents to be displaced (Glass, 1994). Developers magnify the problem by creating indirect and direct causes of displacement. Developers are directly avoiding the social housing needs of the city (Booth, 2016). Their new buildings put pressure on the housing market leading to the indirect pricing out of low income individuals (Atkinson, 2000).Developers are even willing to pay fines implemented due to the lack of social housing as they see the beneficiaries in avoiding their implementation (Wainwright, 2015; Booth, 2016). Private developers benefit, from gentrification, at the expense of communities in London. The City Claim back campaign is worried everyday Londoners will be displaced, by the greed of developers, through gentrification.

Public consultation on the Asda site is a sham. RER, the company promoting this, haven't listened to a word said to them. They want to maximise profits by squeezing even more expensive high-rise apartments on the site; more than double the existing consent. They try to sweeten this by offering a new school in the wrong place, next to Cubitt Town, and a theatre we don't need and didn't ask for. Of course the petrol station people want isn't included!

We all know that the UK is in the midst of a housing crisis and that there is an acute need for more homes. However, we don’t think this problem will be solved by allowing more small and poorly-designed homes to be built. The UK currently builds the smallest homes in western Europe, which means that many of them are not fit for purpose when fully occupied. A lack of space and the poor design of a home can impact health, well-being, family relationships and even a child’s educational achievement. Adequate space (including storage space) is essential for a home to be comfortable and sustainable in the long term. In 2015 the UK Government introduced the Nationally Described Space Standard. This specified, amongst other things, a minimum floor area for each size of household. It meant that a flat for one person would be of a minimum of 37m2 and a two-storey, 3-bedroomed house for 4 people a minimum of 84m2. However, the Space Standard was not made mandatory and the Government has since proposed relaxing this minimum standard. Let’s set a mandatory space standard and put an end to building rubbish houses in the UK! The last straw: www.theguardian.com/society/2017/mar/27/dog-kennel-flats-barnet-house-smaller-than-travelodge-room RubbishHouses.com

This is important because the living standards are unsafe for young people and parents to live in. It is also singling out the residents living at the properties giving them next to no connection to their families and friends

The homeless crisis in Brighton is shocking. With the rising cost of living and rent hikes in the area homelessness has visibly increased. There are people living in shop doorways on almost every street and alley way. They are begging for money for food with absolutely no way out of their situation. It is virtually impossible to get a job when you are homeless and in offering the homeless a home we give them a second chance at life. A chance to get a job and live with the dignity and respect we all deserve.

Parliament is rubbish - we all know that. And being a good MP is probably even more rubbish. But we need the good MPs to stay in Parliament, and make it less rubbish. And Mhairi Black of the SNP is one of them. I'm English, and don't want Scotland to leave the UK. I wouldn't vote the SNP. But I know a good opposition MP when I see one - who calls out the hypocrisy of the government, speaks up for those stepped on by the cuts and makes sure the Brexit deal we get from the EU is a good one. Parliament is full of boring old men, weird traditions, strange rituals and some seriously odd cosplay. One of the chambers isn't even elected, and the building itself is falling apart. That's why we need decent MPs like Mhairi Black to stay in office and strive to make it better - more representative, responsive and honest. Mhairi: Please don't leave!

While I’m making a lot of noise about 16 to 19 year olds, anybody up to 21 shouldn’t be ruled out. Young people of this age are highly likely to become mentally unwell. Making them homeless is only going to make the situation worse. There is guidance in place to tell councils that they need to consider issues like this that might make young people vulnerable – but this misses the point. Young people will always be vulnerable, they need a different kind of guidance and support than people with more life experience. It also isn’t right for councils to wait for illnesses to develop before taking action. This is the same message that is intended to be sent out by the Homelessness Reduction Bill. The lives of young people and the jobs of the people that support them will be affected by this ban. I’m asking that Lord Best take action while he can, and change the Bill to protect the UK’s children. An open and more detailed letter to Lord Best is available to view here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AwbhN8UGMdmINxXTDMGytM30E-NmrSjsbIRUHoUak9c/edit?usp=sharing