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We are in the midst of a global pandemic which has already cost far more lives in Britain than were lost in the Blitz and which is stretching the NHS to its limits. Under such circumstances, if epidemiologists and public health experts believe that these restrictions are necessary to avoid needless loss of life, then…
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A few weeks back the BBC released a new tool, built together with the Met Office, to show some of the likely impacts of climate change across the UK, right down to the 12km² in which we live. These sorts of interactive tools are useful, because for all the pictures of melting polar ice and…
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Housing in the South East is the most expensive in the country outside of London. In 2018/19, the average income needed to secure an 80% mortgage in our area was over £87,000, far out of the reach for most in a town with average earnings of £28,569. It is therefore no surprise that recent decades…
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Crawley Borough Council is urging business owners to apply for the grants that they are entitled to. There are four grants currently available but the number of applications has been extremely low. The government has given the council more than £3.7m to distribute but any money that isn’t spent will be sent back. There are…
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Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s public sector freeze is set to hit every key worker in Crawley earning over £18,000 with a real-terms pay cut next year. This includes 166,122 key workers in our region, the teachers, police officers and Armed Forces personnel who have served on the front line in the battle against Covid-19. At the…
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At peak, Crawley Borough Council had annual net revenue expenditure of £27m per year. By the time Labour regained control of the council in 2014, that had been cut to £14m. For the last six years, despite ongoing cuts from central government, we have managed to keep it at £14m by finding other sources of…
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How can it be right, that in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, even during the midst of a pandemic, we can’t house our people? Over the last ten years, rough sleeping in the UK has doubled, a direct consequence of government housing policies. As you might imagine, homeless deaths have followed much…
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For many commuters, this year will have provided a relaxing break from the daily battle with the train network, with COVID-19 forcing employers to allow far greater working from home. With the start of mass-vaccination, the end of the pandemic may well now be in-sight and with it the return to all the horrors of…
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Councillors have agreed a range of significant savings to mitigate the impact of coronavirus on Crawley Borough Council’s budget. Despite grants from central government helping to cover part of the council’s costs tackling COVID this year, the council’s main sources of income have been hit hard by the economic impact, creating a budget gap of…
