Keep Penrith Special, the action group formed to oppose the Penrith Masterplan who successfully organised a 4,500 plus petition are filing papers with the Electoral Commission to become a political party under the name ‘Keep Penrith and Eden Special’ before the deadline of Noon on Monday 4 February 2019.
Adrian Hill Spokesman for the group said: “We have realised that the only way we can ensure the daft Masterplan is dead is to ensure that the Tories who promoted this plan lose their seats in the May Council elections. We hoped that we could simply endorse candidates but we cannot put our name below endorsed ‘anti masterplan’ candidates unless we register as a political party. Therefore, we have decided that we will register ourselves under the name ‘Keep Penrith and Eden Special.
“We know there is a vast amount of work to be done to put the Eden back into our wonderful district. We think the neglect shown by the Tory Council is absolutely shameful.
“There is no plan for decent amounts of affordable housing to be built for local people. There is no plan for appropriate amounts of sheltered housing for our elderly to be built. There is no plan to build sufficient starter homes for our young people. There is no plan to significantly increase the amount of housing provision by our local housing associations. There is no plan to assess how the considerable number of carers (nurses, care workers etc.) who will be needed to look after our ageing population will be housed. There is no plan to ensure that there is sufficient dedicated accommodation for all the public sector workers we need, teachers, junior doctors, nurses, policemen and women, firemen and women, social workers etc etc.
“There is no plan to fight for better health service provision for Carlisle and for our district. There is no plan to revive the trade of Penrith by better marketing. There is no plan to promote the creation of a world class visitor centre in Penrith to encourage more visitors. There is no plan to attract high quality employers to the area. There is no plan to expand the Newton Rigg academic campus and to encourage other universities to set up satellite departments here close to the subject they are studying.
“There is no plan to fight for better rural bus services. There is no plan to lobby for post buses and for posties who look out for the elderly in our rural areas. There is no plan to consider the real dangers of the A66 improvements and how to mitigate them, not any recognition that Penrith might commercially die from those improvements as it will take three years of road works to improve the Kemplay and J40 roundabouts. There is no plan to ensure that superfast broadband comes to all.
“There is no plan to fight the closure of the Penrith post office.
“One might as well vote for a sheep as for a Conservative in Cumbria.
“If elected ‘Keep Penrith and Eden Special’ will ensure that there are plans for all the things where there is no plan.
“I will also stand against Rory Stewart at the next election. The Tory party regard our constituency as a sinecure, an 18th century rotten borough which will always return a Conservative MP. They are going to have a big shock when Stewart loses his seat. He writes excellent well written books about himself. He has written several of these since being elected. There is precious little else he can point to. I want to afford him the opportunity to exploit his literary talents to the full by giving him even more time to devote to his literary career.”
In summary, it is more like a Group of ruggedly independent individuals who undertake individually to remain independent and to act in the best interests of the people they represent.
Keep Penrith and Eden Special – Party Aims
Keep Penrith Special Campaign stands for:
Keep Penrith Special and REJECT the Penrith Masterplan because the People of Eden and Penrith deserve better. We want a proper grounded, practical and sensible plan to make Penrith a better place to live, work, shop and visit and we want to get everyone to contribute their thoughts in building that plan. A plan for the many not just the few, in a true and democratic process and not behind closed doors.
- Build on the Beacon – NO
- New Town/Villages 2.5 Miles from Penrith – NO
- Double Population – NO
- More Congestion – NO
- More Pressure on Local NHS – NO
- More Pressure on Schools – NO
- Major roads on every side of Penrith – NO
- Affordable Housing for Locals – YES
- A Better Vision for Penrith & Eden – YES
