MP Candidate Lee Dargue commits to Ladywood Unite 6 asks

Good afternoon

Thank you for your email, and thank you for raising this with all candidates. I absolutely commit to all 6 items, and have left any additional feedback for you below [in Italics below].

I know first-hand of your exemplary work in representing the people of Ladywood, thank you on behalf of Ladywood, especially from those people you’ll never know you’ve helped.

Kind regards,

Lee Dargue

Birmingham Ladywood candidate, Liberal Democrats

Tw:  @leedargue

There are serious issues of injustice for the approximately 6,000 people inside the Ladywood Regeneration zone that we ask our MP candidates to commit to addressing by taking the following actions:

1. Meet with representatives of Ladywood Unite both before and after the election to form the basis of future engagement

Absolutely! Regardless of the result of the election, I will continue to support Ladywood Unite.

2. Work to stop compulsory purchase and demolition of freehold houses, good quality and new homes including leasehold houses, and churches 

This is a key priority, and with the continued flippant and seemingly uncaring responses from the Council’s regeneration team, is even more of a focus for LU, the community, and local politicians to be given as much detail as possible, with a significant ramp-up in genuine consultation

3. Work to prevent the displacement of a diverse and vibrant community, aiming to preserve community and family networks across generations 

LU represent the best of the Ladywood community spirit – strong, yet open, fearless, yet welcoming and inclusive. To have a luxury developer and a careless Council think they can bulldoze – both literally and figuratively – their way through Ladywood shows that they never knew what they’d come up against. The deadlines we see keep moving on, and on – this to me shows that they are struggling to cope with what they thought would be an easy pushover!

4. Work to redress power imbalances favouring a luxury developer and the council over residents, advocating for residents to be able to make decisions about their future 

It would be good for politicians to stand up to the developer and Council. We know that doesn’t mean we have to go in screaming and shouting, but even daring to ask questions seems to be impossible for this currently Labour-run Council and the cost relationship with the (previous) Labour MP. The core way for that to happen is for genuine consultation, which can only really start from a blank piece of paper with everyone represented, to work together on the “masterplan” (or whatever it’s called this week).

5. Work to provide clarity and commitment on plans for social and affordable housing, aiming to update current plans offering no social housing at all, and supporting accelerating repairs for properties that need them now 

It’s completely unacceptable to have zero social homes as the accepted level. We know that “affordable” homes are only affordable to a select few, and that often doesn’t include many who already live in the area. Social Homes are not only affordable for residents, the new build materials and processes mean easier maintenance for the Council, lower running costs for the inhabitants, and few emissions during build and life of the building to help protect the environment

6. Raise the matters affecting us in the House of Commons, especially the need to close viability loopholes in planning and strengthening diverse community input early on in, and throughout, regeneration planning 

Regardless of the result, I will work on this with my Lib Dem colleagues in both the Commons and Lords. We have a significant number in the Lords already – I’m expecting a big increase in Lib Dem MPs at the election too, meaning we’d have much more influence to create and modify legislation.