Adam Brown

Just a quick notice to say that myself and Councillor Lee Gilroy (Borough Councillor for Broadfield South) have set up a West Crawley Facebook group. Anyone in the West of the Town (Broadfield, Bewbush, Langley Green, West Green, Gossops Green or Ifield) are welcome to join in the debate and see what we have upcoming. It is called the West crawley Conservatives but that is simply as we did not want to mislead people into thinking it was not political (it is run by Cllrs so has to be a little bit politically sensitive.) But we welcome residents or interested parties from all political and social persuasions.

Just go to facebook and search for West Crawley Conservatives and join the conversation.

Sitting at the bottom of the political spectrum as I do I have to admit it is becoming slightly annoying to have the entire structure brought into disrespect by our colleagues in Westminster. Out delivering leaflets last week I was met by the usual comments "What's the point!", "You're all the same." and the old favourite "You're all just in it for what you can get!" I have to admit that this last one annoys me the most. as one of several Councillors on Crawley Borough Council who has not claimed any expenses I get a bit upset by people assuming that we are all on the gravy train. (There are many part time jobs I could do for more money and less hassle.) However it is hard to argue with their findings when day after day the press are jammed with stories about expenses and allowances which although not illegal struggle to be seen as ethical.

If it is not claiming your second home as the large country house whilst your main residence is the back room of your sisters flat, or having your second home ten miles from your main home. It is 88p bath plugs and movies to relieve "loneliness" the problem is that the longer this goes on then the more damage is being done to politics as a whole, it may be ok to finish up in Westminster and then head home to one of your houses behind the security gates but for those of us on the doorstep it is getting beyond a joke.

I would like to see the following changes to the expenses of MP's.

• 1) Second homes should all be in London (The constituency home should be the first) and only for MP's with over an hours commute.
• 2) These homes will be up to a maximum value and brought outright by the state, when their term is up the state will either pass the property to a new MP or sell it and add any profit to the exchequer.
• 3) All MP's Costs to be managed centrally, Give all MP's Corporate cards with all bills being sent centrally to parliament for payment, obviously with controls over what can be brought, nothing that is not brought with the card will be reimbursed.
• 4) One office in each constituency to be brought by the state and given to whomever the sitting MP is. All bills to be paid centrally.
• 5) Secretaries and Aides to come from a central pool of civil servants not family members.

Until these basic steps are followed there is no way that we can expect to start building up the faith of the electorate a faith that without which we lose the legitimacy to rule at any level from Parish Council to European Union, it is time we remember that with Great Power comes Great Responsibility!

As for the Scuffle that is of cause a reference to the fight that broke out in the palace of Westminster, Nick Farrari of LBC spoke this morning of how it was another example of the disrespectful actions of our current MP's however it would appear to actually be the actions of Journalists so I guess it was his people and not ours after all.

Just got back from the Campaign 2009 launch, I will update later but for now I wanted to pass on the great exchange between Daniel Hannan MEP and Gordon Brown.

Sorry that I have not been present for a while but I am currently trying to move home as My Wife and I are expecting our first child and so our flat is no longer sufficiant for our needs. I thought that it may be a bad time to try and sell our house due to the "credit crunch" and economic turmoil, however I have found that the housing market in Crawley is anything but weak. We placed our house on the market on the Saturday and by the following weekend had recieved three offers, one of which was above our asking price. unfortunatley the downside to this is that we can not find anything to buy. So far we have made offers on five properties only to be outbid as they also sell for over asking price. Annoying as this has been for us it does lead me to an interesting point - Don't believe everything you read. With the BBC announcing that house prices have started to fall at a quicker rate http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7967715.stm my own experience has shown that properties are coming on the market at close to £20,000 more than a similar property a month ago, and still selling fast.

One likely reason for this is that less properties are being placed on the market for the buyers who are around but whatever the justification there are many reasons why now could be the time to get your property listed - Especially if it is a three bedroom with a garage in Crawley (In which case mail me first.)

Until then I will keep looking