spqr
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Post by spqr on Jun 2, 2020 18:22:14 GMT
I knew a female lecturer who had a weekly schedule of teaching at Edinburgh, Durham and Bristol Universities, all on temporary contracts. She lived in the South West, I think, and just travelled from one place to the next before returning home again. Ah, one of those unusual people who can answer the "how do you usually travel to work" question in the Census with "aeroplane". No - believe it or not I think she travels by rail! |
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Post by 🏴☠️ Neath West 🏴☠️ on Jun 2, 2020 18:37:12 GMT
NEWBURY BOROUGH, 1972 (according to the Reading Evening Post) NORTH (3 seats) - 2 Lab gains from Con *Elizabeth Ganf, Con 829 Tony Freke, Lab 811 Bill Browne, Lab 765 Bill Dress, Lab 746 Frank Lewis, Con 722 *Bill Shelton, Con 719 Newbury North. That sounds likely. I was only 14 when I first joined the Labour party so it was a long time ago, and it was certainly a marginal not a safe seat, but I don't think Labour are even remotely in contention for a ward in Newbury now Amusingly - when checking the results for Newbury Central, the Labour candidate in 2019 was one Caroline Anne De Vere ffrench-Blake nee Beauclerk, who is genuine aristocracy! Okay, so presumably some relation of the Duke of St Albans? |
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Post by owainsutton on Jun 2, 2020 18:46:47 GMT
Ah, one of those unusual people who can answer the "how do you usually travel to work" question in the Census with "aeroplane". No - believe it or not I think she travels by rail! That's not all that great a feat. "By air" in surveys, though, includes people in many routine jobs, in the most remote parts of the UK. |
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Post by owainsutton on Jun 2, 2020 18:48:54 GMT
But Universities and their residents make a massive contribution to University towns and cities. They pay my wages, for a start. Don't pay any council tax though, or business rates Most people don't pay business rates at any point in their lives. Students do pay VAT and duty on alcohol, though, so they're probably covering their overall costs. |
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Merseymike
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Post by Merseymike on Jun 2, 2020 18:51:12 GMT
Newbury North. That sounds likely. I was only 14 when I first joined the Labour party so it was a long time ago, and it was certainly a marginal not a safe seat, but I don't think Labour are even remotely in contention for a ward in Newbury now Amusingly - when checking the results for Newbury Central, the Labour candidate in 2019 was one Caroline Anne De Vere ffrench-Blake nee Beauclerk, who is genuine aristocracy! Okay, so presumably some relation of the Duke of St Albans? Daughter! She was married to the late founder of Radio 210 in Reading, Neil ffrench-Blake (note the two single 'f's), hence the surname. Caroline is of course a Lady! |
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spqr
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Post by spqr on Jun 2, 2020 18:57:35 GMT
No - believe it or not I think she travels by rail! That's not all that great a feat. Never said it was. Tedious and time-consuming, though. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2020 19:42:39 GMT
Don't pay any council tax though, or business rates Most people don't pay business rates at any point in their lives. Students do pay VAT and duty on alcohol, though, so they're probably covering their overall costs. Neither of which go to the local council. The point about business rates is that student residence blocks don't pay business rates, even though they are a private business. And the students inside don't pay council tax. No, students don't pay their way. |
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Post by November_Rain on Jun 2, 2020 19:52:21 GMT
North Somerset Council under it's former moniker Woodspring does have some interesting ones:
Portishead was one ward in 1973 and returned a Labour councillor for it's one and only time there. In the 2019 Locals where the town has now been split into four wards, Labour were as low as 4%, the Conservatives averaged about 18-19%. Both parties lost votes and in the Tories case seats to the local Portishead Independents.
Weston-super-Mare South which has always been Labour's safest ward has seen the Conservatives go from a peak of 34% in 1976 to a low of 14.2% in 2019.
Weston West or Hillside as it's known was a Tory seat until 1999 then again from 2007 to 2011 where their peak was 67% in 1976 to 13% in 2019 and they were lucky to get third place (top 2 got elected) as my co-candidate was not far behind their top candidate. Even I beat their second candidate.
Banwell (now Banwell and Winscombe) - the Liberal Democrats won it in 1991 and 1995 with a peak of 53.7%, didn't field a candidate in 2019 but were as low as 14.8% in 2015.
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J.G.Harston
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Post by J.G.Harston on Jun 2, 2020 20:25:25 GMT
Most people don't pay business rates at any point in their lives. Students do pay VAT and duty on alcohol, though, so they're probably covering their overall costs. Neither of which go to the local council. The point about business rates is that student residence blocks don't pay business rates, even though they are a private business. No they're not, they are residential property. The fact that they are let commercially by a commercial company is irrelevent, they are residential property, so any taxation on the occupants would be residential property taxation, not commercial property taxation. |
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Post by Defenestrated Fipplebox on Jun 3, 2020 5:35:33 GMT
Neither of which go to the local council. The point about business rates is that student residence blocks don't pay business rates, even though they are a private business. No they're not, they are residential property. The fact that they are let commercially by a commercial company is irrelevent, they are residential property, so any taxation on the occupants would be residential property taxation, not commercial property taxation.
I think ther point is that bert doesn't like students.
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Post by minionofmidas on Jun 3, 2020 8:18:13 GMT
No - believe it or not I think she travels by rail! That's not all that great a feat. "By air" in surveys, though, includes people in many routine jobs, in the most remote parts of the UK. airline employees to a man (or woman), no doubt? |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2020 8:21:35 GMT
No they're not, they are residential property. The fact that they are let commercially by a commercial company is irrelevent, they are residential property, so any taxation on the occupants would be residential property taxation, not commercial property taxation.
I think ther point is that bert doesn't like students.
I think the point is that Bert thinks students should pay for local services like everyone else. |
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Merseymike
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Post by Merseymike on Jun 3, 2020 8:24:02 GMT
I think ther point is that bert doesn't like students.
I think the point is that Bert thinks students should pay for local services like everyone else. Which would effectively mean extending the council tax benefit system to enable them to do so. Not a good idea. Students spend money in the cities where they live, and their presence provides a lot of jobs. |
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Post by carlton43 on Jun 3, 2020 8:35:48 GMT
I think ther point is that bert doesn't like students.
I think the point is that Bert thinks students should pay for local services like everyone else. And I am the sort of person who instinctively feels much the same about such matters up to a point. When I retired early at 50 and went to study art full time, I became a 'mature' student and got my council tax rebate and enjoyed getting it. Didn't 'need' it but did the paperwork to get it. Now back in Sheffield I live in an area dominated by two large universities full of students many of which are foreign. The effect on this city has been dramatic in tidying up and improving massive areas of the built environment. The city is younger and frankly more interesting and intelligent because of this influx of staff and students. They also bring a huge spend and make it possible to sustain a wide range of cultural activities. They also keep it to the left by affecting at least 4-constituencies. I accept all of that for what it is. I don't expect them to pay more for they are a social, cultural and economic benefit to the city and directly to me. My payment to them is living in a Labour seat. Perfectly happy about that. I have many Labour friends. But I remain Conservative. |
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Post by greenhert on Jun 3, 2020 9:50:27 GMT
Most people don't pay business rates at any point in their lives. Students do pay VAT and duty on alcohol, though, so they're probably covering their overall costs. Neither of which go to the local council. The point about business rates is that student residence blocks don't pay business rates, even though they are a private business. And the students inside don't pay council tax. No, students don't pay their way. This partly explains why council tax rates in Nottingham are so high compared to the national average... |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2020 10:20:18 GMT
Neither of which go to the local council. The point about business rates is that student residence blocks don't pay business rates, even though they are a private business. And the students inside don't pay council tax. No, students don't pay their way. This partly explains why council tax rates in Nottingham are so high compared to the national average... An issue (I was going to say 'problem' but ...) for a lot of University cities |
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Post by owainsutton on Jun 3, 2020 12:01:56 GMT
That's not all that great a feat. "By air" in surveys, though, includes people in many routine jobs, in the most remote parts of the UK. airline employees to a man (or woman), no doubt? Nope. Some Scottish islands see school staff travelling by plane on a routine basis, for example. |
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Post by lancastrian on Jun 3, 2020 16:37:19 GMT
Neither of which go to the local council. The point about business rates is that student residence blocks don't pay business rates, even though they are a private business. No they're not, they are residential property. The fact that they are let commercially by a commercial company is irrelevent, they are residential property, so any taxation on the occupants would be residential property taxation, not commercial property taxation. I'd agree that privately rented blocks with 52 week contracts are residential property just as they would be if the inhabitants were not students. What is the tax situation for uni owned halls though, only open to students during term time to facilitate the business of the university? Those seem more akin to a hotel attached to a conference venue, and indeed during holidays some are actually used like that. |
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Post by IceAgeComing on Jun 3, 2020 20:17:34 GMT
airline employees to a man (or woman), no doubt? Nope. Some Scottish islands see school staff travelling by plane on a routine basis, for example. An example of this: Scotland has the shortest commercial flight in the world: between Westray and Papa Westray in Orkney. Its scheduled to last a minute and a half (but apparently in a good wind they've done 57 seconds before) and while its not the only transport link (car ferry is there but takes a lot longer) its probably the most convenient if you don't need your car and apparently everyone uses it regularly in the same way that people regularly use the buses or trains in other parts of the UK. Its probably not a massive amount of people in the big scheme of things but its an example of a route that people will commute on. In researching this I learned that they're apparently thinking of bringing in electric planes for some of the shorter islands routes and that seems like an incredibly good idea so I hope that it happens. |
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myth11
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Post by myth11 on Jun 3, 2020 20:45:28 GMT
Neither of which go to the local council. The point about business rates is that student residence blocks don't pay business rates, even though they are a private business. And the students inside don't pay council tax. No, students don't pay their way. This partly explains why council tax rates in Nottingham are so high compared to the national average... Robin hood energy/Trams...... both were looking bad before covid-19. |
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