Phil Bennion

Phil Bennion as a Local Campaigner & Councillor

Phil Bennion is currently a member of Lichfield District Council representing the Mease and Tame ward. He is opposition spokesperson on Environment and Development. He was previously vice chair of Cultural Services Scrutiny Committee before it was disbanded. He won the seat at the fourth attempt in 1999.

He won the Lichfield Rural East County seat in a by-election in 2002, having finished third in 1989, 1993, 1997 and 2001. This was achieved entirely through a differential turnout from his District ward, but he almost retained the seat in 2005 without that advantage. He sat on the Social Care and Education scrutiny committees as well as acting as budget spokesperson for the Liberal Democrat group.

Greenfield Development

Tamworth Borough has had an expansionist agenda for decades, eyeing the rural expanses in Lichfield District to the north and west of Tamworth. Phil's name has become synonymous in the area with the fight to prevent inappropriate large-scale development to the north of Tamworth. "I'm no NIMBY" says Phil. "I've been trying for years to get more affordable housing built in the local villages.

The area between Tamworth, Burton and Lichfield is the largest single area of countryside between Birmingham and Derby/Nottingham. Had Tamworth got its way in the last County Structure Plan review, the town would have had to expand by two miles into attractive countryside to the north, entirely onto Greenfield sites. Environmentally, this would have been the worst possible option, with the new commuters heading through the town centre towards Birmingham along an already congested route. Even the railway station is on the wrong side of the traffic bottleneck to allow the train to take the strain. We now await the results of the Regional Spatial Strategy Review for the final outcome.

Local Health Services

Phillip Bennion has taken action when local health services have been threatened.

When the night closure of the Minor Injuries Unit at Sir Robert Peel Hospital on the outskirts of Tamworth was first rumoured he raised the issue at District Council. When residents asked for help in raising a petition he drew up the text for them and distributed copies by email. He joined the campaigners in Tamworth town centre for two days where they collected 2000 signatures. He acted as spokesperson for the campaigners in discussions with the Primary Care Trust. When the number of signatories reached 5000 the PCT deferred the decision and the service is still open two years later.

Affordable Housing

After 20 years campaigning on the issue of affordable housing, Phil is finally getting somewhere with his District Council. He called for the abolition of thresholds in rural areas during his successful election campaign of 1999, when he gained his formerly safe Conservative seat.

"In attractive villages, affordable housing now means social housing", says Phil. "Those with enough money will pay almost anything to live in a nice village. This area is similar to many rural areas in the West Midlands, characterised by low median but high average incomes. Wealthy incomers are welcome, but we must ensure that local people on low incomes are not forced out. The problem is now spreading to small and medium sized towns, where local youngsters have no hope of getting started on the housing ladder."

Campaigning for the Environment

Phil has campaigned on Environmental issues for many years and is a member of Green Liberal Democrats. This year he gave a paper to the GLD conference on the issues surrounding biofuels. Last year he successfully proposed that his District Council set up a working group on Climate Change. He overcame resistance to insist that the Council take a more pro-active approach to energy efficiency and renewables in the planning process and push for the highest possible standards. The recommendations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions per household and to review energy consumption on the Council's own estate have now gone to Cabinet.

When Lichfield District Council introduced its award-winning recycling scheme Phil and his Lib Dem colleagues supported the ruling group. However, Phil had to argue energetically for the scheme to go District-wide. Initially the least densely populated areas, including Phil's ward, were excluded on cost grounds.

Phil is still fighting to protect ancient woodland in his ward from falling to mineral extraction. He believes that sand and gravel extraction in the Tame valley has had an influence on recent flood levels. A village in his ward was flooded twice this summer and a farmer in the ward lost his entire flock of sheep. Before it was abolished, Phil sat on the Environment Agency Local Area Group covering Staffordshire, North Warwickshire, Birmingham and the Black Country for 6 years. He is calling for these groups to be established as they used to provide a vital link between the Environment Agency and the rest of society and industry.

Bus Services

Phil became the local champion for bus users when he was Parish Council chairman in the mid 1990s. The local service had been subject to several different operators, with no continuity and reliability problems. He spent 10 years working with County officers in improving the service. He undertook surveys on his Focus leaflets to find out what was needed and made his own recommendations to the Council. In 2005 he succeeded in getting the service upgraded to eight daily buses, from the previous three or five, depending on village. He now regularly receives thanks from grateful pensioners for what he has achieved.

Care Services

Phil Bennion has no ideological view as to whether Home and Residential Care services are provided by the public or private sector. The important thing is that they are available to all those who need them when they need them. In his time on County Council Phil raised the issue of carers travelling time as private care agencies were refusing to take rural cases. He also helped draw up residential care contracts against a backdrop of neighbouring authorities with higher block grants competing for care places in the County.

Post Offices

Phil's ward has already lost four of its six Post Offices. The future of the remaining two is now uncertain. He collected over 1000 signatures in his ward for the "Hands Off Our Post" campaign. Phil believes that Post Offices must be enabled to act as multifunctional service centres, both in rural areas and in the suburbs. It is pointless forcing people to travel several miles to access services when a 'one stop shop' in every community could retain both services and social cohesion.

Railway Station Parking

Phil has been campaigning for extra car parking at Lichfield and Tamworth stations for several years, taking his ideas to meetings with Central Trains and Network Rail, as well as the County Council. Car Parks at all of the stations are full by 8am on weekdays, forcing commuters to continue by car. In a survey of local residents, Phil found that over half of travellers to London were driving along congested roads to Birmingham International due to lack of parking at their local stations. Phil's long-term campaign has at least raised awareness. Lichfield District Council has allocated land at Trent Valley station and Tamworth Borough is looking to do the same at Tamworth. Phil raised the issue at Regional level through the Rail User Groups and also through responses to the regional Spatial and Economic Strategies. Station parking is now dealt with in both draft Strategies.

West Coast Mainline

When Lichfield's Conservative MP Michael Fabricant opposed the upgrade to four tracks of the Trent Valley section of the West Coast Mainline, Phil Bennion pointed out the consequences via correspondence in the local paper. Phil had already met senior management of Network Rail to discuss the upgrade (which runs through his ward) and it was made clear that they needed two non-stop tracks between Stafford or Stoke and Rugby. If the four-tracking did not take place, then services along the West Coast Mainline calling at Rugeley, Lichfield, Tamworth, Atherstone and Nuneaton would be threatened. As a result of his actions, opposition melted away, and the section is currently under construction. Network Rail had been considering scrapping the section to cut costs, so it was vital that all parties lobbied in favour for it to go ahead. Mr Fabricant was gracious enough to acknowledge Cllr Bennion's advice.

Campaigning to protect our Canals

Phil's ward is on the canal network and there are major junctions in the two neighbouring wards. Canal issues feature regularly in his Focus leaflets. He has supported efforts in the restoration of the Lichfield and Hatherton canals and was part of the successful campaign to prevent the M6Toll severing them in two places. Most recently he criticised the senseless DEFRA cuts to British Waterways to pay for the EU fines on the UK due to late payments to farmers and the overspend on the Rural Payments Agency IT system. Phil suggested to Chris Huhne that these were ministerial mistakes and should be paid for out of the contingency reserve. Chris agreed and that became the party line on the issue.