All the results are now in. The Liberal Democrat highlight in Epping Forest is a victory in Epping & Theydon Bois, where Janet Whitehouse overturned the Conservative majority

• Janet Whitehouse, Liberal Democrat: 2,481 (42%)
• James Surguy, Conservative: 2,080 (36%)
• Andrew Smith, UKIP: 581 (10%)
• Tony Frankland, BNP: 306 (5%)
• Daniel Kieve, Green Party: 219 (4%)
• Simon Bullough, Labour: 192 (3%)

Total number of votes cast: 5,859
Turnout: 45%
Majority: 401

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Thank you to everyone who voted for the Liberal Democrats in Epping Forest yesterday. The votes will be counted at Theydon Bois Village Hall today and you can check the results on the Essex County Council website here.

Some districts, including Chelmsford where the Liberal Democrats won five seats and Brentwood where the Liberal Democrats gained two seats from the Conservatives, have already counted. Full results here.

Like most Epping Forest residents I don’t have a £1m second home (or first home!) so I have never had to deal with a possible capital gains tax bill of £180,000. When the Daily Telegraph first revealed how our MP told the parliamentary authorities that her second home was in London but told the tax authorities that her second home was in Theydon Bois I was prepared to wait for a full explanation. But all we have had instead is a legalistic statement which avoids the main issue.

I suggested on Saturday that Mrs Laing would be asked to pay the £180,000. David Cameron certainly stepped up the pressure over the weekend when he said in a response to a question about Eleanor Laing on The Politics Show:

“I don’t think it is right to get money from the taxpayer for what you nominate as a second home and then to sell it and not pay capital gains tax”

He also implied she may not have long left on the Conservative front bench. As Shadow Justice Minister she can’t credibly speak on law and order issues if she is suspected of manipulating the rules.

Along with Ann Haigh and these people I don’t think she can credibly continue as our MP either. Those that make the rules should be scrupulous about how they obey them.

Along with Janet Whitehouse I was calling round on people in Bower Hill and Allnutts Road on Sunday morning. We were delighted to see that preparations for the re-opening of Allnutts Post Office are already well  underway. One of the conditions imposed by Essex County Council is that Allnutts Stores should have a new shop front, so on Sunday the old one came down and a new framework went in.

It’s clear from talking to residents in the area that people appreciate the hard work that Janet put into getting the post office re-opened.

I was startled from my sleep this morning to hear the BBC reporting on Epping Forest Conservative MP Eleanor Laing’s second home. Mrs Laing is the latest target of the Daily Telegraph, whose main interest seems to be the profit she made when selling a flat in London which was part funded by her MP’s allowances, and how the income was treated for capital gains tax purpose.

It turns out that the same London flat can be a “primary residence” for tax purposes but a “second home” for the purposes of the Parliamentary Fees Office – which is confusing to say the least.

Mrs Laing points out that she took legal advice which confirmed that no capital gain tax was due and that she has broken no rules. This is not in dispute, but what many of us find troubling is that the Parliamentary rules have historically been so weak that some other MPs have apparently been able to exploit them for personal gain.

It is therefore unfortunate that when Mrs Laing had the opportunity to help clean up the system last July she was one of 21 Conservative MPs (and 146 Labour MPs) who voted against toughening up the expenses rule. The following week my Lib Dem colleague Ann Haigh expressed her disappointment in the Epping Forest Guardian:

“The vast majority of MPs are not corrupt. But so long as they resist having their expenses and allowances subject to robust, external audit, the public can be forgiven for wondering what they have got to hide…I am sure many residents of Epping Forest will be deeply disappointed that Eleanor Laing voted against allowing all MPs’ allowances to be externally audited.”

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Yesterday was the deadline for responding to the Secretary of State’s Proposed Changes to the draft policy on Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation in the East of England [PDF]. This is almost the final stage of a very lengthy process which will determine how many pitches Epping Forest district is expected to provide. It is an issue which Janet Whitehouse and I and other Liberal Democrat councillors have been thinking about very carefully.

The submission which I put in as Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Epping Forest District Council described the Secretary of State’s decision to reduce the pitch requirement for Epping Forest from 49 to 34 pitches as a welcome improvement compared with the original proposed policy. It shows some recognition of the particular local circumstances in Epping Forest.

However I argued that it does not fully take into account the difficulty of delivering a large number of gypsy and traveller sites in Epping Forest.

Unlike some other districts Epping Forest has a very low amount of what is described as “unconstrained land”. In other words much of the land in the district is environmentally sensitive (e.g. Epping Forest and parts of the Lee Valley Regional Park or Green Belt or both). It also remains the case that the number of additional pitches sought as a proportion of total new dwellings is disproportionately high when compared to other districts in the region.

The Thornwood Action Group has carried out excellent research and analysis which I relied on heavily when putting in my response. Like other local residents’ action groups, I think the evidence justifies a further reduction down to 19 or fewer sites.  I’ve not yet been shown a copy of the official Epping Forest District Council submission, but this will also seek a reduction.

Although the Secretary of State will decide how many pitches are required locally, it is up to the district council to decide where  the pitches should be located, hence the controversial consultation which ended in February. We are now waiting for an analysis of the consultation responses and technical and sustainability reports on the proposed sites.

There weren’t many council meetings last week but the regular planning sub-committee took place on Wednesday . The most high profile agenda item [PDF] was about Caffè Nero  in Epping High Street: the latest installment of a long saga which dates back to July 2006.

The coffee shop has been trading in defiance of planning law for the last few years but, judging from the emails and comments I have received, it has built up a loyal group of customers in that time. Councillors were asked whether Caffè Nero’s owners should have the opportunity to submit a new planning application which could take account of changed circumstances since the original planning application was submitted in 2006.

I argued that councillors should have the chance to consider a planning application and I’m pleased that other members thought the same. Caffè Nero now has just under four weeks to submit a planning application which councillors will consider in public at a future planning committee meeting.

The government’s swine flu leaflet (download PDF here) dropped through my letter box this week, hot on the heels of news of the first (and I sincerely hope only) local case of swine flu.

I was surprised at how long the advice leaflet was. Sadly the very basic design means it isn’t a particularly user-friendly read. Given the importance of the information that the leaflet is meant to convey and the time and attention that goes into marketing and communications these days I expected something more arresting than slabs of text and some boxes.

This must be a consequence of the need to get it designed and distributed in double-quick time: printing 25 million leaflets is not something that can be done overnight and perhaps didn’t leave time for much creative input (other than the deeply unattractive image on the front page).

There is a comprehensive list of sources of advice on the Epping Forest District Council website here with links to everyone from our local NHS Primary Care Trust to the World Health Organisation. So far swine flu has not proved as devastating as was first feared but we are told it may yet spread much further. I am glad that the government and local emergency planning teams have prepared for far worse to happen - but I hope they never need to put their plans fully into practice.

Over the weekend St John’s Church in Epping celebrated the 100th anniversary of the construction of its tower, which is still Epping’s most important landmark: visible from the M25 and for miles around. I thoroughly enjoyed the celebratory concert, featuring the Epping Church Choirs Association, St John’s Church Choir and other musicians on Friday evening.

We are fortunate that those who commissioned the church and its tower were far-sighted enough to appoint an architect as good as G F Bodley, who is considered to have made a major contribution to church architecture.

The church is now raising funds to build a new extension, at the west end of the church where St John’s House is now. (Apparently this was going to be the original location of the tower until someone pointed out that the clock would be more visible if it could be seen from the High Steet.)

I don’t think anyone will miss St John’s House when it is pulled down - it is an undistinguished building - but whatever takes its place will have to be a very special design if it is to complement the existing church and serve the congregation and community as well as Bodley’s design has done for the past 100 years. From what I hear the architect is a big admirer of Bodley and up for the challenge.

If some of the worst news this week was contained in Alastair Darling’s statement of doom, the best news for me was the news that Allnutts Post Office is to re-open. On Tuesday my fellow Liberal Democrat councillor Janet Whitehouse rang to tell me that she had just come out of a meeting with Shanhaz Javid from Allnutts Stores and the county council. At the end of the meeting a contract had been signed to re-open the post office in about 20 weeks time!

It was a tremendous blow for local people when the post office shut in February 2008 as part of the Labour government’s Post Office closure plan. Hopes were raised when Essex County Council announced, in a blaze of publicity, plans to re-open some of the offices. My fellow ward councillor Janet Whitehouse received positive indications from county council officers. But so far only three post offices in Essex have actually started serving customers again. So when county council officials visited Allnutts Stores in February this year to say that the post office would remain shut it was disappointing, but not an enormous surprise .

Thankfully neither Shanhaz, who provides such an excellent service to her customers, nor Janet gave up. Janet pressed the county council for a meeting. She and Shanhaz travelled to County Hall in Chelmsford to put their case. The county council thought again and agreed to continue discussions. Local people expressed their support for the re-opening and described the problems they had experienced without a local post office. More meetings were held. The county council required Shanhaz to make changes such as a new shop front and changes to the internal layout of the store. At last, thanks to Shanhaz, Janet and the county council all working together, a deal was done and a contract signed.

As Janet said in a letter to local residents who supported her petition:

I am delighted that by working together we have achieved this fantastic outcome. It is now up to all of us to support Shanhaz and Allnutts Stores and to use the Post Office regularly when it re-opens in Autumn.