Can anyone point us to anything that EDDC’s ‘Champion for Tourism’ has said or done that was useful for the district? Googling her name and East Devon for the last year gives up one reference where she adds her name to ‘Devon is Open for Business’ after the recent storms.
Can anyone name her without looking it up?
DMC chair Helen predictably supported the motion to restrict public speaking at planning meetings, at last night’s council meeting.
The public don’t need to say a lot because their interests are stoutly defended by councillors and officers, she argued.
Has she forgotten that the destruction of the Seaton/ Colyford green wedge was supported by officers, and was only prevented by a massive turn-out of residents who argued persuasively – and at length- against concreting it over?
She failed to mention, too, that she herself had not voted against the green wedge proposal, on the grounds that her husband had already objected. See https://eastdevonwatch.org/2014/02/04/green-wedge-success-was-not-down-to-district-council/
More reactions to the rejection of EDDC’s Local Plan , are flooding in to EDA. This one, sent in from Sidmouth, is typical. It has a powerful postscript:
‘The Inspector’s conclusions:
• The proposals are unsound in every respect. EDDC has ignored all advice and evidence.
• East Devon has no Plan.
• The whole process has been flawed. The proposals were not evidence-based.
• No adjustments can be made. The Council must start again.
April 2014
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) means:
There is now nothing to stop developers doing whatever they want in the Sid Valley and AONB.
Paragraph 14 insists development proposals must be granted permission “where the plan is absent or silent or relevant policies are out-of-date.”
The people of East Devon will now have to prove that “any adverse impacts would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits”
Paragraph 32 states that a refusal on highways grounds can only be sustained if the impact is “severe.”
The only people that can fix the NPPF are in Parliament.
Write to Hugo Swire at swireh@parliament.uk
East Devon Local Plan takes a step forward (April 2012 EDDC press release)
EDDC is moving on to the next stage in its Local Plan process – creating the planning blueprint for the district up to 2026.
The Local Plan Panel is handing over responsibility for taking the policy document forward to EDDC’s Development Management Committee – its parent body.
The disbanding of East Devon’s Local Plan Panel comes as the Government publishes its National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which came into force on 27 March.
East Devon’s proposals are now coming together after years of preparation, but there’s still time for a degree of public consultation in the coming months before the policy document is finalised by EDDC and passed to the Government for ratification.
Councillor Paul Diviani, Leader of EDDC, takes up the story: “I have just returned from a meeting of the Local Government Association’s Rural Commission in London. Change for Local Government continues apace”.
“Having now been published, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) puts decision- making firmly in the hands of elected local politicians. If the NPPF is silent, local Members of the Local Planning Authority will decide”.
Local Planning Authorities have until March 2013 to put their Local Plans in place and EDDC is on course to achieve that target. From that moment on, the Local Plan will become the major planning guidance document for East Devon.
For the next year, existing policies still carry the most weight, even if there is limited conflict with the NPPF. From March next year onwards, these local policies will be judged against how they match up to the NPPF guidelines.
Paul Diviani again: “At East Devon, the Development Management Committee (DMC) will now drive the Local Plan agenda and will report to Full Council. A schedule that came to the Cabinet on 4 April detailed all relevant further consultation with the people of East Devon and we have to adhere to that schedule to meet the Government’s deadlines. Everyone is encouraged to examine that schedule to see where representation can be made.
“In the meantime, I would like to thank everyone who has taken part in this protracted process, but especially the Local Plan Panel, in its various guises. Over time, there have been four Chairmen – Alderman Ray Franklin and Councillors Graham Brown, David Key and Mike Allen.
“Whilst the Panel was not empowered to make decisions, it performed a valuable function of consultation and evidence review, which will enable DMC and the Council to move on to the next stage. I am indebted to the Chairmen for the arduous task they have completed under considerable pressure. They and their Panels deserve their well-earned rest!
“Kate Little, Matt Dickins and the other Officers are to be congratulated on the speed and diligence of the evidence collation and I am confident after the final tweaks, that we have a document worthy of inspection and subsequent adoption”. April 2012
“LOOK ON MY WORKS YE MIGHTY AND DESPAIR!” ‘
This is how Trafford Council explains it – and, more importantly, how it was able to incorporate this law into its Standing Orders IMMEDIATELY.
The Regulations
2.1 The Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 were passed last week. The Regulations make it mandatory for councils as soon as is practicable after the Regulations are in force, to amend their Standing Orders so as to include provisions requiring recorded votes at budget meetings.
2.2 This will require a recorded vote on any decision relating to the budget or council tax. The purpose of the Regulations is to allow people to see how members voted on the substantive budget motions agreeing the budget, setting council taxes or issuing precepts and also on any amendments proposed at the meeting.
2.3 The regulations will come in to force on 25 February 2014, which is after the proposed date of Trafford’s Budget Council meeting. However, it is the Minister’s expectation that councils will take a recorded vote
on these matters in any event and therefore it is recommended that we amend our Standing Orders to reflect the changes required by the Regulations from the 25 February 2014 and adopt the practice for this meeting.
Has EDDC done this? If so, ALL decisions about the Skypark move MUST be by recorded vote.
Due to technical problems with the sound system , last night’s Full Council meeting may not have been recorded. So several short reports on this EDA website are intended to give an idea of the meeting, focusing on its most crucial discussion points.
Firstly, proposed changes to rules on public speaking.
Opinions were strongly divided:
Cllr Button (Lib Dem) said that ” the Council should not even suggest that public speaking is being restricted”, at a time when public confidence in the Council has been seriously eroded, with East Devon now left with the consequences of having no Local Plan in place. “You are going to get a backlash,” he warned.
But Cllr Howe (Cons) disagreed. “I think we must restrict public speaking,” he told the Chair
An EDA observer sums up as follows:
‘The aim of the recommendations seemed sensible – reduce the risk of poor planning decisions by preventing overly-long meetings . But the proposed solution was bureaucratic, involving pre-registration, last minute shuffling of the order on agendas, overhead slides projecting planning law guidelines, disclosure of private contact details of speakers (Data Protection issues?), limitation of numbers of speakers supporting or objecting, extra opportunity for applicants or their agent to speak, a new timing clock and lots more.
What emerged eventually was recognition that all that was needed was stronger Chairmanship – reduce duplication, proper reading by members of Officers’ reports instead of word-by-word reading out by Officers, and smarter time management, particularly at Development Management Committee meetings.
The referral back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC ), made at last night’s Full Council meeting, could lead in that direction.’
It was noted that Cllr Bloxham spoke for 27 minutes last night in his first explanation of the new rules. The four questions from the public took less than 10 minutes in total.
The Overview and Scrutiny could bear this in mind when they look at how to overcome the present problem of unduly lengthy meetings.
Comment from Councillor Diviani “Roger [Giles, Independent], you have a big hangup about the Local Plan. It’s motoring along”
Yes, you can say that again.
It was agreed at last night’s council meeting that the issue of public speaking should be referred back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
A couple of questions for them – irrespective of the morality and ethics of eroding democracy.
1. Fifty letters of objection arrive on the same day in the same post. Who decides which ones are opened first?
2. Who will decide whether the first 5 objectors chosen in this “first come, first served” recommendation are representative of the whole? What if they are not? Say the first 5 objectors all make the same point – for example, that they don’t like the colours being chosen – but Objector 6 makes a killer point that would undoubtedly affect the outcome – for example that what is being contemplated is demonstably against the law – what happens then?
East Devon Watch 