http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/21/tory-council-rejects-affordable-homes-concession
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/apr/21/new-garden-cities-low-cost-homes
Daily Archives: 21 Apr 2014
By-election for Newton Poppleford Parish Council
Closing date 24 April 2014
Click to access newton-poppleford-harpford-by-election-notice-of-election.pdf
“Hostility, defensiveness and denial”: millions suffer in silence due to public sector complaints system
Excerpt from article published by the Daily Telegraph
Britain will face another scandal like Mid Staffs, in which hundreds of patients died needlessly, unless there is a cultural “revolution”, the Public Administration select committee says in a report released on Monday.
MPs say public bodies are increasingly resorting to using “euphemistic” terms such as review, appeal and feedback to describe complaints, a practice that should be banned. They urge David Cameron to create a new minister for complaints to champion those with grievances and overhaul the way that the public sector is run.
Bernard Jenkin, the committee chairman, says: “There needs to be a revolution in the way public services are run, and how the public perceives government.
“As things are, most people believe there is no point in complaining.
“The shocking collapse of care at Mid Staffs hospital should be a warning to the whole public sector that too many managers in public services are in denial about what their customers and staff think about them.
“Unless and until we have a culture of leadership in public services that listens to, values and responds to complaints there will always be the potential for tragedies like Mid-Staffs. Opportunities to improve services and public confidence will be missed again and again.”
Across government, the report finds repeated evidence that officials have failed to deal with complaints in good time, make “grudging” apologies or fail to resolve issues entirely.
It suggests that every government department should be forced to publish information about how many complaints it has handled and resolved each year, alongside details of the lessons learned.
“The aim is not to create bureaucracy or a tick box exercise, but to achieve a greater level of transparency,” it says.
The report also criticises ministers for failing to respond to MPs raising concerns on behalf of their constituents quickly enough or to take up complaints themselves.
EDDC take note …
A WATCHDOG has criticised City of York Council for failing to make background papers available for public inspection before it launched its draft Local Plan last summer.
The Local Government Ombudsman, giving its provisional view on a complaint about the authority, also said that by not finalising some papers before a meeting, the council had left itself open to allegations of intentionally withholding information from the public.
It has also recommended that the council should finalise background papers before public meetings and make them available for inspection before such meetings in accordance with regulations, and that the council should provide training to relevant staff to ensure they are fully aware of the requirements of regulations.
The complaint was made by local economic development adviser Gwen Swinburn, who on May 14 last year asked to see a report which she considered was a background paper to the Local Plan preferred options.
The Ombudsman said the council told her it was not yet able to share the report but all the supporting documents and studies would be made available on June 5, when the public consultation on the Plan would start.
“It explained that it was finalising and checking some of the studies to ensure the information was organised and presented in a co-ordinated and coherent way,” said the Ombudsman. “The report was then made available on June 5.”
Th Ombudsman said Ms Swinburn claimed that when the background papers were made available in June, it was clear from the dates that some of them had been finalised before April and the council failed to comply with regulation requirements by not making all the background papers available before a cabinet meeting on April 30.
“I consider that, on the balance of probabilities, at least one of the background documents had been finalised before the Cabinet meeting on April 30 and therefore should have been made available for inspection by members of the public,” it said.
“This was administrative fault. I will reconsider this view if the council is able to provide evidence to show that each of the background documents had not been finalised before April 30.”
Ms Swinburn said she had complained to the Ombudsman because she believed there was a growing disregard for democracy at the authority and she was pleased by the provisional view.
Council director Darren Richardson said: “We are looking at the Ombudsman’s provisional comments and will be preparing a response to this soon. Until this has been carried out, we’re unable to add any further comment at this stage.”
Support grows for fight against Devon’s youth service cuts
An awareness day to garner support for a campaign against proposals by Devon County Council to cut its youth budget was held in Exmouth.
Dozens of people signed a petition against the plan at an event in the Strand hosted by some of the teenagers who will be affected.
The Save Devon Youth Services campaign is being led by Alfie Weaver, 17, from Sidmouth, and George Downs, 16, from Exmouth, who is also a member of the Youth Parliament, with help from Paige Wonnacott, 17, from Exeter.
On Saturday, April 19, with fellow campaigners, they staged an awareness day and petition signing in the Strand which was supported by the East Devon Alliance.
This Saturday, April 26, they are hoping as many people as possible will support their campaign at a protest march taking place from Princesshay to County Hall at 11am.
King Alfred’s Way, Newton Poppleford, update
From comments on Sidmouth Independent News today:
The council has issued its revised screening opinion on the need for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). To no great surprise, they still maintain that there is no need for an EIA to be provided with this application, despite the potential cumulative effects of development at King Alfred Way (40 houses), Badger Close (46 houses, going to an appeal hearing on May 13th) and Waterleat (up to 17 houses) in the village.
Clinton Devon Estates’ proposed mitigation of the environmental impact of the development is to ‘manage access’ on the common, which Natural England have accepted. They have said that will be done through signposting and promotion of less sensitive routes, but personally I suspect that the recent fencing of the common with razor-sharp barbed wire is also intended to play a role.
Not only is the wire itself dangerous to walkers and dogs, but its purpose is to allow a herd of wild ponies to graze the common, including giving them unrestricted access across public footpaths. At times, these ponies will charge from one place to another as a herd, and woe betide anyone or anything that gets in their way. They are making the common increasingly unwelcoming to dog walkers, horse riders and walkers, especially those with young children, which is a great pity.
East Devon Watch 