Daily Archives: 16 Jun 2014
It helps if, as an MP, you know something about your constituency!
If Honiton Town Council is deemed a financial high risk for Beehive what will Skypark do to EDDC?
“The Council had minimal free reserves at the start of the project and therefore should have risk assessed the implications of a cost overrun on the project and ensured that sufficient resources could be put in place so as not to jeopardise existing Council services in that event.“
The cost of “satellite” hubs if EDDC relocates?
It seems no-one thought to cost how much will be spent on maintaining satellite hubs if EDDC relocates.
Back of an envelope:
One half day, 50 weeks a year renting space in the 8 towns of East Devon – say to keep visits to a minimum 2 hours per week. A low cost for renting would be about £15 per hour. Cost £78,000
2 people visiting each time (1 officer cannot do everything surely) and each officer claims £10 per trip petrol, subsistence, etc. £2,000
Total minimum £80,000 per year.
Anyone like to put their own costings forward – councillors?
Business leaders say spending on infrastructure more important than health or education
“Feudal” landlord loses battle to build in picturesque village
A warning to all Estates who think they can build wherever they want:
“Mr Rees, who has lived in Penshurst for 22 years, said: “There is a subtext to this which is not only about the way that things were done in private as much as possible by the council: they have spent huge amounts of public money on fighting this, and they spent a huge amount of money, and our time, protecting the first planning application, which they didn’t even bother to defend.”
He said that the community who hoped to save their rural landscape were not the only people affected by the wrangling: “Had they sat down with the community in Penshurst and discussed where to put these houses it would have helped. By now because Forge Field has been held up as the only possible place, people have been waiting for housing for four years.
Company appointed to market Knowle – and more money to be spent
http://www.devon24.co.uk/news/firm_appointed_to_market_knowle_1_3640336
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Cllr Ray Bloxham said a piece of work is underway ‘to see what service delivery we can produce in each of our towns and what kind of facilities would be needed to do that’.
He added: “The important thing is members of the public who want to engage with the district council in some way can do it in the towns where they live rather than coming to our offices.”
Cllr Andrew Moulding questioned how many residents in East Devon visit Knowle, adding: “Unless there’s a major planning application people are concerned about, people would not necessarily need to communicate by actually going along and visiting the headquarters of the council.”
He said that an ambition of ‘transforming the council’ could be fulfilled ‘as long as we can have an office that’s modern, used better by our staff and indeed we can communicate better from those premises with the people that we serve’.
Members agreed a further £203,000 for 2014/15 – bringing the total pre-contract cost to £705,000.”
East Devon Watch 