Only a perfectly timed question from Cllr Claire Wright to Deputy CEO Richard Cohen, most appropriately at yesterday’s Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Committee meeting, obliged Mr Cohen to mention that it happened to be Nigel Harrison’s last day at the office that very same day.
Mr Harrison was of course due to be the Lead Officer at a special O&S sub-committee, the so-called Business TAFF, although he had kept out of public view since the Telegraph’s Councillors for hire story broke (March 2013), and his expected resignation confirmed last month, came as no surprise to many. See http://eastdevonalliance.org/2014/09/24/lead-officer-of-stalled-business-taff-to-quietly-disappear/

So it seems that the fledgling Task and Finish Forum (TAFF) charged by the O&S Committee to carry out ‘an in-depth study’ on the relationship between EDDC and what was called the East Devon Business Forum (EDBF), has had its wings clipped yet again.The TAFF has been grounded for well over a year as the police investigation into key witness ex-councillor Graham Brown has dragged on. Now that another key player, the Economic Development Manager, has melted away, along with the Monitoring Officer in question, and of course the EDBF itself, will the Business TAFF ever get to fly?

More on the subject at http://eastdevonalliance.org/2014/08/04/eddc-ministry-of-magic/