Here we go again …
http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/brandon_lewis_says_labour_accusations_of_taxpayer_funding_for_political_work_are_completely_false_1_3986627
Monthly Archives: March 2015
Twissgate Two
Great coverage of “Twissgate Two” on Real Zorro!
http://realzorro1.blogspot.co.uk/
Not only could you not make it up – you wouldn’t want to. This should not be happening here: we deserve better. And we can get it – if we vote him and his party out in May.
Town and Coubtry Planning Association says deregulation and demoralisation of planning system is putting country at risk
A leading campaigning group has today warned that consistent deregulation and demoralisation of the planning system is putting the very fabric of our towns, cites and the countryside at risk.
In a pre-election manifesto ‘Building the Future’ the Town & Country Planning Association (TCPA) argues that there is a real danger that the planning system, a vital national asset, essential to the maintenance and well-being of the country, will soon be lost.
Kate Henderson, Chief Executive of the TCPA said:
“At its best, planning has proved to be a powerful tool to bring forward sustainable growth, and to deliver multiple benefits to our society including certainty and confidence for businesses, democratic rights for communities and protection for our environment, heritage and biodiversity.
“As we continue to battle with the nation’s housing crisis, good planning is needed as never before to plan for and create the homes and communities we desperately need. However the planning system as we knew it is being continually undermined and devalued though significant reforms and deregulation. Planning has lost all sense of the progressive social values that once lay at its core, and unless we are careful, is at risk of being destroyed altogether.”
The TCPA’s position is simple: good planning makes better places. The manifesto calls for action in the first 100 days of a new Government to restore the importance of planning as a key tool in delivering much needed new homes and communities. This includes taking steps such as creating a new legally defined purpose for planning based on sustainable development, the updating and effective deployment of New Towns legislation, and changing the National Planning Policy Framework to place social justice, equality and climate change at the heart of planning decisions. The manifesto additionally calls for better planning for cities, and stronger measures to ensure that councils work together to meet housing need.
Kate Henderson added:
“A new Government must act to restore the prominence of planning as an essential element to create the new homes, communities and infrastructure that the nation so desperately needs. For the sake of our children and grandchildren, planning must be seen as a positive proactive force for good and must be placed at the centre of political debate.”
Could it happen here …
… and would we get the same result?
Greater Exeter ..Cranbrook … Ottery … Honiton?
A first reading of the local housing figures report appears to make it clear that they expect much of the housing expansion in East Devon to be at Cranbrook.
Surely it isn’t far in the distant future that Cranbrook will be just another Exeter suburb that will expand even further east, west, nort and south?
Could we soon see Ottery and Honiton as minor parts of “Greater Exeter” and losing their identity as rural towns in favour of urban/suburban Exeter – without the supporting infrastructure?
Straitgate Quarry: Independen councillor Claire Wright’s view “environmental vandalism”
Claire Wright, who is contesting the Parliamentary seat of Devon East as an Independent, has condemned the “consultation” exercise carried out by Aggregate Industries, that could lead to the development of a quarry on the outskirts of Ottery St. Mary. AI is a member of the multinational Holcim Group, based in Switzerland. The company wants to develop the 100 acre site at Straitgate Farm and is intending to make a formal planning application in the near future.
Claire Wright commented: “If the plan is approved by Devon County Council, up to 100 truck movements would carry sand and gravel along the inadequate B 3180 each day, five days a week for five years to Blackhill Quarry, on Woodbury Common, for processing. This is a distance of just over eight miles. These movements would create substantial pollution, noise and create additional safety problems on a road that already has a very poor safety record. However, it is my understanding that if permission to use Blackhill is not granted, the project will not proceed. I understand that Natural England have a large number of serious environmental objections to processing at Blackhill.
“AI have acknowledged that processing at Straitgate would not be acceptable. I cannot understand why the project is still alive. It will create no new jobs, will damage the environment, could lead to increased flood risk in Cadhay, Coombelake, Ottery and West Hill and will harm the local economy, which relies on tourism for a significant part of the year. Experts contend that there is no need for a new quarry. Devon has over eight million tonnes of reserves with planning approval. At current levels of demand, it may only be in 2025 that the county has less than the seven years of reserves required under the National Planning Policy Framework. Many organisations, keen to avoid serious environmental damage, have voiced their concerns, not least because very precious and scarce ancient woodland could be irreparably damaged and lost forever.
“Local residents who attended the consultation were not impressed and it seems to me that AI, keen to replace material no longer available from their other sites, will be the only winners if Devon County Council eventually approve this development. I see nothing but disadvantages for the people of Ottery and West Hill. It is environmentalism vandalism.”
Phil Twiss would rather “stick white hot needles and pins” in his eyes than debate with opponent
Cracking article in today’s “View from” newspapers (e-editions available free online):
http://www.viewfrompublishing.co.uk/
regarding yet another exception that Tory Councillor Phil Twiss has taken to yet another (local) election candidate, not surprisingly an Independent.
It seems that he has responded to EDA Chairman Paul Arnott’s challenge to a debate on local issues prior to local council elections in May by saying that he would rather “stick white hot pins and needles in my eyes than share a room with anyone remotely associated with half-wits like Matt Booth”. Mr Booth is an Independent candidate in Sidmouth and campaigner for community use of the town’s Drill Hall who allegedly made remarks on his Facebook page (now removed) that upset Mr Twiss, who appears not to have been named in the remarks.
Surely, if he thinks that these people are “half wits” and considers himself more than half-witted then he would relish the chance of debating with them?
New candidates in local elections are at a great disadvantage – particularly younger candidates such as Mr Booth who are used to social media which allows a much greater freedom of expression than older people are used to – as seasoned politicians, well-versed in the cut and thrust of politics attempt to cut them down to size before they can do them any political damage – though this is not always a successful tactic.
Mr Twiss may well wish to remember his own intemperate words and actions when he reported local Independent general election candidate and councillor Claire Wright to the police when one of her commentators used the phrase “cull of Tory councillors” on her website:
We do not need personal spats of this kind – we need open, transparent debate of the issues that affect us all by all the candidates who seek our votes at this election: our lack of a local plan and the massive building of non-affordable housing and ever-more retirement homes in our area, the reduction of our NHS and social services, over-subscription of schools where even more development is planned, the vanity project of Knowle relocation.
When can we expect local election hustings where we can quiz candidates ourselves instead of watching them trade personal insults via newspapers, which add nothing to real debate – and decide for ourselves who deserves our vote based on what they have to say to us about the important issues rather than trying to denigrate each other?
That’s OLD politics and few of us can bear it any longer. It’s got us into the mess we are in and won’t get us out.
East Devon housing numbers: near 25% increase in yearly quota over next 18 years
No wonder they wanted to keep the numbers under wraps until after district council elections in May!
And just where will we put these homes? And will this number be increased by 20% because we have no 5-6 year land supply?
The press release and consultants’ reports are here:
Claire Wright’s betting odds improve yet again!
Hugo Swire 1/6
Claire Wright 9/2 !!!!
UKIP 18/1
LibDems 40/1
Labour 100/1
Definitely not good news (again) for Hugo.
Remember: bet responsibly and be over 18.
Oversubscribed schools in East Devon
Woodbury C of E (large development planned)
Exeter Road Primary and Brixingham Primary Exmouth (large developments planned)
West Hill Primary (large development in Ottery, development in West Hill)
Stockland Primary (no development there)
Lady Seward at Clyst St George (large developments planned)
Mrs Ethelstone’s Primary in Uplyme (large developments planned in Axminster nearby)
95% subscribed schools:
Ottery St Mary
Bassetts Farm Primary, Exmouth
Sidbury C of E (near where large industrial estate planned)
The Beacon and St Joseph’s in Exmouth
Feniton C of E (Wainhomes want to extend development)
Source:today’s Express and Echo newspaper
Greenpeace “too political” but UKIP is OK!
There are some really daft things going on prior to this General Election, for example Greenpeace, which wants politicians of ALL parties to hear its views has been banned from Sutton Harbour in Plymouth for being “too political” whereas UKIP, which also plans to be there, has been allowed:
But it isn’t quite as daft as calling housing figures in a draft local plan “politically sensitive” as EDDC just did. Still, a sensible Planning Inspector put them right and they are due out this week.
Watch this space.
More women in low-paid part-time jobs – bodes well for employers with nursing homes
“A large number of part-time women are moving in to sectors like social care and cleaning where wages are low and contracts are often insecure.
“Unless we create better-paid part-time and flexible work opportunities, far too few women will see any real benefit from the recovery.”
Councillors blast Straitgate Quarry (Ottery) plans
“Politically motivated cover up”? There’s a lot of it about
“Health secretary Jeremy Hunt faces allegations of a politically motivated cover-up after the Tory head of the health select committee said his department’s refusal to publish a damning report on NHS management before the general election was not acceptable.
Sarah Wollaston, a former GP who took over the chairmanship of the committee last year, said it was not reasonable or right that a report by former Marks & Spencer boss and Tory peer Stuart Rose, which was commissioned by Hunt a year ago and completed in December, was being kept from the public. …
… Wollaston told the Observer that reports which had been commissioned by government and paid for by taxpayers should be made available at the earliest opportunity on matters of such clear public interest.
“There is far too much of this going on, with uncomfortable information being withheld,” Wollaston said. “Just as with the Chilcot report into the Iraq war, it is not right that reports paid for out of public money are not made available to the public on such vital issues as soon as possible, particularly ahead of a general election.”
More schools getting to bursting point in East Devon and “Greater Exeter”
Figures revealed to the Echo in a Freedom of Information request, show that currently there are 59 schools in Devon over capacity and this autumn there will be a total of 99 schools either full, or at 95 per cent of their net capacity or over.
Almost half, 43, are in the Exeter, East or Mid Devon areas.
Read more: http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/schools-Exeter-East-Devon/story-26137382-detail/story.html#ixzz3TpEuiLec
Follow us: @expressandecho on Twitter | expressecho on Facebook
http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/schools-Exeter-East-Devon/story-26137382-detail/story.html
See Tory broken promises below – chickens at home, roosting.
Vanity projects: Pots in Exeter, kettles in East Devon!
Promises that local Tories made to East Devon prior to the last general election in 2010 – read and weep
Real Zorro
http://realzorro1.blogspot.co.uk/
has drawn attention to the lamentable lack of policies from East Devon’s Tories (except, of course, for HQ relocation, which is the only things that has occupied them for MONTHS) with their website bereft of information or ideas about what they would do if re-elected.
A similar state of affairs pertains over at the Tiverton and Honiton official Tory website with a post which has been on the website since well before 2010 and which is still there today (but probably not tomorrow!). And what an embarrassing post it is! No doubt once it has been drawn to their attention it will disappear but, fear not, EDW has kept a copy for posterity and took this recent screenshot (taken on 19 February 2015 but the same page is still there today).
http://www.tivertonhonitonconservatives.co.uk/campaigns
On the webpage (under the heading “Campaigns”) EDDC Tories state that UNDER LABOUR in 2009:
♦ There were 200 fewer rural schools (there are now even fewer)
♦ 1,400 rural post offices had been lost since 2000 (even more post offices have since been lost)
♦ 384 police stations had closed in the shires in Labour’s first two terms (even more police stations have been closed and we have far fewer police on the streets
♦ Dramatically widened funding gap between urban and rural areas (the funding gap between urban and rural areas has widened even further)
and they promised that, if they were successful in 2010 they would:
have an agenda that would:
RESPECT RURAL PEOPLE
♦ Give rural communities a voice to decide their own future
♦ Respect the rural way of life
♦ Only regulate where self regulation fails
♦ Fairer rural funding
They said that they would
EMPOWER RURAL COMMUNITIES
♦ Return real power to individuals and communities
♦ Give villages the right to build their own affordable homes
♦ Allow councils to oppose development planned for green belt land
THEY SAID THEY WOULD
PROTECT RURAL SERVICES
♦ Realise the social value of vital rural services like post offices
♦ Give parents the power to stop rural schools closing and open new ones
♦ Allow rural public services to diversify
♦ Pilot new rural transport solutions
They said that they would
REVIVE THE RURAL ECONOMY:
♦ Cut tax rates for small businesses to encourage growth and protect jobs
♦ Allow councils to offer rural business rate discounts
♦ Simplify the planning system to improve accountability
♦ Reduce the burden of regulation to give businesses more freedom
THESE ARE THE PROMISES THEY MADE TO YOU IN 2010
WILL YOU STILL VOTE FOR THEM IN 2015?
Vanity project or sheltered housing safety?
History of the Knowle
Good enough as a 4 star hotel, not good enough for our Tories:
http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/knowle_from_4_star_hotel_to_council_offices_1_3982211
Tory MP says Britain “is no longer a two party state”
Huffington Post UK:
“[Jackob] Rees-Mogg said that unlike in 2010, the three main parties no longer represent 90% of the electorate, instead “the 90 per cent figure is made up by a whole swathe of parties, which is what the prime minister has agreed to do.” He said that the proposed head-to-head between Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband would only cover “about 60 per cent of the vote,” adding that Britain is no longer a two-party system.”
East Devon Watch 