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Posted on

14 Aug 2015

Posted under

EDDC, Freedom of Information Act, Transparency

Cost of Freedom of Information requests

A correspondent – “Jane Newman” – has taken exception to the number of requests people have made to East Devon District Council under the Freedom of Information Act. She suggests that the Taxpayers Alliance might wish to investigate this.

We doubt it, Jane. This is one of the latest FoI requests from the Taxpayers Alliance to the government’s Office of Manpower Economics, asking how many artworks the government possess, where they are displayed and how much the most valuable ones are worth:

Click to access taxpayers_alliance_FOI_reply_pdf_-_June_2015.pdf

and in February of this year the organisation complained that the Freedom of Information Act lacked teeth”:

“The Freedom of Information Act is toothless in the face of a local government ‘gagging letter’ – even if it is regarding alleged wrongdoing by a senior council manager – so says a recent judgment by a First Tier Tribunal. It is not good news for anyone investigating the use or misuse of taxpayers’ money by local government.”

http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/does_the_foi_act_have_enough_teeth

So, Jane, probably not the best organisation to complain to about those pesky people who ask for information to which they believe they are entitled by law!

Though they might well be interested in Information Commissioner v East Devon District Council where the Information Commissioner had to take the council to court to get information released that should have been in the public domain. The Council spent more than £10,000 on that case, which they lost.

Oh, and the judge called EDDC “unhelpful, discourteous and misleading”.

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

14 Aug 2015

Posted under

Cranbrook

Comments

1 Comment

All is not well at Cranbrook

A recent social media exchange – reported verbatim:

Post 1
Found out today that contrary to prior media advertisement that the new school will have a floodlit AstroTurf, turn out there is no lighting there so cannot be used by the community for most of the year. So bad news for the local football club and bad news if anyone was hoping for kids sports teams to use it in the winter evenings. Again, contrary to the previous media articles regarding the new facilities there. Wonder what the reasoning is behind this. Will be approaching the school trust, east devon council and the fa for a reason why this has been skimped on or maybe even forgotten! (Surely worse?) I’m sure il be told this page isn’t ur correct outlet for this message but think people should be aware of this. Personally I feel very much conned and I know I’m not the only one
Like Comment

Comment taken out of sinc I know for a fact that the Ted Wragg trust were awarded the running of the school on the strict understanding that their facilities would be made available for use by the community!
I presume that they never made the decision for it not to be floodlit, but surely even they would be bright enough (no pun intended)to see that the facility would be rendered useless for most of the year?
6 people like this.

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Sarah-Jane Edmonds Jon we have no issue with it being discussed here – however, these comments need to be also directed to the Cranbrook Town Council so they can help fight this issue. They won’t use this page for info etc so please copy your message also to them on their page …
https://www.facebook.com/cranbrooktowncouncil
19 hrs · Edited · Like · 1

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Jon Elstone I have messaged them
19 hrs · Like · 1

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Jon Elstone Doubt they will be able to do much now though, have been informed by a electrical person that it would cost a fortune to install them at this stage. Another cranbrook balls up but never mind
19 hrs · Like · 1

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Jonathan Martin I know for a fact that the Ted Wragg trust were awarded the running of the school on the strict understanding that their facilities would be made available for use by the community!
I presume that they never made the decision for it not to be floodlit, but surely even they would be bright enough (no pun intended)to see that the facility would be rendered useless for most of the year?
19 hrs · Like · 2

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Kelly Curran
Kelly Curran’s photo.
17 hrs · Like · 3

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Jonathan Martin If the shops and train station are anything to go by we should see some progress in 3 or 4 years time then?
Thanks for clarifying that Kelly!
17 hrs · Like · 1

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Gareth White So were going to get 2 all weather pitches?
16 hrs · Like

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Steve Barfe Looks like it Gareth White, which is great but doesn’t help us with a solution for somewhere to train in the meantime as all other facilities within a reasonable distance are not available to us for one reason or another!
15 hrs · Like

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Pamela Cowell Typical EDDC.
14 hrs · Like · 1

Post 2:
Dear All,

I will not send you anymore updates on this page but have sent this follow up to give you some idea of the nature of what is currently going on via propaganda and the Cranbrook Facebook page. The query over the football pitch was moved over to town councillors page and then a picture of a table tennis table being used at Cranbrook and a very quick response from the town council followed on the Cranbrook page- This page is being manipulated, edited and sanitised to create an entirely false picture of what it is like to be a resident at Cranbrook and as Jon says the town and its promised facilities is starting to appear to be ‘a bit of a con’.

Warmest wishes,

Debbie

Please see Jon and Sarah-Jane Edmonds comments below:(

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Jonathan Martin The problem with any sports activities in cranbrook at the moment is the lack of facilities!
We’ve recently found out that the new astro pitch at the school, has been built without any floodlights!
So this basically renders it useless in the winter mo…See More
23 hrs · Like · 1

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Jon Elstone Another example of a promise being made and advertised and then changed. Same as train station and a few other examples. I have the news article from 18 months ago saying how the new school would be open and aimed for community use and now turns out that the school don’t really want to be open for community use and someone has decided to skimp on the floodlights. Maybe people in future should take the developers promises and plans with a huge dollop of salt
20 hrs · Like

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Sarah-Jane Edmonds Perhaps this is something that could be fed into the town council and they can look into supporting the cause? If interested pop on their page and drop them a message as they don’t want any correspondence via this page as it’s too much time for them to manage both comments here and on their page.
20 hrs · Edited · Like · 1

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Jon Elstone Will do for sure but people who live here have a right to know that there is a huge amount of broken promises and delays which really are starting to make the town appear like a bit of a con.
20 hrs · Like · 2
Debbie Russell

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

14 Aug 2015

Posted under

Clyst St Mary

News from Clyst St Mary

This is a little late – it got caught in our spam folder:

Just a quick update to let you know the progress and successes that the Save Clyst St Mary Residents’ group has made recently:

We have badgered BT and Openreach for more than five months to get our fibre broadband connected. We understand from BT that most of the village and Winslade Park now has fibre available. If you want the faster speed you will need to arrange an upgrade with your service provider. If, when you check, you find that your postcode can’t get fibre and you want it, please let me know and I will chase things up with BT.

The Solar Farm appeal – Oil Mill Lane was refused by the Planning Inspector.

Revised planning application – Land next to the Cat and Fiddle was refused by East Devon District Council.

Friends Provident Site – Planning decision still awaiting a decision. We understand that the developers are in discussions with East Devon District Council ref a revised plan.

Plymouth Brethren – Planning decision still awaiting a decision.

Our Neighbourhood Plan is progressing well and should be available for consultation in the autumn. One area that still needs work is the graphic design of the paper copy. If you are able to help, please can you email me and I will pass on you details to Rob Hatton( Chairman of Neighbourhood planning ).

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

14 Aug 2015

Posted under

EDDC, Mark Williams CEO EDDC

Comments

1 Comment

Has EDDC changed its rules to make it easier to fire senior officers? If not, it must

“New regulations around how councils discipline and dismiss senior members of staff were brought in this May, with local authorities required to amend their standing orders no later than the first ordinary meeting of the authority falling after 11 May 2015.”

http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23901:protecting-the-statutory-officers&catid=59&Itemid=27

Don’t recall this making the rounds of the council – can anyone point us to where it is – in location and/or time scale? And is our CEO taking charge of it – surely not !

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

14 Aug 2015

Posted under

Misc

“There were 94 staff managing the perception of Offices of Police and Crime Commissioners, including communications staff and lobbyists, with two OPCCs – Devon and Cornwall and the West Midlands – having as many as seven staff involved in public relations.”

http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/potential_police_and_crime_commissioner_savings_could_put_1200_bobbies_on_the_beat

Report on costs of al OPCCs here:

https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/taxpayersalliance/pages/5606/attachments/original/1438848618/PCC_research_note.pdf?1438848618

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

14 Aug 2015

Posted under

NHS (local)

Privatisation of the NHS continues

GPs are set to find themselves dealing with the controversial public services giant Capita, it has been revealed.

The company has won a £330 million deal to take over the primary care support services run by NHS England.

Capita specialises in taking on public administration tasks.

NHS England claims the deal will cut costs by more than quarter over a seven-year period.

Capita will take over the services from the beginning of next month. Some 29 offices are due to close in the course of the year – reflecting a purge of the local facilities that were run by primary care trusts until two years ago.

Dr Richard Vautrey, chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, told the Health Service Journal: “The big question is whether Capita have enough resource to deliver the service – Primary Care Support was already overstretched.”

Source: Doctorsnet

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

14 Aug 2015

Posted under

East Devon Electoral/Returning Officer, EDDC, Electoral Commission, General Election, Mark Williams CEO EDDC, Transparency, Voting

Pickles article on election fraud

Sir Eric Pickles, who is launching the biggest-ever investigation into electoral fraud in Britain, warns in an article for The Daily Telegraph that the authorities are “turning a blind eye to criminal conduct”.

By Peter Dominiczak, Political Editor7:35PM BST 12 Aug 2015
Electoral fraud is being ignored in the same way that child sex abuse allegations have been because politically correct police forces and councils fear offending ethnic minorities, the Government’s anti-corruption tsar says today.
Sir Eric Pickles, who is launching the biggest-ever investigation into electoral fraud in Britain, warns in an article for The Daily Telegraph that the authorities are “turning a blind eye to criminal conduct”.
It comes after Lutfur Rahman, the mayor of Tower Hamlets in east London, was earlier this year removed from office after he was found guilty of electoral fraud.
Sir Eric compares the lack of action on allegations of electoral fraud to the scandal of local authorities and police forces ignoring claims of child sex abuse in towns across Britain.
Many of those allegations concerned Asian gangs targeting vulnerable young girls.
The law must always be “applied equally and fairly to everyone”, Sir Eric warns.
“In Tower Hamlets, police and council staff failed to tackle intimidation – often in foreign languages – both inside and outside polling stations,” Mr Pickles writes.
“Just as we have seen with child sexual exploitation in places like Rochdale and Rotherham, institutionalised political correctness can lead to the state turning a blind eye to criminal conduct. But the law must be applied equally and fairly to everyone.
“Integration and good community relations are undermined by the failure to do so.”
He adds: “The problems go deep – despite years of warnings of misconduct in Tower Hamlets, the state watchdogs gave the borough’s electoral system a gold-star rating for integrity in inspection reports. We still have a series of tick-box inspections of town hall returning officers that are as ineffectual and useless as those once practised by the now-abolished Audit Commission.”
Sir Eric, who was Communities and Local Government Secretary until David Cameron’s last reshuffle, said that the Government is “no longer prepared to turn a blind eye to Britain’s modern day rotten boroughs”.
His review will report by the end of the year and will examine what steps are necessary to stop voter registration fraud and error, postal voting fraud, impersonation, intimidation and bribery.
Sir Eric raises concerns that the London mayoral elections next year could be mired by voter fraud.
“Despite the fact there are London elections next year, a sizeable minority of those voters signed up in Tower Hamlets remain unverified and could be fakes,” he writes.
“In Hackney, the situation is even worse, with almost a quarter of the electorate unverified and potentially non-existent. We urgently need to clean up these registers. Across the country, electors from abroad are not properly checked to ensure that they qualify to vote when they register.
“Fraudulent registration is frequently tied to illegal immigration, as illegal migrants sign up to make it easier to get credit or a mobile phone. Such illegality feeds through to further crimes, such as benefit and housing fraud.”
Theresa May, the Home Secretary, earlier this year set up a major inquiry into child abuse following revelations about the crimes committed by Jimmy Savile as well as disclosures about abuse in Derby, Oxford and towns across Britain.
There were also a series of allegations about a Westminster paedophile ring.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/11799673/Eric-Pickles-Political-correct-officials-ignoring-electoral-fraud-just-like-sex-abuse.html

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