Now we know why they have been so quiet!
Fortunately, Independents run their campaigns on so little money, it’ probably almost impossible for them to overspend!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/16/labour-facing-questions-over-election-expenses/
“Paperwork related to the manufacture of components for use in UK nuclear power plants by Areva’s Le Creusot forge may contain “inconsistencies, modifications or omissions”, the French nuclear regulator has advised its British counterpart. The Sizewell B reactor is the only UK reactor to feature such parts.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation announced on 13 May that it is “engaged” with the ASN (Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire) and EDF “concerning the reports of anomalies and inconsistencies in quality documentation”.
Earlier this month, the ASN said an ongoing quality audit at the Le Creusot forge – which Areva bought in 2006 – had identified “irregularities” in paperwork on some 400 plant components produced there since 1965.
The issues “comprise inconsistencies, modifications or omissions in the production files, concerning manufacturing parameters and test results”. About 50 of these parts are thought to be in service at French nuclear power plants, according to Areva.
The ASN asked Areva to provide a list of the parts concerned as soon as possible, “along with its assessment of the consequences for the safety of the facilities, jointly with the licensees concerned”. Areva said in early May, “At this preliminary stage, no information has come to light that would jeopardize the mechanical integrity of the parts.”
The ONR said, “Areva is in the process of completing the characterization of these historical irregularities and their consequences, and has committed to contact affected foreign customers by 31 May”.
The British regulator added, “We will await the conclusion of the Areva review before deciding whether there is a need for any specific intervention in the UK.”
The ONR said it believes the irregulaties in paperwork occurred before any procurement of forged parts for the two EPR reactors planned for Hinkley Point C.
However, it noted that the Sizewell B reactor is the only one in the UK that has a small number of reactor components supplied by the Areva facility. The 1198 MWe plant, which started up in 1995, is currently the UK’s only operating pressurized water reactor.
“This reactor is currently shut down for its scheduled outage and we will be seeking the necessary assurances for the reactor components before we permission the restart of the Sizewell B reactor,” the ONR said.
Areva’s Creusot Forge and Creusot Mécanique subsidiaries are specialized in the supply of big forgings and castings destined mainly for the nuclear industry. Creusot Forge is one of a few facilities that can produce the heavy nuclear-grade forgings required for large components such as steam generators, reactor pressure vessels and primary pumps. Creusot Mécanique, meanwhile, carries out precision finish machining on large components.
The upper and bottom heads of the reactor pressure vessel for the EPR under construction as Flamanville 3 EPR were manufactured at the Le Creusot facility in September 2006 and January 2007, respectively. A high carbon content in those parts prompted Areva to review the company’s quality process in 2015.”
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS-UK-regulator-advised-on-Areva-supplied-forgings-1605164.html
“Campaigners are urging council leaders in West Dorset to immediately honour the referendum result telling them to ditch their one party Cabinet.
More than 25,000 took part in the referendum about the Conservative only Cabinet on West Dorset District Council. Nearly 16,534 of them — a majority of nearly two to one — voted to scrap the Cabinet in favour of a decision making group made up of a mix of parties.
But the council says the changes won’t happen until May 2017, a year after the vote. Cllr. Kelvin Clayton, chairman of South and West Dorset Green Party, says this delay is “a slap in the face” for grass roots democracy.
Kelvin, a Bridport Town councillor, said: “You could send a manned space mission to Mars in less time than West Dorset councillors say it will take to rearrange the seating around their Cabinet table.
“People voted by a big majority to replace this unpopular single party Cabinet with a wider range of voices and opinions. So why don‘t they get on with it?
“I call on the Leader of the Council to explain why this implementation will take so long“.
The referendum was triggered by a petition from the non-political Public First Group. The council’s website says the cost of having to stage a vote is “regrettable”.
But Kelvin said: “Public First should be congratulated not criticised. If the council had listened to them in the first place this wouldn’t have gone to a vote. Local politics only works if local people feel they have a real say in the issues affecting their neighbourhoods. The latest decision to ignore the verdict of the referendum for the next 12 months is an insult to the 25,000 people who took the time and trouble to take part.”
The Green Party locally opposes Cabinet style government on West Dorset District and Dorset County Councils because it excludes other parties from real decision making and makes it harder for councillors from a mix of backgrounds and views working together for the common good.
Kelvin added: “How on earth can West Dorset Council’s leaders claim they want to listen to people when they behave like this. Some of the Cabinet appear to be living in the 19th. century. The rest of us are living in the 21st. It would be nice if they could join us.”
So easy when you have the will. Alas, our councils and our Local Enterprise Partnership put developers well before local people and pay lip-service to affordable housing, mostly letting developers off-the-hook to build the most expensive homes in the most expensive (green) places.
“… At the start of his second week in office, the Labour mayor told the Guardian he wanted more than 50% of homes on some new housing developments to be affordable. He said that did not mean 80% of market rent, as affordable is defined by the government, but far lower social rents or “London living rent”, which is pitched at a third of average incomes.
Khan also announced he was considering making it a condition of planning permission that new homes were marketed locally for at least six months before they could go on sale to foreign investors.”
“Furious MPs have lashed out at the ‘rubbish’ watchdog that handed them a 10 per cent pay rise in a serious of extraordinary private rants.
Staff at the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) were told to ‘grow some’, and condemned for publishing information that embarrassed politicians.
One MP lambasted the body for failing to increase their pay to more than £200,000 a year to replace expenses, and said they were preparing champagne to toast the departure of chairman Sir Ian Kennedy.
The messages have been released following a freedom of information request by MailOnline.
Ipsa handed MPs a bumper salary increase from £67,000 to £74,000 last year, despite the rest of the public sector being limited to 1 per cent.
They busted the cap again last month with a 1.3 per cent rise.
However, many MPs were angry about the timing of the increases and way they were handled, while the watchdog has also come under fire for publishing details of expenses debts.
Ipsa agreed to disclose the ‘free text’ responses from a recent survey of satisfaction levels among members and their staff, which was carried out anonymously.
One MP who was re-elected at the general election accused the watchdog of locking them in a ‘Kafkaesque nightmare’.
‘You are rubbish at acting on behalf of the Members of Parliament – you serve yourselves and are so far from ‘helping us do our job’ the complete opposite. Everyone feels the same – new and older MPs,’ they wrote.
The same politician insisted the expenses system should be ‘replaced completely by an allowance system rolled up with our salary’. That could see them handed around £140,000 a year on top of their current salary of just under £75,000. There would be no obligation to file receipts but they would have to fund their own offices.
‘No forms just £10-12k per month to go and do the job we want to do, freed up from your Kafkaesque nightmare of a system,’ the MP wrote. ‘Office/staff costs run as now but freeing us up from the bureaucratic bullying of Ipsa and allowing us to get on with doing the job we were elected to do – not form filling, looking over our shoulder and dealing with the media storm that Ipsa wonderfully conjures up for us…
‘And you wonder why you aren’t popular… ‘
Adding £12,000 per month to MPs’ salaries would leave them earning nearly £220,000 a year.
Answering a question about how communications from the watchdog could be improved, the politician replied: ‘Grow some and put your full name on there.’
WHAT MPS SAID TO THE WATCHDOG
‘You are rubbish at acting on behalf of the Members of Parliament – you serve yourselves and are so far from “helping us do our job”, the complete opposite…
‘Can’t wait till the discredited bully Ian Kennedy receives his marching orders – 650 glasses of self-funded champagne will be raised on that great day that can’t come soon enough.’
‘To be reduced to tears due to attitude and being ignored, left me very upset and vulnerable…
‘Just sort out basic incompetence and bad attitude. I have never used a more customer unfriendly service EVER.’
‘The decision to name and shame MPs with written off claims with an Ipsa press release was disgusting, unprofessional and as it turned out erroneous in too many cases.’
‘The justification for the large pay increase was appalling.
‘In essence Ipsa took the view that at the time when some (perhaps many) MPs were submitting claims that were permitted but publicly indefensible, the total amount claimed was acceptable.
‘They therefore took the combined value of all the indefensible claims, averaged them out, and added them to everybody’s salary – thereby implicitly condoning what had happened before.’
The MP added: ‘Can’t wait till the discredited bully Ian Kennedy receives his marching orders – 650 glasses of self-funded champagne will be raised on that great day that can’t come soon enough.’
They went on: ‘Trust you have enjoyed reading the responses as much as I enjoyed writing them!… I wonder when they will be published…’
Other re-elected MPs were similarly scathing.
One wrote: ‘The decision to name and shame MPs with written off claims with an Ipsa press release was disgusting, unprofessional and as it turned out erroneous in too many cases.’
Another complained that Ipsa was not covering all the costs it should.
‘Your ‘cost neutral’ payrise will for all MPs do further damage to our reputation as no one in the media seems to mention that it is not a raise in the package at all,’ they added.
Newly-elected politicians did not hold back in their criticism either.
One commented: ‘Too complicated. Too bureaucratic. Sloppy administration of paperwork in support. Guidance unclear. Online system cumbersome and complicated.’
Another respondent said they had been reduced to tears by ‘abysmal’ treatment from Ipsa.
‘I have submitted five official complaints due to the attitude I have received,’ they said.
‘I find the Ipsa service extremely unhelpful, arrogant, and choose not to listen. The behaviour meted out towards me has left me very upset on occasion and highly stressed.
‘To be reduced to tears due to attitude and being ignored, left me very upset and vulnerable. Dealing with Ipsa has been a completely frustrating and upsetting experience. I just don’t trust them.
‘Just sort out basic incompetence and bad attitude. I have never used a more customer unfriendly service EVER.’
Among the new-intake MPs taking aim at the pay hike was one who said: ‘The justification for the large pay increase was appalling.
‘In essence Ipsa took the view that at the time when some (perhaps many) MPs were submitting claims that were permitted but publicly indefensible, the total amount claimed was acceptable.
‘They therefore took the combined value of all the indefensible claims, averaged them out, and added them to everybody’s salary – thereby implicitly condoning what had happened before.’
Another more experienced politician complained that Ipsa’s approach meant they were under ‘constant pressure’ to refuse the increase.
‘Ipsa announced MPs one off pay rise very frequently, against the wishes of the public we serve, and failed to highlight the offsetting savings being made elsewhere,’ they said.
‘As a result, colleagues were under constant media pressure to refuse their pay rises, as the public were unaware of the offsetting reductions. It did nothing to help the reputation of politicians.
A spokesman for Ipsa said today: ‘We recognise that there is room for improvement and we are committed to working with MPs and their staff to continue to improve our services and systems, to make them more efficient, whilst still regulating MPs’ business costs and expenses effectively.
‘From the survey feedback, we are developing a new website that will be launched later this year.’
“The anti-establishment Pirate Party of Iceland has been awarded more funding for the upcoming general election than any of its rival parties as it continues to top nationwide polls.
The anti-establishment party, which calls for a 35-hour working week, direct democracy and total drug decriminalisation, has the lead in eight out of the last ten polls. They look set to form a crucial part of a coalition government in this autumn’s general election.
There is a pool of 290 million ISK (£1.6 million) available to fund political campaigning in the run-up to the election, divided based on February poll results. The Pirates were comfortably leading the polls at that time, and should scoop 35% of the funding pot, more than any of their rival parties.”
Possibly the most unsustainable development plans ever mooted for Sidford/Sidbury – and some very half hearted excuses about why it cannot be in Sidmouth (where, oddly, it was thought possible when Asda were interested).
“… Despite an eleventh-hour bid to remove it, the Sid Valley was allocated 12 acres of employment land north of the A3052.
Fords has its sights set on some 14 acres of agricultural land east of the A375, but the proposed ‘net development’ area is 9.3 acres. Its application argues that having no development of an employment site in Sidmouth over the Local Plan period is an ‘unacceptable conclusion’.
The company claims that developments that provide new employment opportunities are ‘well overdue’ in the area, as the disparity between wages and the cost of living is widening, particularly for young people.
According to the plans, the greenfield site is the ‘only available and deliverable’ option close to the urban edge of Sidmouth and there were no ‘realistic alternatives’.
This is despite the ‘adverse and direct, long-term effect of severe significance’ on the landscape character, according to the application. The impact will be mitigated by the planting of 3.7 acres of woodland, 400 metres of hedgerow and a ‘substantial buffer’ of trees around much of the site, say the plans.
The application states that the town centre cannot meet the demand because of the lack of parking and disabled access.
It also says it is unviable to create a new £1million access so the Alexandria Industrial Estate – home to Fords’ current HQ – can reach capacity as an employment site. The estate has been allocated Sidmouth’s remaining 1.2 acres of employment land in the Local Plan.
Fords’ application allocates 9,120 sqm for business use, 6,840 sqm for ‘general industrial’ use and 6,840 sqm for storage and distribution – a total area equivalent to three football pitches. …”
http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/business_park_plans_for_sidmouth_revealed_1_4533344
Let’s see where Councillor Stuart Hughes stands on this, having done the hokey-kokey so far.
See post below. Now the Church of England has announced it is selling investments even though it outperforms the market.
The Church Estates Commissioner writes:
“The nervousness of investors is explained by the feeling that governments have lost the power to reverse any slowdown in economic activity. In earlier times they would reduce interest rates, but now that rates hover around zero, that remedy is unavailable. And it’s hard to believe that negative interest rates can provide the necessary boost, or that governments would let the supply of money expand.
“In other words, the risk is that economic activity slows down across the world and remains stuck at a low level.”
You know things are bad when chartered accountants complain!
“The Government is “losing sight of the economy” and using the EU referendum as an excuse for policy inaction, according to Europe’s biggest accountancy body.
In a letter to the Business Secretary, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) attacks ministers for having “no clear consensus” on how to boost growth and raise living standards.
It cautions Sajid Javid that the Government’s preoccupation with the referendum is causing ministers to neglect a pledge in the Budget to encourage investment and lift productivity. A lack of Government support meant businesses were more reluctant to make spending decisions, it says.
The warning comes as Britain’s biggest lobby group, the CBI, downgraded growth forecasts and data showed UK firms’ profits falling to the lowest level since the financial crisis.”
No working link to the story in today’s Daily Telegraph but the headline says it all.
Many of those businesses will be rural.
East Devon Watch 