Good luck to our sister Facebook group “South Devon Watch” with their meeting of many, many local minority and independent people and groups, who meet in Totnes this evening, to build on the East Devon Alliance conference (“Who Cares What You Think?) last month.
Monthly Archives: May 2016
“Democracy” today
“Not only are we already a divided country. We have less confidence in our democracy than we have had in living memory. There is a growing feeling that the decisions that shape our lives are no longer being taken with us but imposed on us, by people who do not know how we live and who care more about their own narrow interests than about the public interest.”
The “new” Knowle
See the before and after pictures:
http://futuresforumvgs.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/knowle-relocation-project-sos-response.html
How to spin the fact that poorer EDDC residents can’t afford beach huts
Fracking is go
“… Planners had recommended the Kirby Misperton plan was approved, but acknowledged the majority of representations received in consultation were objections.
Vicky Perkin, a council planning officer, told the committee that of 4,420 individual representations, just 36 were in support of the application.
But her report also said it should be noted there was a “national policy support for the development of a shale gas industry in this country and this is an important material consideration”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-36356245
Localism? Remember that? Now, even as a landowner, you cannot stop fracking below your land.
Coming soon to a national park, an AONB or just a local beauty spot near you ….
Austerity or selling off the family silver … and gold?
“… Privatisation is the multibillion-pound centrepiece of Osborne’s austerity – yet it rarely gets a mention from either politicians or press. The Queen mentioned it in her speech last week, but the headline writers ignored it. And if you don’t know that this Thursday is the closing date for consultation on the sale of the Land Registry, our public record of who owns what property, that’s hardly your fault – I haven’t spotted it in the papers, either.
But without getting rid of prize assets, Osborne’s austerity programme falls apart. At a time when tax revenues are more weak stream than healthy flood, those sales bring much-needed cash into the Treasury and make his sums add up. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility has ruled that the only reason the chancellor met his debts target last year was because he flogged off our public assets. And what a fire sale that was, with everything from our last remaining stake in the Royal Mail to shares in Eurostar shoved out the door in the biggest wave of privatisations of any year in British history.
And more, much more, is to come. The all new and mostly grotesque housing bill will force local authorities to sell “high-value” council houses once a family moves out – which will basically hand over whatever remains of social housing in central London to investors. Osborne also wants local authorities “to dispose of potentially surplus assets”, of which he calculates they have £60bn “in property not used for schools or housing”. That would be property such as our public libraries and swimming pools – but to a government hellbent on asset-stripping such communal necessities are merely unsold inventory.
At Whitehall, ministers plan to sell a big chunk of Channel 4, and the public stake in the national air traffic control. And that’s just the start, because here’s something else you probably won’t have read about: Osborne has bundled up all of our public holdings – in every company from the collapsed banks to the Royal Mint – and put them under the control of a government organisation called UK Government Investments. Its CEO (what else?) is a former doyen of the City called Mark Russell. In a rare interview in 2013, Russell declared: “We don’t believe government makes for a particularly good shareholder. Our belief is that unless there is a good policy reason for government to have a shareholding then really we should be seeking to divest those shareholdings.” Everything must go is no longer the cry of distressed shopkeepers – it is now public policy. …
… At best, privatisation is a short-term gain for a long-term loss. The public sells one of its prize assets in order to enable the chancellor to bank some cash immediately. In a report published on Monday, the campaign group We Own It calculates that if Osborne sells the Land Registry, National Air Traffic Services, Channel 4 and the Ordnance Survey the public will kiss goodbye to control over £7.7bn in dividends and profits in the next 50 years. Sure, we pocket a couple of billion now – but we lose far more in the long run.
These are services that have taken many decades, even centuries, of public investment and management to build up. The Land Registry dates back to Victorian times; the Ordnance Survey’s aerial photographs of enemy territory helped Britain win the first world war.
All that accumulated effort and ingenuity will be handed over to a small group of investors – and for what? Better management? A recent study of the evidence by the University of Greenwich concludes there is “no significant difference in efficiency between public and privately owned companies in public services”. For more investment? Ministers selling off everything from railways to water have promised privatisation will bring greater investment. It comes – but it’s always the public that ends up paying for it.
Thatcher claimed that selling off BT, British Gas and the rest would turn Britain into a shareholder democracy. Official figures show that Britons now own less than half as much of the UK stock market as they did before Thatcher’s first privatisation.
Osborne’s privatisation, like the rest of his austerity programme, will enable him to transfer wealth from the public to a far smaller group of private investors. The employees can look forward to cuts in jobs, pay and conditions – as we have seen across the privatised utilities. The rest of us, the customers, will endure higher bills and paying for hidden subsidies. And the chancellor? He will have brought in enough cash to enable him to make some pre-election tax cuts – to literally buy himself votes.
Osborne calls this privatisation. I treat it as part and parcel of austerity. But there is another term you and I might use. Because this making off with our public property is nothing more than legalised larceny.”
“Just a normal bloke …”
David Cameron buys £1,500 used car for wife Samantha
… “[The second-hand car dealer] explained that when he turned up for the appointment, Mr Cameron asked his security detail to stand behind the car to make sure the back brake lights worked.
Mr Harris said he could not resist quipping that it was lucky the car was not red – the colour of the Labour Party.
“Fortunately, it was just the right colour,” he said.
Mr Harris added: “It was a bit surreal, but likewise he was just a normal chap buying a car for his wife, a normal conversation, normal sort of deal and that was it.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-36359921
Yeah, normal – but he just happened to have a photographer there who just happened to send the photo to all the newspapers.
Do let Owl know if you see Sam Cam in her second-hand Nissan Micra AFTER the EU referendum.
Cranbrook: Unicorn poop?
Further to our earlier posts about Sustainable Utopian Cranbrook:
“Children of St Martin’s Primary School have been creating a new poster design to encourage Cranbrook residents to clean up after their dogs.
Children at the school recently heard from Cranbrook Councillor Karen Jennings at an assembly about the dog fouling around the town. Children were asked if they could help teach adults to be responsible pet owners, to help make Cranbrook a great place to live.”
http://www.exeterandeastdevon.gov.uk/pick-up-the-poop-say-cranbrook-schoolchildren/News-Article/
Hugo Swire in Space – pretentious, moi?
Political purdah starts on 27 May
“The flurry of officially backed statements warning about the dangers of Brexit will come to an end on Friday, when Treasury officials enter a four-week “purdah” that prevents any activity that could be perceived as an attempt to sway the outcome of the 23 June vote.
Civil servants will no longer be able to publish reports such as the Treasury analysis on Monday that stated that in the event of a vote to leave the EU, output would fall up to 6%, house prices would tumble and half a million jobs would be lost. …
…
Election law and business
The Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000 covers activities by companies and individuals that are purposefully promoting a particular outcome from an election or referendum. The rules have been in place for every general election since 2001 although are being subject to greater scrutiny in the City as the referendum on EU membership is such a rare event. A breach of the law could lead to fines and even imprisonment.”
Flytipping in Utopia (aka Cranbrook)
Cranbrook Town Council Facebook page – not quite Councillor Diviani’s perfect sustainable town (see earlier post)
“LET’S WORK TOGETHER TO STAMP OUT FLY TIPPING
Fly tipping is beginning to be a problem in the Cranbrook area. In a number of recent cases, however, East Devon District Council has been successful in catching the offenders and serving fixed penalties (to cover the clear up costs) which were an average of £150 in each case. Obviously it is in everybody’s interests that we avoid unsightly and potentially hazardous views like this one, so please click for information about what to do if you see incidents of fly tipping or need advice on how to dispose of your rubbish responsibly.”
Why aren’ women running for mega-mayor jobs?
Could it be that jobs-for-the-boys really IS jobs for the boys?
“Although Manchester city council now has more female councillors than men for the first time in its history, nine out of 10 leaders in Greater Manchester’s constituent councils are men. The lonely woman is Jean Stretton, who took over Oldham in January. She is the first Labour leader of a Greater Manchester council since Baroness Bev Hughes ran Trafford for two years in the 90s.
“I think it does matter that no women seem to want to be mayor,” she said, while ruling herself out on the grounds that she has only just got her dream job. “I suppose we still might get someone putting herself forward, but it’s very late in the day [nominations for Labour in Greater Manchester close on 10 June]. I think that, while we do have some very good women MPs in Greater Manchester, they are mostly quite new to their seats and perhaps feel their futures lie in Westminster.”
In the 2015 general election, 191 women MPs were elected, 29% of all MPs and a record high. As of 2013, 32% of local authority councillors in England were women.
Stretton is optimistic that change is afoot. “When I first became a councillor in 2003, frequently the only other woman at a meeting would be taking the minutes. Now, my cabinet is fairly evenly split on gender. I’ve actually been criticised in the local paper for relying on an ‘old girls’ network’. Things are definitely changing for the better. It will just take time for those changes to filter up to the top.”
Councils bleeding residents dry with residential parking permit prices
“UK councils have increased the cost of resident parking permits by an average of 51% since 2011, research has found.
An investigation by car insurance firm esure also revealed that more than half of local authorities have expanded the number of parking zones which require payment in the past two years.
The study revealed that the average cost of an annual permit is £64, but some motorists pay more than 10 times that amount. However the Local Government Association (LGA) insisted that councils are “on the side of motorists” and have to balance the requirements of residents and commuters.”
Why young people should vote in the EU referendum
Cranbrook Development Plan, neighbourhood plans and fairy dust …
Owl rarely sleeps and decided accordingly to look at the DMC agenda for 31 May:
Click to access 310516-combined-eo-dmc-agenda.pdf
Owl was particularly interested to see what EDDC has planned for Cranbrook, and for its growth from its present 1250 houses to 8000 by 2031.
A few points came up on reading the “Cranbrook Development Plan: Issues and Options Report, May 2016”.
· Page 21 mentions the need to deliver confidence for stakeholders, which basically means developers. (DMC papers are open about Cranbrook needing to succeed if the Local Plan is not to fail; and at present EDDC is sitting on planning approaches from developers for 4260 houses. And yes, none of us can afford for either the town or the LP to fail – going back to the EDDC drawing board is not an option).
· Page 24 notes that “A number of Neighbourhood Plans are being prepared by the communities around Cranbrook. The District Council is working with these communities to ensure that they develop plans for their future that build on the opportunity presented by Cranbrook.”
No pressure, then – Owl would be very worried if Neighbourhood Plans had to be revised just to suit Cranbrook.
· Page 34: “People are excited by Cranbrook because they want to know what it means to be in a ‘Sustainable New Town’. Looking and feeling like any other new development is not enough”.
Really? The papers for DMC admit that 57% of Cranbrook residents don’t think they know enough about what is being planned! And, unfortunately, Cranbrook already looks and feels like every other similar development in the country. And as for sustainable – well, they had to drop the eco from eco-town, which says it all.
· Page 35: the section entitled ‘Vision’ confirms Owl’s long-held suspicion that Councillor Diviani, who has given his name to the Foreword, may have been overindulging in happy-making recreational substances – perhaps at the Deer Park hotel:
– “What is it like to live in a healthy, happy town? It is where you are able to socialise and know your neighbours, have ready access to a rewarding career on your doorstep, enjoy good health and feel safe … When you travel down your street to work you meet and chat with your neighbours along the way. Spaces along streets are welcoming, inviting you to pause on your journey …”
– … “It is where you live in complete peace and harmony with your fellow-man, in a Utopian dream and where where fairy-dust is sprinkled over the rooftops by flying unicorns and which also teach the world to sing in perfect harmony …”.
Actually Owl made that last bit up, but it could just as easily have been in this vacuous passage.
Incidentally, on page 23 it says that anyone can comment on the Plan. Many may wish to do so.
“Save Clyst St Mary” News
Friends Life site
We are delighted to be able to inform you that the planning for the four of the applications at Friends Provident have been refused. There has been approval given for the Listed Building Consent (which basically means there is permission to alter the Grade II listed properties, but East Devon District Council has refused to allow the owners to alter them according to the proposed plans).
At the time of writing, not all the reasons for refusals have been given, but we believe: the designs failed to meet the requirements stated by English Heritage; Sport England objected to the loss of the sports facilities; Natural England did not agree with the building on the Green Fields; and the proposals were outside of the East Devon Local Plan and the emerging Bishops Clyst Neighbourhood Plan.
Inevitably the developers will come back with a revised plan in the future, but for the moment, this is fantastic news for our village and puts us in a strong position moving forward. We must remain united and as a group, we would like to personally thank each and every person for all your support, letter writing and help over the past two years.
Clyst Meadows Footpath
We have received an email from EDDC regarding the consultation for this footpath. As a result, the Parish Council needs more people to get in touch and give ‘evidence of use’ (although it is really well used, apparently there are not enough evidence forms logged from locals at present – email alison.h.smith@devon.gov.uk). Please draw the route you have used on a blank map. I will happily take completed forms to EDDC if you drop them through our letter box (11 Clyst Valley Road). The completed forms need to be returned before 3rd June 2016.
David Cameron admits election expense “mistakes”
“David Cameron appeared to acknowledge that some expenses may not have been declared in compliance with the letter of the law. …
… Asked if Lord Feldman would have to resign, Mr Cameron told ITV’s Peston on Sunday programme: ‘Well, I don’t believe we have done anything wrong. If there were mis-declarations or things left out we have to put those in place, but I’m confident we can answer all the questions that are being put to us.’
An investigation by Channel Four News and the Daily Mail has revealed concerns about whether the accommodation costs of activists bussed around the country by the Tories to campaign in key constituencies were recorded properly.
In many cases, expenses appear to have been recorded as national expenses, or not recorded at all, rather than added to the costs in the constituencies where the campaigning took place.
Deliberate breach of spending limits by individual candidates – usually around £15,000 – is a criminal offence punishable by a fine or even a one-year jail term.
Any MP found guilty would be barred automatically from holding public office for three years, triggering a new election. In theory, the Conservatives could lose their 12-seat majority if cases are proved. …”
28 Conservative MPs now under investigation for election fraud
“10 police forces are now investigating whether the Tories breached election spending by failing to record accommodation costs for activists”
Alternative East Devon Calendar – October to December
We slightly depart from the images of our first nine months to bring you gorgeous pin-ups and pics of the people and buildings that mad East Devon what it is today and who smoothed the way for development.
First, of course, our Dear Leader Diviani, pictured here with his colleagues Andrew Moulding, ex-councillor Ray Bloxham and Deputy Chief Executive and Regeneration Manager Richard Cohen, who did so much to mess up our Local Plan and make it what it is today …
October
Then, of course, we must thank disgraced ex-councillor Graham Brown (Local Development Framework chairman, East Devon Business Forum Chairman and director of his own local planning company) – outed in a sting on the front page of the Daily Telegraph saying that if he covered green fields in development, he would not do it for peanuts.
November
and, last but not least, all those developers who have given us an East Devon to be … er, not at all proud of.
December
“Literary Landscape Loss Lament”
“This week, leading contemporary writers and artists joined the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) in warning that our matchless and finite countryside is threatened by the Government’s relaxation of planning laws. The group came together to sign a letter to the Sunday Times (published on 29 September) warning that iconic English landscapes are under threat.
The writers support CPRE in saying that Government plans for new homes should prioritise brownfield sites in towns and cities, not the more profitable greenfield sites where housing developers would prefer to build.
In the letter poet Simon Armitage, novelist John le Carre, writer Jeanette Winterson and the sculptor Cornelia Parker and others argue that the Government’s policy of giving preference to greenfield sites over brownfield sites is threatening the “matchless beauty of England” and failing to provide affordable homes.
In support of the letter, Jeanette Winterson said:
‘Concreting the countryside isn’t the answer to Britain’s housing problems. This government is out of touch with real life and tries to cover up its privilege by making what it thinks are popular decisions. We need imaginative people, not policy wonks or developers with vested interests, to re-draw the UK housing strategy. I don’t know why politicians can’t think in colour. Especially the colour green. We can build enough homes. We don’t need to lose our fields for that.’
The letter said:
Dear Sir,
In the two months since the launch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s charter to save our countryside we have seen new research showing that over half a million houses are planned for open countryside, with a further 150,000 in the Green Belt.
The scale of this projected development is unprecedented. This needless sacrifice of our green spaces should not be tolerated when England currently has suitable brownfield land for 1.5m new homes which could help regenerate our towns and cities.
As artists and writers who have been inspired by the matchless beauty of England, we urge the Government to support the three basic principles set out in CPRE’s charter to save our countryside.
First, build on suitable brownfield land first, rather than unnecessarily sacrificing the countryside. Second, real localism: give people a proper say in shaping the places they love.
Finally, we must build more houses – not executive houses on green fields, as is too often the case now, but well-designed affordable homes in the right places.
We urge your readers to support CPRE’s charter atwww.saveourcountryside.org.uk
.
East Devon Watch 