“Conservative lawmaker Sajid Javid was removed from his position as business secretary by new Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday, taking up a less prominent role leading the department responsible for local government.”
Source: Reuters
Well, that’s planning given its priority!
The Supreme Court has granted permission to Suffolk Coastal District Council and Cheshire East Council to appeal the landmark decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of Suffolk Coastal D.C. v Hopkins Homes and Richborough Estates Partnership LLP v Cheshire East Borough Council.
The decision re-opens the controversy over the meaning of “relevant policies for the supply of housing” in paragraph 49 of the NPPF. A clear definition of the term has eluded decision makers and several conflicting decisions were hoped to be resolved by the Court of Appeal’s decision in April 2016.
In his judgement in the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Lindblom had come down on a “wide” definition, which had included policies for the protection of Green Belt and AONB as “policies for the supply of housing” to be treated as “out of date” where a Council could not demonstrate a 5 year housing land supply and triggering the presumption in favour of planning permission in paragraph 14 of the NPPF.
Suffolk Coastal D.C. had also sought permission to challenge a second ground in the judgment where the Court of Appeal had ruled on the approach to assessing the impact of development on the significance of heritage assets.
The grant of permission by the Supreme Court leaves the issues open to reconsideration in full.
This is the first time the Supreme Court has considered the NPPF. It also gives the Court the opportunity to reconsider the principle in Tesco v Dundee that holds that the meaning of planning policy is a matter of law.
Jonathan Clay and Ashley Bowes of Cornerstone Barristers instructed by Trevor Griffiths of Sharpe Pritchard solicitors appeared for Suffolk Coastal D.C in the Court of Appeal and prepared the grounds for the permission application for Suffolk Coastal in the Supreme Court.”
“Javid was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, one of five sons of parents of Pakistani descent. His father was a bus driver. His family moved from Lancashire to Stapleton Road, Bristol.
Javid was educated from 1981 to 1986 at Downend School, a state comprehensive near Bristol, followed by Filton Technical College from 1986 to 1988, and finally the University of Exeter from 1988 to 1991. At Exeter he studied economics and politics and became a member of the Conservative Party.
When he was twenty, Javid attended his first Conservative Party Conference and campaigned against the Thatcher government’s decision in that year to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), calling it a “fatal mistake”.
Javid joined Chase Manhattan Bank in New York immediately after university, working mostly in South America. Aged 25, he became the youngest vice-president in the history of the bank. He returned to London in 1997, and later joined Deutsche Bank as a director in 2000. In 2004 he became a managing director at Deutsche Bank and, one year later, global head of Emerging Markets Structuring.
In 2007 he relocated to Singapore as head of Deutsche Bank’s credit trading, equity convertibles, commodities and private equity businesses in Asia, and was appointed a board member of Deutsche Bank International Limited. He left Deutsche Bank in 2009 to pursue a career in politics. His earnings at Deutsche Bank would have been roughly £3m a year at the time he left.
Javid is a trustee of the London Early Years Foundation, was a governor of Normand Croft Community School, and has led an expedition to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, to show his support of Help The Aged.”
Source: Wikipedia
Swire:
A: Boris and Hugo swan around the world together with Hugo as Boris’s bagman
or
B: Becomes a backbench constituency MP and commutes to East Devon from Mid-Devon and desperately tries to persuade Theresa May’s colleagues to listen to him?
Parish:
A: Remains As Chairman of the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and keeps on trying to dual the A303
or
B: Becomes a non-office- holding backbench constituency MP with no major role in government and finally has to decide whether he is a Remainer or Brexiter?
“Four in 10 council bosses want to increase commercial revenue but just 4% say they have significant commercial expertise, a poll by CIPFA and Civica has found.
The survey of 45 local authority chief executives and chief finance officers found authorities were developing commercial plans to raise revenue by, for example, developing trading arms for shared services and through more effective use of property.
However, concerns were also highlighted about a lack of understanding of what the market needs (36% of respondents said this was a factor) and concerns about the risks involved (56%). “…
http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2016/07/councils-commercial-ambitions-outstrip-expertise
Surely some contracts for Hinkley C will be susceptible to such things?
“Arms companies have padded defence contracts to the tune of £61m with costs including “charitable donations”, Christmas parties and commemorative mugs.
Spending watchdog the Single Source Regulations Office (SSRO) has revealed how defence deals where the contract was not put out to tender have been abused by suppliers, accusing them of failing to meet contract agreements.
The SSRO was set two years ago to crack down on abuse of the £8bn the UK military spends on “single source” deals annually. These are contracts where there is only a single buyer – the MoD – and single supplier because of national security or an urgent need for equipment on the frontline. Once the cost of the contract has been totted up, companies are allowed to make a set profit rate – currently 8.95pc.
The watchdog said it has found examples including suppliers charging £32,500 for a donation to charity, £34,000 for “staff welfare” which include the cost of a Christmas party and £10,000 for “entertaining costs”. Other costs the watchdog is cracking down on include companies charging the MoD to fix their own faulty workmanship and bidding for the deal – even though there was no competition.
Defence procurement minister Philip Dunne has previously cited companies charging £24,000 for ceremonial mugs and £2,000 for a children’s party as other inappropriate costs.
Announcing that its interim compliance report had rated defence contractors as “poor” at following the controls overseen by the SSRO, Clive Tucker, the watchdog’s chairman said: “For too long single-source defence procurement went without effective scrutiny and this is precisely the kind of inappropriate expenditure the Defence Reformed Act was meant to kill off.”
Paul Everitt, chief executive of aerospace and defence trade body ADS, said companies “recognise the SSRO’s role ensuring contracts deliver value for money for the taxpayer and a fair return for industry. Every effort is made to comply with guidance”.
He added: “All companies make every effort to comply with the SSRO’s statutory guidance. All parties are becoming more accustomed to the detailed and complex reporting requirements and each contract is agreed with the MoD following extensive and detailed negotiation.”
“Dozens of broadband network providers are expected to bid for six contracts to improve broadband connections in Somerset and Devon.
The second phase of a superfast broadband scheme for Somerset has been launched this week by Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS).”
This does not include East Devon, which decided to “go it alone”, applied for grants and was turned down because too much of the project was like the one they left!
Recently, the government has said EVERYONE must get a decent broadband service and is bringing in legislation to this effect:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/consumer-interests-at-heart-of-digital-economy-bill
and a Parliamentary Briefing paper just published states:
“Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is responsible for implementing the Government’s policy on superfast broadband roll-out which consists of three stages:
• provide superfast broadband coverage to 90% of UK premises by early 2016 and access to basic broadband (2Mbps) for all from December 2015 – “Phase 1”
• provide superfast broadband coverage to 95% of UK premises by the end of 2017 – “Phase 2”
• explore options to provide superfast coverage to the hardest to reach parts of the UK – “the final 5%”
The BDUK coverage targets include the commercial roll-out, however, the BDUK programme and funding is focussed on those areas that are not reached by the commercial roll-out.”
BRIEFING PAPER, Number CBP06643, 4 July 2016
So, where does this leave East Devon? Over to you, Councillor Twiss, Broadband Supremo ….
East Devon Watch 