Watch out sports and activities clubs – don’t go the way of beach hut tenants!

EDDC recently put out a puff job press release that said their strategy for beach hut rents (double them) had been so successful that all huts are now rented and waiting lists had plummeted. What they DIDN’T say was that 25% of beach hut tenants had to give up their tenancies because they could not afford the new rents. Beach huts – once a local amenity – are now luxury items available only to those with high disposable incomes (and from anywhere in the world).

Here we have something else in the same guise: a plan to treat all sports and activities clubs who rent their premises from EDDC on “a level playing field” with regard to new rents to be paid.

This roughly translates as “If you are a posh club with a lot of rich members (for example a sailing club) we will hike your rent but you will be fine as you will barely notice it but if you are a poor club with poor members (such as a kids club in a less well-off area) get out of our premises so we can flog them off to the highest bidders – whether for more expensive activities or even to developers”.

This is how you put this in EDDC-speak – will you get a “rent support grant”, who decides and exactly how long will you get it for – if at all?

The press release:

“Clubs will all be charged on a level playing field from now on
Sports and activity clubs who rent district council facilities will all be treated on a level playing field from now on and will have the opportunity to apply for a grant to help them in the future.

East Devon District Council has run workshops to help its sports and activity club tenants learn more about how to apply for these grants. During these two sessions attended by eight separate sports and activity club tenants, a number of similar queries came up which officers were able to help with.

Currently, East Devon District Council leases premises to some 37 sports and activity organisations. However, these arrangements, including the rent charges, can vary significantly from club to club due to historical arrangements. Some clubs have benefited from reduced rents while there are others that have not received this financial support. The council’s Cabinet, as recommended by the Asset Management Forum, decided in June 2015 that any financial support for clubs must be more transparent, accountable and reflect a clearly determined subsidy level. Any subsidy involves public money and the Forum wanted to make sure that the best use possible was being made of this financial support. A further information report on the issue went before Cabinet in May this year.

The council’s new approach is to introduce a rent support grant arrangement which will make the allocation of funding support more consistent and fair. From their next rent review or lease renewal date, all clubs will be liable to pay market rent for their facility by the council. At this time, a rent valuation will be determined, taking into account such factors as the size of the facility, the terms of the lease and the variety of uses of the site. In addition, it will be an opportunity to review the current arrangements such as the length of lease.

At the same time, clubs can apply to the district council for a rent support grant and their application will be assessed objectively against a range of criteria. These assessments will include looking at the benefits the club brings or could bring to the local community, whether they have a good and realistic financial plan and how much the club needs a grant.

Clubs that attended the workshops were able to discuss their concerns with the Council. There are ones that are trying hard to recruit new members and improve their club and facilities by building up money to pay for these improvements but worried that they might not be eligible for a grant. Officers were able to reassure these clubs that the decision-making panel of councillors would be looking to give grants to help clubs that were putting a real effort into helping themselves. This includes activities such as applying for grants, involving their clubs in the community and becoming more sustainable by recruiting new members and improving facilities.

Ten sports and activity clubs, whose leases are up for renewal this year, are eligible to apply for the Rent Support Grant and now have until 29 September 2016 to submit an application.

Councillor Ian Thomas, East Devon District Council’s Cabinet Member for Finance and the grant applications panel chairman, said: “The workshops were well received and gave us the opportunity to clarify some issues that were worrying these organisations. It’s important to reiterate that the new grants scheme is all about having a fair accountable system to help those who merit financial support. It’s about making sure that our limited funds reach the right groups and organisations.”

All sports and activity clubs that lease or hire facilities from East Devon District Council have already received detailed information on the changes and the grants scheme.”

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

16 Aug 2016

Posted under

Austerity cuts, Democracy, Spin

When it pays ( handsomely) to be sacked

George Osborne looks set to make hundreds of thousands of pounds a year on the after-dinner speaking circuit after he joined one of Washington DC’s most exclusive agencies.

The former chancellor has been given the green light by the civil service to join Washington Speakers Bureau after being sacked from the government by Theresa May.

While fees for the speakers are not made public, US reports have suggested “big names” can get $50,000 a speech while “top attractions” can get up to $300,000.

He joins a stellar class of politicians at the firm including former prime ministers Gordon Brown and Tony Blair and former US president George W Bush. …
…The Tory MP for Tatton’s new role was formally approved on Tuesday by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, which signs off jobs for former ministers to ensure there is no conflict of interest. …

He has promised to “personally approve any engagement to ensure that there is no conflict of interest” and must wait until three months after his sacking to take up the post.

Mr Osborne was also told by the committee that he “should not become personally involved in lobbying the UK Government on behalf of the Washington Speakers Bureau or its clients” for at least two years. …”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/16/george-osborne-expected-to-make-hundreds-of-thousands-after-join/

So, George, are you quite sure you know what lobbying means?

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

16 Aug 2016

Posted under

Accountability, Standards Committee

Standards watchdog worried about ineffectiveness of sanctions

Not the only one watchdog, not the only one.

“There is some evidence to suggest that the role of independent person in local government standards is generally well received and that vexatious complaints are falling, the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) has said.

However, in its 2015/16 annual report

Click to access CSPL_Annual_Report_2015-2015.pdf

published this month, the CSPL said the effectiveness of the sanctions regime was “still a concern”.

The CSPL agreed at the time of the Localism Act to maintain a watching brief on: the need for a mandatory code of conduct; strong local leadership; effective independent persons; and concern at the lack of sanctions.

The committee said it had received correspondence both from members of the public, councils and councillors on the issue of standards. “This correspondence includes, for example, calls for a national code of conduct, strengthened guidelines or sanctions or a power of recall.”

It added that it continued “to invite councils to consider whether their own local standards frameworks are sufficient to address standards breaches and build public trust”.

The CSPL said it would also continue to liaise with the relevant stakeholders on the way in which ethical standards could effectively be embedded in all parts of local government.”

http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28043%3Aindependent-person-role-well-received-and-vexatious-complaints-falling-cspl&catid=59&Itemid=27

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

16 Aug 2016

Posted under

Environment (local), Natural England

Natural England: cuts mean too many compromises and conflicts

“England’s nature watchdog is planning to use its legal powers less and risks becoming a weak regulator forced to raise funding from the private companies it is meant to keep in check, leaked documents and sources reveal.

Natural England is duty-bound to defend rare species and protected areas including national parks and England’s 4,000 sites of special scientific interest from potentially environmentally damaging developments.

But the regulator faces a budget cut of 27% and a reduction in headcount of 20% by 2020 due to cuts to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). This means it will have a “significantly reduced national capacity”, it admits,.

A internal document from June, seen by Greenpeace and shared with the Guardian, says the agency will “make more proportionate use of our regulatory powers” and “retain our regulatory powers but will use them more proportionately and more efficiently, while increasingly operating through advice and partnership.”

Internal sources say this amounts to using its powers less and to agreements that “compromise wildlife”. …

… Stephen Trotter, the director of the Wildlife Trusts, a network of 47 local groups, said: “We have for some time seen evidence across the trusts of less engagement with planning issues by Natural England than would have been the case previously. We find that particularly around non-designated but local wildlife sites, it has a reluctance to get involved in defending those sites.”

Other changes to the way the agency operates include providing “advice to government that is politically aware”. The regulator is meant to provide science-based and independent advice. A source at Natural England said the idea was “ridiculous” as its advice was meant to be “based on the science, not on anything else”.

The watchdog’s ecologists will also get out less to see the wildlife and habitats they are meant to protect and understand.

“Fewer ad hoc site visits will be necessary because more information, data and evidence about sites and the local area will be captured remotely and by others,” says the document. Conservationists warned earlier this year that Natural England risked losing its “eyes and ears” after it cut funding for local environmental record centres.

In order to raise more money as its budget is cut £30m by the end of 2020 on 2015-16 levels, the agency also plans to raise more money by charging the private sector, such as water companies, housebuilders and windfarm developers, for its services. It raised £1.43m in 2015-16 by charging £110 an hour for such services, and hopes to increase this to £12m a year by 2020.

“It’s blurring the vision of what we do,” a source at Natural England said. “It’s commercialising something that’s very hard to commercialise. People find it quite a conflict in what they do. Previously we would prioritise what is important in terms of biodiversity rather than profit, so it’s quite a different mindset.”

The agency tried to allay such fears in another document shared with staff. “There were some concerns that a move towards charging might be perceived as a shift towards ‘supporting development’, with us working for, rather than with, our customers. Thankfully, that criticism has rarely been directed at us,” it said. …”

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/16/budget-cuts-threaten-to-weaken-powers-of-englands-nature-watchdog