Monthly Archives: August 2016

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2 Aug 2016

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Misc

Piles or no piles, that’s the question in Seaton

Owl is – as so often being an East Devon Owl – confused.

According to today’s View from newspapers, EDDC has again turned down affordable housing on the Seaton Tesco site being built on by Bovis, in part because of the high cost of raising the land because it was on a flood plain. This led, it says, to it being unviable to build three storey or terraced housing without the use of “prohibitively expensive” piled foundations. This means that density and height of the houses on the site has to be reduced and this means building affordable homes is unaffordable on the site. EDDC Development Management Committee has agreed.

So why did original plans show more and higher housing WITH affordables when it was known that this would not be financially viable to developers who would not want to take on the extra cost of piling? Why was it not mentioned that the original plans relied on piling and might need to be changed? Did Bovis know when the bought the land that it could only build lower density, lower rise housing and that this would rule out any affordable housing?

And what of the three-storey houses that have already been built on the site – are they in any danger of subsiding or do they have piling or other strengthening construction:

http://www.whathouse.com/housebuilders/bovis-homes/pebble-beach-seaton/3-bed-semi-detached-house_47069/

http://www.bovishomes.co.uk/new-homes-on-pebble-beach/the-tetbury?hse=p307

(early part of the sales video showing at 20-30 seconds in shows three-storey housing – and an impression at 1 minute 20 seconds that somewhere close to the site (“local amenities”) has a beautiful indoor swimming pool, too).

A check with the planning application shows that (terraced) Premier Inn IS being built with piling, so that’s a relief!

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2 Aug 2016

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Affordable and Social Housing, Inequality

“Home ownership in England at lowest level in 30 years as housing crisis grows”

“Home ownership in England has fallen to its lowest level in 30 years as the growing gap between earnings and property prices has created a housing crisis that extends beyond London to cities including Manchester.

The struggle to get on the housing ladder is not just a feature of the London property market, according to a new report by the Resolution Foundation thinktank, with Greater Manchester seeing as big a slump in ownership since its peak in the early 2000s as parts of the capital, and cities in Yorkshire and the West Midlands also seeing sharp drops.

Home ownership across England reached a peak in April 2003, when 71% of households owned their home, either outright or with a mortgage, but by February this year the figure had fallen to 64%, the Resolution Foundation said.

The figure is the lowest since 1986, when homeownership levels were on the way up, with a housing market boom fuelled by the deregulation of the mortgage industry and the introduction of the right-to-buy policy for council homes by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government. …

… Lindsay Judge, an expert on housing at the thinktank, said the problem was one of affordability. “House prices began to outpace earnings in the early 2000s,” Judge said. “When the market fell so did earnings – house prices began to come down but so did people’s pay, or it was stagnating at best, so few people were able to make the most of falling prices.”

The analysis showed that across England levels of private renting almost doubled from 11% in 2003 to 19% in 2015, while in Greater Manchester the figure more than trebled, from 6% to 20%.

The Resolution Foundation said this shift in tenure could mean problems in the future, as individuals would need to find a way of funding their housing in retirement, or may need to turn to the benefits system for help. Clarke said: “The shift to renting privately can reduce current living standards and future wealth, with implications for individuals and the state. We cannot allow other cities to edge towards the kind of housing crisis that London has been saddled with.”

Anne Baxendale, head of policy and public affairs at the housing charity Shelter, said house prices were now “completely out of step with average wages”.

She added: “Sky-high rents are leaving many families struggling to make ends meet each month, let alone save up enough for the deposit on a home. Far from being the stepping stone it once was, many young people and families are now facing a lifetime stuck in expensive and unstable private renting. …”n

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/02/home-ownership-in-england-at-lowest-level-in-30-years-as-housing-crisis-grows

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1 Aug 2016

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Devolution, Hinkley C, Local Enterprise Partnership

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Our LEP’s view on Hinkley C hold up

“Hinkley Point C – UPDATE

Posted: 29 July 2016

Following the news of EDF’s final investment decision on Hinkley, we urge the government to make a quick decision in support of the project. The Hinkley investment and its legacy will have a major benefit for the economy of the surrounding communities and the wider UK for decades to come and is truly transformational.”

http://www.heartofswlep.co.uk/news/hinkley-point-c-update

Transformational for whom exactly!

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1 Aug 2016

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Education (local)

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Academy staff convicted of fraud

It is all too easy to get away with fraud if there is no effective scrutiny of academy finances – and it is the education of our young people that suffers.

George Osborne wanted every school to be an academy, free of local government control – and scrutiny.

The founder of a flagship free school and two members of staff have been found guilty of defrauding the government out of £150,000.

Sajid Raza, 43, Shabana Hussain, 40, and Daud Khan, 44, made payments from Department for Education grants into their own bank accounts. The grants were given to set up Kings Science Academy in Bradford in 2011. It opened in 2012.

The three were found guilty at Leeds Crown Court following a six-week trial.
They were granted bail and will be sentenced in September with judge Christopher Batty telling them “I am very much considering custody in each of your cases”.

Peter Mann from the Crown Prosecution Service said the trio had “treated public money as their own”. He said: “Far from being a model school, Raza [founder and principal] treated the Academy like a family business employing his relatives there and, for at least the first 12 months, operating with no proper governance.”

“His co-defendants were also drawn into this criminality. Hussain, Raza’s sister, received unlawful payments, and Khan helped to falsify documentation.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-36943526

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1 Aug 2016

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Austerity cuts, EDDC, Mark Williams CEO EDDC, South Somerset

Two Somerset district councils merge

Isn’t it interesting that our projected merger of many services with South Somerset failed at the first hurdle when South Somerset declined to share our CEO Mark Williams and, after a couple of years decided to ” buy him out” and manage without both him and merged services.

Let’s hope these two councils have better luck and get a CEO that suits them both.

… Last week also saw councillors at Taunton Deane back plans for a tie-up with West Somerset. Two other options had been considered: one team supporting two councils; and the two councils progressing their own transformation agendas.

Taunton Deane said a merged council “would generate significant savings, estimated at a conservative £3.1m a year”. It acknowledged that there would be costs involved to implement the merger but added that the payback was estimated at just over two years.

Taunton Deane and West Somerset have been working in partnership with a single officer team for the past three years.

Cllr John Williams, Leader of Taunton Deane, said: “The proposal for transformation is radical and will bring change on a scale not seen before for our communities, our customers, our staff and ourselves as members.
“The decision is important, and will ensure we can continue to invest in our growth ambitions, deliver services to our public, and importantly, help us take a huge step towards having a financially sustainable future.”

He warned that if West Somerset decided against supporting the merger, it would “inevitably trigger the third option with the councils taking separate routes to pursue their own agendas”.

Cllr Williams said the business case for a merger had been reviewed by Local Partnerships, the company jointly owned by HM Treasury and the Local Government Association, which “had found it realistic, deliverable and credible”.

If West Somerset approves the merger proposals next month, the councils will seek meetings with Government representatives in order to kick-start the process and the creation of a new authority.

The new council is likely to come into existence in 2019 when the next local government elections are due.

http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27874%3Adistricts-pursue-mergers-with-proposed-combinations-in-suffolk-and-somerset&catid=59&Itemid=27

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1 Aug 2016

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Coastal erosion, EDDC, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

Public being misled by Sidmouth beach management plan say two councillors

“‘Public being misled over Sidmouth’s beach management plan’ – claim

Sidmouth representatives claim they have had to fight for information on a project to shore up the seafront.

Councillors Matt Booth and Cathy Gardner say they have tried to co-operate with East Devon District Council (EDDC) on the town’s beach management plan (BMP) – but are speaking out because they feel the public is being ‘misled’.

Their allegations have been slammed as ‘unfair and unfounded’ by Cllr Andrew Moulding, the BMP steering group chairman, who accused his colleagues of ‘scaremongering’.

In a joint statement, Cllrs Booth and Gardner said: “While we try at all times to work with EDDC, we have a duty to the electorate to raise issues where we believe we see them. It is very difficult to do so if we are not consulted on issues in our ward. We were voted in with a large mandate last May, to a large extent because of the lack of transparency of EDDC and the key issues that were due. The representation of the situation around the process of the BMP to date needs to be questioned and we consider it to be misleading.”

The steering group is a ‘critical friend’ in the BMP process. It is made up of statutory bodies, such as the Environment Agency, and community groups like the Sid Vale Association. Cllrs Booth and Gardner are not members.

The two councillors said EDDC approved the shortlist of options for seafront protection options independently, but presented them as if they had the support of the steering group. Cllrs Booth and Gardner said EDDC only added one particular option – 4B – once the consultation was under way, following pressure from the steering group’s Sidmouth members. The ward members said this option – to install submerged reefs they argue would improve seafront amenities – was not given ‘equal opportunity’ and that the images released to the public were misleading.

Cllrs Booth and Gardner added: “It is of great concern that this is being set up as a cost-saving exercise and only one option will be tank tested. There is a real danger that it will not produce a result that will be approved by the Environment Agency or Defra and will not attract the partner funding that will be essential to deliver it.”

The BMP could cost £20million to implement and up to £15million will be needed in partnership funding. The cheapest option is £11million.

EDDC is yet to decide which option will be tank tested.

Ed Harrison, who chairs a Sidmouth sub-group of the BMP steering group, told the Herald: “What we’re worried about is that EDDC has already made up its mind. They’ve already said they cannot afford anything but the cheapest option.”

He said the majority of sub-group members hope options 4 and 4B can both be tank tested to assess their effectiveness.

Cllr Moulding said: “Healthy challenge is welcome, but we do need to respect the advice being provided by experts who have repeatedly addressed the issues raised. However, we cannot and will not request that expert advice is altered because some stakeholders are not getting the answers they wish to hear. Our officers’ and consultants’ time is being taken up, further delaying delivery of a scheme for Sidmouth, while adding to costs with no added benefit. I would question how this best serves the public interest.”

He said it would be ‘prohibitively expensive’ to tank test several options and it ‘could add millions of pounds’ to the overall scheme costs. Cllr Moulding argued that the BMP process had been conducted in a ‘completely open and clear-cut manner’ and that ward members had received email correspondence throughout.

Cllrs Booth and Gardner have invited residents to discuss the issue via mbooth@eastdevon.gov.uk or cgardner@eastdevon.gov.uk.”

http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/public_being_misled_over_sidmouth_s_beach_management_plan_claim_1_4635586

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1 Aug 2016

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Hugo Swire

David Cameron honours list = cronyism?

Will good friend Hugo Swire, rumoured for a knighthood, accept his “honour”? You bet he will! Though this honours list will probably be forever tainted with a rather unpleasant smell, rather like the list of Harold Wilson (nicknamed the “Lavender List”) so many years ago, which is still remembered to this day:

“The list caused controversy as a number of recipients were wealthy businessmen whose principles were considered antithetical to those held by the Labour Party at the time. Roy Jenkins notes that Wilson’s retirement “was disfigured by his, at best, eccentric resignation honours list, which gave peerages or knighthoods to some adventurous business gentlemen, several of whom were close neither to him nor to the Labour Party.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Prime_Minister%27s_Resignation_Honours

Of the honours today there is a bit of a difference: the disputed honours are those to donors of very large sums to the Conservative party whose tax arrangements have been brought into the spotlight and found wanting and to his “mates”:u

“… BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said there was little doubt the current regime at Downing Street were uncomfortable with the extent of Mr Cameron’s proposed list, but they believe it is for the Cabinet Office and honours committee to pronounce on its propriety …”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36938368

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1 Aug 2016

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Hinkley C

Hinkley Point renamed “What’s The Point?”

“EDF boss Vincent de Rivaz once boasted that the British would be cooking their Christmas turkeys using power from Hinkley Point by 2017. But many believe it is the project itself that is the turkey.

‘I doubt there is anyone outside EDF who would support this project the way it is structured,’ said an executive at another energy firm.

Much criticised is the guaranteed minimum price of £92.50 per megawatt hour, which the Government agreed consumers must pay EDF for the electricity generated by the new reactors at the Somerset site.

That is far higher than the wholesale price of electricity, which this weekend was £37 per megawatt hour. As long as the wholesale cost of energy is lower than this so-called ‘strike price’ consumers will make up the difference with higher bills.

Another energy source said: ‘Look at the burden on our own customers that Hinkley Point results in. We are going to get the blame for that. ‘Inside the industry we’ve stopped referring to it as Hinkley Point. We all call it What’s The Point?

‘We’re thinking of getting together and sending Vincent a turkey – just to make sure he gets the message.’

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-3716179/Business-unites-call-build-Hinkley-Unions-bosses-warn-24bn-nuclear-plant-vital-British-economy.html

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1 Aug 2016

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Rural communications, Rural communities

Exmoor and Dartmoor to get better broadband than most of East Devon

Fastest internet to help Exmoor gallop out of seclusion
Jonathan Leake, Environment Editor
July 31 2016, The Sunday Times

“A faster internet may help reverse Exmoor’s population decline

One of England’s remotest regions is to get some of the nation’s fastest internet connections under plans to create “Heather Valley” — a smaller version of California’s SiliconValley — in Devon and Somerset.

A network of 40 masts installed across Exmoor National Park will use microwave transmitters to relay the internet to the remotest areas, giving people sufficient bandwidth to trade on the stock market, run a hi-tech business or watch high-definition films from the most isolated of cottages. A similar network will span Dartmoor.

“Many Exmoor properties are so remote that they are not even connected to mains electricity or drainage yet, let alone the internet,” said David Wyborn, head of planning at Exmoor National Park Authority. “Most people also live in deep valleys so their phones are linked to miles of copper cable, which makes the data link too slow.

“This network should give Exmoor broadband speeds similar to the best in cities.”

The failure to bring broadband to the countryside has been an embarrassment for the government. Ofcom last week ruled that BT’s Openreach division, which runs the UK’s broadband infrastructure, should become a distinct company within the BT group, despite campaigners accusing it of “woeful levels of service” and demanding it be split off.

One aim of the Exmoor project is to reverse the area’s population decline. Just 10,200 people now live in its 267 square miles. Improved communications could draw in small hi-tech businesses and people who want to work from home.

Oliver Edwards, whose 600-acre farm and campsite lies in a deep valley, said his three-mile copper telephone cable slowed internet access. “I have to drive to Exford, the nearest village, to sort out visitor bookings or make farm subsidy applications,” he said.

Dan Jones, of Airband, the firm installing the broadband system, said people living in Exmoor and Dartmoor would pay £38 a month for unlimited phone and internet use.

“The masts are designed to look like traditional telegraph poles to minimise their impact,” he said.

@jonathan__leake

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1 Aug 2016

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EDDC, Environment (local)

Message to Clyst St Mary villagers

“Just a short update regarding the Anaerobic Digester Planning Application for the proposed ‘Extensions’ and ‘Increase in capacity’. As you are no doubt aware, we have now had a year of foul odours coming from this piece of equipment throughout Clyst St Mary, so the outcome of this Application will be of interest to all village residents. It is due to be heard (and decided) by East Devon District Council’s Development Management Committee this Tuesday 2nd August. The meeting is scheduled to start at 10am at the Knowle in Sidmouth. We have a number of residents from Clyst St Mary who have kindly volunteered to speak against the Application. It would be smashing if other residents could come and show their support – you simply need to turn up on the day. Should you need a lift, please email me as soon as possible I and will try and co-ordinate this.
Best wishes
Gaeron”