Monthly Archives: September 2016

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16 Sep 2016

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Hugo Swire, Post-Brexit Adjustments

Sovereignty- an example

The [Parliamentary]committee [on Arms Export Control]is split into three factions and its constituent parts have released two reports [recall that arms export to Saudi Arabia was a Hugo Swire ministerial responsibility and he was accused of being ‘economical with the truth’ about the Foreign Office’s involvement in the deals and their ethical implications]:

“In a bizarre twist of parliamentary protocol, three competing cross-party factions on Committee on Arms Export Control (CAEC) are putting out two separate reports recommending different conflicting courses of action.

Members of the Business and International Development committees have banded together to recommend a harsher approach against the autocratic petro state. They want a ban on arms to Saudi until an international investigation into alleged war crimes by the autocracy during the course of its operation in Yemen has concluded.

The Foreign Affairs Committee faction, led by Conservative MP Crispin Blunt, however believes that the legality of the weapons sales should be left to the courts. Campaign Against the Arms Trade has already launched legal challenge, set to be heard in the coming months, meaning arms sales will continue for now. It also backs an international investigation and says arms export control should be more widely addressed.

Meanwhile a third group, MPs drawn from the Defence Committee, are understood to be in such deadlock themselves have backed neither report. The split within CAEC is so bitter than MPs have not even been able to agree to designate one of the reports a “minority” report, as would be the usual practice when MPs have disagreements.

But don’t worry it won’t make a difference because the UK government – that great believer in parliamentary democracy have said PARLIAMENT WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO VOTE ON IT”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/saudi-arabian-arms-sales-uk-row-ban-vote-committee-arms-export-control-senate-a7309291.html

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16 Sep 2016

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Accountability, Devolution, Voting

Devolution and scrutiny

It is no coincidence that George Osborne, whose current Cheshire parliamentary seat will be lost in boundary changes and who wishes to remain an MP, has created a ‘Northern Powerhouse Partnership’ think tank and put himself in charge of it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37380653

If Owl lived in the area it would be VERY afraid!

“The proposed reduction in the number of MPs in the House of Commons will affect how government is held to account and how Whitehall’s devolution schemes are scrutinised.

The publication of the Boundary Commission for England’s plans for new parliamentary boundary has received heavy press coverage. Inevitably a lot of this has focused on the fate of some high profile MPs, and the possibility of increasing the country’s democratic deficit through the reduction of the number of parliamentarians in the House of Commons from 650 to 600.

However, some of this coverage is speculative in nature. We won’t know until 2018 the details of the boundaries on which constituencies will be fought in the 2020 election. And we don’t really know what the effect will be on politics both national and local.

What we do know is that it will create uncertainty in Westminster – and is likely to have an impact on the devolution agenda, too.

It’s early days but here are what I think could be some of the likely outcomes.

• MPs may find themselves distracted from their parliamentary activities. For some this will be because they are having to deal with reselection battles; for others it will be because they are having to prepare to campaign in a new constituency without the benefit of incumbency. This probably won’t affect the government’s legislative programme but it may affect scrutiny in select committees and the quality of scrutiny in Public Bill Committees, as MPs direct their time to the more pressing business of reselection and re-election. For progress on devolution, it could mean that the progress of deals – and a continued focus on pursuit of the devolution policy in the heart of government – is not held to account as effectively by MPs;

• Some MPs – those who fail to be reselected and/or those who choose not to stand again – may start to be more independent-minded. This may serve, in contrast to the point above, to enhance parliamentary scrutiny, and place government under pressure to do more to pas power down to local levels;

• In areas where prominent MPs have been a driving force in pushing forward devolution, the possible disappearance of those people from the current political scene may cause uncertainty and difficulties both for local areas and for government.

For local areas, this will bring additional uncertainty. Between now and 2018 comes a period during which local authorities can attempt to capitalise on what they have achieved so far, and can use existing channels to try to achieve more. Local areas will need to press on with more, and more ambitious, deals while the opportunity exists.

The pace of this exercise reflects the fact that between 2018 and 2020, boundary changes will lead to the reorganisation of political parties at a local level and the ramping up of the 2020 general election, not to mention the need to direct resources (parliamentary and otherwise) to the Brexit negotiations, which will presumably by then be in full swing.

The next two years, therefore, are crucial in embedding some results for local areas that are as positive as possible, and arguing successfully for more powers. This will be important if devolution is to maintain momentum over the 2018-20 period, which is likely to be more politically febrile.

Effective member-led scrutiny at local level can help to play a part in this. Local councillors, through scrutiny, can keep up pressure to continue to argue for strong deals which will make a difference for local people; they can help to demonstrate and promote an appetite within the local area for more powers. They can also help to draw together the evidence to support new proposals to government. Even where combined authorities have been set up and the election of Mayors is on the horizon, good scrutiny can still – in the next two years – help to get that message across both to government and to local people. Beyond 2018 at the latest, all bets are off – the prospect of boundary changes and Brexit will make Westminster a strange and unpredictable place, and government’s (and parliamentarians’) interests are likely to have moved elsewhere.”

Ed Hammond is the head of programmes (Local Accountability) at the Centre for Public Scrutiny

http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/opinion/2016/09/what-parliamentary-boundary-changes-mean-scrutiny

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16 Sep 2016

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COVOP, NPPF, Planning System

“Community Voice on Planning National Conference NIMBY – reality or slur?”

The Queen’s Hotel Leeds, Saturday October 15th 2016

Welcome and Introduction 10.45-10.55 Cheryl Tyler

Statement from Clive Betts, Chairman CLG committee 10.55-11.00 Cheryl Tyler, CoVoP

Saving the Green Belt 11.00-11.40 (speaker TBA)

The Best Laid Plans? Does the NPPF work? 11.40-12.10 Jenny Unsworth, CoVoP.

Housing targets- fact or fiction? 12.10- 12.45 Julie Mabberley, Chairman, CoVoP

LUNCH 12.45- 1.30 (included)

Communities and the House Builders
1.30- 2.10 Dr Quintin Bailey, Senior Lecturer in Housing and Planning, Leeds Beckett University

Providing sustainable affordable housing
2.10-2.50, Dr Hugh Ellis, Head of Policy, Town and Country Planning Association.

Plenary Session and “manifesto”.
Facilitator Geoff Rice. 2.50 – 3.45
Jason McCartney MP (Con), Greg Mulholland MP (Libdem) and Paula Sherriff MP
(Lab) will be present.

Closing remarks and close of meeting 3.50

Cost: £5
For details on how to book by 22 September 2016 contact:
cheryltyler.thebarn@btinternet.com
07866 496 469

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16 Sep 2016

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Accountability, Claire Wright, DCC, Health and Social Care (local), Hugo Swire, Neil Parish

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“Devon’s ‘devastating’ hospital cuts to be scrutinised”

We await Hugo Swire and Neil Parish’s plans on how to deal with devastating health and social services cuts in Devon. In the meantime, DCC councillor Claire Wright continues her long and tireless campaign on behalf of East Devon residents.

“Plans to cut nearly 200 community hospital beds across Devon by 2020/21 will come under the scrutiny of county council health bosses on Monday (September 19).

Councillor Claire Wright (pictured) described the proposals in a leaked document as ‘devastating’ and said the underfunding of the NHS should not mean that patients suffer.

More than 400 acute hospital beds in the county – one in six – could close, as the NHS in Devon looks to plug a predicted funding gap of £572million by 2020/21.

The leaked Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) for Wider Devon states: “The changes we are proposing will result in a reduction in the number of acute and community beds across our system of the order of 590 by 2021.

“NEW Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) are developing consultation proposals on the overall strategic direction of travel and provision changes, the components of new models of care and specific intentions to close a number of community hospital beds.”

NHS bosses were approached for comment, but would not specify how the cuts would affect different localities.

Cllr Wright said: “My understanding is that the document was submitted to NHS England for its consideration in June.

“That’s three months ago – why on earth it has been kept so secret from residents, and councillors including those like me on the health and wellbeing scrutiny committee?

“As an Ottery St Mary councillor, I am very worried indeed now for Ottery Hospital’s future – and the impact that so many acute and community bed closures in general will have on patient care all over the county.

“The fact that the NHS is massively underfunded should not mean that patients have to suffer.”

A statement issued by NEW Devon CCG says more analysis and consideration was to be undertaken before a further submission is made in October.

It said: “The STP creates the opportunity for health and local authorities to work together and formulate plans to improve and secure the sustainability of services we deliver to people across Devon.

“The programme of work to review acute and specialised service across Devon will commence in October.”

A report on the STP will be given to Devon County Council’s health and wellbeing scrutiny committee on Monday.

http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/devon_s_devastating_hospital_cuts_to_be_scrutinised_1_4698027

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15 Sep 2016

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Accountability, Planning System

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When planning goes (very) wrong

“The Local Government Ombudsman, Dr Jane Martin, has strongly criticised a city council for failing to comply with her recommendations in a planning case, and issued a reminder to local authorities that she has the same powers as the High Court to require evidence.

The LGO’s comments came after an investigation into complaints from two separate homeowners about errors by planners at Plymouth City Council when approving a second application on an uncultivated field.

The Ombudsman concluded that “during the planning process, officers failed to publicise the new application properly in the neighbourhood, failed to ask for a flood risk assessment from the Environment Agency, included the wrong plans in the report to the planning committee, and significantly misrepresented how the new proposals would affect neighbours in the report”.

One resident/complainant said she no longer had late afternoon sunshine in her kitchen, sitting room and dining room and had a Juliet balcony overlooking her garden. Decking in the new garden afforded an uninterrupted view into her bedroom, she said.

The other couple/complainants felt that they are overlooked and their outlook is dominated by a two-storey house.

Both sets of complainants also said that their properties flood because of inadequate consideration of drainage of surface water from the site.

The LGO claimed that Plymouth had been obstructive and had her findings of fault.

“It has had a number of opportunities to acknowledge the errors made but has refused to do so or to follow recommendations made.”

The Ombudsman recommended that to remedy the injustice the council should:

apologise to both families;
ask the District Valuer to assess the current value of the complainants’ properties and the value each would have had if the developers had built according to the original plans and pay the difference between the two valuations;
pursue the proposals in the drainage report completed in the course of the investigation and ensure adequate drainage is in place before the onset of winter;
arrange for all members of its planning committee to have at least one day’s training from professionally qualified planning officers who are not employed by the council to ensure they can robustly challenge planning officers’ views prior to making decisions;
pay both families £500 each in recognition of the time and trouble to which they have been put.

Dr Martin said: “The role of the Local Government Ombudsman to hold councils to account when they get things wrong is well established and has a statutory basis.

“Authorities can and do have the chance to comment on my decisions before they are finalised, including providing evidence if they wish to challenge the findings, but they should cooperate with the investigation process. Compliance with LGO recommendations is extremely high, based on a relationship with local authorities of mutual trust and respect. This is essential for achieving redress for citizens.

“I would now urge Plymouth council to learn from my report and accept the recommendations for remedy I have made.”

Leader of Plymouth City Council, Cllr Ian Bowyer, said: “This investigation has taken nearly three years to conclude and we understand this process has been difficult for the complainants so we are pleased that the Ombudsman has finally reached a decision.

“The council takes this matter very seriously and has been working with the Ombudsman over the last three years to address procedural matters that have led to changes in the way Plymouth City Council considers issues raised in planning applications of this nature.

“The council has already apologised to the complainants and provided financial compensation where it accepts it is at fault. However, there are still matters that the council does not agree with in the Ombudsman’s report.

“The recommendations suggested by the Ombudsman will now be carefully considered by the council before responding formally.”

http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28366%3Algo-raps-council-over-failure-to-implement-recommendations-in-planning-case&catid=63&Itemid=31

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15 Sep 2016

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EDDC, Fords of Sidmouth, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

Fords Sidford Business Park: “massive unrest”

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“There is massive unrest in Sid Valley over plans top build an industrial estate at Sidford

Fords of Sidmouth wants to build industrial, storage and distribution units totalling 22,800 square metres on agricultural land to the east of Two Bridges Road.

The fourth generation business employs around 70 people, carrying out plumbing and electrical engineering work across the district.

However, various groups East Devon are strongly concerned about the project with regards to a possible risk of flooding, traffic congestion, pollution and the impact on a designated area of outstanding natural beauty.

Sidford Social Hall saw a massive gathering of objectors on Monday.

Among the speakers at the Public Meeting, organised by Sid Valley Residents and chaired by Cathy Debenham, was Alan Green, the Director of the Norman Lockyer Observatory

He said the light pollution from the development would be “a total disaster” for the observatory and will “destroy us after 104 years.”

Marianne Rixson, East Devon District Councillor for Sidmouth and Sidford, added that Exeter and Honiton currently have 1.6 million square feet of available employment units, and that meant the area “did not any more.”

Pam Ward, a governor of Sidbury School, said that the increased traffic, including HGV’s, would become a serious safety issue for local children.

As a result of the meeting many said they were likely to ‘boycott’ Fords, and even calls for an eventual public enquiry.

They will also urge planners to impose restrictions on how big the industrial units can be over worries they will dwarf their surroundings.

There are already over 150 objections filed on the council website.

A planning document submitted earlier this year by agents Context Logic, of Colaton Raleigh, said Fords & Sons plans to make a “substantial capital investment in delivering an employment site for Sidmouth.”

They added: “The proposal would generate jobs and opportunities for new and expanding businesses in Sidmouth. In total, the business park could create as many as 300 jobs over both phases throughout the local plan period.

“The park would offer business support facilities for the wider business community and it is hoped that the Business Support Centre would become a popular and well used asset.

“The future detailed applications will seek to create a business park with the highest regard given to design, energy efficiency, safety and security and will look to support a vibrant economy for Sidford and Sidmouth.”

The application will be decided in the coming weeks.

We have approached Fords of Sidmouth for comment.”

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/fury-at-sidford-business-park-plan-which-could-destroy-observatory/story-29719231-detail/story.html

 

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15 Sep 2016

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Hugo Swire, Neil Parish

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MPs should be on zero-hours contracts: don’t turn up, don’t get paid

MPs should be on a zero-hours contract. Don’t turn up? Don’t get paid. [OPINION]

Personally, Owl would settle for detailed timesheets and diary information showing exactly what our MPs are doing and, more importantly, with whom.

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15 Sep 2016

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Devolution, Hinkley C, Local Enterprise Partnership

Hello, Hinkley C, goodbye green energy (and the NHS)

The champagne corks will be popping at our Local Development Partnership (though we can’t tell you where that will be as they don’t tell us where their offices are). Many pockets to be lined by those members with nuclear interests.

Green energy will now be the Cinderella and the money that could have got our NHS out of debt will now be poured into Chinese and French pockets.

And our LEP can hold us all to ransom as it holds all our purse strings.

Happy days.

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14 Sep 2016

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Developers/ Development, Environment (local), Rural communities

‘ “State of Nature”reveals the destructive impact of intensive farming, urbanisation and climate change on plants, animals and habitats’

“More than one in 10 of the UK’s wildlife species are threatened with extinction and the numbers of the nation’s most endangered creatures have plummeted by two-thirds since 1970, according to a major report.

The abundance of all wildlife has also fallen, with one in six animals, birds, fish and plants having been lost, the State of Nature report found.

Together with historical deforestation and industrialisation, these trends have left the UK “among the most nature-depleted countries in the world”, with most of the country having gone past the threshold at which “ecosystems may no longer reliably meet society’s needs”.

The comprehensive scientific report, compiled by more than 50 conservation organisations, spells out the destructive impact of intensive farming, urbanisation and climate change on habitats from farmland and hills to rivers and the coast. It found that the fall in wildlife over the last four decades cannot be blamed on past harm, but has continued in recent years.

“It wasn’t just all back in 70s and 80s, it is still happening now,” said Mark Eaton, at RSPB and the lead author of the report. “We are getting ever more efficient in our farming. In a way it is something to be celebrated, how good our farming science and technology is, but it does squeeze nature out.” …

… The report includes a new “biodiversity intactness index”, which analyses the loss of species over centuries. The UK has lost significantly more nature over the long term than the global average, the report said, with the UK the 29th lowest out of 218 countries.

“It is quite shocking where we stand compared to the rest of the world, even compared to other western European countries: France and Germany are quite a way above us in the rankings,” said Eaton. “The index gives an idea of where we have got to over the centuries, and we are pretty knackered.”

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/14/one-in-10-uk-wildlife-species-faces-extinction-major-report-shows?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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13 Sep 2016

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Hugo Swire

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You want to meet Hugo Swire? Go to Kensington and Chelsea Conservatives and pay £25

“Royal Hospital Autumn Party

Date Wednesday, 21st Sep 2016
Time 6:30pm until 8:30pm

***SPEAKER CONFIRMED!***

*** ONLY 40 TICKETS AVAILABLE ***

Join us for an evening with Hugo Swire MP for East Devon. The event will be held at 32 Royal Avenue [Royal London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea] by kind permission of Mr and Mrs Toland. There will be wine served throughout the evening.

Tickets £25″
https://www.kcfc.org.uk/events

Properties in Royal Avenue are currently selling for £6 million upwards.

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13 Sep 2016

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Hugo Swire

Is Hugo Swire not sorry to see Cameron quit?

Hugo usually twitters endlessly about his pals but not a peep about his Eton mate Cameron’s resignation. And after Dave gave him a knighthood – albeit in rather tacky circumstances. Ungrateful.

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13 Sep 2016

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NHS (local), Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

Sidmouth Blackmore Health Centre protest Monday 19 September 11.15 am

Press release from the Patient and Public Involvement Chair, Di Fuller:

“The public response to fears over the future of the Blackmore Health Centre have been very encouraging.

Increases in rent and other costs, as well as plans from NHS Property Services (NHSPS) to redevelop the Blackmore Health Centre with added flats and a pharmacy, would radically increase costs to the Practice and threaten the future viability of the Practice on that site.

Hugo Swire MP, is visiting the Blackmore Health Centre on Monday 19th September to discuss the issues in detail with Dr. Joe Stych, other Partners and patient representatives. NHS Property Services and EDDC planning department have also been invited.

We ask members of the public who are concerned about the future of the surgery and agree with our request to purchase the

Blackmore Health Centre

to demonstrate their support outside of the Centre from

11.15 a.m. on

Monday 19 September.

Joe Stych said, “The ideal solution here would be for NHSPS to sell Blackmore to the practice so we are in charge of its future.

We would like to ask patients to write to Hugo Swire and Jeremy Hunt to campaign for the building to be sold to the practice to protect it.

We need people to question NHSPS as to why an operational building cannot be sold to motivated health care providers who will make them more efficient and responsive to our communities needs for healthcare provision.”

Di Fuller, Chair of Sid Valley Patient Participation Group has asked that people turn up on Monday to show their support for the Practice. We also want them to sign a petition asking Jeremy Hunt to allow NHSPS to sell Blackmore to the Practice to protect its future and to write to Hugo Swire and Jeremy Hunt with the same request.”

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13 Sep 2016

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EDDC, Section 106

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EDDC and its Section 106 Black hole

What makes the response below so puzzling is that for at least the last decade, EDDC has had a dedicated S106 officer. Time for some scrutiny …

“Freedom of Information request
Section 106 planning agreements

Date submitted: 25 August 2016

Summary of request

Please provide the following details for all developer contributions agreed (not received) under Section 106 planning agreements including affordable housing contributions:

– Value of contribution
– Purpose of contribution
– Planning application reference number

Please provide these details for the following 10x financial years:

– 01/04/2004 – 31/03/2005
– 01/04/2005 – 31/03/2006
– 01/04/2006 – 31/03/2007
– 01/04/2007 – 31/03/2008
– 01/04/2008 – 31/03/2009
– 01/04/2009 – 31/03/2010
– 01/04/2010 – 31/03/2011
– 01/04/2011 – 31/03/2012
– 01/04/2012 – 31/03/2013
– 01/04/2013 – 31/03/2014

Summary of response

We do not hold this information in a format which enables us to easily identify the financial contributions that were due to EDDC arising from s106 agreements in each financial year, or identify the purpose of a contribution. To find this detail we would need to check through each agreement during the stated time period.

We know that it has taken an experienced officer some 6 hours to search through 200 of these documents and we estimate that to search through each of the agreements per year over a ten year span to locate the ones specifically relevant to your request, will exceed the 18 hours permitted. This information is therefore exempt from disclosure under s12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Date responded: 1 September 2016

http://eastdevon.gov.uk/access-to-information/freedom-of-information/freedom-of-information-published-requests/

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13 Sep 2016

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EDDC, Fords of Sidmouth, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

38 Degrees petition: Say No to Sidford Business Park

“Please reject the application to build a three hectare Industrial Business Park on AONB land in the village of Sidford in East Devon.

Why is this important?

This is prime agricultural land in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, situated on a known flood risk plain, and home to much wild life, including several protected bat species.

The typically narrow Devon access roads to this area are woefully inadequate to cope with the existing traffic and more expected large vehicles, would add to this problem. The lack of pavements in Sidbury village already put school children at risk and there is still no cycle path to link the two villages.

The sheer size and height of the development would dominate the landscape, devalue adjacent existing properties and cause noise and light pollution (hugely affecting the nearby 100 year old Norman Lockyer Observatory).

Flooding of roads and properties occurred 4 times in 2012.

Finally there is far more suitable employment land available on existing Industrial sites, in Sidmouth, Honiton and Cranbrook to better serve those who are seeking employment. Please sign this petition to preserve the quality of life for many people and to stop this heartless, uncaring proposal going ahead.”

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/say-no-to-east-devon-business-park?bucket&source=facebook-share-button&time=1473757444

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13 Sep 2016

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Developers/ Development, EDDC, Fords of Sidmouth, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

Angry cries of “Boycott Fords” at Sidford meeting

BOYCOTT FORDS!’ CALL AT ANGRY SIDFORD MEETING

There was standing room only at Sidford Social Hall last night at a meeting called by local residents to “Say No to Sidford Business Park”.

Feelings ran high as speaker after speaker condemned this “monstrosity of a project” on road safety, environmental, and flooding grounds.

Notable comments included:

a plea from a Director of the Norman Lockyer Observatory “not to kill” astronomy in Sidmouth with the bright lights of a Business Park.

a warning from a governor of Sidbury primary school that increases in heavy vehicles would place schoolchildren in greater danger on the village’s narrow roads which often lacked pavements.

claims from an environmentalist that rare, protected horseshoe bats were likely to be present in larger numbers than estimated in the planning application.

Among many suggestions to mobilise opposition was a mass boycott of Fords of Sidmouth, the applicant.

This was enthusiastically supported, and will be actively considered by the organising committee.

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13 Sep 2016

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DCC, Democracy, Independent Councillors, Transparency

New Facebook Group: Devon United – Doing Democracy Differently

Inaugural Meeting: Tue 4 October 2016 18:00 – 21:30
Newton Abbot Races Ltd
Newton Road
Kingsteignton

“Everyone very welcome – Paul Hilder is coming to talk to us all about localism and retaking democracy and there will be lots of discussion about the next county elections and how we can unite to be a challenge.”

Free tickets can be obtained via:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/devon-united-doing-democracy-differently-tickets-27679676658

“Devon United is a group of local people who want to see a change in the way our elected County Councillors work and represent us and believe that moving beyond party politics is the way to do it.

We will be joined by Paul Hilder, co-founder of OpenDemocracy.net and CrowdPac and former global campaigns director for Avaaz and Change.org who will share his insights on how people can make real change happen.

We are fed up of our communities being sidelined by our councils and having no voice in the decisions that affect our communities. We are being ignored about the loss of our community hospitals, care units and services for our young people, ignored over planning decisions that see enormous estates being built around our small country towns that do not have the infrastructure to cope and are unaffordable to local people, ignored and misled over devolution and enough is enough.

We want to put our communities first and elect accountable, transparent and open County Councillors to represent our views at next years County Council elections.

We will discuss how we would like our politicians to operate, how we can identify the best candidates and how we can work together to campaign and organise in our communities to make plans and find inspiration to make our county work for everyone.”

Come along and let’s Do Democracy Differently

Devon United – Doing Democracy Differently

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13 Sep 2016

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Hugo Swire

New inquiry into arms for Saudi Arabia under Hugo Swire’s watch

In the week when a new inquiry has been announced into the supply of British arms to Saudi Arabia:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/12/crispin-blunt-to-intensify-row-about-saudi-arms-sales?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

during the time that our MP Hugo Swire was the Foregn Office Minister to that country and somewhat economical with the truth, which we covered here:

https://eastdevonwatch.org/2016/07/22/swire-economical-with-the-truth-at-the-foreign-office/

this article about Mr Swire and arms dealing on Colombia (also one of his areas) has been brought to Owl’s notice from September last year:

“I bet you never thought that one of the duties of a Foreign Minister is to act as an arms dealer for private companies to dodgy governments, or that Royal Navy warships act as floating sales offices for arms-deals. But last June, Hugo Swire MP, a Foreign Office Minister, had a week-long trip to Latin America, which included a stop at Colombia to act as an official weapons salesman for arms firm BAE Systems.

The meeting – part of which took place on a Royal Navy ship – was revealed earlier this year. Full details of the event were supplied to me last month under Freedom of Information.

As far as the ethics of selling arms to Colombia goes, they’re not great. According to Amnesty International, Colombia has suffered a “45-year-old internal armed conflict. Leftist guerrillas fight the state and illegal right-wing paramilitary organisations, which often collaborate with sectors of the Colombian armed forces.” As Amnesty notes, “All of the parties to the conflict are responsible for human rights violations”. The Colombian Navy have been involved in such abuses as well as the army. This July, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos sacked the heads of the army, navy and air force following a report from Human Rights watch about Colombian armed forces complicity in extra judicial killings. Despite these problems, Britain has no official bar on selling weapons to Colombia.

There were no such worries on the menu when Hugo Swire arrived in the beautiful city of Cartagena on the northern coast of Colombia and had “dinner at restaurant in the historic walled city with representatives from BAE Systems and the Colombian Navy”. The Minister’s date included a “walk” through the “historic old city”.

BAE Systems wanted to sell “Ocean Patrol Vessels” to the Colombian Navy. These are “90 metre versatile and affordable ships” made to work along the coast. BAE emphasise their use in anti-drug trade missions. The ships have a flight deck suitable for a “medium-sized helicopter” which is capable of engaging in warfare as well as drug trade interdiction.

It isn’t just the Minister acting as a salesman for BAE: The Royal Navy got in on the act too. HMS Portland, one of the Navy’s frigates was on a three-day visit to Colombia last June. The papers released to me describe this as “defence cooperation”. The Royal Navy itself put out a press release about the ship celebrating “Armed Forces Day while on a brief visit to the Colombian port of Cartagena” at the time. As well as British sailors taking part in the pomp and ceremony, and the HMS Portland crew playing a football game against the Colombian crew of the ARC Caldas, the warship was acting as a floating sales office for an arms-trade party.

The documents say the ship was there for “defence and security exports”. With help from the UK’s government run arms sales unit, called “UK Trade and Industry Defence & Security Organisation”, Hugo Swire used the ship to push the proposed deal. In the papers released to me, The British Ambassador to Colombia, Lindsay Croisdale-Appleby says, “the visiting HMS Portland gave a spectacular setting for an evening reception for senior members of the Colombian navy and defence ministry”. At the meeting, “The minister highlighted a proposal by BAE Systems to supply Ocean Patrol Vessels to the Colombian Navy”.

There is a long history of British Minister’s pushing arms sales. Most famously Mrs Thatcher saw this as a key part of her job: Thatcher called it “Batting for Britain”, and made great personal effort to promote the massive Al Yamamah arms deals with Saudi Arabia in the 1980s – a deal which also involved BAE Systems. However, from the 1990s onwards the huge problems of corruption in Al Yamamah and other arms deals encouraged to Government ministers to take a lower profile in promoting individual arms sales. The government has remained involved in arms trade promotion through the Defence Sales Organisation, renamed the Defence and Security Organisation. However, Ministers themselves have tended to have a more subtle approach to directly flogging weapons. During the Blair years, Labour were a bit tied up between Tony’s love of doing business and Foreign Minister Robin Cook’s “ethical foreign policy”.

It looks like that the newly confident Conservatives are abandoning any subtlety and going for a more direct approach.”

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/a-british-defence-minister-acted-as-an-arms-dealer-to-colombia-849

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12 Sep 2016

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Hugo Swire

Hugo Swire and his drain obsession …

First it was Ottery St Mary just before the General election,

image

https://eastdevonwatch.org/2014/09/23/praise-be-hugo-swire-is-going-to-personally-sort-out-otterys-drains/

Now, it’s Exmouth:

“East Devon’s MP has vowed to deal with the issue of flooding in Exmouth during a visit to the town.

Hugo Swire promised residents overgrown vegetation by Bradham Bridge would be removed.

He said: “It was good to meet with a number of residents, local councillor Brian Bailey and two officers from the Environment Agency to discuss this ongoing problem.

“The Environment Agency has confirmed that it will clear the overgrown vegetation upstream of Bradham Bridge and we will see if this leads to an improvement. If it doesn’t, then we will have to revisit this issue.”

http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/east_devon_mp_addresses_flooding_issues_1_4689096

Unfortunately, in Ottery, arrangements had been made long, long before Hugo’s intervention to have drains cleared and it just happened to be around the time of the election – might this be the same in Exmouth with the EA already scheduled to make its call?

Still, it’s always good to know that wherever there is a stink in East Devon we will find him dealing with it.

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12 Sep 2016

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AONB, EDDC, National Planning Policy Framework, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

“Sidford business park: call to ‘fight the details’ “

Just the sort of thing our constituency MP shoyld be fighting for …

“A raft of fresh objections have been lodged by residents and civic leaders against plans for a 9.3-acre business park – with warnings a single building could ‘dwarf everything’ in the Sid Valley.

Town councillors were told they have to ‘fight the details’ as they debated Fords of Sidmouth’s amended plans for the site between Sidford and Sidbury.

Members will urge district chiefs to impose restrictions on the scale of the buildings and call for a cycle path linking Sidbury and Sidford to be built before any other construction work goes ahead.

Planning committee chairman Cllr Ian Barlow told Wednesday’s packed meeting in Sidford: “I’m not defeatist – I’m a realist. We’ve fought this for years and years and years but now it’s in the Local Plan. Now we need to fight the details. If we have to have it, we don’t want buildings more than seven metres high, and we don’t want any bigger than 500 squares metres – we don’t need a huge distribution centre.”

He urged objectors to get their partners and children to write in, too, and send letters to East Devon District Council (EDDC), Fords and landowner Sir John Cave. There are already 153 objections online.

The town council originally opposed the application due to the impact on roads, flooding and the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the lack of demand for the 300 jobs forecast to be created by the business park.

Fords’ amendments include relocating the proposed cycle path further from the A375, and redesigning the flood attenuation ponds to better fit in the environment. It also submitted ‘design codes’ – revealing that buildings would have a maximum height of 15 metres, and no one building would cover more than a quarter of the 5.8-acre southern field or the 3.5-acre northern site.

Critics at Wednesday’s meeting said such a building would ‘dwarf everything’ in the Sid Valley.

Cllr Michael Earthey said: “I said before, it will be a carbuncle on the landscape. Now we know the scale of it.”

Resident Ian Scott, who worked as an architect for 30 years, suggested hope was not lost. He said: “The Department for Transport can overrule the fact it’s in the Local Plan.

“I don’t think we should give up and say it’s inevitable.”

Town clerk Christopher Holland said if councillors did not object to specific details at this stage, the developer was being handed a ‘blank sheet’.

“This is your chance to put some red lines down on what you wish to see and what you wish not to see,” he added.

Members agreed to write to EDDC saying, if the business park does go ahead, the following conditions should be imposed:

● The maximum ridge height of the properties should be seven metres and the eaves should be no higher than five metres. There should also be no flat roofs.

● The cycle track should be built before any development goes ahead.

● The bat habitat should not be disturbed; specifically an ‘ancient’ hedgerow in Laundry Lane.

● Light and noise pollution should be restricted.

● There should be no retail under any circumstances on the site.

● A new traffic management report should be drawn up, and a traffic assessment will be requested.

● No one building should be more than 500 square metres in area.

For advice on commenting on the application, contact the town council on 01395 512424.

http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/sidford_business_park_call_to_fight_the_details_1_4689850