Daily Archives: 14 Dec 2016

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14 Dec 2016

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AONB, Hugo Swire, Neil Parish

My constituency is better than your constituency?

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Is it just Owl’s cynical nature or does this sound rather an unpleasant comment?And totally untrue – see Swire’s recent blog post:

Wednesday, 21 September, 2016
East Devon MP Sir Hugo Swire has called for the stretch of the A303/A30 between Honiton and Ilminster to become fully dualled.

In their South West Manifesto, the Conservatives pledged to invest £2 billion in the A303 meaning that much of the road is due to become dualled.

However, under current plans the stretch from Honiton to Ilminster is to be replaced with a three lane road.

The three possible route options are currently under public consultation.

Commenting, Sir Hugo Swire said:

‘Admittedly the stretch of the A30 which runs through my constituency is already fully dualled. However, my constituents use the Honiton to Ilminster stretch of the A303/A30 as much as anyone else and that is the basis of my interest.

‘I welcome the fact that a brand new road is now due to be constructed between Honiton and Ilminster instead of the original proposal to simply carry out minor improvements to the current carriageway. This road is already due to consist of three lanes and I would question whether adding an extra lane would have anything other than a very minor effect both in terms of financial cost and environmental impact.

‘I am not convinced that insufficient traffic along this stretch is a reason not to go for full dualling. If traffic numbers are low then this might be down to the fact that the road is clearly inadequate.

‘The bottom line is that our transport infrastructure in the South West has historically suffered from underinvestment and it is about time this changed. Our local economy, and especially our tourism industry, needs a modern and efficient road network.

‘This has been a political football for too long. We need to bite the bullet and deliver a first class solution rather than a second rate compromise’.

https://www.hugoswire.org.uk/news/swire-bite-bullet-and-dual-a303

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14 Dec 2016

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Accountability, Corruption, Hinkley C, Local Enterprise Partnership

USA and China now concerned about safety of French components in their nuclear plants

The company’s defence apoears to be that they stopped falsifying records in 2012 so Hinkley C will be OK!

“Inspectors from the U.S. and other countries are investigating a decades long coverup of manufacturing problems at a key supplier to the nuclear power industry, probing whether flaws introduced in a French factory represent a safety threat to reactors world-wide.

Inspectors from the U.S., China and four other nations visited Areva SA’s Le Creusot Forge in central France earlier this month to examine the plant’s quality controls and comb through its internal records.

A string of discoveries triggered the newly expanded review: First, French investigators said they found steel components made at Le Creusot and used in nuclear-power plants across France had excess carbon levels, making them more vulnerable to rupture. Then, the investigators discovered files suggesting Le Creusot employees for decades had concealed manufacturing problems involving hundreds of components sold to customers around the world.

The disclosure of flaws covered up by Le Creusot led to two reactor shutdowns this summer in France, and in September authorities ordered Areva to check 6,000 manufacturing files by hand, covering every nuclear part made at Le Creusot since the 1960s.

“I’m concerned that there keep being more and more problems unveiled,” said Kerri Kavanagh, who leads the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s unit inspecting Le Creusot. Regulators are considering returning to Le Creusot or inspecting Areva’s Lynchburg, Va., offices to deepen their probe of the plant, a U.S. official said.

On Wednesday, Paris prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into whether Le Creusot’s activities were fraudulent and dangerous, according to a spokeswoman for prosecutors.

“What we see now at Le Creusot is clearly unacceptable,” said Julien Collet, assistant general manager at France’s Nuclear Safety Authority.

Areva executives have acknowledged the records falsifications and blamed them on a breakdown of manufacturing controls spanning many decades at Le Creusot. Areva has since tightened its controls and is cooperating with the regulators’ reviews, company officials said. …

… EDF said initial tests of its Fessenheim reactor showed it is safe to operate even with the flawed steel on the steam generator. The French nuclear regulator is examining the issue, a process that officials said would take months.

Last week’s inspection has turned up a concern with one of Areva’s next-generation reactors, the European Pressurized Reactor under construction in Finland, versions of which are also planned for plants in China, France and the U.K.

Of the nine plants in the U.S. with parts from Le Creusot, at least one has a component with documentation problems, according to the NRC. Areva informed its owner, Dominion Resources Inc., that a manufacturing problem wasn’t detailed in final documents given to Dominion for its Millstone plant in Connecticut. Areva and Dominion say the discrepancy isn’t a threat to the safety of the Millstone reactor.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/problems-at-nuclear-components-supplier-spark-global-reviews-1481625005

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14 Dec 2016

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Accountability, Devolution, Golden Triangle LEP, Local Enterprise Partnership, Scrutiny, Transparency

Reader comment on “Golden Triangle” devolution bid

A reader comment on a Western Morning News article that Exeter, Plymouth and Torbay are talking (in secret) about setting up their own Local Enterprise Partnership”:

“Even though we seem to be dragging ourselves free of the EU, we still seem to be stuck with the EU’s ‘regional’ policies – as imposed by John Prescott with his Regional Assemblies and Regional Development Agencies.

The EU were insistent that our cities should be the economic drivers for regions, and that we should have figureheads – regional Metro Mayors.

The objective is always the same – rather than decentralising power to regions, whole parcels of cities, rural towns, and villages become subject to one imposed rule, with little real democratic accountability; the bigger the authority, the less accountability at local level.

Our council apparatchiks will jump at the chance to build their empires, puff up their importance, and vastly improve their bank balances while they are at it. Out of sight, out of mind – the manufacturers of brown envelopes will be rubbing their hands in anticipation.

As with Police and Crime Commissioners, there will not be any enthusiasm for these positions; hardly anybody will vote; they will be politically tribal and not representative; and they will be distant from ‘the people’. As a result, they will be hugely disliked and distrusted. No change there then.”

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/plymouth-defends-secret-talks-over-super-mayor/story-29977395-detail/story.html

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14 Dec 2016

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AONB, Developers/ Development, Housing (local), Local Plan, Neighbourhood Plans, Villages BUAB

Important case law on village development and exception sites

Parish council wins High Court planning battle over village needs

East Bergholt Parish Council has won a case against Babergh District Council that it said would affect two more planning applications in the district and potentially other rural areas.

The parish argued in a judicial review at the High Court that Babergh’s decision to allow 10 homes to be built was flawed as it did not take account of the village’s needs as set out in the local plan.

David Bowman, a senior associate at law firm Royds Withy King, which acted for East Bergholt, said: “The judge decided that Babergh had made a number of material legal errors, including misrepresenting to councillors what ‘local housing needs’ means in the context of the local plan.”

Bowman said the court also agreed with East Bergholt’s interpretation that the needs of the local area differed from those of the wider district, and that Babergh had incorrectly conducted an exercise to decide whether development on land within the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty had an exceptional reason to overrule the ordinary prohibition on development.

The area is associated with the work of the artist John Constable.

A separate decision by Babergh to allow 144 homes on another site in East Bergholt is being reconsidered and a further development of 75 homes on a third site is also affected by the ruling, Bowman said.

He said the ruling was “a major setback” for what the parish believes is Babergh’s financial dependence on the New Homes Bonus.

A Babergh statement said the council would “consider the judgment of the High Court carefully before making any further comment about the consequences of the court’s decision, or the future consideration of this planning application”.

http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29419%3Aparish-council-wins-high-court-planning-battle-over-village-needs&catid=63&Itemid=31

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14 Dec 2016

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Accountability, Midweek Herald

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Midweek Herald defends right to free press in full page ad

Complaining about new rules on [curtailing] press freedom, the Midweek Herald takes out a whole page ad to defend it.

A quote from the ad:

““For generations the Midweek Herald and other newspapers have fulfilled a crucial role by challenging injustice, safe in the knowledge that if we are right then no amount of money, influence or power can stop us telling the truth”

Can anyone recall the last time that the Midweek Herald stood up for injustice? When was the last time a local Archant newspaper used the Freedom of Information Act to reveal an injustice or bending of facts?

The Archant Group, of which the Midweek Herald is part, gets 90% of EDDC’s advertising budget. Advertising is how newspapers make their money and everyone is naturally wary of biting hands that feed them.

However, usually it is the two other local newspapers, that get very little EDDC revenue (“View from” titles and “Express and Echo”) that break controversial news or make a stand on injustices – or name the names of powerful people getting up to no good.

ALL local newspapers these days are somewhat guilty of passing off press releases from regular contributors as news. It is usually quite clear to see when this happens, as only the slightest bit of tweaking is done to them and you can put the local newspapers side by side and see that the same hand wrote 90% of the words. Or sometimes they are not even tweaked at all and the same identical prose is used.

That isn’t all bad – news about local clubs, societies, churches etc is welcome.

But if an organisation employs people whose job title includes the word “journalist” then we expect the news BEHIND the headlines, which is often very, very different to the “news” in a press release.

Any organisation that employs a “Communications Manager” or a “Press Officer” does so to micro-manage the information leaving that organisation and avoid negative press – that’s their job.

A good journalist might need to sup with the devil but does not have to give free publicity to the devil’s favourite drink.