Daily Archives: 21 Feb 2017

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21 Feb 2017

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Accountability, Audit (EDDC), EDDC, Sustainability, Transparency

Audit and Governance – internal audit appears to be not too happy with governance

“… In our sample of capital projects, it was evident in speaking to staff that the Council had not anticipated the level of funding required for the Seaton Workshop project at an early stage, which may suggest that insufficient research was done to review the viability of the project prior to approval of the project/budget.

The Finance Team should consider whether evidence to support capital appraisals should be clearly documented. They should also consider implementing clear guidance on the level of initial assessment which should be required to be undertaken for capital projects if this is not clearly stated on any current policy/guidance. Any approach should be based on the level of risk and funding of the project as it was evident that some capital projects are lower in risk and value than others.

There is a risk that proposed projects are not being subject to the right level of assessment which could increase the likelihood of funding the wrong projects, and could also lead to delays and overspend to individual projects.”

Click to access 020317combinedagagenda.pdf

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21 Feb 2017

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Cranbrook, Developers/ Development, Estate rentcharges

Estate rents – the law

” …Leaseholders are now used to the fact that a landlord or estate manager must consult before incurring charges; that service charges must be reasonable; and any dispute may be referred to the First Tier Tribunal of the Property Chamber for resolution.

Perversely, there is no implied test of reasonableness for estate charges and any dispute or challenge must be referred to the County Court through the small claims court procedure (assuming any estate charge will be under the current £10,000.00 threshold). This means that a freeholder will not be entitled to recover legal cost other than the limited fixed fees available under CPR45.

It seems freeholders on a private estate find themselves in a position of having to pay whatever charge the estate manager decides with little to no room for dispute save for an expensive and time consuming determination by a District Judge in the County Court. Freeholders also have no right to receive accounts or to be provided with information relating to the charges claimed unless express provision is included in the deed of transfer which, in the writer’s experience, is unlikely. As more and more estates are built comprising a mixture of leasehold and freehold homes, it is surly time for the law to be amended in this area with freehold owners granted the same rights and protections as their leasehold counterparts..”

http://www.solegal.co.uk/estate-rent-charges-beware-buying-freehold-homes-private-estates/

You can buy yourself out of these annual charges – for a price:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rentcharges

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21 Feb 2017

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Devolution, Hinkley C, Local Enterprise Partnership

“EDF faces £1m a day bill to keep French nuclear reactor offline”

“The prolonged closure of a major French atomic reactor after an explosion this month probably costs EDF at least £1m a day, according to experts.

The nuclear plant operator, which will spend £18bn building the UK’s first new nuclear power station in a generation, shut unit 1 at its Flamanville plant after a fire broke out in the turbine hall.

The company initially estimated it would switch on the reactor within a week, but later pushed the date to the end of March. Work begins this week on replacing damaged equipment.

The unexpectedly long closure adds to the financial pressure on EDF, which last week reported a 6.7% decline in core earnings to €16.4bn (£14bn) in 2016. Closures of its French nuclear plants last year, partly for safety checks, have already cost the 85% state-owned company an estimated €1.3bn.

Prof Neil C Hyatt, head of nuclear materials chemistry at the University of Sheffield, said the lost revenue from the reactor closure in Normandy could be £1m per day. …

… “It took operator EDF almost a week to progressively correct the original outage estimate from one day to 50 days. EDF has provided no information as to why the outage time went from a few days to seven weeks,” said Mycle Schneider, a nuclear energy consultant based in Paris.

The 1.3GW reactor at Flamanville is one of a dozen of EDF’s French nuclear fleet currently offline, which the company said was usual for this time of the year.

It did not say why the restart date for the reactor had been revised four times, or why it had jumped from a few days to more than six weeks. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/feb/21/edf-faces-1m-a-day-bill-to-keep-french-nuclear-reactor-offline

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21 Feb 2017

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Accountability, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Exmouth, Grenadier, Infrastructure, Philip Skinner, Regeneration, Transparency

“Council questioned about Exmouth seafront application”

“District bosses say they will not begin building on Exmouth seafront if an application is approved, despite saying it would permit them to ‘take forward development’.

East Devon District Council (EDDC) has put in a reserved matters application for Queen’s Drive, seeking detailed permission for facilities. EDDC says this will extend outline permission, and allow consultation, but opponents say it would allow building to begin.

Seeking clarification, the Journal approached EDDC, citing the Government’s Planning Portal website, which says: “When all of the reserved matters have been approved, work may begin.”

In response, a spokesman said: “A planning permission that can be implemented is very important. Therefore, the council has applied for approval of matters which were reserved under the outline planning permission. In other words, reserved matters is permission to take forward development, but the council’s development role is limited in budget and authority to build the new road and car park only. The rest of the site will be delivered later and in full consultation with the public.”

When the Journal asked why the application was needed for the road and car park when reserved matters for these had already been approved, the spokesman said: “Yes, the council has a reserved matters approval already for the road and car park but it is necessary for the council to secure reserved matters for the entire site (phases two and three as well as phase one) before the road and car park can be built. In any event, the council will only start works on moving them when it is sure that [developer] Grenadier has secured planning permission for its watersports centre.

“Reserved matters on the rest of the site also enables Grenadier to take forward their plans to consultation, design and planning.”

In response, Independent EDA district councillor Megan Armstrong, who has previously criticised the plans, said: “Why don’t EDDC simply acknowledge the fact that approval of a reserved matters application is a full permission to build without further planning applications or consultation?

“The Government says ‘When all of the reserved matters have been approved, work may begin on the site’. So why doesn’t the council come clean instead of using back door tactics and obscure wording?

“I also find it most bizarre that the district council should apply for this when it seems that it has no intention of using it. What other planning applicant would do this, and at such huge cost to the council tax payer?”

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21 Feb 2017

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Austerity cuts, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local), Ottery St Mary

Ottery St Mary hospital to lose stroke unit

“Health bosses say the move will benefit patients, who will be able to access more ‘joined-up’ care, 24-hour medical cover and a range of specialist staff.

But it presents a further blow to Ottery’s community-funded hospital – that has hosted eastern Devon’s stroke unit on a temporary basis since November 2014 – following the decision to cuts all of the town’s inpatient beds in July 2015.

The move back to the RD&E is the final stage in completing recommendations from a 2013 consultation led by Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and the Stroke Association.

RD&E stroke consultant Martin James said: “Moving the stroke rehabilitation unit onto the same site as our acute stroke unit is a key part of plans to improve stroke services for all people in Exeter and eastern Devon.

“The move will see a range of specialists – including nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dieticians, and speech and language therapists – working closely together to provide seamless care for people with stroke. Patients will benefit from greater continuity in care and 24-hour medical cover on site and staff will form part of a bigger specialist team, with increased opportunities to develop skills and gain input from a range of stroke specialists.”

The stroke rehabilitation facility will be transferred to the RD&E’s Yealm Ward and hospital rehabilitation services currently sited there are due to relocate into the community as part of a move towards caring for people in their own homes.

The RD&E NHS Foundation Trust says this is part of efforts to improve outcomes for frail and older people by reducing reliance on inpatient hospital care which, it says, can impact negatively on people’s rehabilitation.

In addition to the new facility on Yealm Ward, stroke patients will continue to benefit from the ‘Early Supported Discharge (ESD)’ initiative across eastern Devon.

This service enables people to return home as soon as possible after a stroke by providing support, specialist care and rehabilitation in patients’ own houses.

The trust says evidence shows that patients who receive ESD spend less time in hospital and can have better outcomes.

Adel Jones, the RD&E’s integration director, said: “These changes will help improve clinical outcomes for our patients and ensure that services are delivered where they are most effective. This means providing the best acute care possible for the critically ill in hospital and helping people who are able to be discharged rehabilitate in their own homes with the right support and interventions.”

http://www.midweekherald.co.uk/news/ottery_st_mary_hospital_to_lose_stroke_unit_1_4897659

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21 Feb 2017

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Cranbrook, Developers/ Development

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Stuck up Cranbrook? Deeds said to ban “work vehicles”

Below in an exchange on the Cranbrook Town Council page regarding a meeting about estate rents due to developers.

Did someone just copy the deeds to houses at Poundbury perchance?

“Is this drop in just for the estate charge or can I bring up the issue that’s cropping up regarding the commercial work vans / cars not being aloud [stet] at all on the Cranbrook estates?

How would any work be done in cranbrook if work vans were not allowed in? How would you police this? You obviously don’t have a works vehicle, but this would never come into consideration as this is a town and not a private estate.

It’s In everyone’s deeds and yes we have a work vehicle and have had letters regarding the work van and it not aloud [stet] on the estate hence why I want to discuss it with the estate management.”

Check your deeds carefully if you live in Cranbrook!