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East Devon WatchPosted on
20 Apr 2017Posted under
Accountability, Austerity cuts, Democracy, General Election, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local), VotingMonthly Archives: April 2017
A tactical voting guide
Council development gain mechanism flawed says RTPI
“The methods used to capture development gain for local communities are inadequate, the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has said.
It has commissioned research to see how the section106 and community infrastructure levy (CIL) regimes compare to alternatives used abroad to capture the uplift in land value resulting from planning permission or public investment on or near a piece of land.
CIL was found ineffective by a working group that reported to ministers in February.
The RTPI’s project will compare the current mechanisms with a simple tariff mechanism and two variants of the impact fee approach used in North America.
Each approach’s ability to raise money, and its attractiveness and ease of implementation will be tested via interviews with planners, planning consultants, lawyers, valuers and developers.
RTPI president Stephen Wilkinson said: “Infrastructure is critical to housing delivery and economic growth. At a time when public finance is squeezed we have to look at new funding models to ensure infrastructure can be built at the speed and scale we need.
“We are missing a trick by not accessing the vast potential of rising land values which currently go directly to landowners. Rising land values are a reasonable place to look for infrastructure funding and international evidence suggests there are fairer, more effective ways of sharing this gain.”
He said the present methods successfully clawed back some uplift but did not allow “local authorities to be proactive by using rising land values to fund land assembly and deliver housing”.
Can we afford to starve education of funding?
“BRITAIN is facing a chronic skills shortage as the country’s teens languish among the worst in the western World at reading and maths.
A devastating new report last night claimed England and Northern Ireland together are rated in the bottom four “of the international class” for literacy and numeracy.
And they’re the UK’s 16 to 24 year-olds are dead last in an OECD classification of 19 countries for computer problem-solving skills.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) slammed ministers past and present for “two decades” of failing the nation’s youth.
And it urged the Government to use a further £2 billion from the Apprenticeship Levy to pay for more skills training.
Lizzie Crowley, CIPD skills adviser, said the country was “sleepwalking into a low-value, low-skills economy”.
She said: “Our report should serve as a real wake-up call for the Government to break with the past past two decades of failed skills policy and set the UK on a new course that delivers the right results for individuals, organisations and the economy as a whole.”
She added: “We can either take the high road as a nation or we can keep doing what we’ve always done and get the same mediocre results.”
The CIPD said it was the first time the OECD had arranged the statistics in this way.”
Young people: time to have your voting voice heard
Too late to register to vote in county elections on 4 May but NOT too late to vote in the general election on 8 June:
A full FAQ guide:
Many young people claimed they did not vote for or against Brexit because “it would make no difference”. Well, it would have done, so don’t make that mistake this time. Your votes could be decisive.
Swire ( slightly) earns his £2,000/month extra for a 57 second You Tube video on his views on Palestine
You would be correct in thinking Palestine is not a Sidmouth suburb nor is it an East Devon village.
And do remember he accompanies British arms manufacturers in their visits around the Middle East.
That’s when he’s not asking questions in Parliament on resuming flights to Egypt’s Sharm el Sheikh diving resort, democracy in balmy Mauritius and far away Venezuela and – just as important – motor cycle noise.
Swire: selling the world to East Devon!
DCC Hustings: Sidford tonight 7 pm
From Save our Sidmouth website:
Who do you want to represent us? Quiz Devon County Council candidates at hustings TONIGHT, 7pm, Sidford Social Hall
All six candidates have been invited to answer the public’s questions at tonight’s hustings, organised by the Sidford-Sidbury Residents’ Group. Don’t miss this chance to assess who will be your best choice.
Jeannie Alderdice (Green)
Ray Davison (Labour)
Stuart Hughes (Conservative)
Lewis Ragbourn (Liberal Democrats)
Marianne Rixson (Independent East Devon Alliance)
Richard Wright (UKIP)
Whatever happens at national level, your vote at the local Devon County (DCC) elections on 4th May will affect your daily life. Sid Valley has experience of this, having being let down by a flawed County Highways report, which initially supported a proposed Business Park site at Sidford. The report was only re-assessed, and the proposal rejected, after massive public pressure inspired by meticulous research from our newly elected District Councillors and the Sid Vale Association (a founder-member of the Save Our Sidmouth, SOS, campaign).
As reported in the Sidmouth Herald (14 April 2017), the date limit for an appeal on the Business Park refusal expired on 27th March 2017. Richard Thurlow, Chair of the Sid Vale Association (SVA) Conservation and Planning Committee , is quoted as saying, “We were all delighted when the application was refused in September last year, but there was always the chance that the decision might be appealed. We can now feel relieved that this ‘Sword of Damocles’ has been lifted. However, the site still exists in the Local Plan as an ’employment site’ and we must still be aware that other proposals might come forward–and we must be prepared to fight them if they do.”
Meanwhile, South West Water began drilling boreholes on the ’employment site’ in January this year. Results of their testing for water quality, apparently relating to a possible new supply for a rapidly expanding Sidmouth, are awaited.
“3 jobs Swire” makes Private Eye
Not quite in his mate George Osborne’s league but getting there …
see:
https://www.hugoswire.org.uk/news/blog-greed-george-osborne
for the more gory details of this story.
Tory expenses scandal MPs in precarious position
“Conservative MPs accused of breaking election spending rules at the last election face the possibility of being prosecuted by the Crown while they are in the middle of fighting their re-election campaigns at this year’s general election.
14 police forces have sent files to the Crown Prosecution Service relating to the Tory 2015 ‘battle bus’ scheme, which it has been alleged led to Tory candidates breaking strict spending limits on elections.
The CPS is currently reviewing the evidence and considering whether to charge the MPs with breaking the election spending limits, which are put in place to prevent those with wealthy backers from gaining an unfair advantage during general elections.
A spokesperson for the CPS confirmed to The Independent on Tuesday evening that any charges would have to be made before the date of the general election, which Theresa May wants to hold on 8 June subject to a vote in Parliament tomorrow.
This means the CPS’s announcement must by law fall while the MPs are campaigning for re-election, before 8 June.
No charges have yet been made against any MP. All 14 police forces who sent files to the CPS last year applied for a 12 month extension to the prosecution deadline, which would have otherwise elapsed last summer.
Channel 4 News reported on Tuesday evening that the CPS is considering prosecution against over 30 individuals with regards to 2015 election expenses.
As a result, a decision has to be made by the CPS by late May or early June, meaning that any charges will land during at least the long election campaign period, and possibly even the short campaign.
Police forces who have sent files to the CPS relating to the spending allegations include Avon & Somerset, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon & Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Lincolnshire, the Metropolitan, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and West Yorkshire.
Two dozen Conservatives are understood to be under investigation over claims that they did not include battle bus spending in their local campaign returns. The Electoral Commission is also investigating the allegations in parallel to the police.
The allegations centre on whether spending on hotels for visiting activists and certain campaign material was incorrectly registered as national spending rather than locally – potentially illegitimately taking advantage of a higher spending ceiling.
A Conservative spokesman said: “We are cooperating with the ongoing investigations.”
There have been suggestions that other parties may have failed to register similar spending in their local areas too.
In theory election results in individual seats could be declared invalid if laws are found to have been broken, though this is not an automatic process.
In recent weeks some Conservative MPs have hit out at party officials who they say have dodged blame for the fiasco at the expense of MPs’ reputation.
“There’s going to be a general election, so let’s talk about the Tory MPs still under investigation for election fraud”
“Theresa May has announced a snap election on 8 June 2017. But as the country prepares for another election campaign, it’s important to remember that MPs in her party are being investigated for election fraud for the 2015 general election. And given the mainstream media’s reluctance to report the issue, we need to ensure it is kept firmly on the agenda.
Allegations of fraud
12 police forces have submitted files to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) over allegations that up to 20 MPs and/or their agents broke election spending limits in the 2015 election. The CPS is deciding whether charges should be brought. And a decision is expected soon – and is likely to come during the election campaign.
The allegations centre around the ‘battle bus’ campaign, and associated expenses such as hotel rooms. Many argue that the campaign promoted prospective local MPs in key seats. Under election law, any expenditure which promotes a local candidate should be covered locally. But the ‘battle bus’ and associated costs were declared nationally. Each constituency has a fixed amount of money it can spend locally. And including the ‘battle bus’ expenditure would have meant many candidates overspent.
Additionally, the Election Commission fined the Conservatives £70,000 for multiple breaches in connection to election spending during the 2015 campaign.
And there’s more
But it isn’t just the “battle bus” campaigns where the Conservatives have been accused of fraud. As The Canary previously reported, there are questions over how the party used social media and, particularly, Facebook, to target voters.
And a report by the London School of Economics has also warned [pdf] that Facebook targeting opens the door to electoral fraud:
The ability to target specific people within a particular geographic area gives parties the opportunity to focus their attention on marginal voters within marginal constituencies. This means, in practice, that parties can direct significant effort – and therefore spending – at a small number of crucial seats. Yet, though the social media spending may be targeted directly at those constituencies, and at particular voters within those constituencies, the spending can currently be defined as national, for which limits are set far higher than for constituency spending.
Implications
Theresa May might think she is avoiding difficult byelections if charges are brought in any of the constituencies. But she is equally taking a huge risk. There is a possibility that she will be running an election campaign while MPs are facing fraud charges. And then there’s the question of whether those MPs and their agents will run in this election.
Either way, the British public get to choose whether they want to vote for a party being investigated for fraud; and a party that’s already been fined £70,000 for election expenses breaches. But in order to do so, it is essential we do not allow the issue to be swept under the table.”
Is Brexit your only concern in East Devon for the next General Election?
If so, Tories or UKIP will undoubtedly satisfy you.
However, if you are equally (or more) concerned about the underfunding of the NHS, school, adult social care and child services, non-existent affordable housing, then that will not be the party for you.
Think carefully. Brexit will go ahead however you vote, underfunding of local services (and the constant financing of vanity projects) will continue if you vote Conservative and they form a majority government.
What to do if you value local services and an MP who will (a) be here and (b) fight these cuts is: in a safe or marginal seat which a Conservative might win – vote for whoever is most likely to come second, except UKIP, whose local policies veer between the very vague and the crazy – in Somerset a UKIP county candidate believes all problems in the NHS are caused by having too many women doctors and he has not been contradicted or thrown out by their national party.
In East Devon this is certainly local Independent Claire Wright ( presuming she stands again); in Honiton and Tiverton it is, perhaps surprisingly, Labour, though much depends on who else stands there in June.
You really do have one chance this year to make local issues count.
Should MPs have their main home in their constituencies?
We are in the difficult situation in that neither of our MPs – Swire and Parish – have homes in the constituencies they represent. Swire has his second home in Mid-Devon and Parish has his farm in Somerset.
We must assume that Swire’s main home is in London, as he travels widely for his extra jobs and his wife works for him at the Houses of Parliament where he pays her a salary of £35,000 (Parish also employs his wife to work for him there as a “junior secretary” on around £20,000).
Can an MP truly understand the needs of his or her constituency if he or she does not live there?
Should living in the constituency be a requirement of the job (though Swire says it isn’t a job, making it sound in his case as more of a hobby)?
Should the home in the constituency be automatically assessed for their expenses as their main home? This would mean that MPs would be more likely to rent in London – which would not only give them a better appreciation of the cost of living in the city but might also make it more likely that they would spend more time in their constituencies.
Should they have to put in minimum hours IN their constituencies? NOT having half a dozen quick photo opportunities on Fridays when Parliament doesn’t sit and they get away early for their weekend breaks.
Should they have to attend a minimum number of surgeries per month/year to qualify for their salaries and jobs?
Should they have zero-hours contracts? No work for the constituency, no MPs pay?
Of course, if we had a truly local MP such as Claire Wright – born, raised and living in the constituency, steeped in the day to day concerns such as local hospitals, education and social care and with a daughter at school here – it wouldn’t be such a problem.
Swire gets £5000 per month from “other earnings” including £3000/month for 8 hours work being an adviser to a French photo booth manufacturer
“Swire, Sir Hugo (East Devon)
1. Employment and earnings
From 9 November 2016, Adviser to KIS France, a manufacturer of photo booths and mini labs. Address: 7 Rue Jean Pierre Timbaud, 38130 Echirolles, France. I expect to be paid £3,000 every month until further notice. Hours: 8 hrs per month. I consulted ACoBA about this appointment. (Registered 16 November 2016)
From 15 November 2016, Deputy Chairman of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council. Address: Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HX. I expect to be paid £2,000 every month until further notice. Hours: 10 hrs per month. I consulted ACoBA about this appointment. (Registered 16 November 2016)
4. Visits outside the UK
Name of donor: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Bahrain Address of donor: P.O. Box 547, Government Road, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
Estimate of the probable value (or amount of any donation): Flights, accommodation, food and transport with a total value of £3,550 Destination of visit: Bahrain
Dates of visit: 8-12 December 2016
Purpose of visit: Attendance at the IISS Manama Dialogue
(Registered 23 December 2016)
Name of donor: (1) Professor Magdy Ishak; (2) Egyptian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs
Address of donor: (1) private; (2) Nile Corniche, Boulaq, Cairo Governate, Egypt
Estimate of the probable value (or amount of any donation): (1) Flights to a value of £1,386; (2) accommodation, food and transport to a value of £596
Destination of visit: Egypt
Dates of visit: 16-20 March 2017
Purpose of visit: Parliamentary fact finding.
(Registered 03 April 2017)”
page 406
“Tesco to save £105m in business rates after property revaluation”
“Tesco will see the business rates bill for its biggest stores fall by £105m over the next five years, highlighting another anomaly created by the controversial tax.
Earlier this year, the government came under pressure to take action on business rates after a revaluation of property in Britain hit independent shopkeepers hard in parts of the country where property prices had surged.
In Southwold, the coastal town’s property boom forced rateable values up by 152%, with some shop owner’s saying the hike threatened the viability of their business. Meanwhile, it emerged that online retailers such as Amazon, Shop Direct and Asos were enjoying tax cuts after the bills for their distribution centres declined.
MPs on the communities and local government committee will question the communities secretary, Sajid Javid, about the revaluation on Wednesday. Javid has already promised to “level the playing field” between online retailers and high street shops, and the committee chairman, Clive Betts, said he would press for a timetable for a review.
“There is a fundamental problem in the way valuations for business rates are done and that needs to be looked at,” said Betts. “High street shops seem to pay more than a similar unit out-of-town. That doesn’t feel right when there is a public and political view that high streets need some form of protection. There’s also an imbalance between property-based businesses and online sellers”
The Tesco store analysis by the business rates specialists CVS calculated that the bill for its largest stores in England and Wales would fall by £13m this year alone, from £450m to £437m.
“Over the next five years, allowing for transitional relief which limits how quickly bills can rise and fall … CVS projects Tesco will save £105.32m in rates under the revaluation for its largest stores,” said its chief executive, Mark Rigby. “In comparison, across England and Wales small shops have seen their rateable values, used to determine bills, increase by 8.5% whilst pubs have seen a 14.36% hike.
Tesco has 3,400 UK stores. The CVS figures is based on official data on its 563 largest shops, which are classed as superstores. The analysis estimates that the supermarket’s rateable value has fallen by 8.6% to £825.78m compared with 2010. It follows a 2015 writedown of the value Tesco’s property portfolio by £4.7bn.
Tesco said the 2017 revaluation would not alter its status as one of the UK’s largest ratepayers and called for urgent reform of the system, which many business leaders agree is not fit for purpose.
“Tesco is one of the UK’s largest ratepayers, paying almost £700m in rates in 2016-2017, and the 2017 revaluation will not alter that trend,” said a spokesman. “Tesco has a significant physical presence across high streets and town centres, and fixed costs such as business rates are placing huge pressure on our operations. The current rates system is unsustainable and needs urgent reform.”
Every flat in new London estate ‘has been sold to foreign investors”
“Controversially sold off by Southwark Council, the estate once homed 3000 people before being knocked down in 2011.
Now part of the regenerated estate, South Gardens in Elephant Park is said to have sold 51 properties all to overseas investors.
The company developing it, Lend Lease, began selling their properties abroad in Singapore before a single flat was available to British buyers.
…
Southwark Council spent £44m clearing people from the estate and will be given just £50m from Lend Lease.
It had been valued at more than £100m that figure.
It was revealed that just 82 of the new flats would be sold at an affordable rate, with the average value £790,000 to £1,500,000.
Every flat in new London estate ‘has been sold to foreign investors’
“The big NHS sell-off”
“A ‘business-case’ for the NHS has now been set, and its the biggest NHS Sell-Off event Ever!
If anyone is in any doubt as to the sheer scale of the privatisation of our NHS, look no further than the Health and Care Conference announced for June.
The conference 28-29 June 2017 at ExCeL London, brings together all STP leads, health trust and CCG chief executives and other delegates from the private sector claims the event is” Europe’s largest integrated health and social care event, building relationships between commissioners, providers and suppliers”.
Their brochure states “IT’S THE ONLY PLATFORM FOR BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN COMMISSIONERS, PROVIDERS AND SUPPLIERS. IT’S ALSO THE LARGEST GATHERING OF STP LEADERS EVER ASSEMBLED. AND LET’S FACE IT, AS THEY’LL BE LOOKING FOR YOU AT HEALTH AND CARE, CAN YOU AFFORD TO NOT SEE 5,500 CUSTOMERS YOU HAVEN’T MET YET.
The objective of the expo conference is to accelerate ‘Transformation’ of the NHS by introducing delegates to hundreds of private healthcare sector companies along with other STP leads.
To anyone wishing to retain a universal healthcare system, the Health and Care conference is a shameful collection of people openly betraying the principles of the NHS. Such events would have been taboo 20 years ago, but now the SALE OF OUR NHS is openly broadcast and in public. There’s even a ‘transformation’ awards event for those who so far have managed to cut NHS services and transform them in line with private healthcare sector values.
It’s a no holds barred event with Labour and Lib Dem politicians thrown in for good measure…
Here’s a brief list of those hosting some of the events with many sessions openly ‘sponsored’ by private companies..
Opening and Welcome to Health+Care 2017
Chair: Dame Ruth Carnall,
Managing Partner, Carnall Farar Ltd [and lead officer for Devon CCG]
Cross-Party Debate: NHS and Social Care Funding – is it time to ask the public?
Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour Shadow Secretary of State for Health
And another Labour Peer…
■ Delivering the £5bn operational productivity challenge
Patrick Carter, Lord Carter of Coles, founded Westminster Health Care Ltd in1985 which he built into a leading health care provider which he sold in 1999. The Labour peer is a private investor and director of public and private companies in the fields of insurance, healthcare and information technology.
Local Authority Trading Company – The benefits and opportunities and challenges
Alison Waller, Managing Director, Tricuro Limited
■ Improving quality with creative leadership
Chris Gage, Managing Director, Ladder to the Moon
Dr Al Mulley, Managing Director for Global HealthCare Delivery Science, The Dartmouth Institute
Dr Rupert Dunbar-Rees, Founder and CEO, Outcomes Based Healthcare [research company]
Antony Tiernan, Director of Engagement and Communication, New Care Models Programme – Five Year Forward View
James Sanderson, Director of Personalisation and Choice, NHS England
Sir Bruce Keogh, Medical Director, NHS England
Professor Matthew Cripps, National Director, NHS RightCare
Jacob West, National Care Model Lead – Acute Care Collaboration and Primary and Acute Care
Systems (PACS), New Care Models Programme
The Rt Hon Stephen Dorrell, Chair, NHS Confederation and former Secretary of State for Health
Matthew Swindells, National Director: Operations and Information, NHS England
GP Regulation: Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of General Practice, CQC
Challenges facing the NHS provider sector: Chris Hopson, Chief Executive, NHS Providers
Dominique Kent, Chief Operating Officer, The Good Care Group Ltd”
http://mavericksunite.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/the-biggest-nhs-sell-off-event-ever.html
East Devon MP Parish promises to fight for Cumbria’s food and drink
So now BOTH our MPs are constantly out of our constituency: one (Swire) swanning around the Middle East and one (Parish) desperately crossing the country trying to reassure farmers all will be well post-Brexit. Oh, and he also lives outside the constituency – just like Swire. Oh, lucky East Devon.
“A HIGH-ranking government official heard just vital farming and the food and drinks industry were to the county’s economy.
And a pledge that Cumbria’s twin breadwinners would not be left behind post-Brexit was made to a round-table discussion in Carlisle involving local farmers and members of the agri-business industry.
As chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) select committee, Neil Parish said he would now be fighting tooth and nail to get the best possible settlement for Cumbria’s and Britain’s agricultural and food and drink industries in the Brexit negotiations.
The meeting, held in the Boardroom at Harrison & Hetherington’s Borderway Mart, Rosehill, was instigated by Carlisle MP, John Stevenson.
Afterwards, Mr Parish said the EU was a vital market for British agriculture and food and drink exports.
And, he added, farming was the bedroom (SIC!) of the UK’s food and drink industry, worth £108 billion to the economy and providing jobs for 3.9 million people.
Woodbury: if you don’t want Greendale in your backyard – act NOW
Residents of Woodbury – if you don’t want Greendale Business Park in your back gardens – act NOW!
Here is the necessary information for action:
Woodbury Salterton Residents Association
This reference needs to be attached to all correspondence
APP/01105/C/16/3165341
Representations must be received by 2 May
“At the same time as residents have been asked to comment on an “Employment Zone Boundary” at Greendale Business Park, an “Enforcement Appeal” has been submitted by the owners of Greendale regarding a requirement to remove approximately 3.5Ha of industrial development which have been built without planning permission over the last 2 years.
The Woodbury Salterton Residents Association support East Devon District Council serving a breach of Planning Control. Therefore the Association are asking all Residents to respond to the Planning Inspector by 2nd May.
The details of the appeal are:
Planning Consultation Appeal
Appeal by FWS Carter and Sons
Greendale Business Park Woodbury Salterton EX5 1EW
The appeal arises from the serving of an Enforcement Notice in respect of the unauthorised development which has taken place on the land on the Eastern Boundary at Greendale Business Park.
The breach of planning control
Without planning permission, the construction of four compounds, by the levelling of the land, the laying of hard surfaces using concrete and scalping, enclosing with security fencing, gates, cctv cameras and lighting. The construction of two buildings and the associated use of the land to store a portacabin type temporary building, cubicle, shipping containers, mobile park homes, caravans and other associated items.
The Council considered it expedient to issue the Notice having regard to the provisions of the Development Plan and to other material planning considerations.
Reasons for issuing the Notice
It appears to the Council that the above breach of planning control has occurred within the last four years.
The development, by virtue of its scale and extension beyond the built form of Greendale Business Park and outside of any recognised development boundary, is within the open countryside where new development is strictly controlled. The development represents a sprawling development in the countryside in conflict with the special approach to accommodate industrial development within defined settlements as identified within the Local Plan.
The development also has the potential to impact on the amenity of occupiers of nearby dwellings by virtue of noise and potentially light pollution and potential unacceptable visual impact on the landscape.
The proposal is therefore contrary to the provisions of Strategy 7 (Development in the Countryside), Policy E4 (Rural Diversification), Policy E5 (Small Scale Economic Development in Rural Areas), Policy E7 (Extensions to Existing Employment Sites), Policy D1(Design and Local Distinctiveness), Policy EN14 (Control of Pollution), Policy D2 (Landscape Requirements) and Policy D3 (Trees on Development Sites) of the adopted East Devon Local Plan and guidance within the National Planning Policy Framework.
The requirements of the Notice are to –
1. Permanently remove from the land the concrete hardstanding, foundations and associated drainage works from the compounds 39, 48A and 47
2. Permanently cease the use of the land as compounds and for use of storage of mobile park homes, caravans, shipping containers, portacabin type buildings and storage of associated items.
3. Permanently remove from the land all fencing from the perimeters of and within compounds 39, 48A, 47 and 11.
4. Permanently remove from the land all gates from the perimeters of and within compounds 39, 48A, 47 and 11.
5. Permanently remove from the land all CCTV cameras and supporting ancillary equipment from within compounds 39, 48A, 47 and 11.
6. Permanently remove from the land all light fittings and cabling from compounds 39, 48A, 47 and 11.
7. Permanently remove from the land the two permanent buildings sited within compound 39.
8. Permanently remove from the temporary buildings including the shipping containers.
9. Permanently remove from the land the cubicle.
10. Permanently remove from the land the mobile Park Homes, caravans and associated items.
11 Replace the topsoil in compounds 39, 48A and 47 to a depth of 20cm and reseed with an agricultural grass mix which shall be retained and maintained in perpetuity.
12 Permanently remove to an authorised place of disposal, all materials associated with compliance with steps 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10.
The time for compliance is within six months of the Notice taking effect.
The appellant grounds of appeal.
(a) That planning permission should be granted for what is alleged in the notice, and;
(f) The steps required to comply with the requirements of the notice are excessive and lesser steps would overcome the objection.
Important
There are 2 Consultations ongoing at present at Greendale Business Park.
1. Consultation on a definitive Employment Boundary.
2. Planning Appeal consultation regarding a removal of an enforcement
If you wish to make comments in respect of the appeal, you can do so on
the Planning Portal at https://acp.planninginspectorate.gov.uk or by
emailing teame1@pins.gsi.gov.uk .
Or send three copies to
The Planning Inspectorate Room 3E. Temple Quay
House 2. The Square. Bristol BS1 6PN”
Councils as developers
Extracts from two letters in the Business supplement of The Sunday Times:
“… councillors think they know the property market but they don’t have a clue. They now plan to build a new Town Hall (in Tunbridge Wells]. This is an enormous ‘folie de grandeur’ that will leave taxpayers on the hook.
Tunbridge Wells has a town hall, but it has been allowed to fall into disrepair. Was this part of the plan?”
and
“… in Dover, the town clerk and the mayor have set up a charitable company, LoveDover Regeneration, using £350,000 of taxpayers’ money for property development.
Although it is a charitable company, under normal rules this means the directors own the company, hence the company owns any property it buys, not the council. Further, the £350,000 is equal to almost 50% of Dover Town Council’s annual income.
The money has been justified as it comes from the reserves, but surely the idea of passing large sums of money to a body over which Dover Town Council has no control, for property development or any other use, is not acceptable.”
Knowle: magic bean or white elephant?
The big question is ‘what is the chance of Pegasus winning an appeal?’
Probably not that great:
The application is for more than a hundred units when the Local Plan allocation is for fifty.
The application does not include any affordable.
The application is opposed by Sidmouth Town Council and a large and vociferous group of local residents.
Most importantly, the Planning Consultants at the time of the provisional sale to Pegasus foresaw that the application would be refused. So did the Planning Team, who miraculously changed their minds when the application came forward. Both EDDC and Pegasus were warned in advance that the Development Management Committee could not approve the application. Remember: this information came into the public domain as a result of the successful Freedom of Information request.
If the application goes to inquiry, as seems likely, then we, and EDDC, will have to wait for 24 months with little confidence that the appeal will be successful.
Then comes the situation of ‘what happens next?’ Well, we know the answer because Grant Thornton have helpfully predicted four scenarios, all of which will lead to receipts well below the price currently agreed with Pegasus.
The whole process would have to begin again, against a backdrop of a planning appeal refusal. New tender, new negotiation, new design, new application, and perhaps even another refusal.
Eventually an application will succeed, and a sale result, but we could easily be four years down the road, and at a substantially reduced price in possibly a very different property market.
MP, want to conceal your financial (and other) affairs? Keep your dirty linen in Parliament!
An interesting remark in an article about millionaire former Cabinet Minister Cecil Parkinson (a favourite of Mrs Thatcher) where his former secretary and lover bemoans the financial plight of her disabled daughter, his acknowledged child, who was given minimal support during his lifetime:
“Cecil spent much of his time setting up offshore funds in the Bahamas and elsewhere,’ she says ‘He used to keep all relevant papers in the House of Commons as the Inland Revenue couldn’t raid it because it is considered a Royal Palace.”
Wonder how many current MPs (so many, many of whom are millionaires) have their dirty linen stored in their filing cabinets in Parliament?
East Devon Watch 