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“Charity shops: bringing in the cash, but bringing down the high street?”

The article praises the work that charities and their volunteers do, but also addresses the perception that they influence feelings of the decline of towns as they proliferate in High Streets:

“Most members of the public associate charity shops with high street decline, and 50% think a “healthy” high street should contain fewer charity shops.

These stark findings come from a report by thinktank Demos, updating its 2013 report on charity shops, both commissioned by the Charity Retail Association. Four years on, Demos says charity shops continue to be a lifeline for struggling town centres.

“Charity shops continue to perform a vital function in filling otherwise vacant properties in ailing high streets, with two-thirds of managers saying that their shop fills a space that would otherwise be left empty,” says the report.

But it notes that public opinion about the presence of charity shops on the high street is mixed, with the sector still facing an image problem in being associated with the decline of local high streets. Those surveyed overwhelmingly support charity shops receiving business rate relief, but more than half associate charity shops with high street decline. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2017/sep/11/charity-shops-vital-volunteers-sign-high-street-decline

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Developers/ Development, Environment (local), Transport (local)

“Britain flouting duty to protect citizens from toxic air pollution – UN”

“… “Air pollution continues to plague the UK,” he said. “I am alarmed that despite repeated judicial instruction, the UK government continues to flout its duty to ensure adequate air quality and protect the rights to life and health of its citizens. It has violated its obligations.” …

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/10/uk-flouting-duty-to-cut-air-pollution-deaths-says-un-human-rights-report

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Scrutiny, Sleaze, Transparency

Government cannot account for charity promises totalling nearly £1 billion

“The Conservative government “cannot yet confirm” whether nearly £1bn of money it was supposed to have given to charities has been “spent as intended”. And even worse, £200m of funding, which former prime minister David Cameron promised would go to young people, has seemingly been lost altogether.

Promises, promises

In the wake of the Libor rate rigging scandal, then chancellor George Osborne promised in 2012 that the £973m the banks were fined would “go to the benefit of the public”. And Cameron went further in 2015, saying the money from a specific £227m fine on Deutsche Bank would be used to create 50,000 apprenticeships. He said at the time:

“We’re going to take the fines from the banks who tried to rig markets – and we’re going to use it to train young people and get them off the dole and into work.”

But now, the National Audit Office (NAO), which is responsible for checking how the government spends public money, has investigated the £973m fund. And it found a catalogue of errors, mismanagement and lax behaviour by the Tories.

Dodgy dealings

The NAO found that:

The government is “is unable to demonstrate” if it actually spent £200m on 50,000 apprenticeships.
It gave £196m to groups, without any “terms and conditions” on how they should spend it.
The government “cannot yet confirm that charities spent all grants as intended”.
It has not evaluated whether the money actually benefitted the public, or not.
Some of the money went directly into an internal Ministry of Defence project.

Missing millions

The office said, specifically in relation to the apprenticeships, that:

although the money was used to fund apprenticeships in general, the government did not report any increase in its already announced 3 million target. The Department for Education, now responsible for apprenticeships, was not directed to use the £200 million to pursue a specific policy to deliver apprenticeships for unemployed 22-24 year olds and cannot demonstrate whether 50,000 new apprenticeships for this group have been provided.

But what is most revealing is just which charities the government gave £973m to.

The NAO said that:

The majority of this money has gone towards Armed Forces and Emergency Services charities. The Treasury and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have distributed £592 million of the fund to a range of different causes.

Tories: cutting to the bone

Meanwhile, since 2010, the Tories have:

Cut defence spending to 5% of all public spending.
Left around 7,000 ex-military personnel homeless in the UK.
Presided over more service personnel taking their own lives than actually dying in battle.
And, also since 2010:
The NHS has seen a real terms cut in the amount of money given to it per patient.
The government has cut the number of people getting social care by 26%. And it has cut the equivalent of almost £50m from children’s mental health services.
20,000 police officers have lost their jobs and £2.3bn has been cut from police budgets.
10,000 firefighters have lost their jobs and budgets have been cut by a third.

As sneaky as sneaky can be

So, essentially, the government has used the £973m from the bank’s fines to paper over the cracks created by their austerity, via charities. And as The Canary reported only this week, the blowback from austerity is beginning to severely show, with the police dealing with more cases of mental health issues than ever before. We knew that Cameron couldn’t be trusted with the public purse. And now we know that the Tories will use it to try and cover their disastrous tracks, too.”

https://www.thecanary.co/2017/09/08/tories-just-lost-1bn-charity-money-back-sofa/

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DCC transport supremo Stuart Hughes on the spot next week

“On Monday Devon Live launches a series of special reports into the county’s congestion problems and the impact that pollution is having on people’s lives.

Gridlocked Devon will look at some of the major challenges caused by congestion across the county and find out what is being done to encourage people to use other modes of transport. …

Investigations throughout the week will reveal the attitude of local authorities to sustainable travel and highlight some of Devon’s pollution hotspots.

Gridlocked Devon will culminate on Friday with a Facebook Live debate tackling some of the major travel problems facing the county.

To submit a question email

newsdesk@devonlive.com

http://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/gridlocked-devon-problems-facing-devons-454209

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Democracy, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local), Privatisation

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What Swire’s mate Heffer thinks of local authorities

Just before the last general election, Swire made one of his very rare appearances at what he called a “hustings” in Exmouth. Except no other parties were invited to participate and his one guest was Telegraph journalist Simon Heffer.

In today’s Sunday Telegraph Heffer calls for privatisation of everything that currently makes any semblance of profit, or which might make profits in future, and hiving off the loss-making tasks to unitary authorities or, in our case, the unelected, unaccountable and opaque business-run Local Enterprise Partnership.

Oh to be a fly on the wall when Swire and Heffer have their fireside chats …

He says:

“… There is too much local government. Pointy-headed theorists have banged on about localism, but all that is missing is evidence that “local” people are either capable or motivated enough to deliver “local” services. The best way to deliver “localism” is to take councils out of the equation altogether, as has been done in many cases by removing schools from their control. …

But local government will not work well until it is stripped of duties that individuals or the private sector can provide for themselves: which brings us back to social care … the government must … develop an insurance scheme that will encourage private providers to take over what threatens to become a crippling state responsibility …”

Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Comment, page 16

Unfortunately Mr Heffer neglects to explain how private providers, with shareholders mouths to feed, will be able to do it more cheaply.

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EDDC, Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton, Tourism, Transport (local)

BBC national news takes up story of tourist bus pulling out of Seaton and Colyton due to elderly residents objecting to it

Since when was an EDDC coach park, where EDDC receives the revenue and the land is owned by EDDC, a town council problem?

“An open-top bus service has been axed because of “hostility and tirades” from residents, its operator says.

Drivers of the Jurassic Mule service, on the Devon and Dorset coast, have been verbally abused and a bus depot entrance was “deliberately blocked”.
The Mendip Mule Motorbus service runs through Beer, Colyton and Seaton in Devon, and on to Lyme Regis and Charmouth in Dorset.

Issues over parking had arisen in Seaton and cars had been badly parked, intentionally, across Colyton bus depot’s entrance, owner Derek Gawn said.

He said the company used a bus park in Seaton, provided by East Devon District Council for use by buses and coaches on a pay-and-display basis.
“It isn’t for the bus drivers to be shouted at by residents who don’t welcome the facility,” Mr Gawn continued.

“[And it’s] not a particularly good welcome for the much-needed tourists bringing their spending to the town.”

East Devon District Council said it was a matter for Seaton Town Council, which has not responded to a BBC request for comment.

“We have also experienced people deliberately parking their cars badly on the approach to our depot at Colyton Station in an attempt to make access difficult,” Mr Gawn added.

Some people have taken to social media in support of the service.
On Facebook, Clare Dare said: “I think by moving next to a bus park there is a pretty good indication that there may possibly be a bus or 2 in there at some point!!!”

Becky Perry added: “Such a shame my little boys loved their adventure on the open top bus this summer!”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41199363

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North Somerset grabs cash for care homes – London Borough of Westminster doesn’t

“Families are facing a care funding lottery as new figures reveal wide variations in the lengths to which councils will go to stop people giving away assets in an attempt to make the state pay instead.

Local authorities means-test residents of care homes to check if they should pay towards their costs.

The cut off point is £23,250 – if you have assets above this figure you are expected to fund your own care. If your assets are worth less than £23,250 the council will help to meet the costs. Average nursing home costs reached £1,000 for “self-funders” earlier this year.

The spiralling cost of care has created an incentive for families to give away property, investments and savings to bring their assets below the £23,250 limit.

Councils have powers to claw back money from people it can prove to have “deliberately deprived” themselves of assets to claim state aid. Yet it has long been suspected that they find it nearly impossible to prove that someone has given assets away deliberately to dodge care costs.

Giving to children and grandchildren as a way to limit inheritance tax bills has become increasingly common. High house prices and buoyant stock markets have increased families’ wealth, while the headline amount you can pass on tax free has not been increased for nearly a decade.

A series of Freedom of Information requests submitted by Telegraph Money has uncovered how often councils use their powers and the amounts they have managed to claw back.

Of the eight local authorities approached, North Somerset council, whose jurisdiction includes Weston-super-Mare and the outskirts of Bristol, had used its powers the most. Since 2012 it recorded 64 “deprivation” cases in relation to care funding. The total value of assets involved in the cases was £1.3m.

By contrast, the London borough of Westminster had no recorded cases. This is despite the area having a similar population to North Somerset, at around 200,000, and a similar proportion of elderly residents.

Likewise Southwark, which covers a large part of south-east London, had not used its powers at all. The north London borough of Camden had the second-highest number of cases, at 14, with a total value of £158,000 over five years. Liverpool and Hertfordshire councils refused to provide figures on the grounds of cost, while Nottingham City Council said it did not keep relevant records.

Steven Cameron, a care expert at Aegon, the insurer, warned that greater scrutiny of the sector meant individuals who attempted to dodge care fees were increasingly likely to be caught by councils.

“A few years ago it was highly unlikely that a council would have paid much attention to people who gave away assets to avoid paying,” he said. “But with the care crisis getting worse daily and with more public interest in getting out of paying for care by giving away assets, the attention councils will pay is certain to increase considerably.”

Councils also take action that may not be reflected by official statistics, said Tracy Ashby a specialist legacy planner at Thursfields, the law firm.

She has seen cases in the West Midlands where instead of trying to claw back funds from families, councils simply cut off funding for care. Care homes are then left to pursue families themselves and in some cases have sought to evict patients, Ms Ashby said.

The “dementia tax” Telegraph Money has reported extensively on the anomalies of the care funding system.

Self-funding patients effectively subsidise those funded by councils, which set strict limits on the fees they are prepared to pay. This leaves homes in areas with few private customers battling to stay open.

The Conservatives’ radical plans for reforming the care system have been blamed for the party’s disastrous showing in the general election. Under the plan, councils would have started to pick up the tab for care costs once a person’s assets fell below £100,000, as opposed to the current level of £23,250 in England.

But, crucially, family homes would also have been included in the means-testing formula for “at home” care for the first time.

At the same time, the plan for a lifetime cap – which would have helped those who needed long periods of care – was dropped. The Tories quickly backtracked over the latter, which Labour called the “dementia tax”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/councils-failing-stop-people-giving-away-cash-dodge-care-home/

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Doctors wake up to consequences of STP plans which have already closed most East Devon community hospitals

BUT DOCTORS – IT’S BEEN HAPPENING UNDER YOUR NOSES FOR MONTHS AND MONTHS!

“Almost two in three senior doctors fear a controversial NHS shake-up that will downgrade or close dozens of hospital units will damage the care patients receive. The hospital consultants fear the sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) will lead to staff losing their jobs, will exacerbate workforce shortages and will act as a cover for cuts to services.

Of 450 hospital clinicians surveyed by the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA), 42% believe that STPs will have a “negative impact” on patient care. Barely one in 10 consultants who belong to the union expect a “positive impact”.

Three in four (77%) fear STPs are a way of making cuts to the NHS, while just over half (56%) fear they will lead to job losses and worse understaffing. …

“Many hospital doctors see STPs as a managerially driven process with no real clinical basis, and fear that a mix of underfunding, under-resourcing and service rationalisation can only damage patient care,” said Eddie Saville, the HCSA’s chief executive.

“This is, in effect, yet again an NHS reorganisation, but region by region, with management trying to plug the financial gaps rather than putting high-quality care of patients at the forefront. The fact that STPs are being planned against a backdrop of underfunding and cuts has led many doctors to conclude that this transformation programme is purely an attempt to mask further cutbacks.”

The Local Government Association, which represents local councils, criticised STPs as “secretive, opaque and top-down” reforms that would fail patients. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/09/nhs-hospital-reforms-closures-job-losses

DUH – where have some of these doctors been this last 2 years?

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Some families – mostly working – to be £50/week worse off by 2020

“Over two million poor families will be more than £50 a week worse off by the end of the decade, according to an alarming analysis of welfare cuts, crippling rent rises and looming inflation.

In a bleak assessment of the plight of the poorest families in Britain, the study commissioned by the Local Government Association found that more than 84% of those set to lose £50 a week or more are households with children, either lone parents or couples. Almost two-thirds of them are working households, despite claims from ministers that they wish to create a welfare system that encourages work.

The analysis, by the Policy in Practice consultancy, also undermines claims from ministers that moves to cut taxes and increase the wages of the poorest are compensating them for years of austerity and the rising cost of living.

While some of the seven million low-income households in Britain will be better off by 2020, the group as a whole faces an average loss of £40.62 a week by 2020 compared with the end of last year, once benefit and tax changes, wages, housing costs and inflation are all taken into account.

The report’s publication comes as Philip Hammond, the chancellor, faces intense pressure to ease years of austerity following an election result that signalled voters had reached the end of their patience with spending cuts. Nurses took to the streets in protest last week over claims they have suffered a 14% real-terms cut in their wages over the past seven years. Hammond is also under pressure to curb rising levels of student debt in the forthcoming budget.

The study finds that the introduction of the government’s flagship policy of universal credit, which combines a series of benefits into a single payment, will lead to an average income loss of £11.18 per week. It coincides with new warnings from Citizens Advice that the rollout of the system should be halted, amid claims that some of those already receiving it have found themselves in serious debt.

With charities and councils warning of rising homelessness, increasing housing costs are identified as a main cause of falling income. More than 2 million low-paid private renters face an average real-terms loss of £38.49 a week by 2020. …

For low-income private renters with three or more children, the average income loss that they face by 2020 in real terms is £67.21 a week. This compares with £30.67 for private renters without children.

The authors also say rents are rising faster in some areas than others, with housing benefit not rising to match it. The study found rents are set to rise by 20.7% in the south-west by 2020, but by just 3.5% in the north-east. The report warns that there is now a looming “affordability crisis” because cuts to housing benefit, known as local housing allowance (LHA) for private renters, mean it is no longer linked to real rents, pushing people into poverty or even homelessness. … .”

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Austerity cuts, Business Rates, Economy, Small and Medium businesses

“Staircase tax” – could mean a 5,000% backdated increase in business rates

“Conservative MP Nicky Morgan is pushing the UK’s property tax agency to detail the impact of the so-called “staircase tax”, amid fears that firms could be forced to stomach a 5,000% hike in bills.

The Treasury Select Committee chairwoman has written to Valuation Office Agency (VOA) chief executive Melissa Tatton for details on how businesses may be hit by the contentious levy.

“At first sight, it seems unfair to tax businesses different depending solely on whether the staircases between their rooms are communal or private,” Morgan said in her letter.

… “It also seems particularly harsh for the increase in rates to be backdated, and I would be interested to know the VOA’s reason for backdating it.”

The staircase tax is the result of a Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a single business space.

It means offices covering multiple floors in a building will be billed separately if their corridors or staircases are communal, rather than private to the business.

And for businesses that have expanded, the decision to take on offices in the same building as existing premises, connected by communal space, could now prove more costly than they first realised or planned for.

Morgan has asked the VOA’s Tatton to explain the decision to backdate the tax to 2015 in England and 2010 in Wales, and to provide details on how many businesses will face a higher rates bill as a result.

She has also requested information on the average bill increase that businesses will face and whether any transitional relief will be made available.

The tax has faced cross-party criticism, not only from Morgan, but from Labour’s shadow business minister Chi Onwurah and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable.

It comes amid a backlash from industry groups including the The Federation of Small Business (FSB), which has warned many small firms could be set for a substantial hike in their bills, the Press Association reported.

“This significant escalation of cross-party scrutiny of the staircase tax will be hugely welcomed by the thousands of firms set to be stung by this ridiculous levy,” FSB Chairman Mike Cherry, said.

“No small business should receive a sudden tax hike of 5,000% simply because a workspace has been separated, for years, by a communal area, stairway or lift.

“Some small business owners are discussing whether to knock holes in their walls or stick a staircase on the outside of their premises.”

It is the latest tax debacle to hit British business this year, having been left reeling after the Government’s contentious business rates review this year.

The revaluation, which came into force in March, updated rateable values to take into account property price changes over the last seven years.

Business rent and rates specialists CVS said UK companies are already facing a £4.5 billion increase in business rates over the next 5 years, even before the staircase tax is introduced.

Cherry has called on the Government to repeal the new levy.

“This is no way to run a tax system in the 20th century, let alone the 21st. Ministers have the power to provide relief, and they should do this urgently – to correct this defect in the UK tax system.”

It comes as Chancellor Philip Hammond prepares the first full Autumn Budget, expected to be presented to Parliament between late November to early December.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nicky-morgan-staircase-tax_uk_59b3dfa0e4b0b5e531067ab3

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Progress in Seaton?

Seaton Tramway as it is now:

Development plan:

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Minority government fixes majority committee posts – learned from DCC and EDDC perhaps!

Note that the DUP – which is keeping this government in power – isn’t getting representation either!

Though, of corse, it would just take some honourable Tories to unstick this – lol!

Oh, for another party to win the next election outright and shove this back at them!

Democracy? Yes, Owl remembers that …

“Theresa May has been accused of ‘tearing up’ her disastrous election result and rigging Parliament for the Tories.

In an “unprecedented power grab”, the government is trying to give itself the power to dominate the committees which scrutinise laws – despite having failed to secure a majority in the election.

It means it will be harder for opposition MPs to block legislation and laws which adversely affect people’s lives will get steam-rolled through Parliament.

A motion tabled yesterday by Tory Commons leader Andrea Leadsom today seeks to overturn the rule that the Government of the day has a majority on committees only if they have the majority of MPs. …

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted: “An unprecedented attempt to rig parliament and grab power by a Conservative government with no majority and no mandate.”

Rules introduced in 1995 state that the Government only gets a majority on standing committees if they have a majority in the House of Commons.

Theresa May failed to secure a majority in June’s election, finding herself eight seats short of controlling the house outright.

She was forced to cut a billion pound deal with the hardline Democratic Unionist Party in return for them lending her their support in key votes.

MPs will vote on the rule change on Tuesday.

Downing Street insisted the Government wanted a balanced situation in Parliament.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/theresa-accused-tearing-up-election-11132453

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Accountability, Democracy, Hugo Swire

Swire: working for firemen but not for nurses

Written Answers – Department of Health: Fire and Rescue Services: Cancer
(8 Sep 2017)
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2017-09-04.7823.h&s=speaker%3A11265#g7823.q0

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many fire fighters have developed cancer in the first 10 years after retirement since 1967.

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Austerity cuts, Education (local)

Academy schools – not always a success as company with 21 schools goes belly up

“A failing academy trust has asked to give up all of its 21 schools just a few days into the new term.

Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT) said it had decided to make the request after concluding it could not undertake the “rapid improvement our academies need and our students deserve”.

Four of its schools across Yorkshire are rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted, while 11 out of the 14 primary academies, and six of the seven secondary schools are below the national average.

The Department for Education said it would work with the trust, which would continue to run the academies until a new sponsor could be found. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/sep/09/failing-academy-trust-to-pull-out-of-21-schools

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Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, PegasusLife

Thinking of buying a new, luxury retirement home? Think again

Buyer beware – that’s the message from the BBC Money Box Live programme today at midday. When buying a luxury retirement property a large part of your purchase price can disappear into thin air almost immediately!

“Half of new-build retirement homes sell at a loss.

Around half of new build retirement homes sold during a 10-year period were later re-sold at a loss, according to exclusive research for the BBC.
The research by the Elderly Accommodation Counsel charity found falls in value could be more than 50%.

It looked at thousands of Land Registry records for resale details of homes built between 1998 and 2012. The charity found many properties built after 2002 had underperformed the general property market.

Adam Hillier of the Elderly Accommodation Counsel (EAC), which advises people considering retirement housing, called the scale of the falls “startling”.

Steep falls

According to the research, 51% of retirement properties built and sold between 2000 and 2010, and then sold again between 2006 and 2016, suffered a loss in value. For those properties which declined in value, the average loss was 17%. For some, the falls are much steeper.

The EAC found that for new build retirement properties sold between 2005 and 2007, and then resold between 2012 and 2014, more than four fifths fell in value. The average loss for these properties was 25%.

Mr Hillier said it was unclear why it was happening. “It’s the million dollar question, really. “I think part of it is the new build premium – especially when it comes to retirement housing,” he said. Another reason could be under-investment from developers once they have built the properties, he said.

“The traditional model was to hand over these properties to a managing agent to run them,” he said. “Does the developer have that much of an interest in investing in the property?” The trend has continued in recent years too. For new retirement properties sold between 2008 and 2010, and then resold between 2015 and 2017, nearly two thirds were sold for less than the purchase price. The average loss here was 19%.

Money Box spoke to the residents of one development – Burlington Court, in Bridlington in East Yorkshire – where prices have more than halved since it was first built around a decade ago.

According to Land Registry figures, one flat in Burlington Court, bought new in 2006 for £166,000, was resold for just £70,000 in 2014. Another two bedroom apartment bought for £140,000, in 2008, was sold last year for £58,000.

Ken, 91, bought his flat in Burlington Court for around £180,000 in 2008.
“I thought when I bought this that if I lived for another five or six years, my children would get maybe £190,000 for it,” he said. “In actual fact they’ll be lucky to get £70,000 for it, maybe even £60,000. “It’s criminal really. When I mention it other people, they say: ‘Why should you worry, you won’t be here?’ “But I do feel my son and daughter have lost out. It’s a lot of money,” he added.

Margarete, 92, paid nearly £150,000 for her flat eleven years ago. She sold a detached bungalow in York. Like most residents of Burlington Court, she says it’s a nice place to live, with a nice community of people. But Margarete says she’s always wanted to move back to Germany, where she was born. However the value of her property means that isn’t now an option.

“My friends in Germany always wanted me to go back.” “But if I get £40,000 for this flat I’d be lucky. I couldn’t afford to go back to Germany and buy a place there.”

Incentives

The largest developer of retirement homes, McCarthy and Stone, told the BBC that the numbers did not include incentives given to the original buyers, which effectively lowers the purchase price. The company also said it had worked hard to increase resale values in recent years, including extending leases, retaining management of developments, and providing sales support.
“The vast majority of our retirement apartments increase in value on resale”, McCarthy and Stone told the BBC in a statement.

“It is also important to understand that the value of specialist retirement housing is not purely financial. It improves lives, provides peace of mind, care and support and ultimately helps older people maintain their independence.

“However, we recognise that there are a small number of cases, particularly with our older properties, where resale values of some apartments haven’t performed as we would have wished. This can be down to many reasons, including the performance of some local property markets.”
McCarthy and Stone, which also built Burlington Court, said resale values in that particular development had been hit by a lack of car parking spaces and a difficult local property market.

‘Seriously wrong’

Sebastian O’Kelly, director of BetterRetirementHousing.com, said: “Dismal resale prices for retirement properties help explain why only 2% of over-65s live in designated retirement properties – far less than the US or Australia. “Something is seriously wrong with the business model that these flats fall so drastically in value.

“The retirement housing sector will not expand notably until this is addressed. That would be more effective than attempting to deny that the problem exists.”

Listen to the full report on Money Box, midday on Saturday 9 September on BBC Radio 4.”

PegasusLife one-bed properties at Knowle could start at anything from £300,000 – £400,000 at their current prices. At their development in Cheltenham, one bed apartments start at £447,950. Service charges can start in the high thousands per year.

https://www.pegasuslife.co.uk/portfolio/onebayshillrd-cheltenham?gclid=CjwKEAjwos7NBRCW0uTH59WPp1ESJADKk0J7tjhYgbZJtyWb_Yh9_aSvbzYMEUyOMeif0jANw2xGRRoCiEjw_wcB

Closer to home, Millbrook Village in Exeter comes in at a very cheap (!)£325,000 for one bedroom, but this may be because sales appear to have been somewhat slow:

http://www.millbrookvillage.co.uk/

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Tory donor peer says May is stupid , should stop criticising excessive pay and her job should go to someone from a council estate

“Theresa May is a “hopeless” leader of a “weak” government and Britain would be better off with an administration like Tony Blair’s in the early years, a major Tory donor has said.

Lord Harris of Peckham said the Prime Minister is “no Thatcher” and criticised her “shell-shocked” general election performance, in which the Tories disastrously lost their House of Commons majority from a position of apparent strength.

In a scathing interview, Lord Harris suggested Mrs May’s record as home secretary was not “that great”, described her attacks on aspects of capitalism and big business as “stupid”, and warned she was making a “mistake” by criticising excessive pay.

The peer instead backed Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson for the top job.

“She’s very practical, very solid and won’t give in,” he said.

“She’s clever as well as growing up on a council estate. I think she’s top class.

“They should get her in as an MP… see how she gets on working her way up and I think in three or four years’ time she’d make a great prime minister.” …”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/08/tory-donor-brands-theresa-may-weak-hopeless/

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Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, Public Open Space

The answer to all our problems? Gardening, say Tory MPs

In case you think that all our MPs are interested in is Brexit, well, it’s not true. Some of them have MUCH more important things to do:

“Encouraging gardening needs to be put at the heart of Government policy making, Tory MPs have said in a report backed by Theresa May.

A 56-page report from the Conservative Environment Network said that “getting more people gardening” has to be part of a “truly holistic, cross departmental, high impact policy”.

The report, which has been sent to Cabinet ministers, said encouraging gardening should be adopted as a policy by a range of government departments including health, justice, defence, local government and education.

Gardening could help to cut childhood obesity, improve public spaces, help people deal with mental stress and provide purpose for prisoners in jails.

Tory MP Rebecca Pow – a former BBC, ITV and C4 reporter who specialised in the environment, farming and gardening – wrote in the report: “Gardens, gardening, and horticultural skills can have a striking effect on our communities.

“Getting more people gardening is a truly holistic, cross departmental, high impact policy.” …

… “To get the full benefits that the power of plants can provide our communities with, especially in urban areas, requires an interlinked approach and now is the time to sow those seeds and spread those roots for the greater good.” …

The Prime Minister said the report “raised the health benefits of green space, which are becoming ever more recognised”.

She pledged that Defra “will consider the evidence within that report and will focus on what can be done to ensure that the benefits provided by access to green space are available to all segments of society”.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/08/put-gardening-heart-policy-making-tory-mps-tell-whitehall-theresa/

Just to point out a few things:

Many people don’t even have houses to live in, let alone gardens to tend so could we perhaps sort that out first?

Public open spaces and parks are being concreted over by developers (including Clinton Devon Estates land grab of the Budleigh Hospital Garden)

Most new builds have gardens the size of pocket handkerchiefs full of builders rubble
(Cranbrook is a good example where gardens are six concrete paving slabs and a narrow strip of green)

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Accountability, Consultation, Scrutiny, Transparency

When consultation goes wrong … again

How many examples of OUR council doing these things can YOU think of from these examples from the Consultation Institute!

Loaded questions on reducing the number of councillors:
https://www.consultationinstitute.org/consultation-news/council-accused-using-loaded-question-consultation/

Consultation described as “deplorable” on future delivery of services:
https://www.consultationinstitute.org/consultation-news/councils-engagement-consultation-communities-described-deplorable/

Telephone consultation had leading questions on Local Plan:
https://www.consultationinstitute.org/consultation-news/draft-local-plan-telephone-survey-criticised-leading-questions/

“Shambolic consultation” on police station closures:
https://www.consultationinstitute.org/consultation-news/lib-dems-slam-mayors-shambolic-consultation-over-police-station-closures/

“Shoddy” consultation on mental health cuts:
https://www.consultationinstitute.org/consultation-news/mental-health-public-consultation-branded-shoddy/

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Accountability, Developers/ Development, Economy, Local Enterprise Partnership

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Growth gets sucked up into profits as south west wages now more than 30% behind south east

It’s what we all suspected – money goes into profits not wages – yet who are the people in charge of our LEP? Those who suck up those profits! That’s the market economy.

“The UK is the most geographically unbalanced economy in Europe and needs radical reform, an IPPR think-tank report has concluded.

The study highlighted that 40% of the countries output is produced in London and the South East and average incomes in the North West, South West, West Midlands and Wales are now more than 30% lower than in London. …

It stated gains from growth have gone largely into profits rather than earnings, and the UK economy is now in the longest period of pay stagnation for 150 years.

IPPR noted that though GDP per head has risen by 12% since 2010, average earnings per employee have fallen by 6%.

Since the 1970s the share of national income which has gone to wages has gradually declined, from 80% to 73%, while the share going to profits has increased.

The wage share is now the lowest it has been since the second world war, said the report.”

http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2017/09/uk-most-geographically-unbalanced-economy-europe

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Environment (local), Flooding

“Study: mild floods are declining, but intense floods are on the rise”

“… What this study does is to show, using just data and no model projections, that flood risk is indeed increasing but at the rare to very-rare flood end. The milder floods that are more of a nuisance than a threat to property and lives, are actually decreasing. This is worse news than before though, as it is these milder floods that make up the bulk of the refill to our water supply reservoirs.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/sep/08/study-mild-floods-are-declining-but-intense-floods-are-on-the-rise