Daily Archives: 1 Feb 2018

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1 Feb 2018

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Accountability, Axminster, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Transport (local)

That by pass for Axminster wasn’t always flavour of the month!

How times change! Following on from the effusive self-congratulations of EDDC for securing £10 million towards an Axminster by-pass, here is a news item from 2012, published in the now defunct “Sidmouth Independent News” from a time when an Axminster by-pass was thought by EDDC to be a very, very bad idea:

“Trinity House department store in Axminster has had scaffolding ripped off it by a passing lorry. Story here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-20431396

It was sheer luck that no-one was hurt in the accident in this busy main street through the town.

We welcomed people from Axminster to the Stroll to the Knowle on 3 November 2012. When consulted about the Local Plan the majority of those responding preferred to have major development to the east of the town (where there is a potential site) because it could fund a much-wanted and much-needed bypass of the town centre.

EDDC preferred to allow development by EDBF member Axminster Carpets on a site to the north of the town, despite objections to flood risk and traffic management problems. Then Planning supremo Kate Little said that the northern site was preferable as the eastern site was unlikely to result in a bypass, as any road through a new development would not probably be qualified to be called a by-pass.

A judicial review is taking place about this decision – taken whilst the new Local Plan was in its first consultation period and not included in the old Local Plan – early next month. The High Court has taken the rare step of issuing a “protective costs order” in this case where, if local people do lose the case, they will only have to pay a small part of the company’s legal costs.”

https://sidmouthindependentnews.wordpress.com/page/204/?pages-list

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1 Feb 2018

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Accountability, AONB, Blackhill Quarry, Clinton Devon Estates, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Planning System, Rural communities, Woodbury

Blackhill Quarry: Who’s listening to the Community?

At the time this article was prepared, more than 145 individuals and resident associations had lodged formal objections against Clinton Devon Estate’s (CDE) planning application 17/3022 to create new industrial units on the Blackhill Quarry site. The condition on granting the original quarry licence was that when extraction ceased, the site should be returned to its natural state.

This number of objections is rising hourly, in spite of a determined PR campaign by CDE in the Exmouth Journal and local Parish Magazines to spin a favourable case (It’s only a small bit of land… the site proposed is currently covered in concrete and any restoration to high quality habitat will be problematic…. mitigation proposals that might secure significantly more wildlife benefits for the surrounding heathland are being discussed. Etc.) The consultation period has been extended.

Owl recalls last May CDE launched an on line “tell us what you think” survey with the introduction:

“We look to listen carefully to our staff, customers and those in our community. How we engage with you and what you think about our approach to sustainability is important to us and we want to get it right. Your feedback to this survey will play an important part in helping us develop our future communications.”

The survey asked questions such as:

To what extent do you agree with the following?

1. Clinton Devon Estates puts responsible stewardship and sustainable development at the heart of everything they do?

2. Clinton Devon Estates understands and conserves the wildlife it manages. And

3. How credible do you think “We pledge to do today what is right for tomorrow” is as a statement from Clinton Devon Estates?

https://eastdevonwatch.org/2017/05/30/time-running-out-to-tell-clinton-devon-estates-what-you-think-about-them/

anyone want to rethink their rezponses in light of the above?

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1 Feb 2018

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Axminster, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Environment (local), Greater Exeter, Housing (local), Infrastructure, Public Open Space, Transport (local)

Axminster North-South relief road gets £10 million from government plus grant for “Greater Exeter” alternative green spaces

Good news for Axminster? The much-needed relief road that East Devon District Council Tories initially refused to put in the Local Plan (when Bovis was building in the town) is getting a government grant of £10 million. £10 million doesn’t go far on roads these days, so will it be enough? Good news for Crown Estates and Persimmon who are said to own a large parcel of land to the east of Axminster (at least they did in 2015]:

https://eastdevonwatch.org/2016/05/27/axminster-persimmon-and-crown-estates-meet-the-neighbours/

On a more worrying note, “Greater Exeter” (which includes East Devon) also gets £3.7 million for “Greater Exeter Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space” which means allowing developers to build on current green spaces if others can be created elsewhere.

The only problem being, the areas to be concreted over seem to get build on rapidly before the “alternative green spaces” are found or designated!

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/678379/MVF_Successful_Bids.xlsx

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1 Feb 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Police (local)

Devon police numbers down by 10% in 5 years

Owl wonders how many extra police officers we could have if we abolished the office of Police and Crime Commissioner?

“There are almost 10 per cent less police officers on Devon’s streets than five years ago, new figures have revealed.

The number of neighbourhood officers employed by Devon and Cornwall Police is down by a huge 58 per cent during that period with local PCSOs down by 13 per cent.

During the five year period Devon and Cornwall suffered a net loss of 311 officers with there now being 367 fewer police on the streets than in 2012, according figures released by the BBC shared data unit.

Devon and Cornwall Police said that the reduction in numbers do not reflect the ‘wider police roles visible in our communities’.

Assistant Chief Constable Jim Colwell said: “There is no doubt policing numbers have seen a reduction in the last six years across many areas of the force.

“Supporting local communities with a visible neighbourhood policing presence remains critically important and a bedrock of policing in Devon and Cornwall.

“While the figures released may show a reduction in the number of dedicated neighbourhood staff, they do not demonstrate the number of wider police roles visible in our communities.

“Neighbourhood policing is part of every police officer and PCSO’s business, so also includes response officers, local investigation staff and other operational officers who are not reflected in these figures.”

ACC Colwell added: “The way in which we police our communities is evolving and officer’s roles and responsibilities need to change with this.

“As a force we are constantly assessing threat, harm and risk to our local communities and flexing our policing resources to meet these challenges and demands.

“We have been very honest and open with the public while making these changes and having to place greater resources in areas hidden from public view – such as child sexual exploitation and other online crime.

“Indeed, overall policing numbers in Devon and Cornwall are set to increase in the coming year to give an increased frontline presence across the entire force area.

“Within this is a firm commitment between ourselves and the Police and Crime Commissioner to maintain a dedicated neighbourhood policing model.”

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/latest-figures-show-devon-lost-1146590

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1 Feb 2018

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Accountability, Accountable Care Organisation, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local), Scrutiny, Virgin Healthcare

And another wobbly privatisation domino: Virgin Care

“IF Carillion was a financial wreck that had to be fed ever more contracts to keep going until it was too late, something similar can be seen in the UK’s outsourced health services.

The company now winning the most NHS contracts is Virgin Care, which provides everything from children’s services in Devon to urgent care in Croydon and adult social care in Somerset. Yet it has a balance sheet that makes Carillion’s look like a picture of health.

On a total turnover of £252m up to March 2017, Virgin Care companies recorded losses of £15.9m last year. Set against this, income from several joint venture partnerships with local GPs totalling £4.2m still left the group with an eight-figure loss. Having been in the business several years now, the fact that Virgin can’t make a profit on its healthcare contracts raises the awkward question of whether it, like Carillion, has been bidding too low for them – and in the process elbowing out the NHS organisations with which it often competes. (When it loses, recent legal action against health commissioners in Surrey showed, those elbows are pretty sharp – see Eyes 1439 & 1440).

Liabilities exceeding assets

The years of loss-making have left the Virgin Care companies, mainly Virgin Care Ltd and Virgin Care Services Ltd, with liabilities exceeding assets by around £28m, and most of what assets the companies do have are in the “intangible” form of technology Virgin Care has developed. The losses are replenished by loans from unknown sources within the wider Virgin group. Since its accounts also show that it doesn’t expect profits for the “foreseeable future” – which again questions the wisdom of low-balling bids – these will have to keep rolling in for some time yet.

The business is spared from insolvency by ultimate owner Sir Richard Branson promising from his bolt-hole in the British Virgin Islands to continue to provide support, allowing Virgin Care’s directors and its auditor KPMG (which checked the Carillion numbers!) to declare that the companies are “going concerns”.

So long as Beardie continues to plough cash into the healthcare companies, the contracts carry on rolling in (a record £1bn worth last year), and other parts of the business such as his rail group secure large taxpayer bailouts, all remains well. But relying on the kindness of strangers, ie taxpayers, and a proprietor with who-knows-what long-term plans to provide stable public services looks about as sensible as it was to rely on Carillion.”

http://www.private-eye.co.uk/issue-1462/news

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1 Feb 2018

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Accountability, Hinkley C, Transparency

Hinkley C: whose Big Brother will be watching it?

“China planted bugs to spy on discussions at the glittering African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa that it built five years ago, it has been claimed.

The alleged hack was discovered when IT engineers investigated why the centre’s computer servers reached a peak for data activity between midnight and 2am. They found that the servers were connected to others in Shanghai, and were transferring information, according to an investigation by the French newspaper Le Monde.

Ethiopian cybersecurity experts found microphones hidden in desks and walls and at the time, last January, there were Chinese engineers in the building managing its computers.

African heads of state and AU civil servants remained unaware of the discovery, one AU official told the paper. “We have taken some steps to strengthen our cybersecurity,” he said. “We remain very exposed.”

The £141 million HQ was built and paid for by the Chinese in a symbol of the mutually beneficial friendship between the world’s youngest populations and one of its wealthiest nations.

The construction of buildings, roads, ports and railways across Africa, has helped China edge out former colonisers and western partners and gain pole position in the battle for Africa’s human capital and mineral wealth.

The revelation over the bugs came as African leaders and officials converge for the AU’s annual summit.

Kuang Weilin, China’s ambassador to the AU, called the claims “ridiculous and preposterous” and said their publication was sour grapes. “China-Africa relations have brought benefits and a lot of opportunities. Africans are happy with it. Others are not,” he said. “People in the West . . . are not used to it and they are not comfortable with this.”

Source: The Times (paywall)