Daily Archives: 17 Sep 2018

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17 Sep 2018

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Asset sweating, Coastal communities, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

Community attempt to save Sidmouth Drill Hall

“Gillian Mitchell has set up a not-for-profit community interest company (CIC) called Sidmouth Sunrise as part of a bid to transform the space into a community hub.

The mum-of-two says she wanted to take on the project to tackle a gap in facilities in the town.

Gillian told the Herald: “The strength of community feeling within Sidmouth is what makes our town and local area a vibrant place to live in.

“The worrying thing is that we have no significant population of young single people, which implies that the youngsters are moving away when they leave education.

“We want to do something to increase the attractiveness of Sidmouth to this age group and encourage a more balanced population and create a sustainable vibrant community.

“We are serious about what we are doing. We really want to make sure that we have it right; we have to make sure this is feasible.”

Sidmouth Sunrise has also gained backing from Real Ideas Organisation (RIO) of Plymouth, which will serve as a consultant and funding partner.

Gillian says RIO has ‘vast experience’ in breathing new life into redundant buildings to bring them to community use and will be able to provide support and advice to manage their own projects.

Sunrise Sidmouth has carried out a structural survey and is consulting architects about final designs, before holding public meetings.

Gillian, who is chairman of the organisation, says she is looking to work collaboratively to put in the strongest bid to Exeter-based agent JLL.

She said: “We’re not aware of any other community bids that are being put together and if there is, my group would like to work together rather than have multiple community bids.

“We are really up to talking to anybody and get behind one bid.

“We’re not going to please everybody, and it is quite a small space. I do not want to be in competition with my own community.

“If we are successful with our bid, all funds and profits will be reinvested into securing the future of the Drill Hall and future similar projects.”

EDDC has given community groups six months to develop their ideas. The commercial property sector will have three months to prepare their proposals, with all bids to be submitted to JLL by February 4.”

http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/first-community-bid-comes-forward-to-transform-sidmouth-s-drill-hall-into-community-hub-1-5693614

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17 Sep 2018

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Accountability, Great South West Partnership, Growth Strategy, Local Enterprise Partnership, Scrutiny, Transparency

Local Enterprise Partnership – Partnership: Arise Wessex! Or maybe not …!

Below is a comment on an earlier post:
https://eastdevonwatch.org/2018/09/16/greater-south-west-local-enterprise-partnership-partnership/

reprinted here as it raises some interesting questions, raised by David Daniel, who so eloquently spoke about the unrealistic expectations of our LEPs growth strategy to a largely uninformed and disinterested majority of Conservative councillors at DCC recently:
https://eastdevonwatch.org/2017/11/30/watch-eda-councillor-shaw-and-budleigh-resident-david-daniel-make-most-sense-on-lep-strategy/

This now seems to be the THIRD such trial marriage of various south-west LEPs. None of them seem to be made in heaven ……….

“WESSEX here we come!

English devolution is a mess, whether it will evolve into anything sensible is uncertain.

A third of people living in England outside London live in one of England’s nine combined authorities, six being cities with directly elected mayors. These are corporate bodies formed of two or more local government areas to enable decision-making across boundaries on issues that extend beyond the interests of any one individual local authority, like strategic transport planning.

Our nearest is the West of England Combined Authority of: Bristol; North Somerset; Bath and North East Somerset; and South Gloucester. The Government has encouraged the creation of these structures in order to provide the economic scale needed for devolution. These are on the fast track.

County identities are medieval in origin but they continue to lurk in our consciences. We identify with them democratically and historically. The focus of the Coalition 2010 white paper that set devolution in progress was to create administrations based on economic functional areas rather than regions. This has set in train a conflict between perceived economic necessity and community identity and democracy. A few Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) followed county boundaries eg Cornwall and Scilly, and Dorset, but most did not. Some even overlapped.

Following on from the combined authorities, which are all centred on what one might describe as metropolitan areas, we are beginning to see the creation of new concepts by the combination of LEPs into “power” groupings such as the Council of the North, Midlands Engine, Oxbridge Corridor etc.

We now have the Great South West Partnership of: Heart of the South West (HotSW), Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, and Dorset LEPs. Or do we? The reason I add a question mark is because not very long ago (April to be exact) we had the Great South West Partnership comprising FOUR LEPs, including Swindon and Wiltshire “working together” to agree the next steps in implementing the recommendations of a report on Productivity. We were also told that GFirst (Gloucester) and West of England (Bristol) LEPs were also taking an active interest.

In his first interview on Somerset Live the new HotSW Chief Executive, David Ralph said “We’ve set a really big ambition about doubling the size of the economy in this area over the next 30 years.”

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/everything-you-need-know-local-1872023

Previously the target had been to double the economy in 20 years. When I asked for clarification I was told it was a mis-speak, not a change of policy to something slightly more realistic.

So who knows where we are going?”

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17 Sep 2018

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Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Land Supply

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“Increases in land value is ‘fundamentally about fairness’ and should benefit local communities, say MPs”

Owl says: chances of this happening in these developer-led days – zero,

“Significant increases in the value of land resulting from public policy decisions should be shared with local communities say MPs.

The report from the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has looked at how this land value increase can be captured to generate extra funding for local infrastructure and affordable housing.

According to government statistics, agricultural land which is granted planning permission for residential use would increase, on average, from £21,000 per hectare to £1.95m per hectare.

The Land Value Capture report published yesterday argues that local authorities and central government should capture a “significant proportion” of this uplift in value so they can reinvest into local communities.
The report recommends reform of the Land Compensation Act 1961 which they say would lead to a “much-needed” boost in housebuilding.

Chair of the committee Clive Betts said: “Land value capture is fundamentally about fairness and necessity.

“Fairness, because the current system allows landowners, through no effort of their own, to make multi-million-pound profits from the substantial increases in land value that arise from public policy decisions, such as the granting of planning permission.

“As these increases are significantly created by the actions of the state, it is right that a significant proportion of this should be shared with the local community.”

The committee argues that there is scope for raising additional revenue from reforms to taxes and charges, new mechanisms of land value capture and reform of the way local authorities can buy land.

In response to the report, Local Government Association’s Housing spokesman Cllr Martin Tett said: “We have long–called for reforms to land compensation and compulsory purchase laws and are pleased that the committee has called for the government to implement several of our recommendations.
“We are also pleased the committee recommends that government provides extra support to councils, through the LGA, to help give local authorities a strong hand in negotiations with developers.

“Government action on these recommendations would have a significant impact in building more homes with the right infrastructures and places that people want to live and work.”

Betts added: “If the government is to meet the challenge of providing enough new homes over the coming years, then they will also need to find the funds for improving the surrounding infrastructure.

“Our proposed package of reforms to taxes and charges will ensure a fair proportion of the increase in value arising from public policy decisions can be used by national and local government to invest in new infrastructure and public services.”

http://www.publicsectorexecutive.com/Public-Sector-News/increases-in-land-value-is-fundamentally-about-fairness-and-should-benefit-local-communities-say-mps

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17 Sep 2018

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DCC, Dorset, Growth Strategy, Somerset

Stuff that “growth” – Devon, Dorset and Somerset best places to retire to!

Top 10 best places for retirement

Prudential analysed data in 55 counties in England and Wales to come up with its retirement ranking for 2016 (research lag).

West Sussex
Dorset
East Sussex
Isle of Wight
Norfolk
Devon
Worcestershire
Oxfordshire
Somerset
Shropshire

…”if you were looking to move to an area which has the highest number of similarly-aged denizens, Dorset is the place, with some 28% of the 422,000 people living in the county are aged over 65. …”

https://www.which.co.uk/news/2018/09/revealed-the-best-places-to-retire-in-england-and-wales/ – Which

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17 Sep 2018

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Austerity cuts, Education (local)

“Sixth formers most affected by education cuts, says think-tank”

“The education funding squeeze for 16 to 18 year olds in England is “clear and worrying”, a think-tank report has said.

Funding per student in school sixth forms has fallen by 21% since its peak in 2010-11, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The IFS said that the “severe squeeze” on school spending, which has seen spending per pupil fall by 8% between 2009-10 and 2017-18, has been driven by a 55% cut to local authority spending on services.

The report, out today, which was funded by charitable trust the Nuffield Foundation, said that school sixth forms have borne the brunt of budget cuts at 21% per student while further education and sixth-form college funding per student has fallen by about 8% since 2010-11.

By 2019-20, funding per young person in further education will be at about the same level as in 2006-7 – only 10% higher than it was thirty years earlier in 1989-90, according to the IFS.

Total funding for adult education and apprenticeships has fallen by 45% since 2009-10.

Tim Gardham, chief executive of the Nuffield Foundation, said: “The fall in further education spending is clear and worrying.

“The IFS analysis questions the capacity of the system to successfully deliver the reforms currently underway without additional funding.

“Neglect in investment in one educational stage has knock-on effects for others, from the point of view of the individual student and the education system as a whole.”

Research by the think-tank also showed a large increase in spending on early years education – spending on three- and four-year-old entitlement to early education – has risen from “almost nothing” in early 1990s to around £3bn in 2017-18.

But, early years spending in other areas fallen, including a 13% drop in childcare subsidies between 2009-10 and 2017-18 and a 67% reduction in spending on children’s Sure Start centres. …”

https://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2018/09/sixth-formers-most-affected-education-cuts-says-think-tank