Monthly Archives: June 2019

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10 Jun 2019

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Accountability, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Sidford Business Park

Sidford Business Park: latest from campaigners and public inquiry details

“Documents submitted to the Planning Inspector by 17 local residents, this Campaign and Sidford Ward District Councillors Marianne Rixson and Dawn Manley have now been uploaded to the District Council’s planning portal.

Those of you who read the Sidmouth Herald will also have noted its two-page reporting this week on the submissions.

In order to allow you to quickly access the submissions we set out below the clinks to the various documents –
The planning portal page which allows you to click on each of the latest documents that have been submitted is here –
https://planningapps.eastdevon.gov.uk/Planning/lg/dialog.page?Param=lg.Planning&org.apache.shale.dialog.DIALOG_NAME=gfplanningsearch&SDescription=18/1094/MOUT&viewdocs=true

These two links take you to the two sets of documents that this Campaign has submitted. In addition to various letters from Sidbury Primary school and local residents, there are photographs, links to various traffic videos and you can also read the two consultants reports that we commissioned –

Click to access obj.pdf;jsessionid=289A6B113EB8BADEB476C20911E3A5DB

Click to access obj.pdf;jsessionid=289A6B113EB8BADEB476C20911E3A5DB

The detailed submission submitted by Sidford Ward District Councillors Marianne Rixson and Dawn Manley can be viewed via this link –

Click to access obj.pdf;jsessionid=74B5DE4639EC037FD1BD2ABDE4C0EF69

When you open any of these links you may find it is slow in downloading, so you may have to be patient!
You should by now be aware that the Planning Inspector, Luke Fleming, will open the Inquiry on 16 July and he has allowed up to three days for it. The inquiry will be held in the District Council’s new offices in Honiton – Blackdown House, Border Road, Heathpark Industrial Estate Honiton EX14 1EJ.

Members of the public are welcome to attend the Inquiry, and we anticipate that we will be encouraging all those who oppose the proposed Business Park to show their opposition to it prior to the Inquiry opening on 16 July. We will let you have further details about this nearer the time.

We would also encourage members of the public to speak at the Inquiry as you are entitled to do. In order to obtain speaking rights, you just advise the Inspector at the start of the Inquiry. This Campaign will be speaking at it.

Best wishes
Campaign Team”

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10 Jun 2019

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Accountability, Development Management Committee, Health and Safety

Bellway homes: “Barking fire: residents claim safety fears about flats were downplayed”

” …Peter Mason, chair of the Barking Reach residents’ association, told the Guardian that in early May he contacted the builder Bellway Homes to ask for the fire risk to be investigated after BBC Watchdog broadcast claims of fire safety problems at two other developments by the same builder.

In an email seen by the Guardian from the firm’s fire safety helpline last month, Bellway told him not to worry. In a section headed Your Home it said the construction method used on the development in Scotland examined by Watchdog was different and so the Barking homes were not affected in the same way.

It concluded: “We understand that these news articles are highly alarming for all residents of new homes and I hope that the above statement has allayed any fears you may have over the safety and construction of your Bellway home.”

Mason said he felt “gut-wrenched” by the fire, adding that people had lost their homes and possessions and were in severe distress. The fire appeared to rip through the wooden cladding around the balconies of the building and may have been caused by a barbecue being lit on one of the balconies, Mason said.

Twenty flats were destroyed by the flames and a further 10 were damaged by heat and smoke. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jun/09/fire-flats-barking-east-london-de-pass-gardens?

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10 Jun 2019

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Local Government Finance

Council reserves go up as spending goes down

“English councils have amassed huge cash reserves while blaming budget cuts for reduced spending on services, official figures suggest.

Local authorities, excluding police or fire and rescue authorities, were sitting on £21.8 billion of non-ringfenced reserves last year, £5 billion more than they had in 2017 and £11 billion more than they had at the start of the decade.

Spending on local services, including libraries, parks, bus services and bin collections, has fallen by about 21 per cent since 2010, when the government began slashing the central grant it gives to local authorities. Many councils have also been raising council tax bills.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance, which campaigns for lower tax, said that some authorities were making questionable decisions with their budgets that meant residents “paying more for less”.

Some local authorities, particularly county councils with social care responsibilities, have struggled with chronic shortages and have been dipping into their reserves but others have fared better. District councils, which benefit from business rates and provide less resource-intensive services such as leisure centres or bin collections that can be scaled back or made chargeable, have found their reserves swelling as a proportion of spending.

Since 2010 district councils have grown their non-ringfenced reserves from 50 per cent of service expenditure to 130 per cent. By comparison the savings ratio for county councils has risen from 20 per cent to 30 per cent. This does not include spending on education and public health, which have ringfenced corresponding reserves.

Last year Coventry city council said it could no longer afford to provide free school buses for disabled children, yet it is holding £97.6 million in usable reserves, up 76 per cent on 2017. It is planning another £11 million of cuts.

In its annual accounts the council accepted that it was difficult to explain the need for such high levels of reserves but said that the financial challenges it faced and projects it had established provided a “strong justification”.

David Phillips, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said that councils could be taking precautionary measures because they expected more acute funding shortages in future and business rate receipts were volatile. Richard Watts, of the Local Government Association, said: “Reserves are vital to help councils manage growing financial risks to local services . . . They are also used to make long-term investments.”

Source: Times (pay wall)

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9 Jun 2019

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Accountability, Hugo Swire

Swire’s choice for PM gets even more flak!

“Stephen Bush in The NewStatesman:

“…For now, Raab holds the dubious accolade of being the candidate that Conservative MPs would most like to prevent reaching the final vote of party members”.”

What DID Swire find attractive about him?

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9 Jun 2019

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Rural communications, Rural communities

Fat cat mobile phone companies want £600m from the government to cover country

Mobile phone companies make large profits. They do not want to spend their money on coverage, it goes to bonuses and dividends. They want all of us taxpayers to dig further into our pockets to provide them with bigger profits from wider coverage.

“Mobile operators want ministers to invest more than £600m to tackle poor phone signals in the countryside.

O2, Three UK, BT’s EE and Vodafone want backing for their plan to invest jointly in a single rural network that would give the four operators 95% coverage.

Only 66% of the country enjoys full coverage, so millions of people and thousands of businesses have to grapple with patchy signals or total black spots.

The mobile giants are willing to invest £533m to stamp out “partial not spots”, where one or more operators cannot provide a signal. That would bring national coverage up to 88% through a barter system, where they would share access to each other’s masts.

In return, they want the exchequer to foot the bill for 95% coverage. That includes spending about £620m over 20 years on areas with no signal, and £6m on opening up the Emergency Services Network used by police and ambulance workers.

Operators have told ministers those costs could fall by £90m if planning rules around issues such as mast heights were relaxed.”

Source: Sunday Times (pay wall)

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8 Jun 2019

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Accountability, Education (local), Hugo Swire, Inequality

Level playing field? Not when you have “posh boys” like Swire

Book review shows how posh boys rule … and rule … and rule.

Posh Boys: How the English Public Schools Ruin Britain, Robert Verkaik

“… Posh Boys is foregrounded by an appreciation of the statistical evidence on the current state of public-school privilege today.

Approximately 7% of children are privately educated, but more than 40% of the 500 most powerful people in the UK were privately educated (289), including 74% of UK senior judges, 74% of senior officers in the British Armed Forces, 55% of permanent secretaries in Whitehall, 50% of government Cabinet ministers and members of the House of Lords and a third of Russell Group university vice-chancellors (4).

Thus, power is concentrated disproportionately amongst and in favour of those from a privately educated background. …”

Book Review | Posh Boys: How the English Public Schools Ruin Britain by Robert Verkaik

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7 Jun 2019

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Accountability, Blackhill Quarry, Clinton Devon Estates, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Woodbury

And Clinton Devon’s Blackhill quarry plans at Woodbury go for decision …

Oh dear, another development test …

“Applicant Clinton Devon Estates (CDE) is seeking reserved matters planning permission to build a 929m2 building with 11 car parking spaces at the former Blackhill Quarry in Woodbury Common.

The building is set to become the first part of a four-building development for Blackhill Engineering Services.

Landowner CDE has previously-approved outline planning permission for four industrial buildings and this latest development would be the first phase of the application.

The proposal is set to be discussed at East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) development management committee on Tuesday (June 11) and planning officers have recommended approval.

The officer’s report said: “The proposed building would be the first in a phased development of the site, it would be of a suitable scale taking into account the limitations imposed at the outline stage in terms of height and a building finished in green cladding under a dark grey roof would assimilate well into its surroundings.

“The layout of the site responds well to its constraints and is clearly part of a planned phased development.”

Outline permission was granted last year despite calls for the former quarry land to be returned to heathland.

Concerns have been raised by parish and district councillors in Woodbury and the Otter Valley Association about the continued industrial use of a site in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

This latest plan has had one comment of support which said the area was already ‘degraded’ and was ‘not worth trying to save’.

In its design and access statement, CDE said it will retain existing trees and hedges which would provide more than 7,000 square metres of habitat for various mammals and reptiles. A redundant concrete tank will be converted into a bat refuge.

A further three units are expected to be built in the former quarry and CDE anticipates submitting reserved matters applications for those in the next four years.

EDDC will make the final decision on the reserved matters application.”

https://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/blackhill-engineering-plans-for-woodbury-common-1-6093931

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7 Jun 2019

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Accountability, Carter family, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Woodbury

Mr and Mrs House (nee Carter) want to extend business centre parking to agricultural land …

More Carter family land conversion … ending up with more than 200 parking spaces … really someone needs to stop this sort of thing … TiggerTories to the rescue? Of whom?

Maybe the business centre should move …

“If given the go-ahead, the proposal would provide an additional 59 spaces for users of the nearby Woodbury Business Park.

The site, on the corner of Castle Lane and Rydon Lane, has currently been left ‘fallow’ for the last two years and is ‘sporadically’ used as an overflow car park when needed.

Woodbury Business Park currently has 166 spaces, with 121 of those allocated to tenants.

In the planning support statement, Bell Cornwell, on behalf of applicant GB House and Son, said additional parking at Woodbury Park has become ‘a necessity’.

It said: “Each tenant has a number of allocated parking spaces, with the remainder of their employees having to park in the unallocated visitor parking area.

“This causes problems with visitors to the site not being able to park.”

East Devon District Council will make the final decision.”

https://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/woodbury-overspill-car-park-plans-1-6094087

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7 Jun 2019

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Misc

“UK near bottom of European bathing waters league table” and Ladram Bay gets a big thumbs down

Another Carter family business area … with their caravan park there getting bigger and bigger …

“Just 63% of Britain’s beaches meet most stringent water quality standard.
The UK has one of the lowest proportions of top quality bathing waters in Europe, according to research by the European Environment Agency.

Just 63.2% of Britain’s beaches met the most stringent water quality standards needed to be ranked as excellent.

The UK’s score is similar to that of Albania, where 62% of waters were rated as excellent. The only countries ranked lower were Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and bottom-placed Poland, where just 28% of the bathing water meets the most stringent quality standard.

The EEA’s annual report on water quality found countries including Greece, Austria, Malta and Cyprus had beaches with the cleanest waters in the continent, all with more than 95% reaching the excellent rating.
The three countries with the highest number of poor quality sites, where levels of bacteria from sewage and livestock runoff are at their highest, were Italy, France and Spain.

UK waters have barely improved since last year, when 61% of bathing water was rated excellent by the EEA.

In the UK, 3.3% of bathing water – 21 sites – was rated poor, while the water quality at 26.2% of sites was rated good.

Some 89% of beaches were rated excellent or good. But the proportion rated excellent – at 63.2% – puts the UK among the worst-rated countries in Europe.

Some of the beaches rated as poor or only sufficient quality include beaches along the Solway Firth, Eyemouth near Edinburgh,

Ladram Bay near Sidmouth in Devon,

Worthing, Bexhill and Bognor Regis Aldwick beach.

Across the continent, more than 85% of bathing water monitored last year met the “excellent” standard for water cleanliness.

“Our report confirms that … efforts over the last 40 years, mainly in wastewater treatment, have paid off. Today, most Europeans enjoy excellent bathing water quality,” said Hans Bruyninckx, the EEA’s executive director.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/04/tackle-inequality-land-ownership-laws?

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7 Jun 2019

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Developers/ Development, Housing (local), Land banking, Land Supply, Planning System

Land: the new rhodium (the most expensive metal in the world)

“What is the most neglected issue in British politics? I would say land. Literally and metaphorically, land underlies our lives, but its ownership and control have been captured by a tiny number of people. The results include soaring inequality and exclusion; the massive cost of renting or buying a decent home; the collapse of wildlife and ecosystems; repeated financial crises; and the loss of public space. Yet for 70 years this crucial issue has scarcely featured in political discussions.

Today, I hope, this changes, with the publication of the report to the Labour party – Land for the Many – that I’ve written with six experts in the field. Our aim is to put this neglected issue where it belongs: at the heart of political debate and discussion.

Since 1995, land values in this country have risen by 412%. Land now accounts for an astonishing 51% of the UK’s net worth. Why? In large part because successive governments have used tax exemptions and other advantages to turn the ground beneath our feet into a speculative money machine. A report published this week by Tax Justice UK reveals that, through owning agricultural land, 261 rich families escaped £208m in inheritance tax in 2015-16. Because farmland is used as a tax shelter, farmers are being priced out. In 2011, farmers bought 60% of the land that was on the market; within six years this had fallen to 40%.

Homes are so expensive not because of the price of bricks and mortar, but because land now accounts for 70% of the price

Worse still, when planning permission is granted on agricultural land, its value can rise 250-fold. Though this jackpot was created by society, the owner gets to keep most of it. We pay for this vast inflation in land values through outrageous rents and mortgages. Capital gains tax is lower than income tax, and council tax is proportionately more expensive for the poor than for the rich. As a result of such giveaways, and the amazing opacity of the system, land in the UK has become a magnet for international criminals seeking to launder their money.

We pay for these distortions every day. Homes have become so expensive not because the price of bricks and mortar has risen, but because the land that underlies them now accounts for 70% of their price. Twenty years ago, the average working family needed to save for three years to afford a deposit. Today, it must save for 19 years. Life is even worse for renters. While housing costs swallow 12% of average household incomes for those with mortgages, renters pay 36%.

Because we hear so little about the underlying issues, we blame the wrong causes for the cost and scarcity of housing: immigration, population growth, the green belt, red tape. In reality, the power of landowners and building companies, their tax and financial advantages and the vast shift in bank lending towards the housing sector have inflated prices so much that even a massive housebuilding programme could not counteract them.

The same forces are responsible for the loss of public space in cities, a right to roam that covers only 10% of the land, the lack of provision for allotments and of opportunities for new farmers, and the wholesale destruction of the living world. Our report aims to confront these structural forces and take back control of the fabric of the nation. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/04/tackle-inequality-land-ownership-laws?

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7 Jun 2019

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Accountability, Hugo Swire

Another Guardian satirist takes a pop at Swire’s PM choice (and Swire)

… “Dominic Raab seems to have been disturbed during some policymaking again, leaving dogwalkers to find the remains of an idea to prorogue parliament so that no deal happens by default. On one level, this is the only policy position Dominic can adopt, having already resigned in protest at a deal he himself negotiated as Brexit secretary. However, Raab remains at large in this contest,

with people warned not simply to avoid approaching him – that is a given – but to stay away from anyone even backing him.

I mean, is he really going to drag the Queen into it? By it, I obviously mean a constitutional crisis, not his van.” ….

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/07/tory-fantasists-theresa-may-leadership-candidates-brexit?

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7 Jun 2019

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Misc

BoJo received nearly £700,000 for speeches and newspaper columns this last year

MORTEN CARTOON

“Boris Johnson has pocketed nearly £700,000 for speeches and newspaper columns since he quit government less than a year ago, while other prominent Brexiters have received tens of thousands of pounds while cheerleading Britain’s exit from the EU.

The former foreign secretary, who is the frontrunner to succeed Theresa May as prime minister next month, was paid £407,895 for just eight speaking engagements – a rate of £20,000 an hour.

His most recent paid speeches, disclosed in the register of MPs’ financial interests on Wednesday, included a £25,540 insurance brokers’ gig in Manchester where he confirmed his Tory leadership bid on 16 May. …”

On top of his £407,000 for speeches, the Tory MP resumed his £275,000 a year Telegraph contract and received a further £3,500 for four other newspaper articles, plus £27,000 in book royalties, taking his total income to £712,500 – almost 10 times his yearly MP’s salary of £79,000 for representing Uxbridge and South Ruislip in parliament.

Johnson’s best-paying gig was a speech about Brexit for India Today at the five-star Taj Palace hotel in New Delhi, India, for which he received £122,899.74 in March. He used that address to attack Brussels and critics of Britain’s departure from the EU, which he described as an “anti-democratic, over-legislating, job-destroying machine”.

Should Johnson become prime minister, he will have to forfeit his substantial second income and survive on the basic salary of £150,402 for the top job in government. The ministerial code prohibits those in government from being paid for speeches or media articles “of an official nature or which directly draw on their responsibilities or experience as ministers”.

However, upon leaving office they are free, within reason, to cash in on their role. Payments of over £100 must be registered every 28 days with the parliamentary commissioner for standards, who then publishes a fortnightly register of all MPs’ financial interests. …

One of the most prominent backbench Eurosceptics, Jacob Rees-Mogg, has received more than £28,000 for columns and media appearances since the referendum. The Tory MP, who chairs the influential European Research Group, was paid in champagne for one speech by Global Media, the owner of LBC radio where he hosts a fortnightly phone-in. The register of interests, first disclosed in April, states that he “received 12 bottles of champagne with a total value of £323.52”.

Dominic Raab, another former Brexit secretary, was paid nearly £11,000 for newspaper columns since the EU referendum, not including the five months he was in government. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/06/boris-johnson-got-700000-for-speeches-and-columns-mps-register-shows?

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7 Jun 2019

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Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Community Infrastructure Levy, Cranbrook, EDDC, Housing (local), National Parks, Sustainability

Government to allow Community Infrastructure Levy to fund big projects

Oooh … just in time for Cranbrook’s latest expansion plans! AND when councils all over the country are declaring a climate emergency and trying to avoid unsustainable projects. Catch 22 there for TiggerTories!

Or perhaps it will go to a new National Park – lol.

“Councils will be required to report on the agreements reached with housing developers to pay for infrastructure, under new rules laid in Parliament this week.

Housing Minister Kit Malthouse claimed that “confusing and unnecessarily over-complicated” rules were being simplified, so that communities would know exactly how much developers were paying for infrastructure in their area.

Councils will have to set out how the money will be spent “enabling residents to see every step taken to secure their area is ready for new housing”.

The Government also claimed that the changes would make it faster for councils to introduce the Community Infrastructure Levy in the first place.

Restrictions are to be eased to allow councils to fund single, larger infrastructure projects from the cash received from multiple developments, “giving greater freedom to deliver complex projects at pace”, it added.

The Minister of State said: “Communities deserve to know whether their council is fighting their corner with developers – getting more cash to local services so they can cope with the new homes built.

“The reforms not only ensure developers and councils don’t shirk their responsibilities, allowing residents to hold them to account – but also free up councillors to fund bigger and more complicated projects over the line.

“The certainty and less needless complexity will lead to quicker decisions.”

The regulations will be debated once parliamentary time allows.

The Government has also published its response to the views received in its technical consultation on developer contributions reform.”

https://www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/planning/401-planning-news/40736-councils-to-be-required-to-report-on-deals-with-housing-developers

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7 Jun 2019

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Developers/ Development, Housing (local), Tourism

Glorious Devon?

“… The Devon Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England says it has been overwhelmed by the response from the public to its Greetings from Glorious Devon postcard campaign.

The group has printed thousands of cards highlighting development on green fields and is asking people to send them to Kit Malthouse, the Minister of State for Housing and Planning.

In May, Mr Malthouse announced a major new scheme to build “20,000 much-needed properties” across Exeter, East Devon and Teignbridge.

“Holiday makers come to Devon because they love the countryside, the peace and quiet, the fresh air, the seaside. Are they honestly coming to look at sprawling housing estates and traffic jams? I don’t think they are, so we’re hoping this will attract a lot of attention.” [says] Penny Mills Director, CPRE Devon

Mr Malthouse says only one per cent of England is developed with homes and the government has “failed to build enough homes over the last few decades”.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-devon-48431440

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6 Jun 2019

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, East Devon economy, EDDC

Parish and town councils raising bills at a higher rate than larger authorities

“Villagers paying council tax are seeing their parish bills rise at a higher rate than the share they pay to larger authorities.

BBC News analysed the bills of more than 8,500 town and parish councils from 2013-14 to 2016-17.

Parish councillors say they are being asked to take on more responsibilities as their larger local authority counterparts make cuts.

The government said it expected parish councils to “demonstrate restraint”. …

BBC England’s data unit and BBC Newcastle found:

The total amount of tax collected by parish councils rose from £361m to £434m from 2013-14 to 2016-17

That saw the average bill rise from £50 to £57, a rise of 14%

Some parish councils have raised their share of the bill by far larger amounts

Parts of Kettering, West Berkshire, Peterborough, Rutland, Pendle, Harborough, Cornwall and Copeland saw the largest increases

Some 318 parish and town authorities out of 8,583 issued levies in 2016-17 that were at least double the amount they charged in 2013-14

Larger authorities are obliged to hold a referendum for any increases above 2%, although those responsible for adult social care are now allowed to increase bills by a further 3% for this purpose only.

Parish councils, which generally represent people with populations of less than 2,500, are not subject to the same cap. …”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38827421

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6 Jun 2019

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Ben Ingham, East Devon Alliance, East Devon Tories, EDDC, Lib Dem (local), TiggerTories

Lib Dems and Indies unite against Tories – in Torbay, not East Devon

Here in East Devon it seems the larger group of Independents is working with Tories and very recently ex-Tories (called TiggerTories by Owl), leaving the smaller Lib Dem and East Devon Alliance Independents groups out in the cold. Not what most non-Tory voters were expecting. … or wanting.

“The new political leadership of Torbay Council has announced plans to invest £100m in the local economy.

The authority’s Liberal Democrat leader Steve Darling revealed the initiative to drive economic growth in a video posted on social media.

He said they had told council officers to develop business plans for £100m worth of investments.

The strategy was a key election pledge by the Liberal Democrats, who saw a big rise in support at the election in May.

The party’s councillors have joined with the Independents in a formal alliance to take control of the authority, leaving the Tories in opposition. …”

https://www.devonlive.com/news/new-council-leaders-announce-100m-2949176

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6 Jun 2019

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Inequality, Poverty

“2.4 Million Britons In Poverty Despite Having Jobs”

“An estimated 2.4m working people were in poverty in 2017, of which 31% also experienced in-work poverty in 2016, new data has shown.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also revealed that a third of people cannot face unexpected expenses, while 23.7% cannot afford a one-week annual holiday.

However, persistent poverty rates in the UK in 2017 are comparable to levels in 2008, equivalent to roughly 4.7 million people, or 7.8% of the population.

Peter Briffett, co-founder and CEO of the income streaming app, Wagestream, which campaigns against payday poverty, said: “For nearly five million people in the UK to be living in persistent poverty is a damning indictment of the state we’re in.

“It’s the 21st Century and yet for far too many households life is borderline Dickensian.

“High inflation and negligible wage growth will have accentuated persistent poverty in recent years, although some will invariably point the finger at austerity measures.

“Hopefully strengthening wage growth and inflation returning to target will be helping more people out of persistent poverty.

“For many people, the knock-on effect of persistent poverty is recourse to high cost credit simply to keep their heads above water and this only makes matters worse. The result is a cycle of debt from which it is near impossible to break free …”

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/24-million-people-in-the-uk-are-in-poverty-despite-having-jobs_uk_5cf8c5bee4b0638bdfa4b29d?