Parish and Swire were amongst 190 MPs who abstained on equalising abortion and marriage rights between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK:
Here’s the full list of MPs who voted against marriage equality and abortion in Northern Ireland
Those MPs who did vote had a majority for equalisation.
Swire no doubt didn’t want to upset his DUP Leader pal Arleen Phillips.
After all, he did bring her to East Devon to address the party faithful recently.
“A series of unfulfilled pledges by a housing developer has seen a historic former school remain visibly untouched for five-and-a-half years, but assurances have now been given its transformation could be completed by 2021.
Former girls’ school St Margaret’s in St Leonard’s, Exeter, was granted planning permission to be turned into housing in 2014.
Grenadier Estates promised to turn the Grade II listed building into an ‘exclusive development’ of 35 apartments and four town houses, by winter 2019/20.
Work was due to begin in the summer of 2017, but instead it has remained boarded up and shrouded in scaffolding and plastic.
Last June, the developers said work would begin on the first phase that month.
Among the reasons stated for the delay was making it a sustainable development, and seeking further planning permission.
At that time no date was given for when the project would be completed due to ‘sensitivities of preserving the historic building, suppliers and ensuring the selected construction techniques are appropriate’.
However, Grenadier has announced today it estimates the project will take a further two years to complete.
Its new vision is to provide a mix of 38 high-quality apartments and three individual townhouses which will be high-quality and energy efficient homes.
The Exeter-based developer has pledged not to compromise the historic character of the property by using the latest advancements in building techniques and technology. …..”
https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/eight-year-wait-former-exeter-3076220
Yes, if they have the will as the councils mentioned in this article already have:
The damning review from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) will pile pressure on the government to implement a proposed sector shake-up prompted by corporate failures at builder Carillion, retailer BHS and an accounting scandal at cafe chain Patisserie Valerie.
The FRC said EY, KPMG, Deloitte and PwC, known as the Big Four, and BDO, Grant Thornton and Mazars from the next tier down, all failed to hit a target that 90% of audits reviewed by the regulator were good or required only limited improvements.
Only 75% of the sample of audits from among Britain’s 350 top listed companies for the year ending December 2017 met the 90% target overall as accountants failed to challenge information clients gave to them, the FRC said.
There was no overall improvement on last year’s findings when all audits reviewed failed to meet the 90% target.
“At a time when the future of the audit sector is under the microscope, the latest audit quality results are not acceptable,” said Stephen Haddrill, the FRC’s chief executive.
Radical reform of the sector was proposed last December to rebuild public trust in audit, including replacing the FRC, described by lawmakers as toothless, with a more powerful watchdog.
Haddrill and his chair Win Bischoff are being replaced. …”
Knighted by David Cameron and one of England’s largest landowners …
“Sir James Dyson has bought what is thought to be Singapore’s biggest and most expensive penthouse flat.
The purchase comes after his company, best known for its vacuum cleaners, moved its HQ from the UK to Singapore.
Sir James, a prominent advocate for Brexit who has said leaving the EU with no deal would “make no difference”, was accused of hypocrisy after the move.
The property is at the heart of the city’s business district and spans three floors and has five bedrooms.
Official records show Sir James and his wife Lady Deirdre Dyson are joint tenants of the apartment at the prestigious Wallich Residence.
“Given the decision to locate the headquarters in Singapore and the growing focus of the company’s business in the region, of course James Dyson has bought a property there,” a Dyson spokesperson said in a statement. …
Sir James took ownership of the property in June, the records show.
According to marketing documents, the property is the largest “non-landed residence” in Singapore and has its own swimming pool, jacuzzi room and bar facilities.
Singapore’s Business Times reports Sir James paid $73.8m ($54m, £43m) for the “super penthouse”, which has views of the city’s Marina Bay Sands and the financial district. …
Most of Dyson’s products are designed in the UK, but manufactured in Asia.”
Officers sought to get permission to use land it owns at Queen’s Drive, which previously housed recreation facilities, as a temporary overflow car park for 3 years. Exmouth councillors were appalled but could see no option but to agree. Colyton EDA Councillor proposed that the land should be so designated for 14 months only until September 2020.
Compromise achieved and agreed.
Lesson learned? Hhhmmm … let’s wait and see.
https://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/queen-s-drive-seafront-car-park-plan-approved-1-6152147
Water companies – you know, those privatised companies (with monopolies in their areas) that hand massive bonuses and dividends to their (often foreign) owners and shareholders.
From the report:
“… “This report shows that:
• with one exception, none of the companies are performing at the level the environment needs
• rather than improving, the performance of most companies has deteriorated, reversing the trend of gradual improvement since we introduced the EPA in 2011
• serious pollution incidents which damage the local environment, threaten wildlife and in the worst cases put the public at risk, have increased
This report is about 2018, but I am sad to say we are not seeing dramatic improvements in 2019. As a result we will toughen our regulatory approach!”
East Devon Watch 