21 August 2020 eastdevon.gov.uk 

These are the voting results as Owl recorded them last night, they have been cross-checked but it is always possible, with a long list, for inadvertent errors to creep in – if you spot any please let Owl know.

To avoid confusion about what voting for or against the motion put to Council means, Owl has used the term “Stay” to indicate those voting to stay in GESP and “Leave” for those voting to leave.

33 Councillors voted to leave and 22 Councillors voted to stay in GESP; there was one abstention, three Councillors sent their apologies and one was absent.

Essentially those voting to stay, were all the Conservatives present and all the self-styled “Independent Group”. These are the remainder of Ben Ingham’s group of “Independents” who did not join the Majority Group or form Cranbrook Voice. The other unaligned “Independent” from the Ingham Group, Cllr Peter Faithfull, also voted to stay in the GESP.

East Devon votes to withdraw from the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan

From a correspondent:

The Leader of the Council, Paul Arnott, grasps the importance of the public’s perception of ethical standards expected from those working and elected in the public sector and, surely, all would agree that the 7 Nolan principles of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership are an aim we should all try to aspire to in every walk of life.

Owl believes this is what was said under Agenda Item 6 last night:

Cllr Cathy Gardner, Chair EDDC 

“Some of you will know that I became involved in local politics because I was concerned about probity in planning. That was in 2013, at the time of the Graham Brown affair. I quickly got to know neighbours and others in East Devon who shared my concerns, and more. Now that I am Chair of EDDC it is a vital part of my role to safeguard the reputation of this Council and rid ourselves of that legacy. In order to do that I believe we must take positive steps to improve public perception of how we operate, especially when it comes to aspects of planning. We must ensure that our processes are totally robust and our behaviour is beyond reproach. I will hand over to the Leader, Cllr Paul Arnott who will explain….” 

Cllr Paul Arnott, Leader EDDC 

“This morning, the Chair called a meeting with the CEO and the Monitoring Officer, and invited the Chair of Planning, the Deputy Leader and me. 

We had a positive and wide-ranging discussion on how we can make sure that even as busy members and officers we adhere to the commitment to the Nolan Principles at all times. There is a difference between lip service and implementation, and all councils with duties in Planning must make sure that implementation is its watchword.  

This discussion had been triggered now for urgent action by a number of factors.  

From the recent past, it is clear that the failure of this council to go ahead with the Task and Finish Forum commissioned to look into the Brown issue -mentioned by the Chair – and into the role and influence of the former East Devon Business Forum, was a serious error of judgement. It gave the impression – whatever the case – that members and the public had no legitimate right to understand these unhappy matters. There had been a chance to clean the stable – instead the broom was snapped and the stable door locked. It was business as usual. 

However, the timing now has been mainly triggered by the need to look to the immediate future, and the time for action is here as the council, like the nation, enters some of the most challenging times for Planning in our history. We cannot fulfil our duty to the Nolan principles when the public is still unsure about the role of undue influence in our Planning Choices, our site identification. Or where their community’s S106 money has got to. 

Imminently, we re-engage with our Local Plan process. There were serious and unanswered questions about a number of sites which came in under the bar at the eleventh hour in the current plan in 2015, and members have repeated the concerns about the sporadic undeclared interests of some members in this council and their alliance with large-scale landowners in relation to the draft consultation for the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan. 

We cannot make a clean start on our new plan-making process without absolute clarity and commitment to the highest standards of member and officer probity. Soon, in addition, we will have to respond to the government’s consultation on Planning changes. This council will have an obligation to include in that the risks – nationally acknowledged – of local and national undue influence, corruption some might say, in that too. As we know, the Sec of State whose name is on the draft consultation helped in the cause of the international pornographer, Richmond Desmond, who hoped avoid millions of pound in CIL. He is but one of a legion of developer donors to the Tory party. That, I am afraid to say, Conservative members and friends, is your party. Well we are not having that here. 

Therefore, the Chair will host another meeting next Thursday on this topic with those gathered today, and arising from that I will write as Leader to the Chair and the CEO advising that we will have an agenda item to discuss how we structure our immediate work on this topic at the next available Cabinet.” 

EAST DEVON RESULT ON GESP – WE’RE OUT – BUT NOT DOWNHEARTED!

“It was reassuring that the recommendation by the Strategic Planning Committee to Council to withdraw from the GESP was carried by 33 votes to 22 with one abstention at the Council’s Virtual meeting last night and it is hoped that Mid Devon District Council will follow this lead and also withdraw next week. 

EDDC’s live streaming on Youtube is welcome as it gives the public an insight into the world of local politics and an opportunity to listen to the characters and qualities of those who have been elected to represent the people of East Devon.

The Leader of the Council, Paul Arnott, grasps the importance of the public’s perception of ethical standards expected from those working and elected in the public sector and, surely, all would agree that the 7 Nolan principles of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership are an aim we should all try to aspire to in every walk of life.

For the ordinary residents of East Devon, GESP has seemed opaque (even secretive) and any public consultation would have been unlikely to show the public’s widespread views because lack of transparency has left people in the dark and precluded and consequently very few would have felt confident to make representations on GESP – leaving only local government officers, members, local business people, landowners and developers to represent their opinions, which may have proved somewhat biased.

Last night saw a chameleon-like speaker (who changes colours regularly) bleating incessantly, while others pontificated desperately trying to reverse the withdrawal from the GESP recommended by the new Strategic Planning Committee, by scaremongering and threatening Westminster intervention and unitary status, but the public perception is that they would all do well to re-read the 7 Nolan principles and endeavour to follow them as a first step to representing the people of East Devon.”

[Owl intends to publish more on the Chairman’s and Leader’s statement – working on the transcript]

Debate on this item started around 40 minutes into the meeting with the recorded vote starting around 1hr 8 mins.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmNHQruge3LVI4hcgRnbwBw

The EDDC coalition of Democratic Alliance (East Devon Alliance, Libdem, Greens, Independents) and Independent Progressive Councillors has only a narrow majority. It does not impose a “whip” on its members. Every vote is therefore a potential cliffhanger. For example, in this vote one Libdem abstained.

Discipline, on the other hand, is the one thing at which the Conservative Party excels. It is their great strength but also their weakness. It makes the party inward looking and slow to pick up on changes in mood not just in the party but in the community. Pursuing the party line blinds to arguments.

As soon as it was revealed, at the start of last night’s meeting, that three Conservatives had sent their apologies (later, another failed to show) the die was cast, the game was over.

And it showed when it got to their lacklustre performance in the debate. For the first time they looked, and sounded, defeated.

Council Leader, Cllr Paul Arnott explained that the Government White Paper proposed to tear up the duty to co-operate with neighbouring authorities. But under his administration, if the decision was taken to pull out from GESP, EDDC would continue to cooperate. He laid out a strategy to start immediately to revise the Local Plan and prepare to meet the White Paper proposals whilst making a strong consultation response to counter them. EDDC, he said, was in a strong position with a six year land supply.

In contrast, it appears that the Conservative councillors who spoke have not yet grasped the significance of what their Government is planning to do, nor what the GESP is all about. We heard the astonishing suggestion from both “Build,build, build” Cllr Helen Parr and Cllr Philip Skinner that the GESP was the best way to preserve the beauty of East Devon! Our “Chameleon” Cllr Ben Ingam painted GESP as delivering some Nirvana that Owl obviously failed to spot when reading the documents. 

As Chairman, Cathy Gardner, pointed out, more than four hours of debate had been held in the Strategic Planning Committee when, Cllr Dan Ledger, its Chairman, called every EDDC Councillor who wished to speak before going into the Committee session. There was also a significant contribution from the public.

The Chairman had asked that points be kept short and to concentrate on changes that had happened since the earlier debate. After about 30 minutes, and when it became apparent that Councillors were going over old ground and repeating arguments, she called the vote.

The recorded vote was carried 33 for 22 against one formal abstention (Libdem)

Three Conservative Councillors sent in their apologies in advance: Cllrs Allen, Hartnell and Twiss, and one, Cllr Pepper, failed to show..

Owl will produce a post in due course recording the result of the vote in each ward.  

A coincidence but a very prophetic one – Exeter needs to take a different direction – Owl