Six opposition parties in the Commons are urging the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, to allow a vote on an inquiry into Boris Johnson’s “consistent failure to be honest” in statements to MPs.
Daily Archives: 19 Apr 2021
Planning applications validated by EDDC for week beginning 5 April
- Renovation of existing agricultural buildings with new link extension to create a new dwelling
Monkton Park Farm Payhembury Honiton EX14 3HYRef. No: 21/1043/FUL | Validated: Fri 09 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Certificate of Lawfulness for proposed loft conversion, insertion of gable window and rooflights to front, and replacement windows3 Ashclyst View Broadclyst Exeter EX5 3NARef. No: 21/1040/CPL | Validated: Fri 09 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of single storey side extension, replacement porch and reconstruction of garages
Old Alfington Inn Alfington Ottery St Mary EX11 1NZRef. No: 21/1034/FUL | Validated: Fri 09 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Fell Western Red Ceder (T1) The tree is damaging the drive, it needs to be removed before the bank is underpinned.
Bank End Tipton St John Sidmouth EX10 0AWRef. No: 21/1035/TRE | Validated: Thu 08 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of dormers to front and rear to enable loft conversion, rear extension with revised roof over garage to provide first floor accommodation, creation of first floor balcony and Juliet window with glazed balustrade, and change of materials to render walls, weatherboarding to dormers, slate roof and anthracite grey/black windows & doors (revision of 20/0419/FUL)
82 Foxholes Hill Exmouth EX8 2DHRef. No: 21/1028/FUL | Validated: Wed 07 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Reduce height of three golden Lawson cypress on southern boundary of 1 Sidleigh by up to 1.2 metres to same level as in 2015 ref: 15/1684/TCA
1 Sidleigh Sid Road Sidmouth EX10 9DERef. No: 21/1015/TCA | Validated: Wed 07 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- T6, Oak : reduction of branches as indicated on photo by two metres leaving a spread of approximately four metres. Reason: branches are causing excessive shading and have little amenity value.
2 Sidleigh Sid Road Sidmouth EX10 9DERef. No: 21/1013/TRE | Validated: Wed 07 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- T1 Willow – Reduce stem with chicken of the woods by 5-6m in height Reason: Appropriate arb management to reduce the risk of failure
3 Perriams Old Ebford Lane Ebford Exeter EX3 0QBRef. No: 21/1027/TRE | Validated: Wed 07 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of side extension (revision of 20/2897/FUL)
40 Bedlands Lane Budleigh Salterton EX9 6QNRef. No: 21/1026/FUL | Validated: Wed 07 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Reserved matters application (access, appearance, landscaping, layout, scale) pursuant to the outline planning permission ref: 12/1291/MOUT for the creation of 2 sports pitches including pedestrian and cycle access, landscaping and associated works , together with the partial discharge of conditions 2, 4, 5, 17 and 19 of outline planning permission 12/1291/MOUT relating to phase 11
Land At Tithebarn Green Clyst HonitonRef. No: 21/1016/MRES | Validated: Wed 07 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Proposed garden room
Coate Farm Hawkchurch Axminster EX13 5XBRef. No: 21/1011/FUL | Validated: Wed 07 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of agricultural tracks.
Great Trill Farm Musbury Axminster EX13 8TURef. No: 21/1018/AGR | Validated: Wed 07 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Agricultural storage building
Great Trill Farm Musbury Axminster EX13 8TURef. No: 21/1017/AGR | Validated: Wed 07 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Certificate of lawfulness for the construction of single storey rear extension2 Bramble Close Budleigh Salterton EX9 6JSRef. No: 21/1023/CPL | Validated: Wed 07 Apr 2021 | Status: Refused
- Certificate of lawfulness for the conversion of garage to habitable space11 Turnstone Avenue Seaton Devon EX12 2FPRef. No: 21/1021/CPL | Validated: Wed 07 Apr 2021 | Status: Approved
- Reduction and shaping of cherry tree by up to 1.2 metres to leave a finished height of approx. 3.7 metres. Eucalyptus, remove lowest first order branch over grass, reduce first order branch over drive by up to four metres, remove two branches overhanging Sidleigh. See attached photos.
1 Sidleigh Sid Road Sidmouth EX10 9DERef. No: 21/1014/TCA | Validated: Tue 06 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Proposed roof extension
High Meadow Greenhill Avenue Lympstone Exmouth EX8 5HWRef. No: 21/1007/FUL | Validated: Tue 06 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Application for the removal of conditions 33, 34 and 35 (relating to the provision of the railway link/railhead to the site) on the outline planning permission ref: 10/2184/MOUT for an intermodal freight facility and freight distribution centre, landscaping, ancillary works and updated Environmental Statement
Lidl Distribution Centre Chillpark Brake Clyst Honiton EX5 2FURef. No: 21/1002/VAR | Validated: Tue 06 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Oak trim back lower branches to recommended 1.5m from property. Reason: Appropriate Arb Management.
The Farthings Upton Pyne Exeter EX5 5JARef. No: 21/0994/TRE | Validated: Tue 06 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of single and two storey extension and porch
19 Grove Hill Colyton EX24 6ETRef. No: 21/1004/FUL | Validated: Thu 08 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of a timber frame outbuilding, with 20 no. solar panels on the roof
Summerleaze House Gammons Hill Kilmington Axminster EX13 7RARef. No: 21/1001/FUL | Validated: Thu 08 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of single storey front extension
8 Chineway Gardens Ottery St Mary EX11 1JGRef. No: 21/0998/FUL | Validated: Thu 08 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Demolition of existing timber garage and open porch, and construction of new replacement double garage and porch.
Aram Littlemead Lane Exmouth EX8 3BURef. No: 21/0990/FUL | Validated: Thu 08 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of single storey extension and porch
9 Wychall Park Seaton EX12 2EWRef. No: 21/0993/FUL | Validated: Wed 07 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Change of use and alterations to detached double garage to create an annexe for use by family.
61 Jenwood Road Dunkeswell Honiton EX14 4UYRef. No: 21/0954/FUL | Validated: Wed 07 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of two storey rear extension and rear dormer window
1 Railway Terrace Tipton St John Sidmouth EX10 0AARef. No: 21/0955/FUL | Validated: Fri 09 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Retention of replacement outbuildings; rebuilding of supporting wall
The Captains Cottage Fore Street Beer Seaton EX12 3EERef. No: 21/0972/FUL | Validated: Tue 06 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Proposed weather boarding to dormer window, and construction of raised patio
4 Grange Close Lympstone Exmouth EX8 5LDRef. No: 21/0951/FUL | Validated: Thu 08 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Replacement oil tank
Ryecroft Cottage Yarcombe Honiton EX14 9BDRef. No: 21/0968/FUL | Validated: Thu 08 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Rebuild supporting wall
The Captains Cottage Fore Street Beer Seaton EX12 3EERef. No: 21/0973/LBC | Validated: Tue 06 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of single storey rear extensions
Banjul Toadpit Lane West Hill Ottery St Mary EX11 1LQRef. No: 21/0940/FUL | Validated: Tue 06 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of first floor rear extension and front facing gable extension; installation of side facing windows at first and second floor level.
5 Higher Brook Meadow Sidford Sidmouth EX10 9SSRef. No: 21/0948/FUL | Validated: Wed 07 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of detached garage
Saundercroft Whimple Exeter EX5 2PFRef. No: 21/0918/FUL | Validated: Thu 08 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Variation of Condition 2 (plans condition) of approved application 19/1580/FUL (Construction of first floor bedroom extension, ground floor bedroom replacement roof and rear ground floor dining room extension) to allow alteration to proposed dormer window and hip to gable.
The Old School Exmouth Road Exton Exeter EX3 0PQRef. No: 21/0915/VAR | Validated: Tue 06 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Temporary change of use of land (for three year period) for the siting of up to seven glamping tents, five dining domes and associated facilities and parking
Land West Of Leggetts Lane RousdonRef. No: 21/0898/COU | Validated: Tue 06 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Proposed equestrian ménage (for private use)
Wiscombe Grange Southleigh Colyton EX24 6JFRef. No: 21/0904/FUL | Validated: Thu 08 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of greenhouse
Bendarroch House Bendarroch Road West Hill Ottery St Mary EX11 1JYRef. No: 21/0927/FUL | Validated: Thu 08 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Variation of condition 2 (approved plans) and removal of condition 3 (closure of access and reinstatement of hedge) of planning permission 20/0568/VAR to allow the retention of the temporary access onto Stony Lane
Bridge Farm Stony Lane Woodbury Salterton Exeter EX5 1PPRef. No: 21/0908/VAR | Validated: Thu 08 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of two storey side and rear extension and single storey side extension
Samguri Bendarroch Road West Hill Ottery St Mary EX11 1TSRef. No: 21/0914/FUL | Validated: Fri 09 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of replacement dwelling and detached garage with accommodation above
Ty Croeso Offwell Honiton EX14 9RYRef. No: 21/0886/FUL | Validated: Tue 06 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Change of use to a glamping site comprising 2 no glamping pods and a facilities and toilet building (retrospective application)
Pine Hollow Hulham Road Exmouth EX8 5DXRef. No: 21/0856/FUL | Validated: Fri 09 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Construction of garden studio/office and decking to enable business enterprise
Ty Croeso Offwell Honiton EX14 9RYRef. No: 21/0844/FUL | Validated: Fri 09 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Norway Maple : Fell due to causing structural damage to nearby wall.
8 Fairlawn Court Sidmouth EX10 8URRef. No: 21/0828/TCA | Validated: Wed 07 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Retention of shelter for storage of bicycles and electric scooter.
1 Kings Row King Street Honiton EX14 1EHRef. No: 21/0815/FUL | Validated: Tue 06 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Replace 2no. ground floor sash windows on front (south east) elevation.
231 High Street Honiton EX14 1AHRef. No: 21/0804/LBC | Validated: Fri 09 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
- Replace 4no. fixed pane windows in existing sunroom with 2no. French doors on side (south east) elevation and extend sunroom floor level into small section of lounge floor by raising floor level
Stowford House Colaton Raleigh Sidmouth EX10 0JBRef. No: 21/0698/LBC | Validated: Tue 06 Apr 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
Dave’s “Not Dodgy”
Environment Secretary George Eustice defends ex-PM David Cameron over lobbying scandal…
(MP for Camborne and Redruth)
[No comment yet from Dave’s great pal Hugo? And is it just Dave or the whole party?- Owl]
Kate Ferguson www.thesun.co.uk
A CABINET minister yesterday defended former PM David Cameron over the lobbying scandal.
Environment Secretary George Eustice insisted Mr Cameron had not “broken any rules”.
Mr Eustice told the BBC: “It is acceptable because people have worked within the rules.”
Mr Cameron is under fire for messaging Chancellor Rishi Sunak asking for millions in Covid bailouts for finance company Greensill Capital.
Mr Eustice also defended Health Secretary Matt Hancock for having shares in his sister’s company which won NHS contracts.
He said: “There is nothing wrong with ministers having financial interests provided they declare them.”
Boris Johnson has ordered a lawyer-led review into the Greensill affair.
Meanwhile, a string of parliamentary inquiries have been set up into lobbying and second jobbing at the top of government.
But Mr Eustice downplayed talk of major reform.
He said it might be right to “consider tweaks to policy” but that, fundamentally, the system was a “pretty good one”.
But Labour’s Rachel Reeves said Mr Cameron had plunged his party into a fresh Tory sleaze scandal.
Shadow minister Steve Reed said the lobbying scandal was something “you would associate with a tinpot dictatorship”.
Boris Johnson says he agrees with Lord Pickles as more inquiries are launched over David Cameron Greensill scandal
NHS England chair faces demands to explain role in Greensill lobbying
The Conservative peer who chairs NHS England is facing demands to explain why he helped arrange for Greensill Capital to lobby senior health service bosses, with Labour describing his role as “shocking”.
Denis Campbell www.theguardian.com
David Prior is facing questions over a meeting he organised between the now collapsed finance firm’s founder Lex Greensill and the overall boss of the NHS and its chief financial officer.
Lord Prior – a former Tory MP, health minister and Tory party deputy chair – also helped to facilitate a meeting at which Lex Greensill was able to lobby Lady Harding, the Tory peer who chairs NHS Improvement, the health service’s financial regulator.
That encounter led to Greensill being able to meet the chief executives of a number of NHS hospital trusts whose support he was seeking for a scheme to let the NHS’s 1.4m staff in England be paid daily by Greensill, via an app called Earnd, rather than monthly in what Labour said was a latter-day “junk bonds” exercise.
Harding is best known as the boss of the government’s heavily-criticised £37bn test and trace programme.
Calls for clarity about Prior’s involvement with Greensill come amid continuing controversy about the roles played by David Cameron, the former prime minister, who was a lobbyist for and senior figure at the firm, and Matt Hancock, the health secretary, who backed the payments system it wanted to introduce across the health service.
Cameron has been under fire for weeks for lobbying an array of ministers and civil servants, both for Greensill to be able to access emergency government funding during the Covid pandemic and for the NHS to adopt the scheme involving health service pay.
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said: “Shockingly, meetings were convened by NHS England chair and former Cameron health minister Lord Prior with senior NHS officials, and fellow Tory peer and NHS leader Dido Harding facilitated further meetings with Trust chief executives.
“Trusts may have spent valuable time considering the adoption of this untested scheme and did so because the secretary of the state and the most senior NHS figures succumbed to Cameron and Greensill’s lobbying.”
Munira Wilson, the Liberal Democrats’ spokesperson on health, said: “Conservative party cronyism must not be allowed to interfere with the daily running of the NHS. I expect all details of Lord Prior’s engagement with Lex Greensill to be made public, allowing proper scrutiny to take place.”
The Sunday Times disclosed how Prior arranged for Lex Greensill and his close colleague Bill Crowther, an ex-head of government procurement under Cameron, to meet Julian Kelly, NHS England’s chief financial officer, in July 2019 at a meeting which Sir Simon Stevens – the service’s chief executive – attended for 15 minutes at the peer’s request.
Ashworth added: “We now need to know how many NHS leaders and officials did Cameron and Greensill lobby? How many NHS trusts in total were approached about a scheme that was really a form of usury?”
NHS England declined to say who had asked Prior to arrange access for Greensill. It is thought that he was approached by senior figures at the firm whom he knew from his days working in the City.
Hancock is already under scrutiny for having a drink with Cameron and Greensill, who was an adviser to Cameron when he was prime minister of the coalition government of 2010-15.
The Sunday Times published an email that Cameron sent to Matthew Gould, the chief executive of NHSX, the health service’s digital innovation agency, seeking his help in ensuring that Greensill’s company, in the event of a deal, could access the personal details of NHS workers held in the service’s Electronic Staff Record. Gould replied that “we will certainly look into the ESR question”.
The Guardian asked the Department of Health and Social Care if Hancock had approached Prior or Harding before their respective engagements with Greensill. But it refused to answer and suggested we submit a freedom of information request to pursue that information.
A DHSC spokesperson said: “The wellbeing of NHS staff is the top priority of the department and health secretary.
“Our approach was and is that local NHS employers are best placed to decide how different pay flexibilities fit with their overall pay and reward offer for their staff.”
Dr John Puntis, the co-chair of Keep Our NHS Public, which campaigns against NHS privatisation, said: “Prior, Harding and Stevens are all concerned with promoting a digital transformation of the NHS on the unevidenced and highly dubious basis that it will save money and improve care.”
A spokesperson for NHS England and NHS Improvement said: “NHS England and NHS Improvement experts scrutinised these proposals but decided not to go along with them. Had these ideas been taken forward by NHSEI, there would have been a transparent and open procurement process.”
NHS England did not respond when asked why Prior arranged for Greensill and Crowther to meet Kelly and what contact if any Prior had with Hancock, Cameron, Greensill or Crowther before fixing the meeting with Kelly. They also did not respond to a request to disclose details of all relevant communications.
‘Architect of austerity’ used Greensill jets to travel to £120k an hour speaking gigs
David Cameron used private jets owned by Greensill Capital to fly around the world for speaking engagements, the Financial Times has revealed.
The former Prime Minister, known as the architect of austerity, would frequently use the “plushy furnished aeroplanes” to travel around the world.
According to the reports he charged at least £120,000 an hour for speaking engagements, a handsome sum which has stuck in the craw of many people on social media this weekend.
Austerity in Britain
Cameron and chancellor George Osborne popularised austerity in Britain after coming to power in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
In his keynote speech to the Conservative Party forum in Cheltenham on 26 April 2009 Cameron declared that “the age of irresponsibility is giving way to the age of austerity” and committed to end years of what he characterised as excessive government spending.
The austerity programme included reductions in welfare spending, the cancellation of school building programs, reductions in local government funding, and an increase in VAT.
Spending on the police, courts and prisons was also reduced.
The Housing Guarantee
A new report by the centre right think tank finds, once again, that the large developers “land bank” and control the “build out” rate so as not to disturb the market price. For example, the six biggest house builders alone currently have roughly 1 million plots in their strategic land banks, nearly the equivalent of the target supply across England over the next five years.
Question is what to do about it? – Owl
Alex Morton www.cps.org.uk
Since the 1960s, housing supply has fallen steadily each decade, and that attempts to fix this have mostly focused on increasing the number of planning permissions flowing through the system. However, while the 2010 planning reforms led to permissions rising to over 350,000, the number of new homes actually built was just over 200,000.
A new report by the Centre for Policy Studies calls for changes to the planning system to open up the market and allow better access for small and medium sized companies and to diversify the housing supply.
As highlighted in ‘The Housing Guarantee’ out today, the top 10 house builders currently build 40% of all new homes, with the top six controlling around 33% of the market. Facing challenges to obtain land, smaller builders face being squeezed out of the system – falling from building around 40% of homes in the 1980s to around 10% now.
The six biggest house builders alone currently have roughly 1 million plots in their strategic land banks, nearly the equivalent of the target supply across England over the next five years.
The report sets out three key reforms that the think tank argues must be made to address the systemic failures in the current system and support delivery of more homes:
– Changing permissions to delivery contracts based on an agreed timeline. Where house builders cannot deliver this, they would have to pass the land on at an agreed price to local SMEs. This would mean as land came forward for development, it was actually translated into new homes.
– A renewed emphasis on the Housing Delivery Test, ensuring councils are assessed on the basis of numbers of homes built, not on planning permissions granted – and are penalised if they are not delivering for their community. This would increase not just the number of homes built, but their speed, diversity and quality.
– Introducing panels of local house builder SMEs that public sector land is sold to, with challenging delivery targets to ensure the quality and diversity of local housing supply, and support competition within the sector.
Over time, these reforms would modernise the new build housing market, making it more transparent, and ensure the flow of land actually turns into new homes via a clear and obvious build-out trajectory. It would mean a higher delivery of housing and a greater role for SMEs as well as higher overall supply.
Cameron lobbied for access to NHS data at peak of first virus wave
David Cameron lobbied the NHS for access to doctors’ and nurses’ personal data weeks into the coronavirus pandemic.
By Redrow Homes www.thelondoneconomic.com
The revelations, published in the Sunday Times, throw fresh scrutiny on the former prime minister’s work for the controversial financier Lex Greensill.
Cameron, 54, is embroiled in a ballooning lobbying scandal, after it emerged that he urged ministers to give collapsed lender Greensill Capital access to Covid-19 loan schemes.
An email, published by the newspaper, reveals that Cameron also sought to exploit the pandemic to promote a Greensill payment scheme which he claimed would “help all NHS employees’ welfare, morale and wellbeing”.
Cameron had been lobbying for the product, a new app called Earnd, for six months with little success, with take-up by NHS hospital trusts and staff minimal.
On 23 April, as Boris Johnson was recovering from Covid-19 and the NHS struggle to cope with 700 daily virus deaths, Cameron sent an email to Matthew Gould, the head of NHSX – the digital arm of the health service.
He told Gould, 49, that Matt Hancock, the health secretary, was “extremely positive” about Greensill’s “innovative” proposal to pay NHS staff daily advances on their salaries through Earnd.
Cameron – who helped millions in share options with Greensill – had already brought the Australian to lobby Hancock over drinks.
In the email, the ex-Tory leader revealed his “ask”; Greensill’s app would be “much slicker if it can obtain access to employee data in ESR” – referencing the Electronic Staff Record, which holds information on 1.4 million key workers.
Earnd, he told Gould, “addresses one of your key priorities: helping all NHS employees’ welfare, morale and wellbeing”.
He added: “This is of such potential importance in contributing to the priority of doing all we can to help NHS employees at the current time… I think some help from you would go a long way.”
The email introduced Gould to Bill Crothers, a Greensill director who had run government procurement under Cameron.
“Finally, and importantly,” Cameron signed off, ‘once this is all over, it would be great to see you again — maybe for lunch? Let’s stay in touch!”
In response Gould – who also served under Cameron and was a school friend of George Osborne – said he would “certainly look into the ESR question”.
Earnd eventually entered a contract with ESR to supply software that would use the personal details of NHS staff, to allow claims for early payment to be verified – and signed a deal with a firm co-owned by Hancock’s department to roll the app out to “all” NHS organisations.
But just 450 people signed up, despite the deal giving Earnd access to the records of as many as 400,000 people.
Greensill went bust last month, putting 50,000 jobs at risk globally, including 5,000 in the UK. The Earnd app also filed for administration, owning at least £400,000 to NHS-affiliated groups.
A spokesman for Cameron said: “These discussions were about the mechanics to ensure Earnd was delivered for NHS workers in a smooth and efficient way.” A Greensill family representative added Earnd was never supposed to make a profit from the NHS: “Lex is devastated that the Earnd project didn’t succeed.”