It would make more “effective and transparent decisions”

Mid Devon should scrap its cabinet system in order to make more “effective and transparent decisions,” a councillor says.

Ollie Heptinstall, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

Cabinets are the most common form of governance on local councils. They are led by a leader who appoints a number of cabinet members – usually from the same party – to take charge of different departments.

The system favours a party that has a majority of council seats. However Mid Devon has been under no overall control since the last full elections in 2019.

As a result, it has been run by Independent-Lib Dem and Independent-Conservative coalitions, but was plunged into chaos last week when its Tory cabinet members left in a dispute over the council’s controversial 3 Rivers property development company.

Independent leader Bob Deed says he “fired” them, though Tory group leader Clive Eginton claims they resigned. It leaves the cabinet with just three members, meaning it cannot legally function.

Full council elections are due to be held in less than three months.

Cllr Deed says he will look to appoint replacement members in the coming days, but Cllr Eginton has submitted a motion to next week’s full council meeting calling for his removal as council leader with “immediate effect.”

The spat has led independent councillor Nikki Woollatt (Cullompton North), who served on Cllr Deed’s cabinet for a time, to call for a “modernised committee system to be implemented from the annual meeting of 2024.”

Under this system, according to the Local Government Association, councils are “divided into politically balanced committees that make decisions.”

It adds the system “does, inherently, give a louder voice to minority parties and Independents, since each committee is made up of members from all groups.”

Cllr Woollatt’s motion, submitted to next week’s meeting, states: “This council recognises that in order for taxpayers to have faith in the ability of Mid Devon District Council to make effective and transparent decisions … there has to be a fundamental change in the decision-making process.”

It also calls on councillors to “acknowledge that in a mature democracy there is a need for inclusive government which enables all members to make a valuable contribution in the running of the council.”

The motion will be debated at a full council meeting on Wednesday [22 February].

Liberal Democrats on Teignbridge District Council faced a raging attack by other councillors, including claims the leader was “corrupt” and members had “no f***ing clue” about the history and principles of their own party.

Philip Churm www.devonlive.com

It followed an extraordinary council meeting on Tuesday, February 14, to debate the findings of a damning report by the local government watchdog.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said an investigation by TDC into the conduct of South Devon Alliance Group leader Cllr Richard Daws was flawed and “found fault with a number of aspects of the council’s investigation.”

Cllr Daws, who represents Ambrook, had been accused of acting contrary to the council’s code of conduct following remarks he made on social media in 2020.

The Ombudsman found fault in the investigation that followed because it was not triggered by a formal written complaint, as the law demands. The Ombudsman said the council should now apologise to Cllr Daws.

At the meeting, tempers flared and angry comments were made about the leadership. South Devon Alliance councillor for Haytor, Adrian Patch, spoke in support of his colleagues.

“This council has for so long been digging a hole for itself in the gutter and has finally leapt into the sewers where it is floundering in its own excrement,” he said.

After several interruptions Cllr Patch was ordered not to make any further comments in the debate.

Council leader and Lib Dem member for Kenton & Starcross, Alan Connett, said he accepted the findings of the report and he had apologised to Cllr Daws last month.

He also recommended that, in addition to him apologising to Cllr Daws personally, the managing director of the council should also apologise within seven working days.

Cllr Connett suggested “the council’s head of legal services writes to the secretary of state and the Local Government Association seeking further clarity” about the role of the Ombudsman and the duty of councils to protect employees.

Meanwhile, Cllr Daws, sporting a Che Guevara lapel badge, asked for his colleague, Liam Mullone – referred to in the report as “Councillor X” – to receive an apology too. He said the councillor for College ward had faced the same treatment as him.

“What my case demonstrates very clearly is that there are systemic failings within the standards procedures at this council,” he said. “None more clearly outlined than those of the injustice that was dealt out to ‘Cllr X’ – Councillor Liam Malone – who was tied up with me in an investigation.”

Councillors voted against an amendment to apologise directly to Cllr Mullone. Later, Cllr Mullone also launched a furious attack on the Lib Dems, who he suggested had dismissed the significance of the Ombudsman’s report.

“And I’ve seen all of you Lib Dems at the front nodding and going, ‘Yeah, it wasn’t really anything. Yeah, let’s ringfence it. Let’s pretend it’s just some administrative problem,’” he argued.

“I wish all the Lib Dems would go away and read Locke and John Stuart Mill and try and remember what your party is meant to be about because you’ve got no f***ing clue.”

He also hit out at chair of the council and Lib Dem councillor for Kenn Valley, Charles Nuttall, arguing he should not have been at the meeting.

“You were on the standards committee,” he shouted. And pointing to the monitoring officer, Paul Woodhead, he said: “You have been corrupt since the day you started.” Referring to Cllr Nuttall he added: “You should not be here.”

The council voted in favour of a motion to accept the findings of the report, apologise to Cllr Daws and for the standards committee to review its processes.

Discussions on Local Plan sites to wait while Government clarifies flexibility of housing targets

eastdevon.gov.uk 

Changes to planning, being consulted on by the Government, could give the council greater flexibility about the amount of house building needed in East Devon.

Concerns about the impacts the new developments would have on the environment and infrastructure such as roads, schools and hospitals were raised in the ten-week East Devon Local Plan consultation. These issues were acknowledged in this week’s Strategic Planning Committee. The Government may give councils more choice over the number of new homes being built, allowing East Devon District Council (EDDC) to address local concerns that have been raised.

EDDC leader, Councillor Paul Arnott, put forward a motion that no further discussions or decisions on potential sites take place until the Government makes its decision. EDDC’s Strategic Planning Committee agreed the motion, which means council officers will only continue technical work needed to support production of the Local Plan, such as water, sewerage and other environmental matters.

Councillor Paul Arnott, leader of the council, said:

“Last year, our council wrote to the Government calling for an urgent re-analysis of inflated housing need numbers imposed on the communities of East Devon.

“Pending any reply, we continued with the Local Plan consultation as required by law.

“This week – at the first opportunity to do so – I proposed that we put the sites aspect of the work on hold until what we hope will be confirmation that our housing numbers will be greatly reduced.

“I was very pleased that this won cross-party support. The ball is now in the Government’s court to deliver a new National Planning Policy Framework.”