A petition demanding “absentee” MP Nadine Dorries quits her seat in parliament has passed 75,000 signatures.

Jon Stone www.independent.co.uk 

The former culture secretary said she would quit with “immediate” effect around 10 weeks ago – but is yet to do so.

She has not spoken in parliament for over a year since Boris Johnson – her close ally – was ousted as prime minister.

Ms Dorries previously said she would follow the former PM out of parliament when she was refused a peerage in his resignation honours, but later she would wait for an explanation before resigning her seat.

Huge numbers of people have now signed a petition calling on her to quit, with over 77,000 signatures as of Thursday.

“Your constituents, local council, the Prime Minister and now the public have all had enough. Either start representing the people of Mid Bedfordshire or stand down with immediate effect, so they can have the representation they deserve,” the petition on the 38 Degrees website says.

A town council in her constituency has also urged her to step down, and prime minister Rishi Sunak has said he believes her constituents are not being properly represented.

Veronica Hawking, Head of Campaigns at 38 Degrees, said: “The 75,000 signatures on our petition represent a clear message from the British public to Nadine Dorries: we’re paying you for this job, and we expect you to do it.”

The mounting anger comes after the standards commissioner ruled that Ms Dorries had not breached rules by failing to speak in parliament for over a year.

Campaign group Unlock Democracy had complained to the commissioner and argued that the Mid-Bedfordshire MP had breached rules by doing “significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole, or of its Members generally”.

But website Byline Times reports that the Standards Commissioner has now ruled “there is no specific ‘service standard’ or exact job description for MPs, or a minimum number of hours of attendance required by the House”.

“It is for each individual MP to decide for themselves how they undertake the role of MP, and the Commissioner could not investigate an MP based on their level of, or lack, of attendance,” the commissioner said.

This is part of our centralised “levelling up” programme.

Doesn’t look like the best way to spend significant sums of money, buy hey, “Big Brother” knows best. – Owl

Proposals to close the underpass outside Exmouth station and add two extra pedestrian crossings nearby have been criticised by the town’s deputy mayor.

Philippa Davies www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

The plans are part of the Exmouth Gateway project to improve the area around the station – the ‘gateway’ to the town centre and seafront for rail travellers and road users arriving via Marine Way.

A public consultation by Devon County Council on the plans is due to end on Monday, August 21.

But the deputy mayor, Cllr Joe Whibley, said he will ask for the consultation to be extended, as he thinks many residents are not fully aware of the proposals.

The Gateway project is part of Exmouth’s ‘Levelling-up’ agenda, in which the town was granted £15.7 million for the Dinan Way extension and measures to make walking and cycling safer near the station.

But concerns are being raised about the closure of the pedestrian subway, the extra pedestrian crossings and the traffic-slowing measures.

Resident John Petty has met Cllr Whibley to express his views. He told the Journal: “Although the crossing is the preferred way there are still a surprising number who use the subway; it the only way to go to and from the town without interfering with the traffic, and those of us who are slower can take their time without feeling they ought to be hurrying across the waiting traffic. Why fill it in, removing all the attractive landscaping, only to have to re-landscape it afterwards?”

He and Cllr Whibley think the crossings and traffic slowing will cause congestion and delays.

They are also questioning why Project Gateway doesn’t include any proposals to smarten up the dilapidated bus station, toilets and car park next to the station exit.

Mr Petty said: “This area could certainly provide a much better access to the car parks, a visible taxi rank, a well-defined free parking area for pick up and drop-off, with decent shelter for all these and the possibility of providing cycle and mobility hire.”

He said the Gateway funding is ‘a marvellous opportunity to provide a considerable benefit to the town but, as presented, it appears to have serious flaws and shortcomings’.

More details of the proposals, and the online consultation, can be found on Devon County Council’s website under Exmouth Active Travel Improvements.

A failing development company set up by Mid Devon District Council is expected to be wound up after racking up a debt of more than £21 million.

Alison Stephenson, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

Members of the Liberal Democrat council’s cabinet voted unanimously to recommend the full council agrees that 3Rivers Developments Ltd should stop trading. It says forming the business in 2017 was “a poor decision”.

 Sold down the river?

Councillors want a “soft closure” of the company rather than calling in administrators, as it offers a better financial return. Two of the company’s projects – St George’s Court in Tiverton and Haddon Heights, Bampton – will be completed in the next six months, which should go some way to save the council’s reputation, they said.

3 Rivers Developments was set up to construct “high quality” local homes while generating a profit for the council, but it was impacted by the pandemic and a deteriorating trading position due to a lack of sales at St George’s Court.

Councillors heard that with no projects in the pipeline, the company is facing a challenging future with rising interest rates and uncertainty in the housing market.

The council had loaned the company more than £21 million and an annual sales turnover of around £3-3.5 million is needed just to cover overheads. In its 2021/22 and 2022/23 accounts, the council made provision for potential company losses of around £5.3 million and it is likely further write offs would need to be made.

Councillors were asked to make an urgent decision following a report on the company by accountants Francis Clark, which was considered in a session which the press and public weren’t allowed to observe. The report was put togther after councillors rejected three variations of a business plan.

Members of the public who attended the cabinet meeting heard concerns from former independent council leader Barry Warren who questioned whether it was right that deputy chief executive of the council and chief financial officer Andrew Jarrett should also be founding directors of 3Rivers.

Cabinet member for finance Cllr James Buczkowski (Lib Dem, Cullompton St Andrews) said it was not unusual for a deputy CEO to be in that position and as head of finance he would expect him to be involved in the discussions around the finance of the company. The decision to set up the company was made by councillors not officers, he said.

“It is clear that poor decisions have been made by councillors in the past, particularly the previous administration, likely due to a commitment bias to a failing and unviable project,” he said. “These poor decisions and sometimes indecisions have resulted in the most serious situation for the council with significant financial implications.”

The company’s property and assets would be sold off over a ”sensible short term period.” A thorough analysis of all the options to close the company were made to maximise the return for the council but “a risk free scenario” could not be guaranteed.

Cllr Rachel Gilmour (Lib Dem, Clare and Shutton) said she is “delighted and relieved” that experts had become involved and asked for a “stringent survey” of the properties to be done by someone independent of the council.

Deputy council leader Cllr Jane Locke (Lib Dem, Canonsleigh) added: “If I were coming here to buy a property and I got reports of the discussions we are having tonight I might be wondering about investing many hundreds of thousands of pounds into a property being built by 3Rivers Development Ltd.

“I hope in order to maximise the income from these properties this council will do what it can to reassure any potential purchasers that they are making a sound investment, unlike this council did, as I would hate to see us discount properties massively just to see them get sold and that all guarantees from buying a brand new property will be honoured in the future.”

The full council will make the final decision on winding up the company on Wednesday 6 September.
 

Labour say numbers were inherited from Tories

Plymouth City Council denies it has a “black hole in the budget,” despite it  facing a forecast overspend of £7.5 million.

Alison Stephenson, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

The Labour council says it is working hard to get its budget, inherited from the previous Conservative administration, in check and aims to balance the books by the end of the financial year.

Presenting a report for April to June 2023 to cabinet members, Cllr Mark Lowry, who is responsible for finance, said the council is facing pressures from children’s services (£2.8 million) notably home-to-school transport and high-cost children’s placements, people’s care packages (£1.2 million) and community connections dealing with homelessness (£2.4 million).

In addition there are inherited services costs of £1.5 million and the expense of three by-elections which were not budgeted to the tune of £80,000.

The council has enlisted the help of David Northey as head of finance, who has postponed his retirement to help it sort out its finances over the next few months.

“We still have nine months to go,” said Cllr Lowry. “This is not a black hole in the budget, it is forecasting of what would happen if the world stopped revolving today and that’s where we would be.  But obviously there is still a lot of work to be done and as is the requirement of this council we have to provide a balanced budget by the end of the year, which I am sure we will achieve.”

He said homelessness is a considerable increase in cost, but it is a national issue. He said there would be reviews to understand exactly what is happening in Plymouth and the problems to be addressed.

The cabinet supported a capital budget of £556 million for the next five years, which will now go to the full council for final approval.

New projects coming forward totalling £7.5 million include:

• Theatre Royal Car park solar scheme (£199,000)
• improvements to Central Park (£60,000)
• Derriford Community Park – phase 1 biodiversity (£107,000)
• Plymouth and South Devon community forest (£25,000)
• Derriford District Centre (£1.03 million)
• highways projects street furniture replacements, tennis improvements £3.71 million)
• Local Authority Housing Fund (£1.5 million) which will provide accommodation for refugees and temporary accommodation for people experiencing homelessness.
   

Why has it taken so long to recognise the problem? Is it now too late?

Ah! Nigel Farage hands in a petition to No 10 – Owl

High street banks will have to ensure customers can find access to cash within three miles of their local communities, and those falling below the minimum service level will face a fine, the government has confirmed.

Kalyeena Makortoff www.theguardian.com 

After the closure of thousands of local branches in recent years, and the switch to digital payment methods, ministers are looking to banks to help protect vulnerable groups and elderly customers by maintaining present levels of cash access across the UK.

The “vast majority” of people are able to withdraw money within one mile, if they live in cities, and three miles if they live in rural areas, the Treasury said. That includes cash withdrawals through cash machines, bank branches and shops offering free cashback.

The government said the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) would make sure banks and building societies were “keeping up to these standards – and have the power to fine them if they do not”.

On Thursday, the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage went to Downing Street to hand in a petition that called on the government to crack down on businesses that have increasingly instituted card-only policies and refused to accept cash since the Covid crisis.

It marks Farage’s latest campaign against banks and payment companies, after Coutts threatened to close his accounts this year. The row snowballed in July after he obtained documents that showed his political views were part of the decision to shut his accounts.

The scandal resulted in the resignation of Alison Rose as chief executive of the bank’s owner, NatWest Group. It also led to the ousting of Peter Flavel as the chief executive of Coutts. Farage said the bank had since offered to keep his accounts open.

Thursday’s announcement on access to cash builds on the wide-ranging Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, which gave consumers a legal right to access cash and handed powers to enforce those rules to the FCA.

Andrew Griffiths, the economic secretary to the Treasury and “City minister”, said: “People shouldn’t have to trek for hours to withdraw a tenner to put in someone’s birthday card – nor should businesses have to travel large distances to deposit cash takings.

“These are measures which benefit everyone who uses cash but particularly those living in rural areas, the elderly and those with disabilities.”

The Treasury hinted there may be some concessions to the three-mile guarantee, saying in a press release that the FCA should “maintain this level of coverage, while recognising that needs may differ by location and change over time”.

And while personal banking customers will be guaranteed fee-free access, it is highly probable that businesses in some areas may still face fees for withdrawals and deposits.

The FCA is expected to launch its consultation this autumn, meaning the laws are unlikely to come into force until summer 2024.

Campaigners have long warned that the UK’s dwindling cash facilities – after swathes of ATM and bank closures – are putting elderly and vulnerable people who struggle to maintain bank accounts online at risk.

Access to cash has also become more important during banking outages, which can block card transactions and online bank transfers. About 5.4 million adults use and rely on cash daily, according to Treasury statistics.

Natalie Ceeney, chair of the independent Access to Cash Review, said: “Over the past decade, we’ve been sleepwalking into a cashless society. But digital payments don’t work for everyone.

“Cash remains vital for millions of people and businesses, many of whom are struggling as bank branches close and it becomes harder to access and deposit cash.”

She said the cash access distance guidelines would help “support the specific needs of different communities”.

She added: “That doesn’t mean that nothing will change, but it does mean that where services plan to close, there need to be appropriate alternatives in place before they do so. Positively, the banking industry is ahead of the curve in helping to create new banking hubs and deposit services in communities.”

The banking lobby group UK Finance said: “We support the work the government and FCA are doing here and look forward to reviewing the government’s full policy statement when published.”