The Conservative party has been fined £10,750 by the Electoral Commission for failing to accurately report non-cash donations worth more than £200,000.

Peanuts for a party with questionable attitudes to donations. – Owl

www.theguardian.com

The donations related to an employee who had been seconded to the party by a donor. The commission said:

“The party under-reported non-cash donations, in the form of an employee seconded to the party by a donor between April 2020 to December 2023. The non-cash donations were under reported by more than £200,000, when the seconded employee went from part-time to full-time work at the party.

The party also reported late a single non-cash donation relating to the same seconded employee, in December 2023.”

Louise Edwards, director of regulation and digital transformation at the commission, said:

“Our investigation into the Conservative and Unionist Party found a number of donations inaccurately reported or reported late. The political finance laws we enforce are there to ensure transparency in how parties are funded and to increase public confidence in our system, so it’s important donations are fully and clearly reported.

Where we find offences, we carefully consider the circumstances before deciding whether to impose a sanction. We take into account a range of factors before making our final decision, including proportionality.”

John Hart last month: “They’ve given us an extra £6.6m this year but that is a drop in the ocean,”

“Last year they gave us £9.5m and, I hate to say it, but £7m of that went in inflation.

“We’ve got a backlog that’s getting bigger because we cannot cope with what we’ve got.”

Roads in England and Wales are at “breaking point” due to potholes, with repairs at an eight-year high, according to a new report.

https://www.bbc.co.uk › news › uk-england-68598875

The Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) said councils were expected to fix two million potholes in the current financial year.

That is up 43% on the previous year and the highest annual total since 2015-16.

Ministers highlighted their pledge to provide £8.3bn of extra funding over 11 years for road improvements in England.

The AIA’s annual report found that 47% of local road miles were rated as being in a good condition, with 36% adequate and 17% poor.

The survey also found that average highway maintenance budgets increased by 2.3% in the 2023-24 financial year compared with the previous 12 months.

But the impact of rising costs due to inflation meant local authorities “effectively experienced a real-terms cut”.

Meanwhile, the amount needed to fix the backlog of local road repairs has reached a record £16.3bn, up 16% from £14bn a year ago.

AIA chairman Rick Green said: “Local authorities have a bit more money to spend this year but the impact of rising costs due to inflation means they have actually been able to do less with it.

“Couple this with the effects of the extreme weather we are increasingly facing, and the result is that the rate at which local roads are suffering is accelerating towards breaking point.”

Depending on their size, potholes can cause significant damage to vehicles and pose a danger motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.

Although small potholes rarely cause major accidents, if a vehicle hits a lot of them over time, it can lead to damage to the tyres, suspension and steering system.

In Daventry, Northamptonshire, signs have appeared from an apparently fed-up driver welcoming people to “Pot Hole City” and “Pot Holy Island”.

While on the Isle of Man, a woman has planted daffodils in potholes, hoping the “guerrilla gardening” will hammer home the problem.

In October 2023, the government announced it would provide the £8.3bn of extra funding for local road improvements.

This was part of the Network North strategy to use money saved by scrapping the planned extension of HS2 north of Birmingham.

Mr Green said: “There’s still a mountain to climb when it comes to fixing our local roads.

“While it’s great that English local authorities should be getting more money from the government through its Network North funding, it’s clearly not going to be enough to halt the decline.”

AA president Edmund King added: “Our breakdown data shows that 2023 was the worst year for potholes for five years.

“Arguably the road network is a local council’s biggest asset, but not enough planned investment and repairs are being made to make streets safer and smoother for drivers and those on two wheels.”

A Department for Transport spokesperson said the £8.3bn spending pledge was evidence the government was “taking decisive action to resurface roads and fix potholes”.

They added: “In addition, we have made £150m available for local authorities right now meaning funding for most authorities has increased by almost a third compared to last year, with a further £150m to follow in the coming financial year.” 

New homes boarded up in Cornish village in planning row

Completed new homes in a Cornwall village have been boarded up and left empty after a planning stalemate, according to developers.

By Rebecca Ricks www.bbc.co.uk

Michael Wight and Adele Fulner the directors of Bridge View described the situation as ‘soul destroying’

[The company and its directors are registered at an address in Exmouth]

Bridge View claimed council delays and abnormal costs have left it unable to deliver 33 homes in Calstock, including affordable housing.

Parish councillor, Dorothy Kirk, said it was “a tragic situation where everybody loses”.

Cornwall Council said it was working with stakeholders to find a solution.

‘Expensive and difficult’

A document published by the council in January 2024, stated there were 160 households on the waiting list for homes in the parish.

Ms Kirk, said: “I hope somehow we can rescue it.

“We have to find a solution, end of. I don’t want Calstock to be deprived of homes, I don’t want to see the developer lose everything.

“It’s been a long, expensive and difficult journey. We have to have houses for local people.”

The new homes at Bridge View were granted planning permission in 2018.

Bridge View in Calstock was originally given permission to build 33 homes, 15 of which were set to be affordable housing

One of the directors, Michael Wight, said his firm had allocated £2.8m, for 15 affordable homes but claimed council delays then cost the firm £1.2m in interest.

He accused the council of “weaponising” legal planning agreements and “strangling the business cash flow” by blocking the sale of completed homes.

The council said issues with the development had been “ongoing for several years” and that it had “done all in its power to work with the company”.

Mr Wight said the abnormal costs included the need to build a second road, a more complicated drainage system and a large retaining wall, the wall understood to have cost about £750,000.

Coupled with the interest from the delays, he said their affordable homes budget was “eroded”.

He told the BBC that in November 2023 the affordable housing operators backed out, after delays, and realising the “magnitude” of possible maintenance to the large wall.

The firm showed the BBC evidence that no new affordable housing operator wanted the homes and as a result they could not fulfil planning conditions.

They received one offer from RentPlus, a rent with the option to buy model, but the firm was not within the council’s approved list as it was considered an intermediate operator.

The developers appealed against one of Cornwall Council’s refusals with the inspector ruling in favour of the council but said the costs associated with the site were abnormal.

The developers said the latest submission for amendments was submitted to the council in April 2023, but the planning department did not provide a response until January 2024, longer than the expected 13 weeks.

They said that delay alone cost the firm £880,000.

The funding for the site expired in October 2023 and by March, in a stalemate with the council, the site was mothballed.

Adele Fulner, another director of the firm, said it was a “complex situation”.

“I’m sorry it hasn’t worked out the way we wanted it to,” she said.

“I feel like we could have fought harder to make it happen and for that I apologise.”

A family-run business, the firm said this was their biggest build to date and they felt the outcome had been “soul destroying”.

Workers at the site have now boarded up the windows as the site is expected to be returned to the lender

Cornwall Council said it was: “Committed to working with developers that have been granted planning permission to ensure that a housing development, and the agreed number of affordable housing homes, are delivered in line with the planning permission.”

It said it “must adhere” to planning policies, including neighbourhood plans” and was actively working to secure the delivery of the development and affordable housing.

Labour didn’t take part but got 2%.

Organisers of a campaign to unite voters from across the political spectrum against the Conservatives in South Devon have hailed it as a success, calling it “democracy in action”.

Bradley Gerrard, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

What they are caling the ‘South Devon Primary’ aimed to encourage voters of various political parties – except the Tories – to back a single candidate at the next general election following town hall meetings and hustings’ events.

Liberal Democrat Caroline Voaden emerged as the clear winner from the process, securing 78 per cent of 1,072 votes cast.

‘South Devon’ will be a new constituency at the general election, comprising Conservative MP Anthony Mangnell’s current Totnes patch with some other areas. It will be the first time a constituency has been called South Devon since  1885 and had only ever been held by Conservatives and Whigs.

For this primary, Green candidate Robert Bagnall won 20 per cent of the vote, while Labour, which didn’t put a candidate forward in the event, achieved two per cent.

The result suggests that Lib Dem and Green activists in the new South Devon seat are willing to back Ms Voaden.

Anthea Simmonds, one of the South Devon Primary organisers, said there had been “universal” support for the process by those who attended.

“The feedback from people has been amazing, and they felt it was a very grown-up and professional debate,” she said.

“Caroline was very professional, and on top of relevant facts and figures, and there was lots of enthusiasm, including from people who wouldn’t ordinarily vote Lib Dem.”

Ms Simmonds said people had told her they thought the process would mean that “their vote was going to count for once”.

She continued: “At the end of the meetings, I go round and ask people for their thoughts and it was universal – people thought it was fantastic to see democracy in action and said they would definitely be getting behind the candidate that emerged as the winner from the primary.”

The Totnes constituency has been Conservative for a century. The last MP for the area not to be a Tory was Henry Vivian, for the Liberals, in 1923, although the boundaries were slightly different to the existing Totnes seat and forthcoming South Devon one.

Sitting MP Anthony Mangnall was not invited to take part in the South Devon Primary. At the general election in 2019, Mr Mangnall secured 53 per cent of the vote.

Ms Simmonds said South Devon Primary was funded by its founders without official political party affiliation.

“This wasn’t organised by people who belong to political parties, but done to meet a need which relates to frustration and despair with the electoral system, and it caught people’s imagination,” she said.

“People were coming out on a rainy Saturday afternoon to sit and talk about politics with people like them.”