Author Archives: East Devon Watch

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20 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Sleaze, Standards Committee, Transparency

Ministers and revolving doors

“The number of former ministers taking up jobs outside parliament has risen by nearly 60% in a year, official figures disclose.

The increase, from 33 former ministers to 52, coincides with complaints that lawmakers are routinely making use of a “revolving door” to pursue lucrative contracts in the private sector.

Francis Maude, the former Cabinet Office minister and industry minister, appears to have taken up the highest number of external roles over the past year, with nine posts.

Ed Davey, the former energy secretary, declares eight different commissions from his independent consultancy, which specialises in energy and climate change.

The data has been disclosed in the annual report of the ministerial jobs watchdog, the advisory committee on business appointments (Acoba).

Former ministers are required to seek and abide by the committee’s advice before taking up appointments in the two-year period after they leave office.

The report found that the committee advised 52 former ministers in relation to 104 appointments in the year to March 2017. During the previous year, 33 former ministers took up 123 jobs.

Maude’s jobs include being an adviser on Brexit to the international law firm Covington and Burling, an adviser to OakNorth Bank, the chair of an advertising agency, and adviser to the business intelligence firm GPW. He has also set up his own consultancy.

Davey, who lost his seat in May 2015 but returned to parliament at this year’s general election, established an independent consultancy, which has taken on work from companies including Engie UK, SIT Group, and NextEnergy Capital.

George Osborne, the former chancellor who stood down as an MP in July, was severely criticised in May for taking up a job as editor of the Evening Standard without waiting for advice from Acoba.

Since leaving office, Osborne has also worked in a £650,000-a-year advisory post at the investment bank BlackRock, got a professorship at the University of Manchester, become a fellow at the McCain Institute in Arizona, and been paid £75,000 to attend speaking engagements.

Since leaving Downing Street last year, David Cameron has taken up four roles. He is on the books of Washington Speakers Bureau, is president of the Alzheimer’s Society, and has taken up an unpaid appointment as chairman of the LSE-Oxford Commission on Growth in Fragile States.

Acoba was branded a “toothless regulator” in April by the public administration and constitutional affairs committee, amid calls for a much tougher system of independent checks.

A National Audit Office report issued this week found that rules that are meant to stop civil servants abusing their contacts and knowledge in the private sector are not being consistently applied or monitored.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jul/20/more-ex-ministers-take-private-sector-jobs-amid-revolving-door-claims

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20 Jul 2017

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Accountability, DCC, Health and Social Care (local), Honiton/ Gittisham, Martin Shaw (Seaton), NHS (local), Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton

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Honiton and Seaton hospitals – crunch meeting on Tuesday

Owl says: it remains to be seen whether Tory members of the scrutiny committee will be dragooned and manipulated as they were at the last meeting – when chair Sarah Randall-Johnson bent over backwards to ensure that no vote was taken on whether to refer the CCG’s decisions to the Secretary of State. The CCG had not fulfilled the criteria previously set by the committee to avoid the decision, but she insisted they should be given even more time to defend themselves

“Council [DCC] to make crucial decision on proposal to axe hospital beds
“Hospital campaigners in the Seaton and Honiton areas are preparing for a crucial meeting of Devon County Council’s health scrutiny committee next week.

Next Tuesday, Devon County Council’s scrutiny committee will decide whether to use its power to refer the decision of the NEW Devon Clinical Commission Group (CCG) to close all in-patient beds in Seaton, Honiton and Okehampton hospitals to the Secretary of State for Health.

The meeting is a defining moment in the saga surrounding the CCG’s proposals to axe all of Honiton and Seaton’s inpatient beds.

Under the initial proposals, Seaton was earmarked to retain its 18 beds – but those in Honiton and Okehampton did not appear in any of the shortlisted options following the scoring process.

A large group of protesters have now planned to congregate outside County Hall in Exeter in a last-ditch effort to reverse the proposals, before they attend the meeting at 2.15pm.

Among those who will be speaking against the plans are Seaton and Colyton county councillor Martin Shaw, Seaton mayor Jack Rowland, and the chairman of East Devon District Council’s scrutiny committee, Cllr Roger Giles. Other residents of Axminster and Honiton will also speak at the meeting.

Cllr Shaw said: “This is a crucial decision not only for the beds but also for the future of the hospitals.

“The CCG’s next step is its local estate strategy, which is likely to involve partial or even complete closures of hospitals.

“Seaton is more remote from acute hospitals than any other East Devon town and it is vital that we retain our hospital, which was built by the local community.”

Devon County Council’s scrutiny committee reviewed the proposals last month but opted to defer referring them to the Secretary of State while it investigates the health authority’s evidence for saying its ‘care at home’ policy will be better for residents.

Speaking at the meeting, Dr Sonja Manton, director of strategy at the CCG, assured the committee that they will not introduce the bed cuts until they are sure the new model of care works and she invited members to sit in on their planning for it.

If it was shown it could not be implemented, the decision to close the beds could be reversed.”

http://www.midweekherald.co.uk/news/council-to-make-crucial-decision-on-proposal-to-axe-hospital-beds-1-5113882

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20 Jul 2017

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Misc

EDDC is checking data from the Tenancy Deposit Protection scheme

Local authorities are allowed access to data on the Tenancy Deposit Protection schemes – the DCLG may disclose details of Deposit Protection Service activities to regulators, industry bodies and other organisations for the purposes of fraud prevention, money laundering prevention and where there are concerns over activities.

These other organisations are required to protect personal information on behalf of DCLG and cannot use personal information for purposes unconnected with The Deposit Protection Service.

The information is usually used to check that landlords and agents have protected deposits properly and that they also appear on the respective Landlord Registers.

“Measures within the Housing and Planning Act 2016 allow local housing authorities in England to access information held by the Tenancy Deposit Protection (TDP) schemes. Local Housing Authorities must only use the data:

1. For a purpose connected with the exercise of their functions under Parts 1-4 of the Housing Act 2004 in relation to any premises (in general improving housing conditions, licencing of Houses in Multiple Occupation, selective licencing of other accommodation and management orders); and

2. For the purpose of investigating whether an offence has been committed under any of those Parts in relation to any premises.

Local Housing Authorities are not required to access the information provided by the TDP schemes. It is up to individual authorities to decide whether to access and use the information or not, depending on local circumstances and other data sources available to them.

A list of local Housing Authorities in England who are known to have applied to the schemes for access to the information in the first quarter of 2017 is shown below. …”

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2017-07-11.4183.h&s=%22east+devon%22#g4183.r0

[EDDC is named as one of the organisations which accesses this information.]

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20 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Scrutiny

What do you do when your boss makes no sense?

Here is a useful touchstone: when things get this BAD, it’s time to call in the medics”

Donald Trump interview:

“Well, Napoleon finished a little bit bad. But I asked that. So I asked the president, so what about Napoleon? He said: “No, no, no. What he did was incredible. He designed Paris.” [garbled] The street grid, the way they work, you know, the spokes. He did so many things even beyond. And his one problem is he didn’t go to Russia that night because he had extracurricular activities, and they froze to death. How many times has Russia been saved by the weather?

Same thing happened to Hitler. Not for that reason, though. Hitler wanted to consolidate. He was all set to walk in. But he wanted to consolidate, and it went and dropped to 35 degrees below zero, and that was the end of that army. But the Russians have great fighters in the cold. They use the cold to their advantage. I mean, they’ve won five wars where the armies that went against them froze to death. [crosstalk] It’s pretty amazing.”

Immediately after that, after having brought up Napoleon and Hitler and people freezing to death, Donald Trump declared – with an apparent lack of irony – “So, we’re having a good time.”

http://www.palmerreport.com/politics/trump-hitler-napoleon-having-good-time/3959/

Full disturbing interview link:

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20 Jul 2017

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Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, Inequality

One in three earns less than two-thirds average wage in south-west

Affordable Housing (80% average price of houses being built at the time) – in your dreams. Inequality- the price paid for rampant “growth”.

“The wage gap is growing in the South West – with almost a third of people now earning less than two-thirds of the UK average.

New figures show 31.2% of full-time employees in our region earned less than two thirds of the national average during the last quarter of 2016.

That compares to just 29.3% as recently as the first quarter of 2015.

The increase is the fifth biggest for any region in the UK after the South East, the North East and Northern Ireland (with the same increase) and Wales. …”

http://www.devonlive.com/one-in-three-in-devon-earn-two-thirds-less-than-the-average-wage/story-30449598-detail/story.html

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20 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Audit (EDDC), Corruption, Monitoring Officer, Scrutiny, Transparency

Council fraud: never get complacent or assume auditors know what they are doing

Here are three examples, accessed within 5 minutes on Google.

EX-PLYMOUTH:

“A former Plymouth council official has been arrested as part of a long-running fraud investigation.

Geoff Driver, treasurer and chamberlain at Plymouth City Council in the early 1990s and now Conservative leader of Lancashire County Council (LCC), was held as police probe financial irregularities at LCC. …”

http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/former-plymouth-council-official-arrested-in-fraud-probe/story-30449451-detail/story.html

CHESHIRE EAST:

“A SECOND member of Cheshire East Council’s senior management has been suspended as a result of an internal disciplinary investigation.

Bill Norman, the council’s director of legal services and monitoring officer, has been absent from his post since April and has now been officially suspended.

The decision follows the suspension of council CEO Mike Suarez on April 27.

A CEC spokesman said: “The Investigation and Disciplinary Committee reconvened on Friday, July 14, 2017. The committee is considering allegations relating to the conduct of senior officers.”

http://www.knutsfordguardian.co.uk/news/15416114.Second_senior_management_suspension_as_Cheshire_East_Council_investigates_misconduct_allegations/

ABERDEEN:

“A councillor has been suspended from certain duties for six months.
Sandy Duncan, who represents Turriff and District, contacted Aberdeenshire colleagues who were due to consider a planning application for a wind turbine from a firm he was partner in.

He was found to have breached the code of conduct for councillors.
The Standards Commission for Scotland found he had acted inappropriately by using council facilities having been expressly warned not to do so.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-40366506

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20 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Democracy, EDDC, EDDC Monitoring Officer, Electoral Commission, EU Referendum, General Election, Monitoring Officer, Scrutiny, Transparency, Voting

Voting processes need tightening (and scrutiny) urgently

Why shouldn’t our council’s Scrutiny Committee check in its Electoral and Returning Officer’s procedures – even if the Monitoring Officer doesn’t like the idea because it MIGHT be considered political (by him)? A clean bill of health would reassure voters surely?

“The list of Brexit campaigners done for breaking the rules is getting lengthy.

Following the record £12,000 fine for breaches of spending rules, the pair of £1,000 fines for other offences, the company fined £50,000 for illegal text messages and the 11 anti-EU campaign groups struck off for breaking referendum rules, there’s now another £1,500 fine on a different Brexit campaigner:

The Electoral Commission has fined Mr Henry Meakin, a registered campaigner in the EU referendum, £1,500 for failing to submit his spending return on time. It is an offence not to deliver a spending return by the due date.

Though Mr Meakin reported spending of £37,000 in the campaign, the return was received more than 5 months late.”

https://www.markpack.org.uk/150816/henry-meakin-european-referendum-fine/

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19 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, Inequality, Section 106

Corruption, absolute corruption, developers and councils

BUT THIS BLOG AND OTHERS HAVE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS!

HEAD … BRICK WALL … HEAD … BRICK WALL

Here are just a few recent East Devon Watch articles:

Tell EDDC what you want Section 106 money spent on so they can ignore you and spend it on what they want!

Section 106 scandal: New controls and a surprising revelation from CEO Mark Williams

The Great EDDC Section 106 Scandal of 2016 – and probably earlier years

Another loophole to avoid “Section 106” payments

Developers, councils and Section 106: the shocking truth

and the BBC has only just discovered it!

“The council that ran the Grenfell Tower block struck deals worth nearly £50m last year to allow developers to avoid having to build affordable homes, research for BBC News shows.

Kensington and Chelsea’s own analysis shows it has built a fraction of the social housing the borough needs.

Developers can pay a fee if they can convince the council that affordable homes would make their plans unviable.

The council said it struggled to build affordable homes in a crowded area.
Kensington and Chelsea has been severely criticised for its failures over Grenfell Tower, including allegations that the regeneration of the tower was done on the cheap and that survivors of the blaze were not properly cared for.

At least 80 people died in the fire.

The disaster, in one of the richest areas in the country, has also thrown a spotlight on the council’s attitude towards its poorest residents.

Huge shortfall

The council’s policy is for half of homes in large housing schemes to be available for rent or sale at below market rates.

The official target is to build 200 affordable units – flats or houses – each year between 2011 and 2021.

But the council’s own figures show that since 2011-12, just 336 units have been built; in 2012-13, just four were completed.

At the same time, Kensington and Chelsea struck deals with developers to pay it nearly £60m.

Since 2011, the council has agreed payments worth £59.7m, in what are known as Section 106 agreements.

The council is allowed to charge developers a fee if their scheme would ordinarily be liable to include social housing but its backers can convince officials that to do so would make the proposal unviable.

That headline figure includes £47.3m in 2016 alone.

The figures have been calculated for BBC News by EG, a property consultancy firm, whose work includes researching planning committee reports for Section 106 payments.

Senior analyst Graham Shone said payment to the council had undergone a “step change” on previous years.

“Maybe the council is a bit more receptive to those kinds of agreements going through as a way to encourage development across the borough,” he said.

The council will gain £12.1m instead of affordable housing at Knightsbridge station

K1 development, Knightsbridge

Developers Chelsfield plan to “reinvigorate, restore and celebrate” the block above Knightsbridge Tube station.

The design includes retail outlets at street level, new offices, 35 residential apartments, an underground car park and a rooftop garden and restaurant.

Given the size of the development, to comply with the council’s own policy, the scheme should include affordable housing.

However, in their planning application, the architects say: “The size of units [flats] are larger than what would normally be associated with affordable housing based on the London Housing Design Guide.”

They also argue the service charge on the flats “would far exceed what would be a sustainable level for affordable housing”.

And while they had considered creating another lift to accommodate affordable housing, this would “compromise” the retail units on the ground floor.

A mix of private and affordable homes, they say, is therefore “not viable”.
The council accepted the arguments, passed the scheme, and will receive £12.1m in lieu of affordable housing at the development.

The payments are meant to help the council provide affordable housing in other parts of the borough or to renovate existing stock.

A paper prepared for the council’s cabinet last year shows that of the nearly £21m the council has received since 2009-10 for affordable homes, £9.2m remains unspent.

Developers can also pay fees to off-set other impacts of their schemes. And the same paper shows that of the total £57.3m that Kensington and Chelsea has received since 2009-10, £36.7m has still not been spent.

None of the developers’ contributions has been used to improve air quality, libraries, sports facilities or healthcare, and very little has been spent on employment initiatives or children’s playgrounds.

The leader of Kensington’s Labour group says he is shocked by the lack of new affordable homes

Robert Atkinson, head of the Labour group at Kensington and Chelsea, said he was shocked by the amount of money the council was receiving and how few affordable homes were being built.

“One of the beauties of living in London is you have a balanced population, and I do think we have a duty not to produce the prettiest ghost town in Western Europe.

“Our first loyalty should be to maintaining and strengthening our communities, and we have fallen down on that job terribly.”

The need for affordable housing in Kensington and Chelsea is acute.

A Freedom of Information request submitted by the BBC last year showed the council had spent £28m providing temporary accommodation to homeless residents in 2015-16, a figure that has doubled in five years.

Almost three-quarters of those people are being housed outside the borough – the highest proportion in London.

The council said that “as the smallest London borough”, with the second highest population density in England and Wales and 4,000 listed buildings, “the borough only has a limited capacity to deliver housing”.

A spokesman said its policy of allowing developers to negotiate on affordable housing “stems from government policy”.

“The council scrutinises any viability information provided by the applicants in detail and in some cases is able to secure higher proportions than those proposed by applicants,” he added.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40643072

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19 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Inequality, Sleaze, Spin, Transparency

Rules … what rules … none apply to HS2

“Fears that high-speed rail project HS2’s £55.7bn budget could spiral higher have been underlined by an audit showing unauthorised redundancy payments to staff, far above the government cap on payouts.

HS2 Ltd, the publicly funded company building Britain’s new high-speed rail network, spent £2.76m on payoffs in 2016, of which only £1m was authorised, according to the National Audit Office.

The head of the NAO, Sir Amyas Morse, said the findings highlighted troubling “culture and behaviours” at HS2, which needed to be addressed if taxpayers’ money was to be protected.

The NAO found that the redundancy payments were made in spite of explicit advice from the Department for Transport to HS2 Ltd that it was not permitted to exceed the civil service cap of £95,000.

HS2 circumvented the cap by placing a number of highly paid staff on gardening leave, continuing to pay them for several months although they were no longer working, on top of the maximum payouts. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/19/hs2-cost-nao-redundancy-payouts

and, in the same article:

“HS2 has an agreement with the Treasury to allow it to pay higher wages than elsewhere in the public sector, which Higgins has insisted is vital to recruit the best talent. The previous chief executive of HS2, Simon Kirby, hired from Network Rail in 2014 to oversee the start of construction on a £750,000 salary, quit last September.“

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19 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Democracy, Local Enterprise Partnership, Spin, Transparency

Heart of the South West: 50% self- interest, 49% spin, 1% substance

… and the 1% is generous!

That’s Owl’s summary of this puff job where the Emperors tell us how beautiful their new clothes are – and how we will all benefit from them:

http://www.devonlive.com/how-the-great-south-west-is-set-to-rival-northern-powerhouse/story-30447945-detail/story.html

“Never mind the quality – feel the width”!

And still not an ounce of accountability or transparency!

How long will our councils keep up the charade that these people are working for us – or working at all.

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19 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Democracy, Transparency

Government rules on civil servants moving to private sector replaced by … nothing

“Rules on civil servants moving to posts in the private sector have been operating with no guidance on their use because the Cabinet Office has failed for five years to produce this, the National Audit Office has found.

Its investigation of the Business Appointment Rules also discovered the rules do not say that a department can reject an application, only that these may be accepted or have conditions attached.

The rules apply when civil servants move to outside bodies and are designed to prevent them using privileged information or contacts gained in the civil service or to prevent any perception of impropriety.

Contentious appointments are supposed to be referred to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba).

They are administered by the Cabinet Office but the NAO found it removed guidelines for departments on administering the rules in 2012 to write fresh ones, which have never been completed.

The lack of clarity over rejection of applications even saw the Cabinet Office tell the NAO it thought such rejections did in practice happen, but was unable to supply any evidence.

Nor did the Cabinet Office maintain oversight of how departments implemented the rules, relying on them for enforcing compliance, transparency and public scrutiny.

Auditors also found it impossible to discover from transparency data whether all those leaving the civil service for the private sector who should have made an application under the rules in fact did so. …”

http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2017/07/whitehall-missing-rules-private-sector-appointments-nao-finds

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19 Jul 2017

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Consultation, Councillor Cathy Gardner EDA, EDDC, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

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If YOUR vision for Port Royal isn’t the EDDC vision – you are “scaremongering”

Owl says: Well, that’s rich: who put the 5-storey building into the consultation document? EDDC. So who pre-judged the public consultation? EDDC.

Would the two councils have made such a fuss if it was a Conservative councillor who pointed this out? You decide.

” … Major landowners EDDC and Sidmouth Town Council are exploring options for Port Royal with a scoping study. They have revealed a concept for the site that could incorporate Sidmouth Lifeboat, the sailing club and up to 30 flats in a new building that could stand up to five storeys high.

In a joint statement from both councils, a spokesman said: “We are disappointed by a misleading and scare-mongering petition set up by a local district councillor, Cathy Gardner.

“It is a shame that this petition is pre-judging what the public think and the outcome of consultation with a petition pushing one person’s idea, rather than respecting the opinions of Sidmouth people.

“The councils are asking everyone to express their own opinions instead. The consultation is around the emerging findings of independent experts. There are no plans or proposals being made at this stage.

“We all want to see Port Royal looking as good as the rest of the town’s seafront. Positive ideas and constructive criticism are what we are seeing from Sidmouth people – that is the Sidmouth way.”

Councillor Jeff Turner, who leads the scoping study for the town council, added: “The consultants have not yet produced their final report and, contrary to the misleading statements in this petition wording, there is no fixed plan or proposal as to how Port Royal will be redeveloped.

“We should all wait to see what options emerge from the studies and consultations and how these are received and debated at both town and district councils, before jumping to conclusions.”

He said the study will also take on board the 1,800 responses about Port Royal in the Neighbourhood Plan.

The petition can be found at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/alternative-plan-for-sidmouth-s-port-royal-the-3r-s.

The campaigners are also staging a public meeting in All Saints Church Hall from 7pm on Wednesday, August 23.”

The councils’ consultation closes on Monday, July 31. It can be found at http://eastdevon.gov.uk/port-royal-consultation/.

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19 Jul 2017

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EDDC, Education (local), Exmouth, Public Open Space, Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

Some good news: Manor Gardens, Connaught Gardens and Seaton Wetlands gets prestigious award

… “21 parks across Devon are officially among the very best green spaces in the country. The prestigious Green Flag Award – the mark of a quality park or green space – has been awarded to 21 parks across Devon.”

This international award, now in its third decade, is a sign to the public that the space boasts the highest possible environmental standards, is beautifully maintained and has excellent visitor facilities.”

Award winners in East Devon:
Manor Gardens – Exmouth
Connaught Gardens – Sidmouth
Wetlands – Seaton

http://www.devonlive.com/the-21-best-parks-in-devon/story-30447716-detail/story.html#kjYoSipEqvX4rHJW.99

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19 Jul 2017

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Affordable and Social Housing

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“Property values in desirable areas could go down in a radical bid to spark new building”

Oh dear! In East Devon we are getting LOTS and LOTS of houses being built but prices are still going UP and UP – not DOWN as Javid tries to suggest should happen! How will Javid deal with THAT? Or is it exactly what he wants, and the suggestion that prices should fall is just a smokescreen for even more rampant development in high-cost areas?

“Communities Secretary Sajid Javid is preparing to unveil a striking new rule that will make NIMBY councils take local affordability into account.

Under it, every authority will have to calculate how easy it is for young workers to get on the housing ladder by working out their local salary-to-house price ratio.

The average house in Britian now costs 7.8 times the average salary – an all-time record.

And in some areas of the south east, the figure rockets to above 12 times people’s wages.

Mr Javid wants to slap a new automatic legal requirement on councils with ratios that are too high to make them green light thousands more homes, so that a significant increase in housing supply reduces prices over time.

Mr Javid’s test has been debated intensely in No10 for six months over fears it will spark a rebellion from some Tory MPs, The Sun can also reveal.

It could also ignite a dangerous backlash in solid Tory areas as home owners panic about their own houses losing value.

But a senior government source said last night: “Sajid has come up with what he insists is an objective and transparent test to increase supply.

“For once, councils won’t be able to fudge it, and that is key.

“There was nervousness in Downing Street before the election about upsetting the horses, but he has persuaded a lot of us round.”

Mr Javid’s plan could be unveiled as early as tomorrow.

In a preview of his plan, Mr Javid mounted a withering attack on councils three weeks ago for failing to build enough.

The Cabinet minister branded them refusal “not good enough” and declared that “the era of tolerating such poor, patchy performance is over”.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4047763/property-value-in-desirable-areas-could-be-forced-down-under-a-radical-new-test-to-spark-more-building/

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19 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Scrutiny, Spin

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Conservative MEP’s “fake news”?

“In one of the more bizarre developments of silly season 2017, it has emerged that Daniel Hannan, the Conservative MEP and author of Brexit manifesto What Next, shared stock images of Wales and the US while claiming to be walking in the English countryside.

In May 2016 the MEP for South East England wrote that he was going on a walk and stopping for a pie at the Vine at Hannington, a “traditional country pub serving home cooked food and real ales”. “15 miles up and down over Hampshire’s sloping fields, pausing for a pie @VineHannington. God, I love England in May,” he declared in a now deleted tweet. He shared an image of a gate, a Hawthorn hedge and some rolling hills.

Unfortunately, that idyllic scene is nowhere to be found in Hampshire, which falls within Mr Hannan’s constituency. It is an image of Godre’r Graig, Glamorgan in Wales, and was taken by keen photographer John Ball in May 1998.

John Ball told the blog Zelo Street, which first spotted the tweets, that he had taken the photo 150 miles away from where Mr Hannan claimed to be. “The photo used by Daniel Hannan on 6 May 2016 is a copy of the photo in the ‘Images of Wales’ feature on my website. I took the photo myself eighteen years ago on 20 May 1998,” he said.

Mr Hannan wrote on Twitter some months later that he was walking in the Home Counties and enjoying the scenery. “And then, suddenly, the dandelions. Ah, the sweet sounds and sights of summer and the sun,” he wrote above an image of a field filled with dandelions. The tweet has since been deleted.

This image is actually of a field in Barre, Vermont, has been taken by a professional photographer, and is used by a blogger, Ruth Kassinger, to discuss the merits of the dandelion plant as a source of rubber.

i has contacted Mr Hannan for comment to see if indeed he downloaded random pictures from the internet of different places after returning from a walk to “give us a [very general] sense of what he’d seen” because he was too civilised to do so whilst actually walking.”

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/uk/fake-views-mep-daniel-hannan-says-hes-walking-english-countryside-tweets-picture-vermont-usa/

The newspaper failed to ask the question that is interesting Owl: was he REALLY in the English countryside when he says he was and, if not, where was he?

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19 Jul 2017

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Accountability, East Devon Electoral/Returning Officer, General Election, Voting

“Electoral fraud is an affront to democracy. Those who commit it should be sent to prison” says Daily Telegraph

“The voting system in Britain has been heavily reliant on trust ever since an equal franchise was extended to women in 1928 and the voting age was lowered to 18 in 1969. No one is checked or required to present identity documents. Postal votes are available, which can lead to people being pressed to back particular candidates. And proxy votes can be cast in one constituency without proper controls over whether the same person has voted in another.

In Northern Ireland, intimidation of voters was an issue during the Troubles and, latterly, postal vote fraud has been identified in some constituencies with large south Asian populations. In much of the country, however, this phenomenon has been largely absent and has probably had little influence on election outcomes. …”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2017/07/18/electoral-fraud-affront-democracy-commit-should-sent-prison/

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18 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Audit (EDDC), EDDC

Owl’s naughty metropolitan cousin

Just to prove that Owl is really quite serfistucated and nice and not at all vile as Swire has intimated, take a look at the blog of one of its cousins in Bristol – where problems are eerily similar to those dealt with by Owl but where said cousin is somewhat more less polite:

https://thebristolian.net

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18 Jul 2017

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Cranbrook, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Gypsy and Travellers, Housing (local), Local Plan

“Cranbrook expansion plans for 1,200 new homes opposed by Cranbrook town council”

“Cranbrook town council voted on Monday night to object to plans for the southern expansion of the new town. Two new applications for the southern expansion of Cranbrook have been submitted to East Devon District Council for the outline planning permission for 27.2 hectares of residential development, 9.2 hectares of employment development, a new primary school, a local community centre, and sport pitches and tennis courts as part of a sports hub.

The plans includes 1,200 new homes, a new primary school, a sports hub, a petrol station, and a site for travellers and were a revision of plans that had been outlined in 2015 but had been deferred while the Cranbrook Development Plan Document was being finalised.

The revised plans would see a reduction of 350 homes, a reduction in employment space by 5,000 square meters to 35,000 square meters, enhanced sports and play areas with all-weather facilities, floodlighting, changing facilities and children’s play, community uses as well as the possibility of gypsy and traveller pitches as an alternative to employment land.

But concerns by the council’s planning committee were raised about the fact that the proposals added land for housing on the eastern edge of the original proposals between Parsons Lane and the Country Park boundary immediately opposite the existing homes in Post Coach Way which front the B3174, and they requested further clarification on the gypsy and/or traveller allocation being provided.

The committee said: “Broadly the planning proposals being considered are in line with East Devon District Council’s Local Plan 2013-2031, which precludes development within the Neighbourhood Plan areas of the surrounding villages. By reducing the application to 1,200 homes, the proposals maintain an acceptable density per hectare and respect the Neighbourhood Plan areas of the two immediate parish neighbours.

“The Committee considered that density of 45 dwellings per hectare as acceptable and reiterated that parking issues associated with that level of density were well recorded.

“The Committee felt that the applications ignored previous pledges about the green wedge contained within East Devon District Council’s Local Plan 2013-2031. Councillors were anxious to preserve the green wedge between Cranbrook and Rockbeare and considered the proposed wedge too narrow.

The proposal added land for housing on the eastern edge of the original proposals between Parsons Lane and the Country Park boundary immediately opposite the existing homes in Post Coach Way which front the B3174 which may raise concerns about visual impact from the village of Rockbeare.

“The inclusion of the “gypsy and traveller pitches” required clarification.The Town Council always maintained a position that it is acceptable for Cranbrook to accommodate a proportionate and reasonable number of pitches particularly to provide permanent homes for gypsy and/or traveller families and this provision should be within the allocation of affordable homes within the scheme.

“The indicative site was, however, shown as an alternative to employment land and had close proximity to the airport. This site was not suitable for settled gypsy or traveller families to be located because of its proximity to the airport and the Committee felt that a possible transition site should be located nearer the main arterial routes and the M5 and not in a residential area

“The Committee also reiterated that there was a need to separate between sites for each group and, traditionally both genuine gypsy and genuine traveller families were not usually content to share sites with new age or caravan travellers.”

They resolved to object to the planning applications.

Since the build of the new town in East Devon began in 2010, 3,500 homes, a railway station, St Martin’s Primary School, play facilities, the neighbourhood centre, local shops, the education campus, the Cranbrook Farm pub, while construction of buildings in the town centre and the sports pitches are underway, while plans for the ecology park in the town have also been submitted.

The application for the southern expansion for Cranbrook would see the town get an additional 1,200 homes, but also a petrol station, a residential care home, employment land, a new primary school, and an all-weather sports facility.”

http://www.devonlive.com/cranbrook-expansion-plans-opposed-by-cranbrook-town-council/story-30445666-detail/story.html

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18 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Police (local), Scrutiny

Oh, please NO! Police and Crime Commissioners can take over Fire and Rescue service

“Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority members have objected to plans from the area’s police and crime commissioner to take over its responsibilities.

Authority chair Kevin Reynolds said the commissioner’s proposal arose from a business case, which authority members had unanimously concluded “did not contain sufficient evidence to prove the case for what could be a costly and unnecessary change in governance arrangements”.
Members did though agree to offer a voting place on the fire authority to the commissioner.

Cllr Reynolds said one of the benefits cited by the commissioner for merging the services was better use of shared estates. “Evidence shows this collaboration is already happening not only between police and fire but also between fire and a whole range of public sector partners,” he said.
“The cost savings cited from a governance change in the business case also do not appear to have enough evidence behind them to support any change.
“We question whether a potential and unsubstantiated saving of £14,000 per year is a strong enough reason for wholesale change.”

Cllr Reynolds said the authority saw no “beneficial fit” with the police as they had “different cultures and accountabilities”.

Commissioner Jason Ablewhite had earlier cited new legislation enabling police and crime commissioners to take over fire and rescue services where they can make a case to do so.

He said PA Consulting had assembled a business case that showed “there are many advantages to be gained if I take on responsibility for governance of the fire service”.

Mr Ablewhite said: “My proposal is not a takeover of fire and rescue services, or a merger of the roles of police officers and firefighters. The distinction between operational policing and firefighting will be maintained.

“I believe that by taking over the governance arrangements from the council-run fire authority, I can provide greater accountability and transparency of both police and fire services and can maximise front-line resources and improve public safety.”

http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31932%3Afire-authority-sets-our-opposition-to-police-commissioner-takeover&catid=59&Itemid=27

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18 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Democracy, DUP, Sleaze, Spin, Transparency

“Tory minister changes law retrospectively – to hide name of DUP donor”

“If this wasn’t such a serious matter, the thought of a retrospective law being changed retrospectively would be quite amusing. But it isn’t, because it is about so-called “dark money” that was funnelled to the Tories’ new playmates the DUP.

Last year, that party paid for a £282,000 advert promoting the Leave campaign in The Metro newspaper, a free publication that doesn’t even reach the DUP’s constituents – using cash from a £435,000 donation from the Constitutional Research Council (CRC). This group is chaired by Richard Cook, a former Scottish Conservative Party vice-chairman and businessman. This is all public knowledge.

But the original source of the cash is a mystery – and will continue to be, despite the provisions of the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014.

The Act received Royal Assent on March 13, 2014 and became law on May 5, 2016. Part of its scope was to end a rule allowing donors contributing £7,500 or more to parties in Northern Ireland to remain secret – as the purpose of that rule was to protect those funding political parties from becoming potential targets for terrorists during the Troubles.

As enacted by Parliament, the date from which party donors should expect their names to be released was January 1, 2014 – prior to the date in which it was passed, meaning that it was intended as a retrospective Act.

But Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire announced earlier this month that he was making a (retrospective) change and the amendment would only apply from 1 July 2017. So the period of the exemption has been shifted forward by three and a half years and now covers two general elections, two Northern Irish Assembly elections – and the EU referendum campaign for which the DUP received all of that Scottish money to spend on English newspaper adverts.

Mr Brokenshire said he “did not believe it right to impose retrospective regulations on people who donated in accordance with the rules as set out in law at the time”.

In the case of the DUP donation, this is nonsense as the law at the time made it perfectly clear that the identity of any donors would have to be published.

And Mr Brokenshire did this while claiming to be a champion of “full transparency”!

Now, This Writer is not one to go bandying unfounded accusations around, but I think we can all accept the following:

The decision to hide the original of the DUP’s donated cash casts suspicion on the Conservatives, the DUP and on Mr Brokenshire himself – and the stain won’t wash out until satisfactor answers are provided.

http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2017/07/17/tory-minister-changes-law-retrospectively-to-hide-name-of-dup-donor/