Author Archives: East Devon Watch

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Council tax, EDDC, Environment (local), Ottery St Mary

Ottery St Mary complains about rubbish rubbish collections

Comments from Ottery Matters blog”

“… My parents has been missed ever since the new service started. Tbink they eventually got it collected last Friday after making several calls to EDDC.”

… There is an eddc app that you can use to report missed collections too.

… I spoke with the Waste Collection team earlier this afternoon – there as a long wait on hold, and when I eventually got through I was told that there have been hundreds of complaints about non-collection. Apparently many homes have been missed off the new routes.

First week of new scheme (in the heat wave) we had no collection and ended up with hundreds of maggots crawling out and over our food waste bin. Disgusting!!

So it seems like the new scheme is having major teething issues – and EDDC is failing to get the contractor to get on top of the issues.

… Neither has ours in Knightstones.

… We’ve been waiting 3 weeks in rockbeare! Well just our lane actually! Think we’ve been erased from the map!

… General enquiry. Has anyone else’s recycling not been collected for the last 2 weeks or is it just sunnyhill?”

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, DUP, East Devon Tories, General Election

What does £1 billion buy?

Owl says: just remember, if you voted Conservative in June, these are the kind of things things you stopped us having.

“During her disastrous election campaign Theresa May kindly reminded us that there is “no magic money tree” to fix the country’s cash problems.

But this week the struggling prime minister has managed to find a spare £1billion to make a deal with the DUP to prop up her minority government.

That’s enough to fund 26,000 nurses.

Or free school meals for all primary school children for a year.

Or sprinklers on 600 tower blocks.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/everyone-asking-theresa-ridiculous-presents-10695091

OR

A billion pounds will buy 147,000 state pensions or 300,000 jobseeker’s allowances for a year.

Alternatively it could fund 2.3 million people’s disability living allowance per annum – three quarters of the total.

It would cover all diagnostic imaging – MRI scans, x-rays – for a year with a bit left over for other jobs.

Or another way would be to fund 26,000 nurses or 12,000 hospital doctors for a year.

It could pay for 167,000 hip replacements or 1.4 million hospital day cases.

A billion pounds could also pay for two flagship hospitals, such as Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital which opened in 2010.

A billion pounds would provide an 8hr course of talking therapy for 2.5m people. Or 750,000 eight-session courses of mindfulness therapy.

Or the army could pay for 40 Challenger 2 tanks. The basic production cost in 2002 of each tank was £6m.

£1bn could fund 8,500 troops.

With £1bn the government could, for a year, fund 27,000 primary or 22,000 secondary school teachers.

Or give free school meals to 2.5m children.

The average cost of a free school is £6.6 million – so that would mean about new 150 free schools.

With £1bn the government could build 16,600 new social homes or 50,000 shared ownership homes, according to Shelter.

£1bn could make universal the offer of 15 hours a week of childcare for 37 weeks of the year.”

Facts courtesy of this tweet https://twitter.com/CerianJenkins/status/879332594839687170

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Jun 2017

Posted under

Austerity cuts, EDDC, Environment (local), Exmouth

Comments

3 Comments

Resident complains about Exmouth cleanliness

“Our town centre is FILTHY, specifically Rolle Street and the Strand pavements, the bus shelters and rubbish bins in the same area. Why is our town so FILTHY? What is going on??

Please clean this area on a regular basis, daily. It is worse than a third world country.”

Correspondent please note Owl cannot respond to requests for telephone contact.

Any further comment from other Exmothians?

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Hinkley C, Local Enterprise Partnership

Nuclear inaction – it’s hotting up

Owl says: no worries, our Local Enterprise Partnership has it all under control. What? It doesn’t? It’s getting very warm in here …

Business Commentary – Alistair Osborne (The Times – paywall)

“Lucky the National Audit Office got its Hinkley Point C report out last week. Then, it merely concluded that the government had “locked consumers into a risky and expensive project with uncertain strategic and economic benefits”. Oh, and that the reactor was of “unproven” design and other projects incorporating it were “experiencing difficulties”.

Well, guess what?

The £18 billion bill is shooting up and Hinkley Point could be another two years late, at least if you believe Le Monde. A report over the weekend added a potential £2.7 billion to the cost of the project and put back the start date to 2027 — conjecture hardly denied by the main contractor, France’s EDF, which must pay for any cost hikes. It said only that it was doing a “full review of the costs and schedule”.

Still, all that’s just for starters. More alarmingly, France’s nuclear watchdog has just produced a howitzer of a ruling over one of the two prototypes for Hinkley: a similar European Pressurised Reactor at Flamanville in France.

Having ordered a review of the nuke after finding carbon spots in the reactor vessel, the regulator has now told EDF it will have to replace the vessel cover within a few years of operation unless it can pass further tests — a bit tricky as the cover is no longer accessible.

The upshot? It’ll be replacing the cover on a live nuke, much to the delight of the locals. Anyway, this is the kit on its way to Somerset. Gives you such a warm glow.”

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, EDDC, Environment (local)

EDDC’s new rubbish rubbish collection

From a correspondent:

“We are now in week 3 of the new collection scheme.

Week 1 (heatwave): Collection day Tuesday. Reported missed collection Wednesday morning. Told Thursday afternoon it had been collected but it hadn’t. Chased and chased.

Week 2 (still heatwave): Complained again because we had thousands of maggots crawling all over our kitchen waste bin (having been stood in the sun for more than a week). Eventually collection made – but this was not the missed one – it was the next one.

Week 3 (today): Bins not collected again. Call centre clogged with calls from irate residents. EDDC apologetic – and say that there are hundreds of people calling to complain – but simply wringing their hands, not actually doing anything to fix it.

It’s funny, isn’t it, how EDDC PR dept can churn out PR after PR hyping what the council claims it is doing well – but not a peep out of them we residents deserve an apology and an explanation and details of an action plan to fix it.”

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, East Devon Tories, General Election

Comments

1 Comment

Just how much can you rip voters off before they reject you?

“Ask any returning or new MP what the big issues were during the election campaign and I bet most would have school cuts and police cuts top of the list. Indeed, at the beginning of the campaign, before the manifestos which changed the course of the election, I felt our school gates campaign was our strongest card and it would only be a matter of time before the Tories closed it down, as they did in 2015 on the NHS, with a promise to meet the shortfall.

Yet, with the arrogance and complacency that became the hallmark of their campaign, the Tories continued with their defensive line that school budgets were protected in cash terms (not real terms).

The Tories then adopted a similar (and wrong) strategy when police numbers took centre stage in the wake of the Manchester and London terror attacks, with Theresa May completely unable to say she’d “give the police the resources they need.”

In today’s Daily Mail, Tory MPs complain that headteachers lost them the election. Wrong. It was their own policies (and inability to change) which lost them the election. Polls after the election estimated that over three quarters of a million people changed the way they voted because of school funding cuts.

It wasn’t the fault of headteachers, nor the Chief Constables of the Met Police and Greater Manchester Police who also cited resource pressures, it was the Tory government’s own record on these issues.

The public can cope with a certain amount of “efficiencies” and necessary cost-cutting, but when their kids are in oversized classes without text books, and their hot lunches are being scrapped for a cold breakfast, or when our streets and communities become unsafe because of unsustainable cuts to the police, that’s when people get rightly very concerned.

The Tories failure to get this, is the biggest failure of their campaign and their government. It made Theresa May look remote and shifty on the campaign trail, unable to answer a straight question with a straight answer.

The Queen’s Speech shows that they’ve completely failed to learn the lessons of their election losses with no new money for schools or the police.

What an irony then that their own “magic money tree” has produced £1billion for their grubby deal with the DUP. This same billion pounds used at the start of the campaign to meet the shortfall in schools’ budgets and to give the police the resources they need with extra police officers, could have won them a majority, probably quite comfortably. Instead they are now going to have to find at least another £1billion to deal with the ever growing, and legitimate, calls of senior police officers and head teachers for adequate resources. The NUT has estimated that if English schools were given the same proportion of funding under this bung to the DUP as Northern Irish schools head teachers would receive over half a billion pounds.

The Tories key lines against Labour so effectively used in 2015 now all look in tatters, for the long term. It’s a common view that this election was a disaster for them, their dodgy deal with the DUP will only lead to more pain unless they learn the lessons of the election campaign.

Lucy Powell is the Labour and Co-operative MP for Manchester Central”

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/lucy-powell/general-election-2017-public-services_b_17304168.html

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Police (local), Scrutiny, Sleaze

Comments

2 Comments

Hernandez friend, now Deputy PCC, revers Mrs Thatcher, adores the Queen and calls Mrs May “Mother Theresa May”!

The Chief Constable must be loving this!

“Devon’s newly revealed deputy police and crime commissioner is a “staunch” Conservative who once chained himself to a set of railings to protest about the downfall of his hero, Margaret Thatcher.

Mark Kingscote has now been officially revealed by crime czar Alison Hernandez as her second-in-command, a role which will come with an estimated salary of £30,000.

The 55-year-old NHS mental health support worker is a close ally of Ms Hernandez from the days the pair were jointly-elected Torbay councillors for Shiphay with the Willows.

Ms Hernandez faced criticism during her election campaign that she would politicise the role, including from predecessor Tony Hogg, who quit the Tories in protest at the end of his office.

However, she has opted to recruit a fellow party member from her home town, prizing his track record in mental health and diversity in an appointment which has been criticised as “smacking of nepotism”.

A brief glance at Twitter shows her deputy is a loyal Conservative who reveres Mrs Thatcher, adores the Queen and even refers to the current prime minister as “Mother Theresa” May.

Deputy police and crime commissioner Mark Kingscote once chained himself to railings in protest at Tory plot to depose Margaret Thatcher

Devon’s newly revealed deputy police and crime commissioner is a “staunch” Conservative who once chained himself to a set of railings to protest about the downfall of his hero, Margaret Thatcher.

Mark Kingscote has now been officially revealed by crime czar Alison Hernandez as her second-in-command, a role which will come with an estimated salary of £30,000.

The 55-year-old NHS mental health support worker is a close ally of Ms Hernandez from the days the pair were jointly-elected Torbay councillors for Shiphay with the Willows.

Ms Hernandez faced criticism during her election campaign that she would politicise the role, including from predecessor Tony Hogg, who quit the Tories in protest at the end of his office.

However, she has opted to recruit a fellow party member from her home town, prizing his track record in mental health and diversity in an appointment which has been criticised as “smacking of nepotism”.

A brief glance at Twitter shows her deputy is a loyal Conservative who reveres Mrs Thatcher, adores the Queen and even refers to the current prime minister as “Mother Theresa” May.

Councillor Kingscote insists his views do not prevent him from looking and thinking “outside the box” and he will not bring party politics into policing.

But he does nothing to conceal or play down his deep admiration for Mrs Thatcher and her “special aura”.

He staked out Brighton’s Grand Hotel in 1987, the first time the Tories had stayed there since the IRA bomb of 1984 which nearly killed the then prime minister, bearing a bouquet of flowers.

Three years later, he was so furious at Michael Heseltine for launching a leadership challenge that he chained himself to the railings outside the Tory MP’s Mayfair home.

“I am more of a Thatcherite than a Conservative – she was a great inspiration to me,” he told Devon Live.

“That is based on the free market, deregulation and giving people the tools to get on with their own life. I believe in giving people a hand up not a hand-out and give people a chance to make something of their life.

“People have short memories but I remember how sad and desperate Britain was before she came to power: the three-day week, public sector strikes…Britain was on its knees.”

Mr Kingscote said he received many hundreds of letters of support from around the country for his demonstration, which saw him moved on by police.

“I went to Michael Heseltine’s house and we chained ourselves to the railings – the police came along and said, ‘Behave yourselves and get on your way’.

“Later we went to Downing Street and were greeted by rapturous applause.”

Mr Kingscote also reveals how his floral tribute to the so-called Iron Lady also began on a whim in his hometown, Torbay.

“I met Mrs Thatcher on many occasions, the most memorable being the Tory party conference of 1987,” he recalled.

“I said to my friend Vera ‘its Margaret’s birthday tomorrow I want to get her some flowers’.

“We went to Brighton and bumped into Michael Heseltine around 7am. He said, ‘You had better check with the heavy mob’ as security was tight.

“It was all cordoned off so we went upstairs and waited and waited while she was having a cabinet meeting.

“All of a sudden the door opened and I saw the outline and said ‘it’s Maggie’ and she said ‘you had better come in’ – we said we had come to wish her happy birthday to show how much we loved her.

She looked at the flowers and said ‘oh, red, white and blue – the colours of freedom and democracy in our country. May we never betray these colours’.

“We were in there for 15 to 20 minutes. It is amazing when you think how powerful she was in the 80s – there were ambassadors and heads of state waiting – she didn’t have to do that.

“There are only two people who have ever made me feel nervous in their presence: one was Maggie – she had a huge aura about her – and the other was the Queen.

“The dress, the hair, the make-up – everything about her was powerful and she used it all to maximum effect.”

The post of deputy police and crime commissioner was first raised on the campaign trail by Ms Hernandez, who toyed with the idea of campaigning for office alongside a running mate.

She eventually stood alone on the Tory ticket and was elected in her own right.

But last month, Devon Live revealed that she was considering appointing Mr Kingscote to share the workload, including increased scrutiny.

On Friday, he was formally announced before being presented to a meeting of the Police and Crime Panel next week.

His knowledge of mental health during 25 years in the NHS, his experience as Torbay’s planning committee, and a councillor since 2000, persuaded Ms Hernandez to offer him the role.

Cllr Kingscote is passionate about promoting diversity and this area will be key to Ms Hernandez’s plans to include marginalised communities in policing decisions.

He says, as a gay man, he has never experienced any prejudice, but will “speak up on behalf” of those whose views may not receive sufficient attention.

“I have never in my life experienced any prejudice but that might just be because of the person I am,” he added.

“In this day and age sexuality is not really relevant. I am also a committed member of the Church of England but you have got to have a broad outlook on life.

“You don’t have to be part of a particular group to want the best for them.”

He says his “staunch” Conservatism will be channelled into getting value for money in policing for taxpayers in Devon and Cornwall.

Asked about the recent row over Ms Hernandez’s comments over armed citizens, Cllr Kingscote feels his new boss has been harshly criticised.

He says her suggestion that allowing registered firearm users to combat terrorists was simply stimulating debate.

“Sometimes you need to debate things to know if it is a good policy or not,” he added.

“Both Alison and myself have strong views. I am not frightened to challenge my views or to challenge hers: that’s what makes a good team to challenge and influence policy

“Of course I am a Conservative and my belief in Conservative values will never change but you have got to look at the bigger picture.

“My three principles are freedom, democracy and the rule of law.”

http://www.devonlive.com/deputy-crime-czar-on-debate-diversity-and-his-love-for-margaret-thatcher/story-30411987-detail/story.html#2zwRxTOuwUIUiKWr.99

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local)

Properties sold and future disposals by NHS Property Services

Make sure you check the second tab of “Future Disposals” which goes not yet include East Devon community hospitals – but you can bet it soon will.

http://www.property.nhs.uk/wpdm-package/disposals-2017/?wpdmdl=11292

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local)

NHS Property Services – a very rich gravy train

 

And you don’t even have to work for the money!

How much longer can these “free market” obscenities go on?

And yet another hidden money tree.

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Jun 2017

Posted under

Police (local), Spin

“Labour slams ‘stupid and dangerous’ Tory crime czar as ‘unfit’ for office”

Owl says: at last someone prepared to say that this particular Empress has no professional clothes!

“Labour has called for the sacking of the Tory crime czar after her comments about armed citizens taking on terrorist attackers.

A group of Plymouth councillors have said Devon and Cornwall’s Police and Crime Commissioner should be removed from her role for making “stupid and dangerous” comments about guns.

The group is pushing for a vote of no confidence in Alison Hernandez, saying they are “extremely alarmed” at her stance on how to tackle terrorists.

Earlier this month Ms Hernandez said vigilantes with guns could be part of the “solution” – but later insisted the interview had been misinterpreted.

Labour is preparing to table a motion at next week’s council meeting calling for action.

“Ms Hernandez’s statement that she would ‘really be interested’ in the suggestion shows she is unfit and unsuitable for office,” a spokesman said.

“We endorse Deputy Chief Constable Paul Netherton’s view that it would be ‘definitely an emphatic no’ to non-police officers taking up arms.

“A proposal to utilise domestically owned firearms is a crass and inadequate response to mounting concerns about police cuts.

“In particular it is an inadequate response to the previously reported removal of a large number of armed officers. This in turn is exacerbated by the removal of the ‘eyes and ears of the force’, the PCSOs and beat officers.”

READ MORE: Machete wielding man in gas mask wrestled to ground by brave neighbours after spate of fires

The motion calls for the council’s chief executive to write to the Home Secretary asking her to “remove Ms Hernandez from office, allowing Devon and Cornwall Police to continue the fight against crime, including terrorist threats, without these stupid and dangerous comments being made.”

The councillors also want to write to the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel Chair requesting he tables an urgent vote of no confidence in Ms Hernandez at their next full meeting.

A spokesman for Ms Hernandez’ office said: “There has been no official notification of any Plymouth City Council motion concerning the Police and Crime Commissioner.

“Should a motion be tabled, any response from the commissioner will be made through the appropriate channels.”

http://www.devonlive.com/labour-slams-stupid-and-dangerous-tory-crime-czar-as-unfit-for-office/story-30411471-detail/story.html

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, DUP, East Devon Tories, General Election

DUP will be back for more

Meanwhile the West Country deteriorates.

“The Democratic Unionist Party’s £1 billion deal to prop up the Conservative government may end up costing the country far more because the DUP will be “back for more”, it emerged last night.

The Tories finally sealed a historic deal with the Northern Irish party which guarantees its 10 MPs will vote with the Government on key legislation, in return for which cash will go to Belfast for infrastructure, broadband, schools and hospitals.

But the £1billion payment – the equivalent of £33 for every taxpayer in the UK – could be only the start after DUP sources hinted that they will ask for more cash when the deal is “reviewed” in two years’ time. …”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/26/dup-deal-prop-minority-tory-government-set-cost-billions-party/

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

26 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local)

“Doctors’ union accuses government of privatising NHS”

“Doctors have accused the government of “consciously” creating the crisis in NHS hospitals in order to pave the way for a private sector takeover.

Delegates at the British Medical Association’s annual representative meeting in Bournemouth voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion that they were told amounted to a verdict of conspiracy rather than incompetence.

It has prompted a row with the Department of Health, who said in an official statement that the motion had “no relationship with reality”.

Doctors agreed that “the crisis in NHS hospitals has been consciously created by the government, in order to accelerate its transformation plans for private sector takeover of healthcare in England”.

Proposing the motion, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the incoming chairman of the union, said that quality and safety in the NHS were threatened by demands for efficiency savings. He said: “NHS costs are rising at 4 per cent per annum but with only a 2 per cent annual uplift to the NHS budget in coming years something has to give and the reality is clear to doctors, patients, the public and indeed everyone except government.

“The general election was a wake-up call, rejecting the political pretence of trying to squeeze a quart into a pint. In the name of safety and quality, austerity and savage cuts have to stop. We are a rich nation, we are a civilised society, the public deserve a safe, civilised health service. We cannot and must not accept anything less.”

Dr Nagpaul said that legislation that forced health service commissioners to tender services, or GPs to send their patients to private treatment centres, proved “this is deliberate and it does need to be challenged”.

Dr Grant Ingrams, opposing the motion, asked the meeting: “Do you really believe this and preceding governments would be capable of such clear thinking?”

He said: “The current parlous state of the NHS has not been due to political conspiracy, but is due to political cock-ups.”

Dr Mark Porter, the outgoing chairman, said that while there was evidence of more use of private services within the NHS, albeit from a low base, “there is not the same evidence that this is a deliberate conspiracy”.

A BMA spokeswoman said: “The rise in the number of private providers has led to the fragmentation of care, which makes the delivery of high-quality care more difficult.

“Politicians need to urgently address the funding and staffing crisis in our NHS, otherwise services simply won’t be able to cope with rising demand.”

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “This motion sadly has no relationship with reality — while, of course, there are pressures on the frontline, the government is now spending more than any in history on the NHS, has left doctors themselves to decide on use of the private sector, and public satisfaction is now the highest it has been in all but three of the last 20 years.”

Separately, doctors expressed concern that patients were increasingly turning to crowdfunding to get appropriate wheelchairs.

Dr Hannah Barham-Brown, a 29-year-old junior doctor from London, had to fund her own chair after being diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome two years ago.

She said: “The guidelines for getting chairs now are so strict, wheelchair services across the country are being privatised and it’s just getting harder and harder to get access.”

She said the standard NHS chair weighed around 20kg and she would have needed to be pushed everywhere. Her own £2,000 chair, towards which the NHS offered only £140 voucher, allows her to work full-time and independently.”

Source: The Times (paywall)

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

26 Jun 2017

Posted under

Affordable and Social Housing, Austerity cuts

Islington wins landmark appeal on affordable housing

“Islington Council says it has won “a landmark case” after the Planning Inspectorate upheld the local authority’s refusal of planning permission for a site, on the grounds the application did not provide the maximum reasonable amount of affordable housing.

The developer had applied to build 96 homes on a former Territorial Army Centre in Parkhurst Road, and initially sought to avoid providing any affordable housing.

Islington’s policy requires developments to provide the “maximum reasonable” amount of affordable housing, with 50% affordable housing provision being the starting point.

The council refused planning permission for the development on 13 May 2016. The developer appealed and eventually increased its offer of affordable housing to 10%.

A planning inspector dismissed the developer’s appeal last week (19 June).
Islington said the decision centred around how the viability of the development was assessed and, in particular, how the price of land should be determined.

“Viability appraisals are a tool increasingly used by developers and their viability consultants in recent years, to enhance profits and/or minimise risk at the expense of delivering affordable housing as required by the council’s planning policies on affordable housing,” it claimed.

“This extremely important appeal decision confirms a ‘…land owner is required to have regard to the requirements of planning policy and obligations in their expectations of land value.’”

The council also said that the inspector had considered the developer’s market value methodology, which relied on transactional evidence not comparable to the development site, as an inappropriate approach.

The inspector’s decision is just the latest stage in a long-running battle. An initial planning application for the site was submitted in 2013 by developers First Base, and the council refused planning permission for this development twice on the grounds of not providing enough affordable housing as well as other matters.

First Base had sought to justify the low levels of affordable housing provided based on factors such as the purchase price paid for the site, and land transactions of other schemes.

Cllr Diarmaid Ward, Islington Council’s Executive Member for Housing & Development, said: “Islington, like all boroughs in London, faces a significant shortage of affordable homes.

“A viability process in planning that allows developers to rely on a flawed approach to market value that delivers little or no affordable housing makes this problem worse, and means developers are not making a fair contribution to the community.

“The decision from the Planning Inspectorate sends a strong signal that developers need to take into account planning policy requirements when bidding for land, and that they cannot overbid and seek to recover this money later through lower levels of affordable housing.”

Cllr Ward added: “This decision will ensure the maximum reasonable amount of affordable housing is provided, and strongly discourage developers and landowners from manipulating the development viability process to deliver fewer affordable homes.”

The council’s guidance on development viability specifically cautions developers against overpaying for land and using the purchase price as a justification for providing little or no affordable housing.”

http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31637%3Acouncil-wins-row-over-providing-maximum-reasonable-amount-of-affordable-housing&catid=63&Itemid=31

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

26 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, EDDC, Tourism

Former EDDC councillor tells MPs to do what she didn’t – promote local tourism

Mrs Kerridge is the former EDDC Tourism Champion … criticism is too little too late – as she was in a position to change the situation!

“Town councillor Sheila Kerridge said while visitor numbers are falling in Devon but are up 10 per cent in a decade in Yorkshire – where the budget is 100 times bigger.

She argued that Sir Hugo Swire needs to fight for more tourism cash for all of his constituency.

Cllr Kerridge, the former tourism champion at East Devon District Council (EDDC), told a meeting last week: “Devon only receives £45,000 per annum. Yorkshire receives £5million. I want this committee to do something about that – not just for Sidmouth but all of East Devon.

“We should lobby our MP to go to central government to say tourism is vital for the South West, vital for East Devon and vital for Sidmouth.

“Let’s get him to say we need more money. We want our share. We should lobby, lobby, lobby to get our fair share.”

Cllr Kerridge cited figures showing visitor numbers to Devon are down four per cent compared by 2006.

Her calls came after news Sidmouth Town Council had joined third sector tourism board Visit Devon as an early adopter after its relaunch.

Town clerk Christopher Holland said: “We are one of the first councils to get on board with Visit Devon. It can be moulded to how we want it – we don’t want it just to be for Torbay or the English Riviera. We can promote what we want to promote.

“Visit Devon is a good brand but Devon is far behind Cornwall in how we promote ourselves as a destination. We need people to turn off the M5 before they get to Cornwall.”

Cllr Simon Pollentine said: “EDDC have dropped East Devon as a brand by not investing in it. This council is continuing to invest in tourism promotion and they aren’t.”

Cllr Ian Barlow questioned if it was value for money and said £1,000 could buy a lot of promoted posts on Facebook and Twitter.”

http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/calls-for-fairer-tourism-funding-for-east-devon-1-5078588g

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

26 Jun 2017

Posted under

Environment (local), Feniton/ Talaton

Fly outbreak in Feniton

Fly outbreak in Feniton ( from the blog of Independent Councillor Susie Bond:

“I’ve just heard from the Environmental Health Officer (EHO) who has been looking into the most recent problem with flies in the village. She has responded directly to the seven residents who have contacted her office.

It looks as though the poultry farm on Green Lane was the source of the flies, despite the farmer having complied with the larvicide regime.

Environmental Health Officers currently think that the combination of young birds in the sheds and the extreme temperatures last week led to the fly problem.

Further treatments have been carried out at the farm to reduce the number of flies.

The EHOs request that people monitor the fly levels and update her directly (lturner@eastdevon.gov.uk).”

For the full report see:

https://susiebond.wordpress.com/2017/06/26/latest-on-fly-outbreak-in-feniton/

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

26 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, East Devon Alliance, EDDC, Planning System, Rural communities, Transparency, Woodbury

Greendale Business Park 120% expansion plan – battle for who really controls East Devon planning policy and an EDA councillor excluded from meetings about his own area.

document to support the already approved “East Devon Local Plan.”

The Owners proposal is approx. 120% more development beyond the present developed area. The various coloured outlines show the proposed
development areas.

 

“East Devon District Council recently asked local people about a planning

The Local Authorities proposal for Greendale Business Park. “No further expansion beyond the present permitted developments already permitted”

The Owners version published in a document called the “Greendale Masterplan” which is included in the published consultation documents.

This proposal, known as the “Villages Plan,” will provide planning guidance until 2031 for the larger villages in East Devon and two large industrial sites of Hill Barton and Greendale.

The Villages Plan is not yet approved but the owners FWS Carter and Sons have submitted a “masterplan” proposing a massive 120% expansion to their site. There is considerable local concern that further expansion at Greendale Business Park will now continue.

The company`s agents have submitted a multitude of documents to support their claim for continued expansion and in a bid to overcome possible objections have re-introduced a “liaison group” which they claim is:

“To provide better lines of communication and wider understanding”

A few years ago, following a great many complaints, contentious planning applications and planning appeals the owners of the Business Park were asked by the County Council to invite Planning, Environmental Officers and locally elected representatives to form a liaison group.

This was a success for a few years, but was disbanded by the management 18 months ago, however they held a liaison meeting on Wednesday June 21st at their offices.

There is local concern over who the owners invited to attend.

There was no invitation for members of the Residents Association, Woodbury Parish Council were restricted by the company who named two Councillors they wished to attend. Most controversially the “Terms of Reference” was changed by removing the word “Local” from “Local Elected Member of the District Council” and the invitation was sent to Conservative Budleigh Town and District Councillor Tom Wright but not the current ward member.

The local ward Councillor Geoff Jung (EDA Independent) who is also the secretary of the Residents Association and a Parish Councillor says:
“This is not the normal practice for a “Liaison Group”, but the company has the right to invite whoever they wish to these meetings.”

“It`s totally “legal” but it`s certainly not democratic, I am unable to represent people as a member of Residents Association, nor as a Parish Councillor, nor as a District Councillor”. “I now have the most bizarre situation that I must direct residents with local concerns to the new Chair of this Liaison Group, Conservative Exmouth Town and recently elected Local County Councillor Mr Richard Scott.”

“It`s standard practice that a District Councillor represents his own ward at Liaison meetings and this requires the approval of the District Council. Cllr Wright has ignored this protocol and attended but, I am very pleased to hear that planning officers from the District Council will not attend the meetings until my inclusion is agreed.”

“There are serious local concerns regarding the recently submitted “Greendale Masterplan” and I suspect that the re-introduction of this Local Liaison Group is to do with these expansionist plans”

The Planning History.

Thirty years ago, the business park was a farm with some agricultural buildings which the owners claimed to be “redundant for farming use” They were given permission to be converted to Industrial units. More agricultural buildings were built and again allowed to become Industrial. Many of planning applications were “retrospective” (Built or converted prior to Planning Permission being submitted.

In 2009 the Business Park was permitted to enlarge to its present size as an “Exception Site to the then Local Plan” This was because the East Devon Business Forum (chaired by disgraced Conservative Councillor Graham Brown who boasted to a daily Telegraph “sting” reporter that he could provide approval for planning for a fee). The Forum claimed there was an acute lack of Industrial land available within the district.

Steadily the owners have built a very large Business Park in the open Countryside which was never the local planning authorities policy.
The residents of the rural village of Woodbury Salterton consider that any further expansion will destroy their beautiful village set in the open countryside, and for the last 10 years have campaigned for better planning protection.

The Local Authority with their recently approved Local Plan decided on the location for housing and commercial land, and agreeing with the village residents that further expansion of Greendale Business Park would not be appropriate or suitable.

The Local Plan is a blueprint for district planning until 2031 and includes policies for commercial and industrial developments to be built close to urban settlements. Substantial commercial opportunities exist at Cranbrook, Exeter Airport and on land known as the West End (on the outskirts of Exeter). This is to follow the Government`s planning policy that people should not be required to commute far from their homes to a place of work.
The village community, through their Residents Association, their Parish, District and County Councillors have strived for a sensible balance of development and the proposals included in the Local Plan and the emerging Village Plan are a direct result of 10 years of hard work of campaigning and lobbying.

Councillor Geoff Jung says:

“The decisions for both the Local Plan and the Villages Plan were decided democratically and agreed by full Council and by a Government Planning Inspector. The owners of Greendale must not be allowed to bulldoze further and further into the countryside.”

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

26 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local)

Comments

1 Comment

And to add insult to injuries in the UK : the sixth richest country in the world

“Ambulances are set to be given far longer to reach 999 calls in a controversial bid to ease spiralling pressures on emergency services.
Handlers could be given four times as long to assess calls after a study of 10 million calls found too many cases being counted as hitting official targets, without patients getting the help they need. …”
(Source: Daily Telegraph)

and

“Patients would be turned away from GP surgeries when they get too busy, under plans to create a “black-alert” system for overstretched family doctors.

Under the proposals, which have the support of the Royal College of GPs, surgeries would be able to shut their doors on days when they believe they cannot provide safe care to any more people. …”

Source: The Times (paywall)

and

“More people are unhappy with the NHS than satisfied for the first time in a poll of the public run by Britain’s doctors, and 70% say they think the health service is going in the wrong direction.

The growing public concern will be revealed by Dr Mark Porter, leader of the British Medical Association, who will tell his annual representative meeting in Bournemouth on Monday that the government is “trying to keep the health service running on nothing but fumes”. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jun/26/uk-public-are-more-dissatisfied-than-ever-with-nhs-poll-shows

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

26 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, EDDC, Housing (local), Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, PegasusLife

Expensive new HQ and luxury apartments for rich elderly people or good-quality social housing? Tough choice for EDDC

Sidmouth resident Mike Temple has the lead letter in today’s Guardian on social housing. Our council is MUCH more interested in moving into its very expensive new offices (£10 million and counting) than building, or encouraging the building of, social and truly affordable housing. As shown when it agreed to sell its Knowle site to PegasusLife for super-luxury housing for only rich, elderly people, with PegasusLife attempting to exploit a loophole via a planning appeal to avoid any on-site or off-site affordable properties.

“The fire at Grenfell Tower has highlighted a number of issues relating to government housing policy in recent years, not only the failure to apply proper safety measures but also its whole approach to social housing.

The 2012 national planning policy framework, often described as a “developers’ charter”, has given precedence to expensive private development while discouraging social housing. The result is that through land-banking, slow build-out rates and using the housing market as an investment, house prices have risen way beyond the reach of most average-wage earners. At the same time, an increasing proportion of the incomes of the lower paid is spent on rented accommodation, which is often of poor quality.

Among the 72 Conservative MP landlords who voted against the 2016 housing bill to make “rented properties fit for human habitation” were the communities secretary, Sajid Javid, housing minister Brandon Lewis (who has also said installing fire-sprinklers could discourage house-building), fire minister Nick Hurd, and David Cameron.

Official Statistics on social housing show that since 2010 the number of government-funded houses for social rent has plummeted by 97%.

Gavin Barwell, until recently housing minister and author of a white paper that offered proposals to ease development while doing little to promote social housing, has – like the government he serves – failed to act on the recommendations in the report on the fire at Lakanal House in 2009. Like previous Conservative minsters he preferred light-touch regulation so that warnings have been ignored at national and local government level.

The result is a system that has failed to protect our citizens – cost-cutting and reckless decisions were made with little fear of anyone being held responsible.
Mike Temple
Sidmouth, Devon”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/25/grenfell-tower-tragedy-shows-social-housing-system-has-failed-uk-citizens