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Author Archives: East Devon Watch
Honiton: another council, another police investigation?
Comment by current Deputy Mayor Henty Brown on the recent shock resignations from Honiton Town Council, reported in today’s Express and Echo website:
“... The town council is not in crisis as this mass exodus was planned – the fact that one resigned after the other meant it was all orchestrated in a way to get maximum effect.
“There is of course also the investigation into the finances of the town council and a police investigation into that. But the council is above this and we have to remain an open and transparent council, and if you don’t want that to be the case, then you should resign.”…
And, on election expenses fraud – no prosecutions: bears do defacate in woods!
“CPS presses no charges over alleged 2015 Tory election over-spending, but one case outstanding
The Crown Prosecution Service has put out this statement. It’s from Nick Vamos, its head of special crime.
We have considered files of evidence from 14 police forces in respect of allegations relating to Conservative Party candidates’ expenditure during the 2015 General Election campaign.
We considered whether candidates and election agents working in constituencies that were visited by the Party’s ‘Battle Bus’ may have committed a criminal offence by not declaring related expenditure on their local returns. Instead, as the Electoral Commission found in its report, these costs were recorded as national expenditure by the Party.
We reviewed the files in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and have concluded the tests in the Code are not met and no criminal charges have been authorised.
Under the Representation of the People Act, every candidate and agent must sign a declaration on the expenses return that to the best of their knowledge and belief it is a complete and correct return as required by law. It is an offence to knowingly make a false declaration. In order to bring a charge, it must be proved that a suspect knew the return was inaccurate and acted dishonestly in signing the declaration. Although there is evidence to suggest the returns may have been inaccurate, there is insufficient evidence to prove to the criminal standard that any candidate or agent was dishonest.
The Act also makes it a technical offence for an election agent to fail to deliver a true return. By omitting any ‘Battle Bus’ costs, the returns may have been inaccurate. However, it is clear agents were told by Conservative Party headquarters that the costs were part of the national campaign and it would not be possible to prove any agent acted knowingly or dishonestly. Therefore we have concluded it is not in the public interest to charge anyone referred to us with this offence.
Our evaluation of the evidence is consistent with that of the Electoral Commission. While the role of the Commission is to regulate political finances and campaign spending, the role of the CPS is to consider whether any individual should face criminal charges, which is a different matter with different consideration and tests.
One file, from Kent Police, was only recently received by the CPS, and remains under consideration. No inference as to whether any criminal charge may or may not be authorised in relation to this file should be drawn from this fact and we will announce our decision as soon as possible once we have considered the evidence in this matter.”
via Guardian Live
Children injured in new- build homes due to dangerous and shoddy workmanship
“Children have been injured in shoddily built new homes, we can reveal.
The youngsters have suffered electric shocks and breathing problems, while one was even crushed by a radiator, after moving in to properties that had not been constructed properly.
The revelations are the latest uncovered by the Daily Mail as part of an investigation into the dire state of many of Britain’s new-build homes.
We have previously reported on leaks, water-logged gardens, missing windows, badly fitted doors, broken toilets and gaps in the guttering.
Many homebuyers have scrimped and saved for years to get on the property ladder.
Today we can reveal that poor workmanship by builders – some of whom are cutting corners in a rush to meet construction targets – is raising safety concerns.
Kate and Kevin Fever, from Tiverton, Devon, saved for years to buy a bigger home for their four children. When they moved to their new £265,000, four-bedroom property in December 2015, there were snagging issues with the downstairs flooring and drainage in the garden. These were fixed within a few weeks.
But, seven months later, a heavy double radiator fell off the wall as their eldest daughter Gemma, then aged ten, walked across the kitchen. Kate, 32, a student midwife, says: ‘When I rushed over and pulled off her sock, I expected just a graze, but it was a bloodbath. I grabbed a tea towel to wrap around her foot and we went straight to A&E.’ Gemma, now 11, needed stitches and a cast on her leg for a ruptured Achilles tendon. Kate and Kevin, 40, reported the incident to their builder Taylor Wimpey.
They claim the firm admitted wrong fixings were used on a number of radiators, which meant they weren’t secured properly to the walls.
The radiators were repaired and the firm contacted other customers they thought could be affected. Gemma also received toys, a £50 Toys R Us gift card and £150.
A spokeswoman for the builder says: ‘Taylor Wimpey has apologised to the Fever family for the distress caused. The health and safety of our customers and their families is our number one priority.’
Paul and Lisa Holland, from Leyland, Lancashire, also bought a four-bedroom property from Taylor Wimpey, which they have lived in since 2010. In November last year, Lisa, 43, and youngest son Kyle, 11, suffered electric shocks after touching a lightswitch.
Paul, 45, an HGV driver, says: ‘It happened when we changed the bulb to an energy saver. The bulb started flashing. My son went to the switch, but he jumped back crying. My wife then tried it and jumped back after also suffering a shock.’ When Paul’s brother tested the plastic switch with a volt meter he found live current leaking. The switch had to be replaced, along with the light. ‘My wife and son are very, very lucky they did not each suffer more serious shocks,’ says Paul.
A Taylor Wimpey spokesman says: ‘The vast majority of our customers tell us they are very satisfied with the quality of their home. ‘However, we recognise that we do sometimes get things wrong, and in those cases we are committed to putting them right as quickly as possible.’
Figures show a staggering 98 per cent of new-build buyers report problems to their builders, according to a new home survey by the National House Building Council and the Home Builders Federation.
After years of saving, Colin and Jessica Nickless bought their first home in September 2015. But since moving into the three-bedroom, terraced new-build in Rainham, near London, the couple and their two children have been plagued by damp and mould. Ellie, five, and Freddie, three, have both been in hospital with breathing difficulties and chest infections.
The couple particularly worry about Ellie as she suffers from cystic fibrosis, which makes her vulnerable to respiratory infections. Colin, 41, a full-time carer for Ellie, says: ‘Our new-build home is making us all ill.
‘We’ve had problems with leaking pipes, damp carpets, water dripping through electrical sockets and light fittings, waste pipes not being connected properly and pouring filthy water into my son’s bedroom.’
A spokeswoman for Circle Housing refused to comment on the case due to an ongoing legal claim.
Philip Waller, a retired construction manager who runs advice website brand-newhomes.co.uk, says: ‘When children are being injured by defective new homes, the Government simply cannot stand on the sidelines.'”
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-4489582/Our-new-build-homes-children-E.html
999 call for support at EDDC on 17 May for emergency motion on NHS in Devon
Save our Hospital Services East Devon Facebook page:
“EDDC council meeting 17th May, 6.30 pm – Knowle, Sidmouth.
We [Independent East Devon Alliance] have a motion going before the Council condemning the closure of our community beds.
Support from members of the public during public speaking would really help us and show your local ward member how you want them to vote.
If you can come along and support us we would be very grateful, this is a tough fight. The item is late (last?) in the agenda but you can ask to speak before that item rather than at the start of the meeting. Do contact me if you need more information. Here is our motion and the East Devon Alliance Councillors who are proposing it:
“Councillor Cathy Gardner, seconded by Councillor Marianne Rixson and supported by Councillors Val Ranger, Matt Coppell and Megan Armstrong:
“That this Council condemns the decision of the NEW Devon CCG to close community hospital beds in Seaton and Honiton and calls on our County Councillors and MPs to oppose further cuts to services in East Devon as part of the ongoing Sustainability and Transformation Plan.”
This comes hot on the heels of a damning report on our so-called “Success Regime” Clinical Commissioning Group, which has managed to get us into an even worse mess than the regime it replaced:
(also from same Facebook page):
“Largest CCG given updated legal directions as finances sink
Health Service Journal – 4 May, 2017 By Nick Carding
Fresh legal directions given to troubled NEW Devon CCG
Deadline for submission of 2017-18 operating plan is Friday
CCG’s cumulative deficit now stands at £120.5m
The largest clinical commissioning group in the country has been given fresh legal directions over its financial management, amid a worsening of its cumulative deficit.
NHS England has imposed several instructions on Northern, Eastern and Western Devon CCG, which has been in the region’s success regime since 2015, and is yet to agree its operating plan for 2017-18 with regulators.
The deadline for submitting the plan is Friday.
The updated directions, which took effect in late March, replace previous directions from August 2015.
They include:
The financial recovery plan and any amendments to it shall continue to be subject to NHS England approval.
NHS England may direct the CCG in any other matters relating to the financial recovery plan.
NHS England could dictate the process to be followed by the CCG in making appointments to its executive team or the “next tier of management”.
The CCG’s cumulative deficit since 2013-14 now stands at £120m, after it ended 2016-17 with a £42m deficit.
In 2016-17 it had forecast a cumulative deficit of £107m.
The region, which has been warned it could become subject to the new “capped expenditure process” devised by NHS England and NHS Improvement, has been ordered to come up with affordable operating plans by Friday.
The plans will be reviewed with national directors at NHS England and NHSI later this month.
The CCG and the NHS providers in the NEW Devon footprint had a joint financial plan for 2016-17.
Neither the CCG nor the providers could identify further savings without “having a severe impact on patient care”, CCG governing body papers said.
In February, the CCG confirmed plans to reduce the number of inpatient beds across four community hospitals in its eastern locality from 143 to 72.
For 2017-18, one of the main providers on the patch – Plymouth Hospitals Trust – has launched a £40m financial improvement programme, which includes workforce redesign.
HSJ asked the CCG what its financial forecast and savings target would be in 2017-18, but a spokeswoman said it would be inappropriate to respond to questions relating to 2017-18 because their plans have not yet been approved.
South Devon and Torbay CCG is also under legal directions.
Article updated at 3.33pm, May 5, after new information was provided by the CCG.
Source:
CCG board papers and information provided to HSJ”
“Is the Prime Minister fake news”
From the blog of Peter Cleasby:
“Last week the Conservative Party – rebranded nationally as “Theresa May’s Team” – bought advertising space in a dozen local papers around the country to promote the Prime Minister’s general election campaign [1]. Nothing wrong in that in principle: it’s a long-standing habit of political parties to pay for advertising. The towns and cities in question appear to be Parliamentary seats which the Tories are targeting to win. So far, business much as usual.
The commentariat has tended to criticise the tactic as a way of getting around spending limits for constituency election campaigns. It’s a targeted national campaign which doesn’t mention the local candidates so it’s not local spending, and it’s all within Electoral Commission rules.
Frankly, that’s a second-order complaint. The Conservative Party is simply doing what any advertiser would do given the opportunity. If it’s an unintended loophole in the spending rules, it can be put right. Much more insidious, and an example of further erosion of any semblance of standards in corporate behaviour, is the way in which the newspapers allowed the ads to be designed and placed.
What the local papers did – or, probably more accurately, what they were told to do by their corporate owners – was to accept the advertisement in the form of a wrap-around, with each paper’s normal masthead integrated into the paid-for “front page”. In other words, a blatant attempt to mislead readers into thinking their local paper was supporting Mrs May’s election campaign.
Defenders of the scheme have argued that people would easily see that it was an advertisement. Really? Two points here. First, at least on the fake front page of the Exeter Express and Echo, the words “ADVERTISER’S ANNOUNCEMENT” are set in a white font on a pale grey background. This is invisible to anyone looking at the paper from a distance, on a newsstand for example.
Second, it’s not unheard of for national papers such as the Sun and the Daily Mail to trumpet their support for a political party as editorial matter on their front pages. If they can do it, why should people be surprised that the local papers are doing the same?
The advertising impact isn’t limited to people who buy the paper: indeed, they will soon discover the real front page inside and put Mrs May in the recycling. What the technique achieves is massive exposure of Mrs May’s slogans because the papers – typically weekly ones – are displayed on newsstands for a whole week. These stands are often to be found in prominent places in major retailers: in Exeter, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s have separate stands for the Echo in the entrance areas.
The edition of the Exeter paper that carried the fake front page also ran a leader article entitled “Delivering facts not fake news” [2]. The irony of this was lost on the paper’s editor. In response to my complaint to him about the fake front page, Mr Parker said:
“The material carried this week was part of a nationwide advertising initiative by the Conservative Party and the decision to publish it was made solely for business reasons as we are, after all, a business.
“It was made clear that this was an advertising arrangement with the Conservative party and is something we are at the moment exploring with other political parties.
“Again, any future decisions will be based on the commercial side of the business and will have absolutely no bearing on the way the Express and Echo covers editorially any news stories whether or not they are of a political nature.
“I cannot emphasise enough that we are a totally independent news operation and proud of that fact and will continue to be so.”
Taking advertisers’ money is one thing. Trying to mislead your readers – who may not be interested in the distinction between the commercial and editorial sides of the business – is quite another. And since the rules on political balance don’t apply to the press, we can assume that only those parties who can pay out hard cash for wrap-arounds will be included in the exploratory discussions Mr Parker refers to.
Up in Westmoreland, where the local paper also ran a fake front page, there is some community anger, threatening a boycott of the rag [3]. Something worth considering everywhere else, since even if local papers no longer care about their reputations, their owners do care about sales and profits.
Meanwhile Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and all other retailers giving prominence to local papers should move the newsstands carrying the fake front page to the nearest back room until normal service is resumed.”
NOTES
[1] For a list of papers and constituencies, see https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/how-the-conservatives-are-using-local-adverts-to-get-around
[2] A longer version of the article is in the online version at http://www.devonlive.com/8203-in-an-age-of-fake-stories-we-always-provide-trusted-news/story-30314208-detail/story.
If you wish to contribute to Claire Wright’s election campaign
Northern community boycotts local paper over Tory wrap-around ad
The Express and Echo was also guilty of publishing this ad, which coincidentally covered over the REAL front page detailing a local planning scandal!
“Hundreds of people have signed a petition demanding a weekly newspaper apologises for running a front page wraparound promoting the Conservative Party as the row over the adverts rumbles on.
The Westmorland Gazette was one of many regional newspapers to run the wrap last week ahead of Thursday’s local elections, but has now come under fire from readers who have demanded a full front page apology and threatened to boycott the paper until it complies.
The petition’s Avaaz page reads: “As regular readers of the Westmorland Gazette we are dismayed to see OUR community paper being misused for party political purposes.
“Whilst we would welcome balanced representation of all LOCAL candidates within the paper, we feel strongly that a front page advert for a single national party is not acceptable (especially when published on a polling day (4/5/17)!).
“We request that you publish a full front page apology in your next issue. Please note that many of us will be boycotting the paper until this occurs.”
The adverts coincided with the local elections, as readers went to the polls for council and mayoral elections.”
What is going on at Honiton Town Council (and the Beehive)?
THREE more resignations since yesterday’s shock resignation of the Mayor only minutes after she had been elected:
“Honiton Town Council has been dealt a double blow after two more councillors quit the authority.
Former mayor Peter Halse and Luke Harvey-Ingram tendered their resignation today, meaning one fifth of the council has quit in the last 48 hours.
Yesterday evening, the council was rocked after new mayor Ashley Delasalle attacked the authority before dramatically resigning on the spot and leaving the meeting.
Her exit was followed by David Perkins quitting as a member, the council-appointed director of Honiton Community Complex Ltd and temporary responsible financial officer.
His resigned after councillors voted to remove him from a committee investigating the finances around the Beehive build.”
http://www.midweekherald.co.uk/news/two-more-honiton-town-councillors-resign-1-5009960
The Beehive community centre has been surrounded by controversy since its inception, when it was given a massive amount of money by EDDC (unlike most other similar centres in other towns) and got into much financial difficulty from the start, see here:
https://eastdevonwatch.org/2015/02/10/honiton-beehive-problems-started-long-ago/
and here:
and here:
https://eastdevonwatch.org/2014/06/17/matters-of-financial-high-risk/
and a previous resignation here:
New build housing figures pathetic
“House building under the Tories has fallen to its lowest peacetime levels since the 1920s, Huff Post UK reveals today.
An analysis of house building going back more than a century shows the most recent years of Conservative rule has seen the lowest average house build rate since Stanley Baldwin was in Downing Street in 1923.
According to figures compiled by the House of Commons Library, an average of 127,000 homes a year have been built in England and Wales since the Tories took office in 2010.
This is the lowest level since Baldwin’s first stint as Prime Minister in 1923, when just 86,000 homes were built. …
… Alongside the figures, Labour also released a dossier of broken election pledges from the Tories’ 2015 manifesto. This included the promise to “build 200,000 Starter Homes” by 2020.
The target was dropped from the Government’s flagship Housing white paper published in February.
The manifesto also pledged to build “more affordable housing”, but the number of affordable homes built last year fell to the lowest level in 24 years.” …”
“Austerity has made local government financially unviable. Radical reorganisation may be the only answer”
Owl says: But alas not before EDDC has spent £10 million plus of our money on a new HQ which may be redundant before they move into it!
“Tory councillors popping celebratory corks after last week’s haul of seats should bear in mind the old adage: be careful what you wish for. Now they occupy council leadership positions from Maidstone to Morpeth, it is they alone who must now carry the can for sorting out local government’s two Rs, revenue and reorganisation. The latter is going to haunt county halls for the next political cycle.
The blue tide isn’t going to wash away any of local government’s fundamental problem of a lack of money. Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, has said he hopes “emboldened county leadership” could campaign for sustainable funding for social care and children’s services; he’s an optimist.
Residents may be willing to pay more for looking after older people. But how? Council tax won’t provide enough, so it will be down to central grants. Whoever is communities secretary after June 9 (and Theresa May looks unlikely to keep Sajid Javid) must now devise a distribution and needs formula for England that will protect Tories in the north as well as those in the heartlands of the south.
Short of May tearing up the spending plans set out by Philip Hammond barely a couple of months ago, financial pressure isn’t going to ease. So, come June 9 we’re back to the Christchurch question. A month ago, councillors in the solidly Tory Dorset district decided to defer a referendum on an outline plan to reorganise local government in that county, getting rid of two tiers and replacing the county council, districts and existing Poole and Bournemouth unitary councils with two new, big unitaries. Without reorganisation, the story goes, austerity has made local government financially unviable.
Reorganisation details are different in the various, but the same kinds of argument have been playing in Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, Kent, Bucks, Essex, Hampshire and the other shires. If you notice something similar about those names, gold star: they are all Tory. What’s in prospect is largely an intra-Tory party argument which, in Kent, for example, is already pitting Tory MPs against councillors, as well as setting up massive squabbles between councillors themselves.
We’ve been here before, several times. Those with long memories will recall the long hours and bitter debate within the John Major government in the 1990s over reorganisation. The fruits of that included the demise of Avon county council in 1996, which the West of England combined authority is a bodged attempt at recreating.
Reorganisation is back because consultants’ reports say it should in principle be cheaper to run services over bigger areas with a single tier council and county executives usually agree. But those reports perennially underestimate transitional costs and rarely factor in the hard-to-quantify but vital element of the identification of residents and staff with particular places and local history.
Besides, most reorganisations turn into messy compromises. Take Christchurch. A “rational” reorganisation based on economic geography would align it with Southampton and the Solent, with the New Forest a sort of park in between urban areas. But few Tories are willing to abandon entirely the historic boundaries of Dorset even if the county council goes, just as few Tories want to see the (non-Tory) urban areas of Oxford and Cambridge being allowed to swallow the districts around them.
And all that is just local government. Summing up the costly and largely ineffective debates of the 1990s, Michael Chisholm, chair of the Local Government Boundary Commission, complained of the folly of reorganising without simultaneously considering council powers and finance – which these days has to include the interrelationship of councils and the NHS as well as the fraught consequences of councils’ keeping the proceeds of business rates and the end of central grants.
There’s trouble ahead but at least reorganisation would weaken the political hegemony the Tories have now established across a wide swath of English local government.”
No money for the NHS?
Election expenses fraud decision “late May/early June”
Whose betting on 9-15 June! With no prosecutions, of course, including our own Police and Crime Commissioner – “insufficient evidence”, “minor mistakes”, “must be more careful in future”, rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb:
“Today The Independent has the latest on when that CPS news will come:
If it decides to launch criminal proceedings, the investigation could have a dramatic impact on a snap election which was called by Theresa May last month when she was top of the polls.
A spokesman for the CPS told The Independent, “We have nothing to add to our previous position which is that we are working to various deadlines in late May and early June.”
The CPS is under pressure to make a decision due to legal time limits around when cases have to be brought over election-related wrongdoing.
Note that “late May” reference in particular. General election polling day is in June.
The fraud allegations centre on claims that the Conservatives evaded constituency election expense limits by wrongly declaring items as national expenditure (and so subject to another, more generous limit) rather than as local expenditure.
The Electoral Commission has already levied a record-breaking fine on the Conservative Party, in part for wrongly including in its national expenditure limit items which should have been included in the local expenses limit.
The Commission, however, does not, however, have enforcement powers over those local limits. Hence the additional police and CPS process looking at the Conservative MPs and officials responsible for the local expense returns. Whilst the Commission fined the Conservative Party, this second legal process, if it goes ahead, puts individuals in the legal firing line.”
http://www.markpack.org.uk/149737/cps-conservative-election-expenses-announcement-timing/
Honiton’ new mayor sensationally quits the role and the council immediately after election
“HONITON Town Council elected a new mayor this evening in Cllr Ashley Delasalle, who stunned the chamber by immediately quitting the role – and the council – with a sensational statement.
Cllr Delasalle, who had served Honiton Town Council since 2015, said the council was “broken” and “limping from one crisis to the next”. She also said it is “diseased with negative energy” and “personal battles of ego”.
Cllr Delasalle’s statement read: “Firstly and most importantly I would like to thank those of you [that] have supported me over the past few weeks. If this process has taught me anything is that I have great friends. “I would also like to thank my family, especially my husband for his inspiration and for teaching me I can make a positive difference to people’s lives.
“35 years ago my teacher told me to steer clear of my husband because he was trouble. I now live with a man who receives invitations from the Prime Minister to dine at Number 10 and who proposed to me at the High Sheriff of Devon’s private garden party. “Clearly some teachers are poor judges of character.”
“I have said that I will endeavour to secure funds to reinstate the Gissage Bridge and the toll gates. I have many ideas and I will pursue those aims. I will also fund raise to provide the de-fibrilators (sic) for the town that the council failed to provide last year.
Pre-occupied with the past
“This will be difficult to achieve as we have been so pre-occupied with the past that we have failed to set a proper budget for the coming year.
“This Council exists to serve the people of the town, it does not exist to boost our ego’s (sic) or fulfil our personal ambitions. “Sadly we do not all hold that opinion.
Harassment and bullying
“In the past 4 months it is my view that I have witnessed the harassment, bullying and intimidation of our fellow councillors and council employees.
“I feel a victim of this treatment myself and the treatment of our temporary RFO (Responsible Financial Officer] [Cllr David Perkins, who is filling in for town clerk Chetna Jones) can only be described a appalling.
“Despite the best efforts of some of us this bullying and harassment has remained uncontrolled and unreported.
Lack of mutual respect
“It is my opinion that Honiton Town Council is broken, it is limping from one crisis to the next, it is diseased with negative energy, with personal battles of ego, with personal ambition; there is a lack of mutual respect and sense of common decency among its peers, and is fixated with the past.
“This type of behaviour affects the health of our employees, our members and our members’ families and is at best immature.
“We should be ashamed.
“I promise the town of Honiton that I will do all I can to achieve the aim’s (sic) I have set out above to the best of my ability. I will welcome all the co-operation and help I know I will receive from many of you and from the people of the town.
“I feel that my efforts will be most effective without the influence of the Town Council, and for that reason it is without regret or apology that I resign from the council with immediate effect.”
https://www.viewnews.co.uk/honitons-new-mayor-sensationally-quits-council-evening-theyre-elected/
Independent Claire Wright to challenge Hugo Swire again
“Claire to stand for East Devon seat
Since the snap election was announced I have been inspired by hundreds of emails and calls urging me to stand and offering help. Following my decisive win in the county council elections, I have decided to say YES to my army of supporters by once again challenging the sitting Conservative MP.
In the 2015 parliamentary election I came second, with a 24 per cent share of the vote – more than Labour and the Lib Dems combined.
People are telling me that they are angry and frustrated with the current government’s policies. East Devon residents are looking for someone different, someone who will work solely for them, without being tied to a political party.
As a direct result of this government’s policies local NHS provision is under threat, education budgets face massive shortfalls, local businesses will suffer hikes in business rates, local council services have diminished under massive government cuts – and national debt has actually increased.
As well as this there are real fears of a damaging hard Brexit if the Conservative government is re-elected with a substantial majority, as is predicted.
In 2015, although a long-standing and hard-working local councillor, I was a parliamentary newcomer.
Now I have a track record that shows how local people are prepared to back me. I am the only candidate who can win this seat from the Conservative MP.
I am calling on everyone in this constituency from the youngest to the oldest voter to join in a campaign based on progressive values and to return me as their MP.
As an Independent MP I would be free from the party whip and I would campaign on the issues that local people tell me are important to them. I would be free to speak and free to act.
If every resident who would like to see change in East Devon votes for me, history can be made in East Devon.”
Government will not fund young voter registration drive
“Youth vote campaigners are warning of a democratic deficit in the general election as it emerged that the Cabinet Office will not provide funding to groups focused on increasing turnout among young and marginalised people.
As the electoral commission launches a campaign to increase voter registration before the deadline on 22 May, the Guardian has learned that funding provided by the Cabinet Office in past general elections will not be available this time because the pre-election period has already begun.
Lucy Caldicott, chief executive of the youth leadership organisation UpRising, said: “We are in an environment where many charities are already working really hard to get our campaigns to encourage young people to vote up and running but we are asking just how much of an impact we can make in such a short time.
“There is a real risk of there being a democratic deficit in this election due to the lack of notice and short campaign. Do we continue to focus on our core long-term activity or throw our assets behind getting a few thousand more votes out, as important as that is? We will of course encourage all those young people we work with to take part by voting on the 8 June.”
Young people could be left feeling ignored and marginalised as charities have to choose between risking their long-term financial stability and ploughing resources into getting out the youth vote. Campaigners say that as the election falls in the middle of the exams period, some students are unsure whether to register at their university address or at home.
The election also coincides with the Muslim month of Ramadan, ranising questions about a further potential barrier for ethnic and faith minorities who are already under-registered.
After a huge push to get voters to register for the EU referendum, some organisations have been left with little in reserve to engage young people in an election that will shape their futures for the next five years and beyond.
Young people have been repeatedly accused of moaning about Brexit despite failing to vote in the EU referendum, with one estimate soon after the referendum claiming that only 36% of 18- to 24-year-olds had taken part.
But analysis by the London School of Economics of detailed polling conducted since the referendum by Opinium suggests turnout was as high as 64% among young people registered to vote, and that more than 70% of young voters choosing to remain in the EU.
Elisabeth Pop, voter registration campaign manager at the anti-fascism group Hope Not Hate, said: “The big question at this snap general election is: who will decide Britain’s future? With less than a month to go until voter registration ends, there is a real risk that students and certain other vulnerable groups will miss out on their chance of a voice.
“Our research clearly shows that traditionally underrepresented communities and social groups – such as students and young people, ethnic minorities and renters – remain at risk of not having a say come 8 June.”
In a series of emergency meetings in recent days, groups have been devising urgent action plans and putting themselves on a battle footing despite time and financial pressures.
The youth voter movement Bite the Ballot promises “weeks’ worth of unconventional activities” to get out the youth vote, and will be partnering with high-profile companies to reach as many young people as possible.
Hope Not Hate and Bite the Ballot will team up for TurnUp – eight days of concentrated action and a digital push in the run-up to the voter registration deadline; while UpRising will work with young people on its programmes to ensure they are registered and encourage them to get involved in the debate.
“The main thing we will be up against is voter fatigue,” said Kenny Imafidon of Bite the Ballot. “A lot of people don’t understand why we are going to the polls again. Our message is that there is power in participation. This election is not just about Brexit, it’s about big issues facing young people like housing, employment, education reform. Our role is not to tell people who to vote for, but get them to ask critical questions.”
Seaton county councillor’s fight for local hospital goes national
“A county councillor has launched a crowdfunding campaign aiming to raise sufficient funds for a judicial review challenge to closure of beds at Seaton Hospital.
Cllr Martin Shaw, an independent elected this month to represent the Seaton & Colyton ward, said on his Facebook page that it was “crunch time” for the bid for a judicial review.
He added: “The Town Council [Seaton] has decided it cannot underwrite the first stage of the review and the League of Friends is not allowed to do so. So I am launching a very urgent community crowdfunding campaign to raise sufficient funds to go to the solicitors on Monday and give them the go ahead. The rush is necessary because of the legal time constraints.”
Cllr Shaw told Viewsnews.co.uk that he had donated £1,000 towards the target of £20,000, and that he would use the rest of his £10,000 councillor’s allowance to underwrite the campaign while donations came in.
He added that solicitors were preparing a letter before action to send to the NEW Devon Clinical Commissioning Group by the end of this week, giving the case why their decision-making was flawed.
At a meeting earlier this month (2 May) Seaton Town Council voted against proceeding with legal action against the CCG.
In a statement on its website it said the potential cost of undertaking a judicial review was at least £100,000. “Neither Seaton Town Council or Seaton Hospital League of Friends are in a financial position to underwrite this cost pending public donations. Both parties, having considered the advice given, felt the case for judicial review was not as strong as they hoped it would be.”
It added: “However, the town council and the Seaton Hospital League of Friends will continue to do everything that it can including lobbying the Devon County Council Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee, the local MP and the Secretary of State over the matter.”
Cllr Marcus Hartnell said: “Whilst the council is not in a position to proceed to judicial review this is not the end of the matter. We will work with our colleagues at the League of Friends to continue to fight this decision.”
Councils ‘ignore powers to limit building on green belt’
“Communities face a postcode lottery over how much of their countryside is blighted by new homes because some councils fail to use powers to protect it, research has found.
Some local authorities choose to protect their green belts but others accept much higher housing targets and allow developers to build on environmentally valuable land.
The different approaches mean some areas are being earmarked to have thousands more homes than necessary, according to research by the Campaign to Protect Rural England.
Councils are planning more than 360,000 homes on England’s 14 green belts, which are rings of protected land designed to prevent urban sprawl.
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), introduced in 2012, requires all councils to determine their “objectively assessed need” (OAN) for housing, which is the number of new homes required to meet market demand and social need.
Councils do not have to accept the targets produced by the assessment if they have large amounts of green belt or other protected land, such as national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty and nature sites.
Brighton and Hove council has set a target of 13,200 homes by 2030, less than half the 30,120 determined by its OAN. In its local plan it said it cut the number “to respect the historic, built and natural environment of the city”.
Watford, Hastings and Crawley have also set housing targets of only half their assessed need.
By contrast, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, which includes the prime minister’s constituency, is planning to meet its full OAN of 14,200 homes by 2033 despite 83 per cent of the borough being green belt.
Simon Dudley, the leader of Windsor and Maidenhead council, is strongly supporting housebuilding in the borough, including 6,000 homes in the green belt. He has been accused of sacking a fellow Conservative councillor who questioned the plans.
Mr Dudley has previously said that his plans would only reduce his borough’s green-belt land by 1.7 per cent.
Christchurch and East Dorset is also planning to meet its full OAN of 8,490 houses over 15 years, despite 84 per cent of the area being green belt, an area of natural beauty or other protected land.
Paul Miner, the CPRE’s planning campaign manager, said that there was a postcode lottery on housing targets.
He said: “Councils have got scope to reduce their housing numbers but some are not doing so. Reasons include pressure from developers and also the political leadership of the council seeing an opportunity to make quick money from the new homes bonus.”
The government has promised to pay councils a new homes bonus, typically worth £9,000, for each home they build.
The planning framework states that there needs to be “exceptional circumstances” to amend green-belt boundaries. Elmbridge borough council, in Surrey, wrote to Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, asking him to define exceptional circumstances.
In his reply, seen by The Times, dated March 20, Mr Javid said that green-belt losses would have to be offset by improvements to remaining green-belt land, but added: “We would be disinclined to go even further into listing what might be considered an exceptional circumstance.”
Source: The Times (paywall)
How to manipulate local “news”
“The Conservatives have spent tens of thousands of pounds buying wraparound adverts on local newspapers across the country, pushing deep into Labour-held constituencies with a tactic that shows both the ambition of their election campaign and the party’s ability to make the most of legal loopholes in campaign spending rules.
More than a dozen titles across the country owned by major newspaper publishing companies – including Johnston Press and Daily Mirror owner Trinity Mirror – carried the wraparound adverts on Wednesday and Thursday. The four-page adverts, which replace the newspapers’ own front pages, barely mention the word “Conservatives” and instead focus on Theresa May’s leadership and the promise of Brexit.
As long as the adverts in local papers do not reference the local candidate or local issues, they are considered to be exempt from strict local constituency spending budgets, which can be as low as £12,000 per candidate for the entire campaign. Instead the Conservatives are able to count the adverts as “national spending”, which comes under the party’s central campaign spending limit of around £19 million.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/how-the-conservatives-are-using-local-adverts-to-get-around
“Loads of Britain’s 100 richest people have donated more than £19 million to the Tories and nobody’s at all surprised”
“Some 35 of the richest 100 people in Britain have given £19 million to the Tories, it was revealed today.
More than a third of the Sunday Times Rich List, published today, are Conservative donors, according to a Labour party analysis.
The wealthy backers, who include property moguls, financiers and retail CEOs, have a combined net worth of more than £123 million. …”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/loads-britains-100-richest-people-10375139
