Author Archives: transparencyforeastdevon
Exmouth seafront traders given one season notice
Exmouth seafront traders have now been given notice by landlord EDDC prior to redevelopment. Some are planning to close shortly.
Tesco selling Seaton hotel site to retirement developer McCarthy & Stone
As the article says, a double blow for Seaton as EDDC has already agreed to drop all the affordable housing – set originally at 40%.
Knowle relocation: secret uncosted cart preceding secret uncosted horse?
Some links that Wainhomes would probably prefer you not to click on!
A few stories gleaned from the last 12 months:
http://www.cornishguardian.co.uk/Developer-urged-talk-angry-locals/story-20099876-detail/story.html
http://www.broadlaneaction.co.uk/index.php/7-news/281-wainhomes-development-breaks-the-rules
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/local/will-lorry-talks-end-outcry-1-6627731
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/10931459.Bid_to_build_on_eco_area/?ref=rss
and a few entries on their Twitter account that probably were NOT posted by their PR department:
East Devon District Council invests in “reputation management” software
It has been noticed that recent press releases from EDDC have a new internet address:
devon.vuelio.uk.com
This is apparently specialist software used by (presumably) Devon County Council and other district councils in the area (Teignbridge seems to have the same address).
In its advertising blurb, the company which produces the software says:
Proactive stakeholder engagements, powerful media and parliamentary contacts, in-depth monitoring of coverage and outcomes, and other features makes Vuelio the most comprehensive solution for managing the media and other stakeholder relationships that are critical to your organisation.
Vuelio ensures your communications teams have easy access to all the intelligence – briefing papers, strategy documents, and lines to take – on all of the issues affecting their organisation. They are ready to react to queries from any stakeholder group and are armed with all the information they need to ensure that they address these stakeholder interactions in a personalised manner and deliver a consistent message to avoid dangerous discrepancies.
Source:http://www.aimediacomms.com/vuelio/
And it goes on to say:
Capture key details of all your stakeholders, the organisations to which they are affiliated, their power and influence and relationships between them. Includes the most comprehensive journalist and parliamentary database for finding the right contacts for your message.
Source: http://www.aimediacomms.com/vuelio/key-features/
It also appears that it can be used for computer-generated monitoring of Freedom of Information complaints:
Vuelio CM transforms the normally labour intensive management of FOI requests and complaints into an automated, efficient electronic process. It also allows users to easily capture, store, and process requests in line with legislative requirements.
With Vuelio CM, you will never miss a deadline; alerts and reminders keep you posted when action is required. Powerful searching helps with the identification of precedents and similar enquiries increasing response times and reducing duplication of effort. Easy access to management reports enables the monitoring of workloads, and prioritisation of resources.
Here are details of one of the reputation management seminars they have hostedd:
Setting aside the dreadful jargon – why exactly does a Press Office require such software and how much is it costing US to manage THEIR reputation. Or is our Press Office now a robot!
Disappointment with Coalition sees rural vote up for grabs
Wain Homes, Feniton: when does “50 houses” become 55? When it’s in Rockbeare – whoops!
Do we recall that the planning inspector gave permission for 50 homes at Winchester Park, Feniton?
According to the marketing blurb, there are 55 (you may need to enlarge this picture, from the front window of an estate agent) to see that there are 55 numbered plots, including the show home and marketing suite. If so, should the attenuation tanks be 10% larger?
Note: a correspondent says this is actually a development in Rockbeare which presumably IS for 55 houses – whoops!
is this the real reason our community hospitals are being cut?
Not because it makes good sense now or in the future but as a knee-jerk reaction to poor spending management in the past. That would explain why current reorganisation plans don’t have any numbers in them – the numbers are too shocking:
and here
Dilemma
If more people than ever are on low wages should we:
a. be building more REALLY affordable housing near places where they live and work
c. or building more high price executive homes on green fields in rural areas with poor commuting facilities.
Common sense says a, EDDC says b.
Where Claire Wright leads, Hugo Swire follows – except where drains and pizzas are concerned
Claire Wright, EDDC Independent Councillor, has long been campaigning to keep the River Otter beavers. Hugo has just jumped on her bandwaggon rather late in the day.
Claire Wright started campaigning to save local community hospitals as soon as news got out that they were threatened and immediately organised a public meeting about her local hospital, attended by more than 200 people. Hugo was initially pro “efficiency changes” saying ” now is not the time to “whip up excitement”
However, he did bring up smelly drains in Sidmouth and Ottery, having been pictured with his nose down one such drain, promising to get it fixed when it was clear from marks on the pavement in the accompanying picture that remedial work had already been scheduled – as it is in all the towns and villages of East Devon.
He also stole a march on pizza-making in Sainsbury’s in Ottery.
So, if you want to save hospitals and beavers, perhaps Claire Wright is your best bet. But if you want an acute nose for nasty smells and you need to have a pizza made in Sainsbury’s Hugo is your man.
And it’s still more than six months to the general election!
Quote of the day
“With a local plan you’re balancing so many tensions and factors. I defy anybody to do it in less than two to three years.”
Peter Gruen, cabinet member for housing, Leeds Council
Or, in the case of East Devon District Council, 7 years and counting …..
And Leeds is more complex!
‘Moving and improving’ past its sell by date?
Disgusted, Tunbridge Wells – or Sidmouth, or Honiton or …
Should you feel the urge to write to your MP or distrct councillors, as we are sure MANY of you do, this site will make it very easy
Police and Crime Commissioner to give presentation to November’s O&S Committee.
Tony Hogg, the Police and Crime Commissioner, will attend next month’s Overview and Scrutiny committee. EDA has heard that Councillors have been invited to offer questions to put to him before his presentation to the committee. Alternatively, Councillors can wait until the meeting itself, but Mr Hogg’s office have asked for notice of any questions where possible.
Local unemployment figures at a record low
Information sent to us by an EDA correspondent, with a following comment:
An article on p.13 of today’s issue of Sidmouth Herald states:
“A fall in the number of people claiming Job Seekers’ Allowance in Sidmouth and in Ottery St Mary has contributed to the lowest Devon-wide claimant figures on record.”
61 claimants in Sidmouth
32 claimants in Ottery St Mary
0.9% of working age population v national average of 2.3%
________________________________________
Only 61 claimants? How does that square with EDDC plans for 1,350 jobs planned for Sidford and their ambitions to reduce commuting?
Scary goings-on at EDDC, as Hallowe’en approaches
This letter from Tony Green of the East Devon Alliance, was published in today’s Sidmouth Herald, with the title, ‘Frightening stuff’ : As the nights draw in 18.10.14
Streetlife conversations
…show some disgruntlement with EDDC.
https://www.streetlife.com/p/wGsx0/
https://www.streetlife.com/conversation/w6mud6xf5wm3/
How many houses needed? …Feedback given to MPs
Is the present National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) based on correct targets?
The latest comments on the Parliamentary Enquiry into the NPPF are now visible on the national Community Voice on Planning website, so please see the home page for a link. http://covop.org/ .
East Devon Alliance is of course an active participant in CoVoP.
East Devon Watch 