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Author Archives: transparencyforeastdevon
Free speech for councillors is an important part of our democratic process says Eric Pickles today
Over on claire-wright.org the popular Independent councillor is being given a very hard time by Tory Whip/Not the Tory Whip Phil Twiss for daring to disagree with him and his party as he smarts from having to defend the indefensible when one of EDDC’s leading Conservative lights (Councillor Bloxham) attempted to bring in complex bureaucratic rules to gag the public at Development Management Meetings (rules so complex and comprehensive it took him 27 minutes to explain them).
He would do well to note the pronouncement of HIS boss and Whip, Eric Pickles, who has today said in an article about how he is thinking of prosecuting five councils for using the council newspapers for political purposes:
Eric Pickles said:
“Localism needs robust and independent scrutiny by the press and public, and municipal state-produced newspapers suppress that. ‘Town Hall Pravdas’ not only waste taxpayers’ money unnecessarily, they undermine free speech.
“I have given written notice to councils most clearly breaching the Publicity Code, noting that Parliament has passed new laws to tackle this abuse. We are prepared to take further action against any council that undermines local democracy – whatever the political colour.”
He added: “We have changed the law to protect the free speech of councillors. If councillors and political parties want to campaign and put out political literature, they are very welcome to do so, and it’s an important part of our democratic process. But they should be using their own money, rather than taxpayers.”
News from Cranbrook
A few snippets from the Cranbrook Herald for April 2014:
GP surgery COULD (not would) be open by “the end of the year”
There will be a meeting for “sponsors” of the new education campus
The local PCSO has been set a target of 350 “likes” on his Facebook page
Concerns raised over SkyPark bus service
Children at the Primary School have opened a sweet shop which has generated more than £200 in profit
When asked what they would like to see in Cranbrook, a selection of three residents said:
“I would like to see the park up and running soon as the children really have nowhere they can go and play. I would also like to see the shops built as I don’t drive and it is difficult for me to get my essential shopping every week”.
“I would like to see a few shops and a few takeaways. As far as my children are concerned … they can’t wait for the playground to be open. I also think a skatepark would be a really good idea so that he could play with his scooter somewhere instead of the pavements.”
“As a dog owner it would be nice to have some bins … a pub would be nice … as would a cashpoint and a local shop”.
Cranbrook … sustainable … reduce dependency on cars …
Front Page Headline in the “Cranbrook Herald” April 2014:
What do we want? Buses on Sunday! Residents urged to petition Devon County Council
The article goes on to say thatLena Wilding, sales negotiator for Persimmon Homes, said that potential house buyers interested inb a move to Cranbrook have enquired about the Sunday public transport situation in the town.
Residents have been urged to write to Devon County Council requesting a Sunday bus service.
Would that it were so simple! If it were, buses would already be planned for Skypark from all over the district!
It all depends who ends up with the power and the influence …
Tread carefully and do not make the mistakes of your predecessor …
http://eastdevon.gov.uk/communications_and_consultation.htm?newsid=1076
… and who represents the National Farmers Union (past representative Disgraced Ex-Councillor Graham Brown, now airbrushed out of history at EDDC).
… and who represents local developers …
… and who represents EDDC!
Tory council protests about developers not being made to build affordable housing and Boles confirms new garden cities will not need to build them either
By-election for Newton Poppleford Parish Council
Closing date 24 April 2014
Click to access newton-poppleford-harpford-by-election-notice-of-election.pdf
“Hostility, defensiveness and denial”: millions suffer in silence due to public sector complaints system
Excerpt from article published by the Daily Telegraph
Britain will face another scandal like Mid Staffs, in which hundreds of patients died needlessly, unless there is a cultural “revolution”, the Public Administration select committee says in a report released on Monday.
MPs say public bodies are increasingly resorting to using “euphemistic” terms such as review, appeal and feedback to describe complaints, a practice that should be banned. They urge David Cameron to create a new minister for complaints to champion those with grievances and overhaul the way that the public sector is run.
Bernard Jenkin, the committee chairman, says: “There needs to be a revolution in the way public services are run, and how the public perceives government.
“As things are, most people believe there is no point in complaining.
“The shocking collapse of care at Mid Staffs hospital should be a warning to the whole public sector that too many managers in public services are in denial about what their customers and staff think about them.
“Unless and until we have a culture of leadership in public services that listens to, values and responds to complaints there will always be the potential for tragedies like Mid-Staffs. Opportunities to improve services and public confidence will be missed again and again.”
Across government, the report finds repeated evidence that officials have failed to deal with complaints in good time, make “grudging” apologies or fail to resolve issues entirely.
It suggests that every government department should be forced to publish information about how many complaints it has handled and resolved each year, alongside details of the lessons learned.
“The aim is not to create bureaucracy or a tick box exercise, but to achieve a greater level of transparency,” it says.
The report also criticises ministers for failing to respond to MPs raising concerns on behalf of their constituents quickly enough or to take up complaints themselves.
EDDC take note …
A WATCHDOG has criticised City of York Council for failing to make background papers available for public inspection before it launched its draft Local Plan last summer.
The Local Government Ombudsman, giving its provisional view on a complaint about the authority, also said that by not finalising some papers before a meeting, the council had left itself open to allegations of intentionally withholding information from the public.
It has also recommended that the council should finalise background papers before public meetings and make them available for inspection before such meetings in accordance with regulations, and that the council should provide training to relevant staff to ensure they are fully aware of the requirements of regulations.
The complaint was made by local economic development adviser Gwen Swinburn, who on May 14 last year asked to see a report which she considered was a background paper to the Local Plan preferred options.
The Ombudsman said the council told her it was not yet able to share the report but all the supporting documents and studies would be made available on June 5, when the public consultation on the Plan would start.
“It explained that it was finalising and checking some of the studies to ensure the information was organised and presented in a co-ordinated and coherent way,” said the Ombudsman. “The report was then made available on June 5.”
Th Ombudsman said Ms Swinburn claimed that when the background papers were made available in June, it was clear from the dates that some of them had been finalised before April and the council failed to comply with regulation requirements by not making all the background papers available before a cabinet meeting on April 30.
“I consider that, on the balance of probabilities, at least one of the background documents had been finalised before the Cabinet meeting on April 30 and therefore should have been made available for inspection by members of the public,” it said.
“This was administrative fault. I will reconsider this view if the council is able to provide evidence to show that each of the background documents had not been finalised before April 30.”
Ms Swinburn said she had complained to the Ombudsman because she believed there was a growing disregard for democracy at the authority and she was pleased by the provisional view.
Council director Darren Richardson said: “We are looking at the Ombudsman’s provisional comments and will be preparing a response to this soon. Until this has been carried out, we’re unable to add any further comment at this stage.”
Support grows for fight against Devon’s youth service cuts
An awareness day to garner support for a campaign against proposals by Devon County Council to cut its youth budget was held in Exmouth.
Dozens of people signed a petition against the plan at an event in the Strand hosted by some of the teenagers who will be affected.
The Save Devon Youth Services campaign is being led by Alfie Weaver, 17, from Sidmouth, and George Downs, 16, from Exmouth, who is also a member of the Youth Parliament, with help from Paige Wonnacott, 17, from Exeter.
On Saturday, April 19, with fellow campaigners, they staged an awareness day and petition signing in the Strand which was supported by the East Devon Alliance.
This Saturday, April 26, they are hoping as many people as possible will support their campaign at a protest march taking place from Princesshay to County Hall at 11am.
King Alfred’s Way, Newton Poppleford, update
From comments on Sidmouth Independent News today:
The council has issued its revised screening opinion on the need for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). To no great surprise, they still maintain that there is no need for an EIA to be provided with this application, despite the potential cumulative effects of development at King Alfred Way (40 houses), Badger Close (46 houses, going to an appeal hearing on May 13th) and Waterleat (up to 17 houses) in the village.
Clinton Devon Estates’ proposed mitigation of the environmental impact of the development is to ‘manage access’ on the common, which Natural England have accepted. They have said that will be done through signposting and promotion of less sensitive routes, but personally I suspect that the recent fencing of the common with razor-sharp barbed wire is also intended to play a role.
Not only is the wire itself dangerous to walkers and dogs, but its purpose is to allow a herd of wild ponies to graze the common, including giving them unrestricted access across public footpaths. At times, these ponies will charge from one place to another as a herd, and woe betide anyone or anything that gets in their way. They are making the common increasingly unwelcoming to dog walkers, horse riders and walkers, especially those with young children, which is a great pity.
Consultation on effect of National Planning Policy Framework – have your say
The Communities and Local Government Committee has launched a Parliamentary Inquiry into the effectiveness of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and is inviting comment. This is an opportunity to state, however briefly, your views on the planning system and whether it is working properly.
Submissions should be no more than 3,000 words and must be submitted by 5pm on Thursday 8th May 2014. Your comments should be provided in a Word document and submitted online.
The link is here:
It is not appropriate to send comments about specific planning applications or appeals, see guidance on written submissions. We strongly urge you to take this opportunity to comment.
We will be providing our comments to the inquiry and we will publish these on our website in due course.
Focus, councillors, focus!
In response to what seems to be an orchestrated campaign to criticise councillors who are not Conservatives and the letter from John V Rowland in the Sidmouth/Ottery Herald, Jessica Bailey (Ind, Ottery St Mary) makes the following observation:
The Conservatives might be well advised to focus their energies on resolving the catastrophic disaster that is the Local Plan. Funny that John V Rowland studiously avoided any mention of this in his letter.
Did your councillors vote for or against gagging of the public?
Check here:
DMC Public Speaking Votes 9th April 2014. It was a Conservative-led initiative with no support from Lib-Dems or Independents, so those Conservatives voting for or against are noted below:
For OSC review 26
Voting AGAINST gagging:
Susie Bond
Roger Boote C
Derek Button
Bob Buxton C
David Chapman C
Trevor Cope
Deborah Custance Baker C
Martin Gammell
Steve Gazzard
Roger Giles
Graham Godbeer C
Pat Graham
Peter Halse C
Mike Howe C
Stuart Hughes C
Douglas Hull
Ben Ingham
John Jeffery
Sheila Kerridge C
Jim Knight C
Philip Skinner C
Peter Sullivan C
Graham Troman C
Eileen Wragg
Steve Wragg
Claire Wright
Voting FOR Gagging
David Atkins C
Ray Bloxham C
Peter Bowden C
Geoff Chamberlain
Iain Chubb C
David Cox C
Alan Dent C
Paul Diviani C
Christine Drew C
Jill Elson C
Steve Hall C
Stephanie Jones C
Andrew Moulding C
Frances Newth C
John O’Leary C
Helen Parr C
Ken Potter C
Pauline Stott C
Phil Twiss C
Mark Williamson C
Tim Wood C
Tom Wright C
24-hour security on those allotments, folks – Pickles is after them
Sunday Times, Matt Rudd, page 27:
Freedom of Information requests have revealed that Pickles (who must by law decide whether allotments can be sold, has agreed to the sale of 81 out of 83 requests that they be sold for housing development between 2010 and 2013.
Keeping it in the family?
We notice that Sophia Swire is a Conservative MEP candidate next month. Could she perhaps be related to local MP Hugo? If so, with Hugo employing his wife at his Parliament office, this could be turning into quite a family business!
Could this be why the Graham Brown case is taking so long?
Whilst they are possibly suspended the 13 or so officers will still be counted towards full staff even if they are not operational:
Officers rule OK!
The following article appeared in Private Eye:
“A surreal lesson in how democracy works – or doesn’t – from Herefordshire.
County councillors were unanimous earlier this month in reversing a cut imposed by the council’s cabinet in the provision of free school buses for hundreds of children across the county. Even the cabinet members voted against their earlier decision. Yet days later the council announced: “This… does not change the policy position for home to school transport set by cabinet in December, which will take effect in September 2014.”
Officers told gobsmacked councillors the cuts would go ahead without any further reference to them. They explained that under local government legislation the decision of the cabinet, once made could not be un-done.”
Even in parliament members can overturn a decision of the cabinet. Why can’t councils?
Prince of Wales asks tourists to donate to his charity
“A healthy democracy is a well-informed democracy”
Says Jeremy Paxman explaining, on the BBC 2 anniversary programme, why he asks straight questions even if he doesn’t usually get straight answers.
Best not to ask those questions at council meetings in East Devon, Jeremy!
East Devon Watch 