“Date for your diary – 12 June 2018 in Devonport Guildhall we will be holding a community meeting about local decision making, the role of councils, social enterprise etc. Indra Adnan will be leading the event with input from Transition Town, Real Ideas Organisation, Peter Macfadyen author of Flatpack Democracy and Buckfastleigh Independent Group. Full details to be announced shortly.”
Category Archives: Accountability
When Northampton County Council went “bankrupt” – Inspectors’ comments on scrutiny an “how others see you”
…”The way that NCC went about its scrutiny function brought very strong words from the inspectors. They noted that a number of councillors told them that they had been refused information. They cite a specific example which I extract below:
Perhaps the clearest demonstration of this unnecessary secrecy during the inspection took place at the Cabinet meeting on 13th February 2018.
3.80 Agenda item 11 was titled Capital Asset Exploitation. This was in fact a proposal to sell and lease back the recently completed HQ building at One Angel Square. This disposal is a potential £50m in value so it would be reasonable to expect a full options appraisal and some clear professional valuation advice as to the likely quantum of proceeds and the ways in which a disposal might be handled to best achieve a best value result. It is likely that much of this information would be exempt information so that there would be a confidential paper appended to the agenda. If that information was not available then it could only be on the basis that it was not being relied on in taking a decision.
3.81 At the meeting a number of questions were raised on these very matters and Cabinet members stated that they were privy to confidential information which supported their recommendation but that it was not available to other members.
3.82 Even if there was a concern about the publishing of confidential information most authorities have protocols and practices which make it possible for key information to be shared and protect the authority. To refuse it outright is just wrong.
Again, during an inspection, it appears that a decision for members to take was incorrectly presented without the necessary evidence.
Lesson 6 – How others see you
A key measure of governance is how well does an authority deal with complaints. During the Inspection the Inspectors commented that most unusually the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman contacted them. He said that NCC was one of the most difficult authorities to engage with both in time to respond and also in terms of approach to complaints handling learning from mistakes and remedying injustice [32].
Here again the point emerges that services may well be worse than they superficially appear, but there could come a time when the council is on the ropes and at that point others come forward and say what they really think. It is always sensible to treat concerns by the Ombudsman as meriting a chief statutory officers’ agenda spot.”
Note: this puts Owl in mind of this what judge said when the Information Commissioner v East Devon District Council Knowle confidential information case was decided in court:
“Correspondence on behalf of the council, rather than ensuring the tribunal was assisted in its function, was at times discourteous and unhelpful, including the statement that we had the most legible copies [of the disputed information] possible. A statement which was clearly inaccurate as, subsequently, we have been provided with perfectly legible documents.”
http://www.midweekherald.co.uk/news/election/heads-should-roll-as-judge-criticises-eddc-1-4075293
“Bankrupt’ Tory Council Raided £9m Schools Subsidy To Fix Budget”
“A “bankrupt” Tory authority used a £9m fund meant for school improvements in a failed attempt to fill a growing financial black hole, it can be revealed.
Cash-strapped Northamptonshire County Council spent the money to “mitigate” losses in an account used for general everyday spending in 2016, HuffPost UK has found.
The authority has been hit by one of the worst council cash crises in decades, after central government cuts coincided with surging demand for services.
The situation has prompted fears that Northants could become the first of a number of county councils to “fail” as financial pressures mount.
The £9m schools’ funding was meant to be set aside to pay for “future educational improvements within the county”.
It came from a so-called Section 106 (S106) obligation, which are placed on property firms to ensure new developments benefit the whole community.
But an independent review into Northamptonshire’s finances by government inspector Max Caller revealed the “one-off” payment of S106 money was transferred to the council’s general revenue account during the year 2016-17.
Auditors KPMG confirmed in an August 2017 report that the £9m came from funds meant for education improvements and that it was intended to be replaced “through council borrowing”.
County council officials this week declined to elaborate or provide further details. …”
EDDC Leader-in-waiting gets his first headache
The new EDDC Leader lives on the Lyme Regis border with Uplyme in East Devon on his patch.
“THE Sidmouth Road park and ride planning application has resulted in an acrimonious dispute between Lyme Regis and Uplyme councils.
Uplyme parish councillors have accused their Lyme Regis counterparts of “misrepresenting” what has happened in the run-up to a planning application being submitted for continued use of land off Sidmouth Road as a park and ride. …
… Speaking at a recent meeting, Lyme Regis councillor Steve Miller said that they had been working “extremely closely” with East Devon District Council, which had actually requested that another temporary application be submitted to allow time for the full traffic survey to be carried out.
He expressed disappointment that Uplyme Parish Council had recommended refusal of the application following advice from East Devon district councillor Ian Thomas, who has argued that Lyme Regis has “made no material progress” since previous applications for temporary use of the side and has “failed to address the requirements” set out by the district council.
Councillor Miller also said that the town council had been in consultation with all relevant parties but had not met with Councillor Thomas recently, as he had been unable to attend a number of suggested meetings. …”
Clinton Devon Estates: an early Lord Rolle’s interesting history in Budleigh
From Facebook’s ‘East Devon Past’:
“I found this report relating to the old harbour at Budleigh, I knew that boats used to navigate up the Otter estuary to the mills at Newton Poppleford. Anyway it seems that Lord Rolle was a bit of a rogue and dammed up the harbour to increase his expanse of land but put an end to the use of larger boats on the Otter. So not only did he remove the Sidmouth stones but he took away the harbour for his own gain.”😵
Western Times 1858:
Carillion accounts? Audit? Think of a number …!
“Carillion owed almost £7bn when it went bust at the start of the year, a far higher amount than had been previously thought.
The Official Receiver, a civil servant appointed by the courts to handle bankruptcies, estimated the construction giant had liabilities of £6.9bn when it entered liquidation three months ago. …
… While accounts had previously revealed liabilities of £2bn at the end of 2016, a letter from the Official Receiver, detailing reports for the 27 UK-based Carillion Construction companies in liquidation, estimated that total liabilities stand at £6,905,532,000.
A spokesman for the Official Receiver confirmed the figure, first reported by Construction News, but said that it was “expected to change significantly as assets and debts are fully identified”. …”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/04/14/7bn-carillion-debts-revealed/
DCC let down child with special needs – compensation and strengthening of procedures required
Unfortunately, DCC under pressure from government has had to cut back on alternative provision for children with special needs including those deemed medically unfit for mainstream school. They are meant to provide 25 hours alternative provision for such young people deemed medically unfit. A parent whose child did not receive alternative schooling took his case to the Local Government Ombudsman
The complaint x which is linked to below – illustrates that DCC has no central person dealing with this type of need, and also did not realise that it should be providing 25 hours of alternative provision.
There were multiple mistakes made in this sad case.
Actions required were:
“For the Council to:
Apologise for the fault identified in this statement. It should do this within a month of my decision.
Pay Mr E £300 to reflect the time and trouble he was put to identifying the central point of contact and in finding the Council’s policy on children out of school.
A further £100 for his distress in the Council failing to consider his wish for F to be educated outside the home and £200 for the uncertainty of not knowing whether F could have had more contact with his peers.
I note the Council has not yet made the payment of £400 to reflect the delay in its complaints handling; it should make this a payment of £500 to reflect its delay in dealing with the third complaint. These payments should be made within three months of my decision.
Pay F £1,600 to reflect him receiving insufficient amounts of education until he was electively home educated. This payment should also be made within three months of my decision.
For the Council to consider amending its procedures to:
Check with schools that the people employed to support individual children with special educational needs, are appropriately trained;
Consider recommendations made in statutory guidance are acted upon as soon as possible or to explain why practice is not being changed;
Receive reports about children educated out of school to check they are receiving the full amount of education to which they are entitled.
Consider parental wishes when arranging alternative provision. Even if those wishes cannot be met, the Council should explain why.
Ensure procedures are robust enough to ensure the Council obtains documents promptly and sends out decision letters and drafts as soon as possible.
Ensure LADOs are appropriately trained to enable them to fulfil this role.
Ensure its complaints procedure is robust enough so that deadlines are adhered to.
These aspects should be considered within four months of the date of my decision. …
https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/education/alternative-provision/16-011-798#point1
Telegraph: Why is the NHS under so much pressure? Their answer: its our fault for getting older and fatter!
“An ageing population. There are one million more people over the age of 65 than five years ago. This has caused a surge in demand for medical care.
[Owl: this has been known for DECADES and should have been built-in to spending forecasts]
Cuts to budgets for social care. While the NHS budget has been protected, social services for home helps and other care have fallen by 11 per cent in five years. This has caused record levels of “bedblocking”; people with no medical need to be in hospital are stuck there because they can’t be supported at home.
[Owl: the NHS budget has NOT been protected! In real terms, funding has fallen enormously]
Staff shortages. While hospital doctor and nurse numbers have risen over the last decade, they have not kept pace with the rise in demand. Meanwhile 2016 saw record numbers of GP practices close, displacing patients on to A&E departments as they seek medical advice.
[Staff shortages are due to austerity cuts and an exodus of EU workers, who are not replaced. Changing nursing bursaries to loans had exacerbated this serious problem]
Lifestyle factors. Drinking too much alcohol, smoking, a poor diet with not enough fruit and vegetables and not doing enough exercise are all major reasons for becoming unwell and needing to rely on our health services. Growing numbers of overweight children show this problem is currently set to continue.
[Many lifestyle problems are due to the government’s policies: allowing food and drink lobbies to dictate the sugar problem until it is too late, and not putting greater taxes on cigarettes and alcohol as this would reduce government income, shutting Sure Start services that promoted better parenting].
“
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/chances-getting-nhs-funded-care-depends-live/
“Families seeking care funding from the NHS face a “postcode lottery” as to whether they will be accepted.”
“Under “continuing healthcare” (CHC) rules, those with complicated medical conditions can apply for full funding from the health service. Families are not means tested and the decision is supposed to be made solely on the person’s medical situation.
But, despite the criteria being clearly set out in a national framework, differing interpretations of the rules mean your chances of being deemed eligible depend on where you live.
Telegraph Money is aware of hundreds of cases where regional health authorities have applied the rules differently – including some where patients have been approved by one authority and rejected by another just days later.
Ron Laycock, 87, was admitted to Cheltenham General Hospital earlier this year with a vascular condition. Despite living in Wiltshire, he was taken to a specialist unit in Cheltenham, in neighbouring Gloucestershire.
After he was deemed to be “rapidly deteriorating”, medical staff at the hospital approved him for “fast-track” funding under CHC, meaning his care at a nursing home would be paid for.
However, upon arriving at a home in Wiltshire, the county’s clinical commissioning group (CCG) – the NHS body responsible for determining eligibility – refused to recognise the hospital’s decision and rejected his application. This left Mr Laycock’s family having to find the £1,450 weekly cost of the nursing home themselves.
His daughter Becky Nicholls, 44, who works in human resources, said: “My father had Alzheimer’s as well as this condition and then caught pneumonia as well. He stopped eating and taking on fluids. A specialist at the hospital said he was clearly rapidly declining as he had stopped eating but Wiltshire flatly refused to accept that.”
She was refused an explanation from the CCG and said an administrator was rude over the phone. “I was just shocked after that phone call,” she said. “I hadn’t slept for weeks and that night I lay there just hearing her words in my head. My father couldn’t have been released without a care home to go to, so how can he not be eligible?”
She added: “I felt my dad was going to pass away before they took the time to respond.”
The family paid around £5,800 to the care home and Mr Laycock lived there for two weeks before he died. Further to this newspaper’s involvement, Wiltshire CCG acknowledged it had made a mistake and agreed to refund the money backdated to when Mr Laycock was discharged from hospital.
A spokesman said: “Wiltshire CCG takes all patient complaints and concerns seriously and can confirm that appropriate funding is being put in place for the care Mr Laycock received.
“We acknowledge the upset that Mr Laycock’s daughter has experienced and the director of nursing has spoken to her directly to apologise for any distress caused, as well as offering to meet with her in person in order to better understand the issues raised and ensure we learn from this.”
Andrew Farley, from Farley Dwek Solicitors, a firm specialising in CHC disputes, said his company is dealing with around 500 such disputes, many of which are related to cross-border discrepancies. “It’s clear from the national framework that if fast-track is granted, it should only be withdrawn in exceptional circumstances,” he said.
“The decisions should be the same wherever you are in the country, but they aren’t. There appears to be a postcode lottery as to whether you’ll get funding or not.”
CHC funding is available to anyone with “unpredictable” healthcare needs that go “over and above” what a local authority would be expected to provide, Mr Farley said. It is available for everyone, regardless of wealth.
He said families are often bamboozled by the complex nature of the system and suggested that the cash-strapped NHS may be encouraging assessors to deny funding.
“I think there is possibly a hidden agenda; that’s the impression I get having spoken to many families who have been through this process,” he added.
A spokesman for NHS England said: “Spending on CHC is going up as ever more people are being supported, but it’s CCGs that undertake eligibility assessments, using the national framework, based on each individual person’s specific circumstances.
“While recent improvements in practice mean variation in access to CHC has reduced, there is potential to make the process more efficient and effective for patients as the majority of people put through a CHC assessment turn out not to need it.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/chances-getting-nhs-funded-care-depends-live/
How much do EDDC and DCC councillors get paid?
In answer to a query”
EDDC:
Click to access members-allowance-scheme-current.pdf
DCC:
Owl cannot find an up-to-date page showing DCC allowances – this one from 2014/15 is the most recent found:
Swire adds £30,000 a year job to his income portfolio
£90,000 per year in addition to his MP salary, allowances and expenses.
Register of interests:
“Employment and earnings
From 9 November 2016, Adviser to KIS France, a manufacturer of photo booths and mini labs. Address: 7 Rue Jean Pierre Timbaud, 38130 Echirolles, France. I expect to be paid £3,000 every month until further notice. Hours: 8 hrs per month. I consulted ACoBA about this appointment. (Registered 16 November 2016)
From 15 November 2016, Deputy Chairman of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council. Address: Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HX. I expect to be paid £2,000 every month until further notice. Hours: 10 hrs per month. I consulted ACoBA about this appointment. (Registered 16 November 2016)
16 November 2017, received £25,000 for acting as adviser to Apiro Real Estate Fund 1 Limited Partnership, 1 Connaught House, Mount Row, London SW1K 3RA. Hours: 10 hrs. I consulted ACoBA about this appointment. (Registered 22 November 2017)
From 18 June 2017, non-executive director of ATG Airports, Newton Road, Lowton St Mary’s, Warrington WA3 2AP. From 5 February 2018 until further notice, I will receive £30,000 per annum. Hours: 50 hrs a year. Any additional payments are listed below. I consulted ACoBA about his appointment.
(Registered 05 December 2017; updated 06 February 2018)
24 November 2017, received £10,086.72. Hours: 15 hrs. (Registered 05 December 2017)”
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmregmem/180319/swire_hugo.htm
He also employs his wife as a “Senior Researcher/Parliamentary Assistant”
Being a councillor: a public service or a feather-bedded job?
“The ceremonial head of a cash-strapped council is set to be given a £2,500 pay rise just weeks after a decision to shut the county’s youth clubs.
A meeting of Gwynedd council’s democratic services committee today recommended that the council chair should see their pay upgraded to “band 1” status.
The role – known in some areas as the county mayor – changes hands every 12 months and involves presiding over full council meetings and representing the authority at various functions in a civic capacity.
At present, the holder is afforded “band 2” status, meaning they would receive £21,800 in 2018/19.
But, if Gwynedd’s full council accepts the committee’s recommendation when it meets on May 3, the chair’s pay will increase to £24,300.
The committee’s findings come just a month after the authority decided to introduce a new youth service model, which will see all 39 existing youth clubs replaced by a single county-wide offering in a bid to save £270,000.
Cllr Charles Wyn Jones, who proposed the pay rise during this morning’s meeting, said: “Having fulfilled the role myself, I know that the council chair usually has to attend at least 40 functions a year, many of which take place in the daytime.
“I feel the title holder should be paid more than the committee chairs, simply due to the number of hours they have to put into the role.
“I know the role only lasts a year, but it involves putting in many hours.”
Cllr Dewi Owen, also a former council chair, echoed his sentiments: “Living in Aberdyfi and having to travel to functions in places such as Bangor, it meant having to stay over in bed and breakfasts and many hours of travel time in order to do the job properly.”
The new council chair, succeeding Cllr Annwen Daniels, will be selected by county councillors next month.
Meanwhile, all 75 Gwynedd councillors will receive a £200 pay rise to £13,600 a year, in line with the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales’ (IRPW) findings for the 22 Welsh authorities.
Questioning the panel’s findings, Menai Bangor councillor Catrin Wager said: “I do feel that at a time when cuts are being made, an extra £200 for every member is questionable.
“Is there anything we can do apart from accept this?”
In response, democratic services manager Vera Jones confirmed that members could choose to waive the automatic pay rise by informing the authority in writing.
There will be no change in the salaries of the council leader and deputy, which will remain at £48,300 and £33,800 respectively.
Members of the cabinet will be paid £29,300 a year, and £22,300 for committee chairs.
The final decision on member salaries will be formally rubber stamped during Gwynedd’s full council meeting on May 3.”
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/gwynedd-council-pay-rise-chair-14524343
“PM among cabinet members earning money as a landlord”
“Nine cabinet ministers, including the prime minister, are making more than £10,000 a year by acting as landlords, a Guardian analysis has found.
Following Jeremy Hunt’s failure to declare the purchase of seven luxury flats that he subsequently rented out, an analysis of the parliamentary register of MPs’ interests shows eight other members of the cabinet own and rent out a property.
The health secretary was forced in to an embarrassing apology on Friday after it emerged that he had failed to declare a business interest with both Companies House and the parliamentary register of MPs’ interests.
Hunt has amended the register, which now shows that he has a half share of a holiday home in Italy, a half share in an office building in Hammersmith and seven recently acquired apartments in Southampton.
Theresa May and Philip Hammond, who both live in Downing Street, rent out their personal homes in central London. Communities and housing secretary Sajid Javid also rents out property, while Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, rents out two properties, according to the register
The foreign secretary Boris Johnson, the international trade secretary Liam Fox, the minister without portfolio Brandon Lewis – who is also the Conservative party chairman – and the Welsh minister Alun Cairns also own and rent out a property, according to the register.
There is no suggestion that the ministers are in breach of the ministerial code. …”
“Griff Rhys Jones supports new report and says we must not lose our precious countryside by building low density sprawling estates”
Press Release:
“Civic Voice president Griff Rhys Jones has today added his voice to campaigns by six community groups fighting “garden communities” being imposed on them by the Government.
He has penned a powerful Foreword to a Smart Growth UK report mostly written by community groups around the country who are opposing garden towns and villages. Griff warns that, far from being utopias, these are disordered schemes that ignore local communities and would be located in unsustainable locations.
“We encounter proposals that are not going to answer local needs for housing at all, but will waste precious countryside by building low density sprawling estates and creating expensive houses. Brownfield land in England can accommodate one million houses, So get on with it and use that.” he says.
Griff warns that terms like “housing crisis” and “emergency” are being used to force through development of the countryside which fails to provide the affordable homes we need as a nation.
The report sets out detailed objections by six groups opposing Government-sponsored garden communities and four opposing large greenfield developments marketed as “garden villages” by their promoters.
““Planning” by definition means looking to the future. That must mean the long-term future as well as the next few years. We need to recognize that people who urge care, caution and attention are not dwelling in the past. They are not NIMBYS, says Griff. “They are protecting the future.”
He says the protests, assessments and legitimate concerns in the report make sober reading.”
Report:
“Hospitals launch legal challenge over rates relief”
“A group of 20 NHS hospital trusts has launched a legal challenge for business rates relief. The trusts have started legal proceedings against 49 local authorities who want to be treated the same as private hospitals for relief on business rates bills. A preliminary hearing took place yesterday. The LGA is supporting councils involved in the case. …”
Source: Mail Online, Express p5
The scandal of hospital “ghost wards”
“Hospitals are mothballing scores of wards, closing them to patients despite the NHS’s ongoing beds crisis, new figures reveal.
At the last count in September 82 “ghost wards” were recorded containing 1,429 empty beds, the equivalent of two entire hospitals, according to data provided by hospital trusts across England. It represents a sharp increase on the 32 wards and 502 beds that were unused four years earlier, statistics obtained under freedom of information laws show.
The closures, often a result of hospitals not having enough staff or the money to keep wards open, have occurred at a time when the health service is under unprecedented pressure and struggling to cope with demand for beds.
Doctors’ leaders reacted with disbelief to the revelations, which come after the NHS endured its toughest winter for many years, during which many hospitals ran out of beds.
“Given the pressures on the whole system, which suggest the NHS is 5,000 beds short of what it needed this winter, [this situation] is amazing and is almost always caused by not having enough money or staff,” said Dr Nick Scriven, the president of the Society for Acute Medicine. …”
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/13/revealed-82-ghost-wards-1400-empty-beds-nhs-england
DCC cabinet refuses to accept decision of Health and Social Care Scrutiny Committee and rushes in Accountable Care Organisation without checks and balances
Claire Wright’s blog:
“The all Conservative Devon County Council Cabinet has thrown out its own health watchdog’s unanimous resolution on deferring the implementation of Devon’s Integrated Care System, while a range of assurances were received.
Dozens of objections from members of the public came flooding in at the 22 March Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee meeting and my resolution on the thorny issue, which can be found here –
http://www.claire-wright.org/…/devons_nhs_asked_to_provide_…
… had been backed unanimously by councillors.
A revised resolution that the Cabinet supported yesterday, merely noted that a new system was being set up and everything else was so watered down as to be almost meaningless.
The message was repeated at length that this was not an endorsement but simply noting that it was happening and that progress will be monitored.
I reminded the cabinet of the County Solicitor’s advice to the Health Scrutiny Committee in November that it is unique in scrutiny committees in that we provide a legal check on health services – the only legal check – and that our remit is to take up issues of public concern. And we were flooded with emails of public concern.
I then went through the issues as I saw them.
When summing up, Cabinet member, Andrew Leadbetter, accused me of bringing a set of ‘pre-determined’ proposals to the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee.
This is a serious allegation and I immediately asked him to withdraw it. Leader, and Cabinet Chair, Cllr John Hart, backed me up and Cllr Leadbetter retracted his statement.
I had in fact prepared the proposals during the lunch-hour before the meeting. it is quite permissable (and very common) to conduct business in this way.
There was cross party support for the Health Scrutiny resolution with Cllrs Alan Connett, Brian Greenslade and Rob Hannaford also addressing Cabinet along similar lines.
Here is the Cabinet’s final resolution, which you can compare with my proposals which are set out in yesterday’s post below:
(a) that the original recommendations of the Cabinet (a – d), as outlined in Cabinet Minute *148 and reproduced below, be re-affirmed:
(i) that the key features of an emerging Devon Integrated Care System being a single Integrated Strategic Commissioner, a number of Local Care Partnerships, a Mental Health Care Partnership and shared NHS corporate services, be noted.
(ii) that the proposed arrangements in Devon as set out in paragraph 4 of the Report be endorsed, reporting to the Cabinet and Appointments and Remuneration Committee as necessary.
(iii) that the co-location of NHS and DCC staff within the Integrated Strategic Commissioner, subject to agreement of the business case, be approved; and
(iv) the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee be invited to include Integrated Care System governance in its work programme.
(b) And, in light of the Scrutiny Committees deliberations, Cabinet further RESOLVE
(i) that the Health and Wellbeing Board is reformed to lead new governance arrangements for the development of integrated strategic commissioning of health and social care; and
(ii) that there is continued proactive communication to the public using clear and consistent messaging and where appropriate there will be relevant involvement and engagement.”
Here’s the webcast – https://devoncc.public-i.tv/…/po…/webcast_interactive/325467
“Stampede to build homes threatens the rights of locals”
Article by Andrew Motion, President, CPRE in today’s Times (pay wall):
“In launching the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) last month, the communities secretary Sajid Javidpromised “a continued emphasis on development that’s sustainable and led locally”. Was he really talking about the same NPPF that, for the past five years, has forced wholly unsustainable development on communities already struggling with overstretched infrastructure and shrinking green spaces?
Initial analysis of the revisions by the Campaign to Protect Rural England shows that there is still not enough emphasis on a plan-led system such as the one that has been a cornerstone of our local democracy since 1947. We are calling for the final version to give a cast-iron guarantee that locally agreed development plans (including neighbourhood plans) should be upheld when deciding planning applications. It is the only way to restore communities’ faith in neighbourhood planning.
Local volunteers spend a great deal of time and effort in promoting good development, assessing housing needs and negotiating sites that respect settlement boundaries and preserve valued green spaces. So it is deeply disheartening that the revised NPPF could allow local authorities to overrule neighbourhood plans, either when local plans are reviewed (every five years) or if not enough homes are delivered elsewhere.
Communities across England are being targeted by parasitic “land promoters” who speculate on their ability to shoehorn large, expensive homes on to greenfield sites. In many cases the financial might of these companies allows them to steamroller councils in the appeals process, where the NPPF’s current “presumption in favour of sustainable development” provides the necessary loophole.
If it’s hard to achieve democratic decisions with respect to housing, the situation threatens to become even worse with fracking. The majority of recent applications have been decisively rejected by local authorities, yet the revised NPPF forces local authorities not only to place great weight on the supposed benefits of fracking for the economy, but also to recognise the benefits for “energy security” and “supporting a low-carbon transition”. This misguided emphasis can only lead to more travesties like January’s approval for oil exploration by West Sussex county council, in the face of 2,739 letters of objection (and 11 in support).
We must have new housing and infrastructure, but it remains vitally important that development benefits those who have to live with it. Now more than ever, we need to put people at the heart of the planning system.”
EDDC HQ builder in trouble – “problems emerged two years ago”
Owl says: due diligence?
September 2017:
“Construction of East Devon District Council’s new headquarters in Honiton is progressing well with groundworks completed and the building foundations underway.
The council is expected to be working in the new premises by December 2018 and contractors, INTERSERVE Construction Ltd, are on schedule to complete on time. …”
TODAY:
Outsourcer Interserve seeks vote for borrowing increase
INTERSERVE will call a meeting of shareholders to seek approval to increase its borrowing limits and prevent it breaching its banking covenants.
The construction and public services group says that it needs higher borrowing levels because of expected “significant balance sheet writedowns”, which it expects to report in full-year results delayed until the last day of this month, only two days after the meeting.
INTERSERVE is one of Britain’s biggest outsourcing companies, cleaning schools, hospitals, government offices and railway stations. It also operates facilities for the ministries of defence and justice. It has annual revenues of £3.2 billion and employs 80,000 people.
It has been feared that INTERSERVE could become another Carillion, a larger rival that went bust at the turn of the year after the failure of several building contracts. Interserve is on the government’s watch list, with Deloitte, the accounting firm, having been brought in to monitor the company. EY, another of the Big Four accountants, is advising Interserve and its lenders.
The business’s problems emerged two years ago after the failure of a venture to build energy-generating incinerators led to it having to pay out £195 million in compensation and penalties.
In a statement to the stock market, Interserve said that at its year-end, its net debt had risen to £513 million. …”
Source: Times (paywall)
“Council fails in appeal over FOI request and commercial prejudice”
“Hartlepool Borough Council has lost an appeal against a ruling by the Information Commissioner because it failed to provide evidence of what harm to commercial interests would be done by disclosing material dating from 2005 and relating to the transfer of ownership of Durham Tees Valley Airport.
In the First-Tier Tribunal General Regulatory Chamber (Information Rights), Judge Anisa Dhanji said neither the council nor property firm Peel had shown any convincing reason for keeping private details of the deal they did over the airport.
John Latimer had made a Freedom of Information request for papers relating to how ownership of 75% of the airport came to be transferred by the six Tees Valley local authorities to Peel.
Some information was provided but the council withheld the rest – though it later made further releases – and Latimer took his case to the Commissioner, who ruled in his favour.
Giving judgment in Hartlepool Borough Council v IC & (Dismissed : Freedom of Information Act 2000) [2018] UKFTT 2017_0057 (GRC), Judge Dhanji noted Hartlepool had not put forward any submissions or witness statements for this appeal.
She said: “It is not clear to what extent the council is still relying on prejudice to its own interests, but we entirely agree with the commissioner’s assessment…we do not find that the council has established that disclosure of the information would or would be likely to prejudice its commercial interests,”
Peel’s case asserted that disclosure could weaken its position in negotiations with potential new investors in the airport and could be used by competitors against it.
“What Peel has completely failed to do, however, is to support its assertions with evidence,” the judge said.
“There are no witness statements, and no evidence or even arguments to link the disclosure of any specific aspect of the information with any specific business interests that would or would be likely to be prejudiced by its disclosure.”
Peel had “failed to show the causal link between the disputed information and the claimed prejudice”, the tribunal concluded, ordering Hartlepool to send Latimer the information within 35 days.”
http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php
Full Judgment:
http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKFTT/GRC/2018/2017_0057.html
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