Parish and Swire voted FOR the suspension of Parliament if that is what Johnson wants.
Category Archives: Accountability
Swire says new council must curtail Cranbrook development
But since he refused to say this to the previous Tory-led council, Owl will NOT be quoting him and will NOT provide a link to this hypocritical nonsense.
Effect of different Brexit scenarios on south west
“Crooks Cowboys and Conmen: MP’s damning verdict on Persimmon over its appalling building work”
“Toxic developer Persimmon was branded ‘crooks, cowboys and con artists’ as yet another scandal unfolded over its shoddily built homes.
Persimmon was attacked in Parliament after a block of its flats was found to be riddled with damp, causing misery for families.
Robert Halfon, Tory MP for Harlow, said he was horrified by the conditions endured by some of his constituents.
During Prime Minister’s Questions he said: ‘Homes built by Persimmon… are shoddily built with severe damp and crumbling walls. In the eyes of my residents, Persimmon are crooks, cowboys and con artists.’
In response, Prime Minister Theresa May said: ‘We expect all developers to build their homes to a good quality standard.
These are homes that people will be living in for many years and they deserve those standards.’
It is the latest blow for Persimmon as it fights to keep its place on the lucrative Help To Buy loan scheme which uses taxpayer cash to support families trying to get on the property ladder.
Furious ministers threatened to strike the company off a list of developers able to sell properties through Help To Buy if it cannot clean up its act. [Owl: if you expect that to happen … dream on!]
The Daily Mail has previously highlighted a litany of defects found by buyers of Persimmon homes, including leaks, exposed nails, doors that do not close and toilets that flushed boiling water.
Roger Devlin, Persimmon’s chairman, has vowed to repair the FTSE 100 firm’s battered reputation after scandals which also saw it blasted for corporate excess due to an £85million bonus paid to former boss Jeff Fairburn.
A new homes ombudsman is being introduced to tackle problems in the industry.
Labour MP Clive Betts, chairman of the Commons housing select committee, said: ‘The regime needs to be very tough and regulators need to be able to fine developers and force them to pay compensation.
The Government needs to be prepared to ban these companies from Help To Buy. Why should taxpayers fund shoddy workmanship?’ It comes just days after a TV documentary revealed Persimmon homes had up to 295 defects.
The company was accused of censoring critics this month when it shut down complaints about its homes on a Facebook page.
Persimmon has faced persistent criticism. In an industry-wide ratings survey, it has failed to win more than three out of five stars since 2015.
Persimmon said: ‘We have apologised to customers in Harlow, where manufacturing defects with a batch of blocks have created problems with damp.
The block manufacturer has agreed that this is the likely root cause of the issue and have offered their sincere apologies.
‘Persimmon has agreed to pay the mortgage payments, bills, and the temporary accommodation costs for affected residents while the problem is addressed.’
Data used to justify fire station closures – allegation of serious flaws which should lead to withdrawal of consultation document
Owl has received a link to a communication to Sarah Randall Johnson, DCC Chair of Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Authority about Fire Station closures and the data used to justify them.
This is somewhat technical, but the substance is that the allegation seems to be that Fire Service has manipulated data (possibly without realising it but possibly deliberately) to present it in a way that is more favourable to them. The writer urges that, because of serious flaws, the document should be withdrawn.
Owl is no mathematician and leaves it to those who are of a more mathematical nature to challenge the assertions made:
“Consultation document misleading, over 600,000 people face increased life risk
My email to Sara Randall Johnson, Chair of Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Authority, sent yesterday:
Dear Fire Authority Chair,
Whilst I am sure you were unaware, the consultation document you have put your name to is deliberately misleading. Sadly, it appears this has been done to deceive the residents of Devon & Somerset and I would urge you to withdraw the document.
My experience of FSEC modelling made me doubt the claims made by ACFO Pete Bond in his BBC interview on 2nd July, so I submitted questions to the Safer Together Programme Team. Their answers, and another D&SF&RS document (attached), confirm my suspicions that the presentation of the risk modelling outcomes are deliberately misleading.
The reduced risk claim is frankly fraudulent, as it is based on a comparison for the future, which assumes all the service’s fire engines are available, with the current situation, which assumes several fire engines are not available. The excuse given is that crewing and contract changes will ensure all appliances will be available in future. That is outrageous speculation and it is highly unlikely that will ever be achieved.
So, the only honest and responsible method is to compare current theoretical full availability with future theoretical full availability. That comparison shows, although not very clearly in the public consultation document, an extra death every other year on option 5 (25 extra in dwellings and 22 extra in RTCs in 100 years). A figure that will be higher, as not all deaths have been included in the results. Fire deaths not in dwellings, which in some years have exceeded those in dwellings, and deaths at non-fire incidents, other than road traffic collisions, have not been included.
The figure shown for RTCs is also highly suspicious, as the service saves many more lives at RTCs than it does at dwelling fires. Delayed responses will therefore impact more on RTC fatalities than on dwelling fire fatalities. FSEC modelling in other fire & rescue services show that for every extra death in a dwelling fire there can be 15 extra deaths in non-fire incidents, as a direct result of longer response times.
Although the reply I received states that the modelling for RTCs was based on attendance times for the first two fire engines, the figures in the consultation document suggest that is not the case. In option 5, fourteen second fire engines are taken out of use during the day, yet it is claimed that will make no difference to RTC fatalities (same result as for option 4). This suggests that the figures used in the consultation document are for first fire engine only, so once again deliberately misleading. It is also concerning that modelling figures have not been provided for property damage, which is also certain to increase if the proposals go ahead.
The figures for option 6 are also dubious and wholly unreliable. I am told that the roving fire engines were “in certain locations for the purpose of the modelling”. Whilst there may be odd occasions when a roving fire engine happens to be near enough to an incident to provide an improved response time, the random nature of emergencies means there is a much higher probability that it will not. Evidence of this unreliability can be found in the Analytical Comparison of Community Impacts from Service Delivery Operating Model document, dated June 2019. This is stated to be “the evidence base to assess the impact of changes to our Service Delivery Operating Model”. This shows the outcomes for options 5 and 6 as the same, which means there is no improvement on response times for roving fire engines.
Whilst the Analytical Comparison document seems generally more accurate than the consultation document, there are still some concerning conclusions in it. For example, on page 45, the increased response time shown for Porlock and Woolacombe, if they are closed, is just two to five minutes. Yet the nearest fire engines are Minehead and Ilfracombe respectively, both six miles away. Even Lewis Hamilton could not achieve that on those roads in even light traffic. Similarly, the map on page 46 shows day crewing at Barnstaple only increasing first pump response time by one to two minutes. The reality is that at night, with On Call Firefighters responding from home, it would be an increase of around four minutes. These outputs suggest the results have been manipulated to appear less severe.
However, what the Analytical Comparison document does reveal is that over 600,000 residents will face an increased risk to their lives if the full proposals are carried out (262,486 households x 2.3 average occupancy = 603,718 people). That detail should not be kept secret, the public deserve to know before responding to the consultation. It is also very disturbing that the station risk profiles for every fire station have suddenly been removed from the D&SF&RS website. Removing recent (2018/19) performance information during a consultation is not being responsible and accountable.
I would add that I requested copies of the actual modelling data used, but this has not been supplied.
I can’t believe that you would be happy about the public and Fire Authority Members being misled in this way. Please have the document withdrawn and postpone the consultation until a revised document can be published showing full, accurate and honest details of the impact of these cuts. Given the seriousness of this matter I have copied this email to Fire Authority Members and other concerned parties.
Yours sincerely
Name notshown”
https://stopfirecutsdevonandsomerset.blogspot.com/2019/07/consultation-document-misleading-over.html
Profile of blogger of above information (Tony Morris):
“I spent 32 years in the fire service in Bedfordshire and West Sussex. My last six years in the service were as Operational Planning Officer responsible for contingency planning. I was then Senior Emergency Management Adviser for West Sussex County Council for 15 years, covering all areas of emergencies and business continuity.
I served on several inter-agency groups at local, regional and national level dealing with major incident procedures & training, maritime and airport emergencies, incidents involving hazardous materials (CBRN, COMAH etc.), telecommunications and other critical infrastructure.
I have studied how fire services operate and how major incidents are handled in different parts of the World. All this has given me a good understanding of the complexities of emergencies and how to deal with them, as well as a keen eye to spot inadequacies in planning, training or resources.
Now fully retired I am free to challenge ill-considered cuts to the fire & rescue service and my blogs are intended to alert the public to the truth behind the spin. The first blog covered West Sussex, where I live, and the second Devon, where I was born and raised.”
“Police letting down older victims of crime, say inspectors”
“Older victims of crime are being let down by the police and the wider criminal justice system, according to the first inspection report on the age group.
The police have only a “superficial understanding” of the crimes committed against older people, the report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate says.
Older people account for 18% of the population but more than eight out of 10 victims of doorstop scams are elderly, the report says. Older people also comprise a quarter of domestic homicide victims.
“Despite these statistics and the fact that we have an increasingly ageing population, the two inspectorates found that the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lacked any joint cohesive and focused strategy to deal with older victims of crime,” says the report.
Inspectors found that out of 153 cases where a safeguarding referral should have been made by police to the local authority, on 77 occasions there was no any evidence of this taking place.
Of the 192 cases the inspectorates looked at in detail, victim care was found not to be good enough in 101 of them and the victims’ code was complied with on only 97 occasions.
“As people are living increasingly longer, it is imperative that the needs of older people are properly understood by those charged with protecting them,” said the inspector of constabulary, Wendy Williams. “Unfortunately, our inspection found that older people are often not treated according to their needs by the criminal justice system. We want to see a sharper focus on older people and the problems they face.”
John Beer, the chair of Action on Elder Abuse, said: “This is a truly damning report about the way the criminal justice system treats older victims. Action on Elder Abuse has led the call for a specific offence or aggravating factor of elder abuse, in recognition of the devastating impact crime has on older victims. As a society we already recognise that where a victim is targeted because of their race, religion, sexual identity or disability, a tougher sentence should apply. …”
Parish backs Johnson because “he has plans for the south west”
A garden bridge over the Tamar?
An international airport at Lands End with a runway going out to sea?
A cable car between Cranbrook and the Science Park?
Boggled mund …
Sidford Business Park: video of current traffic shown to Inspector
Tory grandee asks Tory May about Persimmon – gets Tory reply!
“Robert Halfon, a Conservative, says he recently met constituents who moved into Help to Buy homes build by Persimmon. The houses are shoddy, he says. He says his constituents view Persimmon as “crooks, cowboys and con artists”.
May says developers should be building good quality housing under this scheme.”
Well, that’s sorted then – NOT!
“Rural domestic abusers being protected by countryside culture”
“Rural women enduring domestic abuse are half as likely as urban victims to report their suffering and are being failed by authorities with perpetrators shielded by countryside culture, a report says.
Abusers are protected by the isolation of the countryside and traditional patriarchal attitudes, says the report from the National Rural Crime Network. It is the first study of its kind and finds that close-knit rural communities can facilitate abuse which can last, on average, 25% longer than in urban areas.
Some abusers move their partners from urban areas, where detection is more likely, to rural areas.
The report, published on Wednesday, says: “Rurality and isolation are used as a weapon by abusers. Financial control, removal from friends, isolation from family are all well-understood tools of abuse.”
It continues: “We have revealed a traditional society where women (and it is mostly women) are subjugated, abused and controlled, not just by an individual abuser, but de facto by very the communities in which they live, too often left unsupported and unprotected. This is not at all unique to rural areas, but it is very significant, and change is slow.”
Abusers exploiting isolation is a common theme in the report. One woman said: “My partner used to deliberately drive off to work with the kids’ car seats in his car, which meant I could not go anywhere safely because I was stuck in the cottage with the kids … it was just another way he isolated me and kept me from interacting with anyone else.”
The National Rural Crime Network is funded largely by police forces and their police and crime commissioners, to improve public safety in rural areas.
The report says that traditional, patriarchal communities control and subjugate women. “Rural communities are still dominated by men and follow a set of age-old, protected and unwritten principles.
“Men tend to hold the rural positions of power – head of the household, landowner, landlord, policeman, farmer. This patriarchal society makes women more vulnerable to coercion and control, prevented from speaking out and accessing support.”
Some cases have led to murder, such as that of Lance Hart, 57, who shot dead his wife Claire, 50, and daughter Charlotte, 19, in Spalding, Lincolnshire, in 2016, before killing himself. Claire Hart suffered years of controlling behaviour without the authorities realising and was killed after leaving her abusive husband.
One caseworker in County Durham said of the people suffering: “Many of them are in such a stressful situation they have shut down from any kind of rational thinking. It’s like all their effort goes into survival mode or protection for the kids … The longer it goes on the less likely they are to see the dangers.”
Escape is harder than in urban Britain because of shrinking resources and cuts to public services, the report says. “The availability of public services in rural areas more generally is on the decline, limiting the support networks and escape routes available to victims.
“A recently evidenced reduction in rural GP practices and challenges of effective broadband are good examples. This equally extends to services like buses and trains, whereby it remains very difficult (and getting worse) to travel within rural areas without a private vehicle. Abusers use this to limit victims’ movements, rendering already inaccessible services all but impossible to contact. …”
Honiton Town Council continues with its snarky reputation
“Boris Johnson campaign chief’s firm lobbied councils for tobacco firm”
“The lobbying firm co-run by the man heading Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign has been writing to councils on behalf of a tobacco company before the announcement of planned new anti-smoking measures due in the coming weeks.
The Guardian has seen emails showing Crosby Textor Fullbrook Partners (CTFP) contacted councillors on behalf of Philip Morris, seeking to get the tobacco multinational involved in voluntary moves to curb cigarette smoking, as opposed to more onerous statutory efforts.
One of CTFP’s partners, Mark Fullbrook, has taken temporary leave from the firm to act as Johnson’s campaign manager. The lobbying efforts took place in April, while Fullbrook was still with the company.
While there is no suggestion that Fullbrook was personally involved in these actions, or that he is advising Johnson to adopt a similar line, it comes just over a week after Johnson called for a reconsideration of “sin taxes” on highly sugared drinks.
It later emerged that another arm of Crosby’s lobbying group represents a dairy firm in Australia which sells high-sugar milk drinks of the sort that could be targeted by an extension to a UK sugar tax.
CTFP states that Fullbrook’s role at the company has no bearing on his work with Johnson, and that he currently has no contact with clients.
But amid continued delays to a landmark government consultation on public health, expected to include tough new anti-smoking measures, campaign groups and Labour have urged the Johnson camp to commit to not watering down anti-smoking plans if he becomes prime minister.
They have also called on the health secretary, Matt Hancock, now a leading supporter of Johnson, to push ahead with the plans, which are expected to include a “polluter pays” levy in which tobacco firms would be forced to finance anti-smoking measures, and compulsory cards inside cigarette packets detailing the health perils.
The so-called prevention green paper, originally due in the first half of 2019, was scheduled to be released this week, but the Department for Health and Social Care says it does not have a confirmed publication date. …”
“Berlin buys 670 flats on Karl-Marx-Allee from private owner”
THAT’S how you do it NOT “Help Developers to Make Obscene Profits” aka Help to Buy!
“The state of Berlin has bought back 670 apartments on the historic Karl-Marx-Allee from a private owner after decades of property privatisation in the German capital.
A 1950s prestige project for socialist East Germany, the grand boulevard that stretches from the city centre to Friedrichshain in the east has been the frontline of a months-long fight over gentrification and rising property prices.
The struggle erupted last November when the property management firm Predac announced its intention to offload 700 apartments on the road to Berlin’s largest property company, Deutsche Wohnen.
Fearing rent increases, tenants organised protest marches and hung banners from their apartments, eventually pushing the city senate to block the sale.
After months of legal wrangling, the senate confirmed on Monday that three blocs containing more than 670 apartments would instead be purchased by the state-owned housing provider Gewobag.
While the price of the sale was not confirmed by either side, the move to renationalise the buildings on Karl-Marx-Allee is likely to come at a steep cost, with estimates ranging between €90m-€100m (£80m-£90m).
Berlin’s mayor said the move was indicative of a wider strategy to reacquire housing stock sold to private investors in the 1990s, following rapid rises in rental costs in the city in recent years.
“Berliners should be able to continue to afford living in the city,” said Michael Müller. “That is why it was and continues to be our intention to buy up apartments wherever we can, so that Berlin can regain control of its property market.”
This wouldn’t have happened at the “old” EDDC HQ!
Sidford Business Park Olanning Inquiry live feed:
“… Jeremy Upfield is the first witness of the inquiry.
He is a Devon County Council’s development management officer and will give evidence as the highways and transport case officer familiar with the site.
We are just having a pause to rearrange the tables so that the evidence can be heard by everyone in the room. …”
Might have been better and easier to use HQ 2 – Exmouth Town Hall!
Employment, wages and growth – good news – not so sure
“Following the pattern of recent months, the labour market statistics exhibit a shift towards less secure forms of employment. While the overall employment level continued to rise in the three months to May of this year, the composition of this increase is a source of some concern. The number of full-time employees fell by some 77000, and the number of part-time employees also fell slightly. There was a modest increase in the number of full-time self-employed workers, but the main source of employment growth has been part-time self-employment.
This grew by a massive 104,000 over the quarter. While many jobs of this kind offer workers the flexibility that they might want, this may come at a cost in terms of insecurity. As parts of the traditional engine room struggle in the current economic climate, workers may increasingly be turning to the gig economy.”
Fingerprint analysis backlog in south west – some taking up to 12 months
Hello, Police and Crime Commissioner Hernandez, hello …
“… Figures show more than 830 fingerprint cases were waiting to be analysed by South West Forensic Services in May.
Examination of some digital material was being delayed by up to 12 months, according to the Police Federation.
South West Forensics said it was urgently recruiting staff to “cope with demand” and it was “committed to safeguarding victims of crime”. …”
Sidmouth Herald live blogging Sidmouth Business Park Planning Inquiry
“School-holiday pressure likely to push food bank usage to ‘record levels’ “
“Food bank usage is expected to rise again when schools break up this summer, a charity has said.
The Trussell Trust has said it fears UK food banks will experience their busiest ever summer in 2019.
A huge 87,496 food parcels went to children in the UK in summer 2018 – a 20% increase on the previous summer, and the charity expects this trend to continue.
The trust said that more than a third of all emergency food parcels distributed by food banks in the its network go to children, and that extra holiday-time financial pressure placed on families who are entitled to free school meals during term time would fuel the rise.
The total number of food parcels handed out to children and adults between 1 July and 31 August last year was 240,000. The areas that received the most food packages in 2018 were the North West (24,000), London (17,000) and East of England (16,000).
To combat UK hunger, the charity is calling for the government to end the five-week wait for universal credit payments.
Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, said: “Food banks will do all they can to help families over the summer, with many running holiday clubs to support parents who find that their income simply won’t stretch to meet the extra pressure of missing free school meals or paying for additional childcare during the holidays.
“But no charity can replace the dignity of having enough money for the basics.”
Revie called on the government to ensure that benefits reflected the true cost of living and that work is secure and pays the real Living Wage. …”
What’s happening with the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan?
“… It is now intended to consult on site options and policies in the summer with a consultation on a draft GESP towards the end of the year and a revised timescale has now been agreed with Strategic Planning Committee. “
Click to access 180719%20item%2010%20Appendix%20B%20Service%20Objectives%20Q4%2018-19.pdf
Make of that what you will!
Grant Thornton – EDDC’s auditors – get more flack
Owl says: Good job we have internal auditors and an Audit and Governance Committee and a Scrutiny Committee …
“What is most perturbing is that the auditor being relied upon by investors [in Sports Direct – whose shares have tumbled] to navigate their way through the accounting miasma is Grant Thornton. It is jolly good that Grant Thornton is a challenger to the big four, but investors might feel more comfortable if the track record were more stellar.
Among its stunning successes were the audit of Patisserie Valerie, where tens of millions of pounds vanished, and Neil Woodford’s gated Equity Income fund.
Small wonder Grant Thornton has been put under special measures to raise audit quality by the enforcer, the Financial Reporting Council. Given the known unknowns, the 9 per cent drop in Sports Direct looks too kind. …”
East Devon Watch 