So, just what is the (currently dormant) 50/50 business Eaglesham Investments Ltd Which he runs with Swire FOR:
https://eastdevonwatch.org/2019/01/28/swire-eagle-and-sham-an-unfortunate-choice-of-company-name/
Originally it was described as investing in “emerging markets” and later as being for “renewable energy” investments.
Shouldn’t our MP tell us?
Owl says: they don’t mention the district heating system – which keeps residents tied to one supplier – E.on – for 80 (yes EIGHTY years)!
“Local authorities and developers are charging for supplying services in new towns that are free to other homeowners.
Residents of a new town in Devon are being charged an extra £370 a year in council tax in a practice — already being called “the new town tax” — that could spread across the country.
Cranbrook, a new town to the east of Exeter, is charging band F properties a £370 surcharge, rising to £512 for band H properties. Residents receive no more services than people elsewhere in Devon.
Mark Williams, chief executive of East Devon district council, said: “It is very likely that other towns not just in East Devon but elsewhere will have to adopt a similar approach if they wish to maintain their local assets or facilities.
“We believe that the approach adopted by Cranbrook town council is likely to be replicated across the country, especially in areas where there are areas of significant new housing.”
Cranbrook, whose population will eventually exceed 25,000 people, was managed by developers who levied an “estate rent charge” on residents.
The charge was a contribution for the upkeep of facilities such as landscaped gardens and bin collections. When the town council took over responsibility for the services, it kept most of the charge as an addition to the council tax.
Activist groups have sprung up to help residents nationally who have moved into new homes only to discover they are at the mercy of developers on service costs for green spaces or parking. Developers can levy fees because local authorities are not obliged to “adopt” new housing and provide the services.
Cathy Priestley of Homeowners Rights Network, a pressure group, has been contacted by people from 457 new estates housing 86,000 residents with fees ranging from £100 to more than £700 a year. The developers include Bovis, Linden, Persimmon, Redrow and Taylor Wimpey.
She said: “Buyers are lumbered with hidden estate taxes no matter who collects them or who is to blame for this set-up. Stop the rot! Adopt the lot!”
The prospect of permanent higher council taxes for buyers of homes on greenfield sites will be controversial. The government is supporting a housebuilding drive intended to benefit younger people and the “squeezed middle”.
Kevin Blakey, chairman of Cranbrook council, justified the council tax surcharge by saying a lot of people “simply couldn’t afford” to pay the developer’s flat-rate service charge “and the collection rates were going to be pretty awful”.
He added: “There are no council houses but 40% of the first phase of development was given over to social housing managed by housing associations. These charges [were] being applied to people in East Devon who are probably least able to afford it.”
Blakey said that even though the town council would provide services more efficiently than the developers, the charges reflected the cost of maintaining trees and green spaces, including a country park, insisted on by the district council. The residents have to meet the costs even though it is open to everyone. “Our arguments have fallen on deaf ears,” he said.
Williams said: “There are no rules. The government has allowed developers to pass their obligations directly onto new home owners and the ability to remedy the situation lies with the government. This is a national issue.”
Source: Sunday Times (paywall)
and
EU offers lucrative tax breaks to firm of billionaire Brexiter
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/feb/23/eu-offers-lucrative-tax-breaks-to-firm-of-billionaire-brexiter
“Britain’s most profitable housebuilder faces being stripped of its right to sell Help to Buy homes after allegations of poor standards and punitive hidden charges.
James Brokenshire, the housing secretary, is reviewing Persimmon’s participation in the government scheme, which accounted for half of the homes it built last year, The Times has learnt.
Since Help to Buy was introduced, Persimmon’s profit per house has almost tripled, rising from £22,114 in 2012 to £60,219 in 2018. Half of the 16,000 homes the company built last year were sold under the scheme, which is designed to boost home ownership.
Persimmon is now set to become the first housebuilder in the country to report profits of more than £1 billion.
Introduced in 2013, Help to Buy offers buyers with a deposit of only 5 per cent an interest-free loan of up to 40 per cent of the purchase price in London, or 20 per cent outside the capital.
Critics say the scheme has subsidised huge profits and multimillion-pound bonuses across the housebuilding industry while inflating property prices.
An investigation by The Times last year found that homes available under Help to Buy cost an average of almost 15 per cent more per square metre than comparable properties that were not eligible.
At the end of 2017 Jeff Fairburn, then Persimmon’s chief executive, was in line for a bonus of £110 million despite the company being embroiled in a scandal over unfair leases and criticised for the quality of some of its homes.
The company has been accused of selling houses on leasehold terms, under which buyers are forced to pay ground rent charges that provide an extra source of income. There have also been complaints about the quality of some of the new homes.
Mr Brokenshire is understood to be worried about the company’s behaviour after a string of complaints. A source close to the housing secretary said that Persimmon’s “approach” would be “a point of discussion” when the government decided which house builders would be allowed to offer Help to Buy homes from 2021.
“James has become increasingly concerned by the behaviour of Persimmon in the last 12 months,” the source said. “Leasehold, build quality, their leadership seemingly not getting [that] they’re accountable to their customers are all points that have been raised by the secretary of state privately.
“Given that contracts for the 2021 extension to Help to Buy are being reviewed shortly it would be surprising if Persimmon’s approach wasn’t a point of discussion.”
They added: “James is clear any new government funding scheme will not support the unjustified use of leasehold for new homes, including Help to Buy.”
Yesterday critics demanded a complete overhaul of the scheme.
Clive Betts, the Labour MP and chairman of the housing, communities and local government select committee, said: “Help to Buy has clearly been the prime driver of Persimmon’s profits. Companies are there to make money but they should behave responsibly as well. Some of Persimmon’s practices have been questionable to say the least.
“I think most ordinary people will be outraged by this.”
Nationwide Building Society says that house prices for new-build properties have grown 15 per cent faster than for older properties since Help to Buy was introduced.
An official report published last year found that almost two thirds of people using Help to Buy did not need it to get on the property ladder and that the average income of applicants was £53,000.
Mr Betts added: “My personal view would be that if government wants to help solve the housing crisis, it will have to put more money into helping build homes that people can afford to rent.”
Henry Pryor, a buying agent, said that the increasing number of homes being built across the country had led to a decline in quality. “If you aspire to build 300,000 homes a year there will be people taking short cuts, it is human nature, and we don’t have a sufficiently robust system in place to ensure the properties are fit for purpose,” he said.
“I don’t think there is a conspiracy to knock out shoddy homes but we are seeing what I call Friday afternoon houses. Homes that seem like they have been built by someone who’s had a good lunch on a Friday or is rushing off for the weekend.”
The government confirmed last year that Help to Buy would be extended by a further two years from 2021, although from this date there will be a cap on the value of eligible homes to within 20 per cent of average prices in each region.
The Home Builders Federation argues that the scheme has been a huge success because it has helped to boost the supply of new homes.
A spokesman for Persimmon said: “Our performance over recent years reflects the group’s success in growing its construction volumes to meet UK housing need, particularly by offering attractively priced new homes to first- time buyers. Since 2012 we have increased our output by 75 per cent and invested £3.8 billion in new land. In late 2018 we announced a range of new customer service initiatives and we are confident that these will improve our performance once they have had time to take effect. We are also making a significant investment in training to address the shortage of skills in the industry.”
Analysis
Help to Buy has some heartfelt enthusiasts (Anne Ashworth writes). These are the millennials who cannot rely on a payout from the Bank of Mum and Dad but still want a place of their own. If they have a deposit of 5 per cent they can use Help to Buy to climb on to the ladder. Without it some would be forced to remain in rental accommodation for decades, excluded from home ownership.
However, even supporters of Help to Buy will share the widespread dismay about the way in which housebuilders have exploited the policy. Some bosses have enriched themselves at the taxpayers’ expense, apparently with the co-operation of the Treasury, which did not impose rules to ensure that the policy did not become a bounty for the boardroom. The most notorious example is Jeff Fairburn, former chief executive of Persimmon, who pocketed £75 million, but others have also prospered.
One of the original aims of Help to Buy was to ensure that builders “got shovels into the ground”. Little thought seems to have been given to ensuring that these homes would be solidly constructed. Many are shoddy, unlovely and not energy-efficient.
Thanks, in part, to Help to Buy, mortgage lending to first-time buyers is at its highest since 2006. The chancellor is likely to hail this as a success story in his spring statement next month. He should instead order that Help to Buy, which runs until 2023, provide quality housing for first-time buyers, rather than financing yet more mansions for housebuilder directors.
Anne Ashworth is property editor of The Times
Case study
Nicola Bentley thought she was buying a “dream home” for her family last May when she exchanged contracts on a £280,000 house from Persimmon in Kippax, Leeds (Louisa Clarence-Smith writes). However, when the finance director, 46, moved in she said she found 700 snags, ranging from a damaged cooker to leaking pipes and shoddy plasterboard on internal walls.
Ms Bentley, a mother of two, said she is still waiting for issues to be resolved. “We have been living in hell for the last nine months,” she said. “Persimmon told us it would take three to four weeks to rectify all our snags. We are now into week 26 and living in a building site.”
A spokesman for Persimmon said: “We recognise that Ms Bentley has experienced an unacceptable level of issues and have been working hard to address these. The majority have been dealt with and we are working with Ms Bentley to resolve the remaining matters.”
Source: The Times (pay wall)
Members of the House of Lords who are not paid a salary may claim a flat rate attendance allowance of £150 or £300 for each sitting day they attend the House. All they have to do is sign in and 5 minutes later they can leave and collect the money. Or, they could dine in their highly-subsidised restaurants first, of course.
“Older people should lose their pensions if they refuse to do community work to stop them being a “negative burden on society”, a former senior Whitehall official has suggested.
Lord Bichard, an ex-chief of the Benefits Agency, said the elderly should get rewards and fines to make sure they are taking a more active part in the world.
The crossbench peer, who also chaired an inquiry into the murder of two Soham school girls, suggested the same tough attitude towards benefit scroungers should be taken with older people.
“Older people who are not very old could be making a very useful contribution to civil society if they were given some incentive or recognition for doing so,” he told a committee of MPs.
“We’re prepared to say to people if you’re not looking for work, you don’t get a benefit. If you’re old and you’re not contributing in some way, maybe there should be some penalty attached to that. These debates never seem to take place.
“Are we using all the incentives at our disposal to encourage older people not just to be a negative burden on the state but actually be a positive part of society?”
His remarks were condemned by pensioner groups as “little more than National Service for the over-60s”.
Dot Gibson, general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention, said: “This is absolutely outrageous. Those who have paid their national insurance contributions for 30 or more years are entitled to receive their state pension and there should be no attempt to put further barriers in their way.
“We already have one of the lowest state pensions in Europe and one in five older people in Britain live below the poverty line.”
Dr Ros Altmann, director-general of Saga, said the idea was “very strange indeed”.
“Those who have retired have already made huge contributions to our society and are already the largest group of charity and community volunteers,” she said. “The Saga website has been buzzing all day with angry messages of incredulity.”
Meet your current EDA independent councillors and maybe think about becoming one yourself!
East Devon Alliance Annual General Meeting
Saturday 23 February 2019 11.00 am – 12.30 pm
Dissenters Hall, The Old Meeting Unitarian Chapel, All Saints Rd, Sidmouth EX10 8ER
All East Devon Alliance Members & Supporters are cordially invited to attend the Annual General Meeting
Further information available from the EDA Secretary: secretaryeastdevonalliance@gmail.com
If industrial estates are essential sites and supposedly we don’t have enough of them, why is Taylor Wimpey being allowed to build more than 200 houses on the former Parkhurst Close Industrial Estate in Exmouth – the largest town in East Devon?
Press release from Transition Exeter below. EDDC CEO Mark Williams has refused a similar request for debate from an independent councillor.
“Green Councillor Chris Musgrave is bringing a motion to Exeter City Council on Tuesday February 26th calling on it to
Declare a ‘Climate Emergency’;
Pledge to make the city of Exeter carbon neutral by 2030 or sooner, taking into account both production and consumption emissions;
Call on Westminster to provide the powers and resources to make the 2030 target possible;
Continue to work with partners across the city and region, including Devon County Council, to deliver this new goal through all relevant strategies and plans;
To support the motion letters to city councillors would be very welcome; and supporters plan to gather outside the Guildhall before the motion is heard, at 5 pm on 26th February.
Devon County Council will also discuss a similar motion on Thursday February 21st.
Our Facebook page shows the {minority of} councillors who have pledged to support the motion. https://www.facebook.com/transition.exeter/ .
Cabinet has recommended changing the motion to aim for 2050. This is not much of an emergency! Please to your county councillor asking them to support the motion with the original target date for being carbon neutral of 2030. They will not be able to do this with their present budget and powers but the motion would be a strong call to Westminster to make realistic action possible!
Find your county councillor here
https://democracy.devon.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1
The motion is here https://democracy.devon.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=17450
East Devon District Council is controversially set to borrow £200 million to purchase property. The Council Cabinet agreed its Commercial Investment Framework, which would allow it to do so, on 6 February.
However many EDDC councillors have great concerns about this strategy. As a result, a Notice of Motion (NoM) was tabled by Councillor Roger Giles (Independent – Ottery Town) to be debated at the EDDC full council meeting on 27 February. The NoM was submitted in time, and was supported by more than the required number of other councillors.
However the EDDC Chief Executive Mark Williams struck the NoM off the agenda, on the grounds that the matter had already been discussed at the Cabinet meeting on 6 February.
“The EDDC Cabinet consists of just 10 councillors, and is Conservative controlled” said Roger Giles.
“The investment strategy would massively increase the council`s indebtedness, and is inherently risky. I therefore considered it essential that the whole council should be able to have a full-scale debate, and vote on the strategy.”
“However the Chief Executive has intervened to ban my NoM from being included on the agenda paper. By doing so I believe he has damaged our democratic processes – an action which is deeply regrettable.”
Councillors said they were horrified they were being asked to ‘give away poor people’s right to a house’.
Last month, Teignbridge District Council’s planning committee approved a scheme that will see 10 new two and three-bed apartments built on the site of the Neilston Retirement Hotel in Woodway Road, but only if an affordable housing contribution of £86,431 was provided.
But an independent viability appraisal confirmed that a contribution that large would mean that the development would not be viable and that they would not be able to proceed.
The application went back before planners on Tuesday morning and they voted to accept the recommendation of the planning officer that an affordable housing contribution of £37,500 was requested.
Had the application been totally policy compliant in terms of a 25 per cent affordable homes or off-site contributions for Teignmouth, then developers would have been asked for a total liability of £172,863.
Cllr Alistair Dewhirst said: “I am horrified that we could just give away poor people’s right to a house and I couldn’t possibly support it. I don’t think what is there now is special but what they are proposing looks like Colditz to me.”
Cllr Jackie Hook added: “Last time we were content with the application and were happy to see these new apartments built and we compromised in favour of a contribution of one affordable unit.
“The applicant’s appraisal identifies a developer’s profit of £228,280, so we should ask for £50,000, not the £37,500, and they will hardly notice the difference.”
Cllr Dave Rollason added: “A £228,000 profit is a lot of money. The need for affordable housing is massive and it is unfair that we are taking money from the pockets who need it most and giving it to developers.”
She added: “You either have to accept the independent advice over viability, or refuse the application.”
Cllr Phil Bullivant said it would be very difficult to go against the professional advice given and he could not see the evidence to go against it.
Cllr Dennis Smith, chairman of the committee, added: “We asked for this report and now seem to want to just be ignoring what it says. The viability statement says that £37,500 is fair, so I don’t see how we can argue about it.”
The proposal of Cllr Hook to increase the contribution required to £50,000 was lost, and then councillors voted by 14 votes to three to approve the application with an affordable housing contribution of £37,500.
The scheme would see the demolition of the existing building and the construction of a three storey apartment building containing 10 new two and three-bed apartments, plus 18 car parking spaces and two double garages.
Councillors had previously been on a site visit and raised no objections to the principle of the application, with Cllr Charlie Dennis said that the building has deteriorated, is past its best and at present it is a ‘sad thing to see’.
https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/theres-busy-homeless-camp-exeter-2565711
Sir Vince Cable has said that Lib Dems will NOT contest seats of the (so far 11) MPs who have broken from their parties to become independent in the last few days
Owl assumes that Sir Vince includes Claire Wright – the most popular independent in the country – in this sensible decision, especially as polling shows she could unseat Hugo Swire this time round.
Looking forward to Sir Vince’s confirmation.
Owl says: remember, the Chief executive, Mark Williams, is supposed to be a NEUTRAL civil servant and yet ALL of the refused motions are from ALL the minority groups ONLY……!
“Motions to support recycling, to call for a new property ombudsman to streamline complaints against shoddy builders, and for East Devon to get its fair share of the police precept rise will be discussed at next Wednesday’s full council meeting.
But motions over the full relocation costs of the move from Sidmouth to Honiton, to put electric charging points in all car parks, what to prioritise in a ‘No Deal’ Brexit and on climate change will not be discussed.
Various motions that councillors had put forward for debate at East Devon District Council’s full council meeting on Wednesday, February, were rejected by the council’s chief executive, as either the agenda already provides the opportunity for debate or the wording of the motions were inaccurate.
RELOCATION
Cllr Cathy Gardner had proposed a motion calling for the council to commit to publish an annual ‘summary of accounts’ for the relocation project until break-even is reached as relocation from Sidmouth to Honiton was proposed and predicated on the basis that the project would breakeven within 20 years and deliver cost-savings to the council tax payers of East Devon.
Cllr Gardner said: “Whilst some of this information is already available we feel it is vital for the ongoing costs to be published to show confidence that this project will breakeven. A majority of Councillors voted for relocation on the basis that money would be saved on energy bills. We are left unsure of whether breakeven will ever be proven.”
But an EDDC spokesman said: “The rejected motion contained inaccuracies and omissions that had the potential to mislead councillors and it was also premature. It is however proposed to bring a report to the next meeting of the Cabinet that will summarise the position reached with regard to the sale of the Knowle and the relocation. Cllr Gardner can raise the matters she is concerned about as part of the debate into that report.”
The motion would have called for the accounts to include
energy costs for the Knowle for the past 20 years (for comparison);
energy costs for both Blackdown House and Exmouth Town Hall per year;
the capital receipt for the sale of the Knowle;
a Red Book valuation of Blackdown House as of 1 March 2019;
the full costs for the relocation project since its inception, including: project management; removal, furnishing and equipment;
staff retraining and travel expenses;
new-build costs for Blackdown House; refurbishment costs for Exmouth Town Hall; and any other associated costs.”
CLIMATE CHANGE
Cllr Matthew Booth’s motion had called for the council to recognise that Climate Change and Global Warming are the key issues of our time, to acknowledge the strong concerns of young people in particular the recent walk out of school children and for the council to commit to introducing a policy of carbon measurement and reduction within all aspects of its own activity.
He said: “I personally do not care how we begin to do this, or who does it, but that we act now not wait for some planned strategy in the future.”
An EDDC spokesman said that the issue of climate change emergency is acknowledged to be of critical importance but that it would be appropriate to wait to see what Devon County Council decides. They added: “Currently, however, the County Council is considering its position and will shortly debate the matter. As we are in a two tier area it is appropriate for the District Council to assess the position taken by the upper tier authority and then respond accordingly. The public would expect us to work in partnership with the County Council rather than unilaterally.”
ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING
Cllr Eleanor Rylance had submitted a motion calling for the council to plan for and implement over the next five years a full rolling renovation programme of its car parks estates to fit and bring into operation electrical charging points at every space for domestic cars, and cycle parks with charging points for all types of cycle and that there should be mandatory EV charging points for the parking spaces of every new-built house in East Devon.
She added: “This council should approach the future of electrically-powered domestic vehicles with enthusiasm and proactivity, play a positive role in helping develop the use of electrical and should make this infrastructure, that will be a necessity within the next ten years, available in advance of full electrification of domestic vehicles in 2042.
But an EDDC spokesman said: ““The agenda already provides an opportunity for this issue to be raised so this motion was inappropriate.”
BREXIT
Cllr Rylance had also submitted a motion that said in the event of a No Deal Brexit or a version of Brexit that causes significant disruption, the council should approach this event as a situation of emergency in respect of its most vulnerable residents, dedicating any available human, material and financial resources required to palliate any negative outcomes for these groups, but the motion was rejected.
Talking about all the motions, a council spokesman said: “The council agenda for February contains the most important annual decision, namely the setting of the budget and the approval of the Council Tax for the forthcoming year. The process leading to this meeting has included several meetings where members were encouraged to raise all items of future relevance so these could be assessed as part of our service planning process and for assessment as part of the budget.
“It is unfortunate that some members did not take these opportunities and have chosen instead to submit their proposed motions.
“It is also noted that the wording of the motions was not checked in advance with relevant officers who would have been able to give timely advice as to their wording.”
But motions on the police precept, protection for new home owners and supporting recycling will be discussed.
POLICING
Cllr Tom Wright’s motion says: “In view of the £24 per band D property increase in policing precept, this council urges the Chief Constable to recognise the needs of East Devon when deciding how to allocate extra resources. East Devon residents are the biggest contributors to the police budget in Devon, other than Plymouth. It is only fair that we should get a fair share of the larger cake.”
NEW HOMES
Cllr Douglas Hull’s motion says: “The Government has stated that it would therefore be introducing as a priority a new property ombudsman to streamline complaints against shoddy builders. As a council that not only provides an excellent and highly regarded building control service but also has seen significant levels of new building in its district, we call on the government to fulfil its pledge to provide this much needed remedy for homeowners as a matter of the highest priority.”
RECYCLING
Cllr Peter Burrows’ motion says: “This Council continues to support the fine work done by the EDDC Recycling team in achieving the best results in Devon and to support and encourage local Organisations and voluntary groups who are involved in trying to reduce the amount of single use plastics used in their communities & beaches by making resources and expertise available, where appropriate. The order of priority should be – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. To actively help promote such activities through the Councils social media platforms.”
The full council meeting will be held at East Devon District Council’s new Honiton Heathpark HQ on February 27 at 6pm.”
https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/relocation-cost-no-deal-brexit-2557565
As Owl’s readers know, our MP has a (currently) dormant business (Eaglesham Investments Ltd) with controversial peer Lord Greg Barker, who is mixed up with Russian oligarch Oleg Derepaska – and with him his Trump campaign pal Paul Manafort:
https://eastdevonwatch.org/2019/02/03/more-again-on-swires-pal-lord-barker/
Now Lord Barker has hit the headlines again (page 10 of the Sunday Telegraph to be precise). He is to be questioned (again) by MPs over his dealings on behalf of Deripaska in the US and UK. Deripaska is said to be a very close ally of Vladimir Putin.
A prominent Vladimir Putin critic, Bill Browder, said last week:
“It’s remarkable … a member of the House of Lords is allowed to be paid by a Russian to lobby against sanctions for that Russian”.
Source: Sunday Telegraph
The Telegraph article continues with (yet another) attempted justification of his highly-criticised conduct by Barker.
Oh, Hugo – why can’t you get some NICE friends and business colleagues?
You have already swanned around the arms-buying capitals of the world (Saudi Arabia, Colombia to name but two);
You get paid a consultancy fee to advise on Latin American matters: and
You get a salary from the Conservative Middle East Council (see Register of Interests),
which is hard enough for your constituents to swallow, without this!
“Cabinet ministers are being told that some of their most prized projects cannot be developed because so many officials have been diverted to delivering Brexit, it has emerged.
Ministers’ priority programmes have fallen victim to “re-prioritisation”, according to internal government warnings seen by the Observer.
Government insiders said they knew of examples of officials usually dealing with schools and hospitals who were now redeployed to work on farming and fishing as a result of the scramble to prepare for all Brexit outcomes, including no deal. “It’s a real worry now that things are being held up and not happening,” said one senior Whitehall source. “We are really starting to see it as the Brexit process drags on and on.”
A memo to a senior minister, said: “In the context of ongoing cross-government re-prioritisation exercises, departments have not yet been able to resource the necessary cross-government team to deliver the work.”
The government’s plans for resolving the crisis in social care and a review of university finance are among the major policy proposals that are said to have been held up by Brexit, while many other areas have suffered due to the lack of parliamentary time and political instability. …”
“With 43 days left on the clock, local authorities have been told to prepare for March 29.
Government incompetence is causing ‘chaos’ within councils that have been ordered to plan for Brexit, a town hall boss has warned.
Stockport council leader Alex Ganotis said local authorities had been told to prepare for leaving the EU in less than 50 days ‘without telling us what to plan for’.
He was speaking at the latest meeting of the combined authority, at which Manchester council leader Sir Richard Leese said huge anxiety remains among businesses in the region over what happens when Britain leaves.
While Greater Manchester had been doing its best to prepare, he said, ‘it’s not a happy story at the moment by any stretch of the imagination’.
Local leaders were meeting with just 43 days left on the clock before March 29 and no clear plan in Westminster about what will happen.
Coun Ganotis said government had been very clear that councils were expected to plan, however, just not what they were planning for.
“There are six weeks left until we are due to leave the EU and the government clearly has no plan over crucial, crucial areas of the way this country is run and the way this country works,” he said.
“And yet they are being very clear with local authorities that local authorities need to plan for Brexit.
“We need to make sure our council supports our communities after Brexit, but without telling us what to plan for, exactly what resources will be required, and exactly what the impact will be on our areas.
“We as councils have to take our responsibilities to residents seriously – and in a way that this government is not taking its responsibilities towards British citizens seriously, because it’s in hoc to a group of fanatics that do not care about ordinary people and the way they go about their lives.”
Reeling off a list of potential issues faced by councils, he said government had announced a funding package for town halls, but that it was ‘far, far less’ than would be needed.
“So we are going to have to find funding within our own councils that we would have otherwise put to other uses in terms of frontline services to provide for and fund Brexit,” he said.
“But in terms of what exactly we do, we still don’t know.
“Areas around staffing – local authority staffing, staffing of our contracted services, of care workers are a very good example of that.
“Civil resilience, our regulatory responsibilities, especially in term of product regulation, the services we provide to people from EU countries who don’t know where they will stand, the support we provide for people in terms of employment, as well as keeping things going in the event of Brexit.
“We are going to have to plan for all of this as local authorities and it’s causing chaos.
“And I think the government needs to understand the hypocrisy of what they are putting on local authorities.”
Greater Manchester leaders have been receiving regular updates since June 2016 about the potential effects Brexit is having – or will have – on the local economy, including local efforts to support businesses worried about the impact.
The government has refused to share its exact economic impact assessment for the area, however, with councils instead drawing up their own – suggesting more than £8bn could be wiped off the conurbation’s economy in the next 15 years in the event of a no deal.
Manchester council leader Sir Richard Leese, who is in charge of economic issues for the region, said the current picture was bleak.
“It goes without saying that at a time when the performance of the economy is at its lowest point since the recession, there’s an enormous amount of anxiety amongst businesses and still a lot of concern about a lack of preparedness in business even though we are now days rather than months away from March 29,” he said.
Pointing to Greater Manchester’s 60,000 EU citizens, he said the potential effects could be particularly problematic for ‘sensitive’ areas such as the NHS that rely upon them for staffing.
However planes would not be grounded, he said, as Manchester Airport had plans in place for flights to continue even in the event of a no-deal.
But he added: “I’ve come to dread this item, to be honest.
“As someone who’s been in active politics for most of my adult life, I have to confess I’m now completely confused as to how our parliamentary democracy – how representative government works.
“If any of the leaders around this council chamber at the moment, if we were to ignore our councils in the way the PM ignores parliament we wouldn’t last five minutes.
“I tend to wonder what parliament is for, because they keep passing votes and the PM keeps saying ‘I’m right, I’m going to ignore them’.
“But underpinning that is that at the moment, whatever your views on Brexit – it doesn’t matter whether you’re for or against – we are at the moment rushing headlong to at least a short term disaster, which is the risk of a disorderly no deal exit from the EU.”
“A private company which manages thousands of offenders in England and Wales after they are released from prison has collapsed into administration.
Working Links, a company that owns three community rehabilitation businesses which deliver probation services in Wales, Avon and Somerset and Cornwall, went bust on Thursday night.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said they had been aware of the company’s financial situation since October, and said it had put in place contingency plans to ensure “offenders will be supervised and the public will be protected”.
The union representing probation officers in the UK has reacted with anger to the news.
Ian Lawrence, general secretary of Napo, said: “This is exactly what we warned the government about from day one of this disastrous privatisation programme that has seen an award-winning service fall into total chaos in just four years.”
Chris Grayling was responsible for privatising the care of low-to-medium risk offenders four years ago as part of his reforms when he was minister for justice.
The MoJ said Working Links services would be handed over to Seetec, who manage community rehabilitation centres in Kent, Surrey and Sussex for the time being.
They also said they would bring forward plans to bring probation services in Wales back under government control.
Seetec confirmed they would transfer all of Working Links staff to their books.
The company’s executive director, Suki Binning, said: “It has been a challenging and uncertain period for probation teams in these regions, during which they have worked tirelessly to support the people they manage and protect the public.”
Lawrence slammed the government’s handling of the situation, adding: “Napo has continually pleaded with ministers to terminate the contracts between the MoJ and Working Links following highly critical reports from HM Inspectorate of Probation and a litany of high profile Serious Further Offences including a number of murders.”…”
“East Devon District Council’s senior management team have been rebuked by scrutiny councillors after failing to consider the public perception over the sell-off of assets from their former Knowle HQ.
The council this week completed its move from its former Sidmouth home at the Knowle, to Exmouth town hall and the new Honiton Heathpark HQ, and as part of the move, they had to find homes for various items that are unsuitable for its new building.
But a furore erupted just before Christmas when it was first revealed that council staff and members, but not the general public, were given the chance to bid on various items, and then when an email was leaked claiming a councillor managed to buy a large mahogany dining table and 20 chairs for £50 at the internal staff auction, instead of allowing it to be publicly auctioned for the best possible price.
A council spokesman had said that this leaked information was totally incorrect with the bid being for £400 and only including some of the chairs, and that the bid was withdrawn when Exmouth Town Council, who initially declined the offer of the table originally, changed their view just before Christmas and are now expected to take ownership of the table.
Cllr Ian Thomas, Leader of East Devon District Council, had previously said in a statement: “Our council relocation team has been working with professional auctioneers, Sidmouth Town Museum, charities and clearance specialists, to value and dispose of a wide range of items from our old East Devon District Council offices at The Knowle in Sidmouth.
“As part of this process, we offered our staff and elected members the chance to bid for items that may be of sentimental interest or practical use, but are of negligible commercial value.
“The value of items to be disposed were identified based on the view of experienced professionals. They included the large table from the Members area, which attracted little professional interest with one valuer estimate of just £50.
“All proceeds from this sale and those raised from other sales will go to the Chairman’s Civic Fund, to be donated to nominated charities.”
East Devon District Council’s scrutiny committee considered the disposal of the contents of the Knowle at their meeting last Thursday.
Richard Cohen, the Deputy Chief Executive, produced a report that outlined the process of disposal of items from the Knowle prior to handover to PegasusLife for demolition.
He said: “As part of that process and prior to the handover of the old office buildings to the developer, the council needs to clear the buildings. In total there are just over 2,600 separate items in the Knowle.
“The vast majority of these are office furniture: desks, chairs, cabinets etc of varying ages, condition and size. There are also a number of particular items of varying antiquity and value: these involve both furnishings and fixture and fittings. From a perspective of bulk disposal the estimated total weight of all these items is 45 metric tonnes.”
He outlined that Sidmouth Museum and Sidmouth Town Council were both interested in re-home various items, multiple local auction houses were invited in to look over items but that the majority of items were not of interest to them, and that for remaining items an opportunity was offered for council staff and members to bid for items whether for practical or aesthetic reasons.
He said: “These were items that had been attributed little or no sale value by the various professional auctioneers and ranged from standard office furniture items to cupboards, upholstered furnishings, tables, curtains for example. This element of the disposal process involves around seventy separate items and is likely to raise of the order of £2,000 for the Chairman’s chosen charities.”
Mr Cohen added that groups such as Action East Devon, Green Furniture Aid and Hospicare who are all either networked with voluntary groups or can sell furniture via charity outlets were asked whether they had an interest in some of the for the more generic items such desks, chairs and tables, but the response has been largely muted.
Town and parish councils will also be contacted asking them whether they have an interest in any items with the requirement that they transport said items away themselves, he added.
But councillors said that contrary to what Mr Cohen said, a full list of the items for disposal had not been circulated to them.
Scrutiny committee chairman Cllr Roger Giles said: “There has not been a list that we have seen so could someone produce a list that will be circulated very soon.” He also asked wat do town and parish councils know about the process, as the answer he had heard from them is nothing.
Cllr Cathy Gardner added: “Why was the full explanation of the process not circulated to members before we were given the chance to bid for items? The reason there was a furore around the subject as the offer of sale of items internally was offered in isolation and the lack of communication meant there was a lack of understanding of the wider process that this sat.”
Her recommendation, which the scrutiny committee backed unanimously, was that they remind the senior management team of the council to always consider the public perception of actions taken, particularly when it is involves public assets, and the disposal of public assets.
https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/council-management-team-rebuked-over-2545040
“East Devon District Council has received three ‘interesting and diverse’ bids for the site following the consultation period, which ended on Friday, February 4.
A core group made up of Sidmouth and East Devon town and district councillors are now considering the bids, working with property agent JLL which has managed the marketing.
A council spokesman said at the moment the details of the bids must remain confidential and recommendations will be made for East Devon District Council’s cabinet for approval at a later date. …”
“A “radical overhaul” of public service audit is needed to give the public confidence over how its money is spent, according to recommendations from a think-tank.
Increasing financial pressures and people’s dissatisfaction with public services means now is the time for a shake-up of audit for central and local government, the authors of a report for the Smith Institute said.
Tax is likely to increase in the future as a result of demographic pressure on areas such as health and social care, and these can only be justified if the public is “confident” its money is being well spent, authors John Tizard and David Walker told the report launch yesterday.
“Fiscal pressure is likely to rise in the short run, depending on the nature of Brexit. It will certainly grow in the long run, as public spending accommodates demographic change: an older population will demand more health and social care and other services,” Spending fairly, spending well said.
It called for the creation of two new government bodies and more responsibilities given to the National Audit Office to improve public audit.
The NAO would take over audit responsibilities for the NHS and local government, the report suggested.
Authors audit commentator Tizard and David Walker, former head of communications at the Audit Commission, urged for the creation of a Public Interest Appraisal Unit, which would evaluate value for money before spending decisions are made. The NAO assesses government spending decisions after they have been made.
They also said the government should set up an Office of the three Es – equity, efficiency and effectiveness. This body would be responsible for looking at which groups benefit and which groups lose out on certain spending decisions. …”
https://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2019/02/major-shake-public-audit-needed
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