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Posted on

12 Jun 2017

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DCC, Health and Social Care (local), Honiton/ Gittisham, Martin Shaw (Seaton), NHS (local), Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton

Seaton’s new DCC East Devon Alliance councillor starts fight for Seaton and Honiton hospital beds

PRESS RELEASE

“On Monday 19 June (2.15), Devon County Council Health Scrutiny Committee will consider the NEW Devon Clinical Commissioning Group’s responses to 14 questions asked of the CCG by the Committee. If the Committee is not satisfied, it has the legal power to refer the CCG’s decisions to the Secretary of State for Health.

(http://democracy.devon.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=429&MId=2581&Ver=4)

Seaton and Honiton are the two hospitals which serve my constituents in the Seaton & Colyton Division. Both are slated to lose all their in-patient beds. I have sent the attached 6-page letter to the Chair of the Committee, Cllr Sara Randall Johnson, showing why the the CCG’s replies are inadequate, their decisions still demonstrably flawed, and the Committee should use its power to refer them.

I shall be speaking at the Committee, along with other representatives of the Seaton, Honiton and Axminster communities which are worst affected by these decisions. My main points are:

Plans to halve the numbers of community beds do not take into account that the numbers of older people in Devon will more than double in the next two decades.

East Devon needs more beds than other areas because it has the oldest population in Devon and this will continue to grow.

Community beds are crucial to older patients without transport and when they are distant many relatives will have huge difficulty visiting their loved ones.

Savings from the closures will be small. Both financial logic and CCG planning suggest that the real agenda is to close a number of hospitals.
The CCG’s consultation was flawed because it gave no option to keep Honiton’s beds, and the CCG ignored the stronger support for Seaton from people who responded.

The CCG’s reasons for choosing Sidmouth over Seaton are based on misleading use of evidence about population and age distributions.

The concentration of beds in Tiverton, Sidmouth and Exmouth will leave the eastern margins of East Devon entirely without. The CCG’s claim that this is ‘a more even geographic spread’ is entirely false.

The CCG ignored the fact that Seaton also serves the Axminster area, and has reneged on the commitment it gave when it recently closed Axminster Hospital’s beds, that beds would continue to be available in Seaton.
Communities in the Seaton, Axminster and Honiton are angry about the decision and expect the Health Scrutiny Committee to refer it to the Secretary of State.

We are holding a public meeting in Seaton on Wednesday 14th (7 pm, Marshlands Centre, Harbour Road) to plan the community presence at the Health Scrutiny Committee. I will issue a further press release on Thursday.

Martin Shaw
Independent East Devon Alliance County Councillor for Seaton & Colyton”

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

26 May 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Cornwall, DCC, Democracy, East Devon Alliance, East Devon Tories, EDDC, Independent Councillors, Scrutiny, Somerset, Transparency

Local politics: no change unless WE the voters change it

Another local blog (Facebook – Devon United) republished this article from East Devon Watch originally blogged 3 YEARS AGO

“What a GREAT time to be an Independent candidate!

Grassroots rebellion over arrogant leadership in Devon and Cornwall
By Western Morning News | Posted: October 05, 2014
By Phil Goodwin

Westcountry councils face a growing rebellion from a grassroots movement weary at being ruled by an out-of-touch and “arrogant” leadership, the Western Morning News on Sunday reports today.

Campaigns have sprung up across the region in opposition to a perceived centralisation of power which has left many voters feeling removed from the democratic process.

A revolt in Cornwall has seen parish councils form an alliance against the “emerging dictatorship” of the unitary “super council” and threaten to picket County Hall in protest. [Last week, Cornwall’s Lib Dems and Independents again formed a ruling coalition]

In Mid-Devon, a petition has been launched against the cabinet-style of government, where decision-making power is confined to a handful of senior Conservative figures. [Conservatives majority refused to make the change]

In East Devon a quasi-political pressure group has been formed to unify opposition after a series of controversial planning issues. Paul Arnott, chairman of the East Devon Alliance, said chief executives and unelected officers wield excessive influence and are answerable only to a powerful political elite. [EDA had its first county council success this month and Independents at EDDC now number 16].

“What we see now is a kind of corporate CEO mentality which is just not appropriate at a district council,” he added. “This not Wall Street – it is East Devon, and we are supposed to be following a localism agenda.

“The effect is setting a tone of unelected arrogance – we would like to see a return to the wise and kindly town clerk approach of days gone by.”

Labour’s Local Government Act of 2000 introduced modifications to the old committee system, including the cabinet and leader model, which is common throughout Devon and Cornwall. This allows the ruling party to populate the cabinet with its own members, regardless of the make-up of the council. [Still the case in East Devon]

In Mid-Devon, where the Conservatives hold a 57per cent majority of the 42 seats, the Liberal Democrats and Independents have no representation and all of the senior power is concentrated in nine Tory councillors. [Still the case in Mid Devon]

The same set-up can be seen at Devon County Council, where Tories hold 61per cent of the seats but all the cabinet posts, and at East Devon District Council, where a 71per cent majority holds 100per cent of the cabinet posts. [No change]

The Campaign for Democracy in Mid-Devon hopes to collect the 3,000 signatures required to force a referendum on the style of governance. [Didn’t happen]

Nick Way, a Lib Dem member at the authority, supports a return to the committee system. “I think it is more democratic, particularly for a small authority like us,” he said.

“The current system is almost like a dictatorship of the majority – at the end of the day they have a majority but a change would make it easier for their back-benchers to have more of a say and influence policy.”

Harvey Siggs, a Somerset county councillor and vice chairman of South West Councils, says he understands the frustration given the cuts but disagrees with claims of a democratic deficit.

“In Somerset we spend a lot of time trying not to be remote,” he added.

“A good cabinet does its absolute best to be as transparent as possible and we still have to be accountable to the full council.

“With the pace of life and all the things that need to be dealt with, I don’t think the committee system is fit for purpose.

“All too often the disaffected people are around planning. There are winners and losers but mostly, the losers don’t complain.”

[Somerset’s Leader, Conservative John Osman was deposed by a Lib Dem this month but Tories still have a stranglehold on the council]

In Cornwall, representatives of 15 parish councils packed a hall in Chacewater last week in a bid to rally all 213 town and parish councils to join a revolt against Cornwall Council. [unsuccessfully]

The gathering came in response to the infamous “Chacewater Letter” which branded the unitary authority an “emerging dictatorship”.

The letter, in July, criticised Cornwall Council’s lack of communication, its savings plans, planning policy, arms lengths organisations and highly paid officers.

At the highly charged meeting on Tuesday, fellow parish councillors agreed and declared change at Cornwall Council must happen.

More militant members called to draft in the local government ombudsman, for the formation of an alliance of parish councils and even for protests at the doors of County Hall.

Truro City councillor Armorel Carlyon, who chaired the meeting despite her own council not endorsing the criticism, told those gathered she could see the “democratically elected members being airbrushed out of the picture” by non-elected council officers.

When posted: https://eastdevonwatch.org/2014/10/05/the-peasants-of-devon-are-revolting/

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

13 May 2017

Posted under

Accountability, DCC, Health and Social Care (local), Martin Shaw (Seaton), NHS (local), Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton

Seaton: “Hospital Beds Fight Shifts Back to County Council”

“Press statement by County Councillor Martin Shaw (Seaton & Colyton)

The battle to keep in-patient beds in Seaton Hospital should now return to Devon County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee, according to Seaton and Colyton’s new County Councillor, Martin Shaw.

The Council has the power to refer the decision of the NEW Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to the Secretary of State for Health. In March, the Scrutiny Committee asked the CCG to answer 14 questions before the Council exercised this power. The CCG responded, but the answers will remain confidential until the June meeting of the new committee, whose members will be nominated at the Council’s Annual Meeting on May 25th.

Councillor Shaw says: ‘I have now seen the CCG’s answers but I am not allowed to reveal them publicly, which I think is deplorable. However I can state that, particularly in relation to the decision about Seaton, the CCG’s case remains flimsy and threadbare. I shall be raising this matter as soon as the new committee meets and I urge other interested parties in the Axe Valley to join me in making representations. I have had a preliminary talk with Axminster’s new County Councillor, Ian Hall, and I hope we can make a cross-party case for the whole local community on this issue. I am also talking to Honiton campaigners.’

Councillor Shaw made his announcement after an urgent appeal for £20,000 for the first stage of a judicial review of the decision, the preparation of a ‘letter of complaint’, failed to raise enough money to proceed. He said:

‘I was moved by the response in which about 70 donations have been made. Sadly, however, the total raised, while over £5,000, was still not sufficient to pay the solicitors to prepare the letter, for which would have charged £16,800. It might have been possible to raise the balance after the letter was sent, but within three weeks the action itself, requiring a fighting fund of many tens of thousands, would also have had to be launched. In the light of this response, there seemed no prospect of raising the further money in the time available. I therefore decided not to proceed with the action. I felt it was unfair to the donors to spend their money on something which could not be followed through. I have incurred some legal costs but most of the money will be returned, and I will be writing to donors.’

‘The appeal has had a positive effect, however, in that new evidence came to light which strengthens the case that the CCG acted wrongly in the way they made the Seaton decision. This will be used in representations to the County Council. I also urge voters to make the Seaton and Honiton hospital beds a priority with all candidates in the General Election, so that whoever is our MP makes the new Health Secretary aware of local anger about this issue.’ “

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

9 May 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, DCC, Democracy, Devolution, EDDC, General Election

“Austerity has made local government financially unviable. Radical reorganisation may be the only answer”

Owl says: But alas not before EDDC has spent £10 million plus of our money on a new HQ which may be redundant before they move into it!

“Tory councillors popping celebratory corks after last week’s haul of seats should bear in mind the old adage: be careful what you wish for. Now they occupy council leadership positions from Maidstone to Morpeth, it is they alone who must now carry the can for sorting out local government’s two Rs, revenue and reorganisation. The latter is going to haunt county halls for the next political cycle.

The blue tide isn’t going to wash away any of local government’s fundamental problem of a lack of money. Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, has said he hopes “emboldened county leadership” could campaign for sustainable funding for social care and children’s services; he’s an optimist.

Residents may be willing to pay more for looking after older people. But how? Council tax won’t provide enough, so it will be down to central grants. Whoever is communities secretary after June 9 (and Theresa May looks unlikely to keep Sajid Javid) must now devise a distribution and needs formula for England that will protect Tories in the north as well as those in the heartlands of the south.

Short of May tearing up the spending plans set out by Philip Hammond barely a couple of months ago, financial pressure isn’t going to ease. So, come June 9 we’re back to the Christchurch question. A month ago, councillors in the solidly Tory Dorset district decided to defer a referendum on an outline plan to reorganise local government in that county, getting rid of two tiers and replacing the county council, districts and existing Poole and Bournemouth unitary councils with two new, big unitaries. Without reorganisation, the story goes, austerity has made local government financially unviable.

Reorganisation details are different in the various, but the same kinds of argument have been playing in Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, Kent, Bucks, Essex, Hampshire and the other shires. If you notice something similar about those names, gold star: they are all Tory. What’s in prospect is largely an intra-Tory party argument which, in Kent, for example, is already pitting Tory MPs against councillors, as well as setting up massive squabbles between councillors themselves.

We’ve been here before, several times. Those with long memories will recall the long hours and bitter debate within the John Major government in the 1990s over reorganisation. The fruits of that included the demise of Avon county council in 1996, which the West of England combined authority is a bodged attempt at recreating.

Reorganisation is back because consultants’ reports say it should in principle be cheaper to run services over bigger areas with a single tier council and county executives usually agree. But those reports perennially underestimate transitional costs and rarely factor in the hard-to-quantify but vital element of the identification of residents and staff with particular places and local history.

Besides, most reorganisations turn into messy compromises. Take Christchurch. A “rational” reorganisation based on economic geography would align it with Southampton and the Solent, with the New Forest a sort of park in between urban areas. But few Tories are willing to abandon entirely the historic boundaries of Dorset even if the county council goes, just as few Tories want to see the (non-Tory) urban areas of Oxford and Cambridge being allowed to swallow the districts around them.

And all that is just local government. Summing up the costly and largely ineffective debates of the 1990s, Michael Chisholm, chair of the Local Government Boundary Commission, complained of the folly of reorganising without simultaneously considering council powers and finance – which these days has to include the interrelationship of councils and the NHS as well as the fraught consequences of councils’ keeping the proceeds of business rates and the end of central grants.

There’s trouble ahead but at least reorganisation would weaken the political hegemony the Tories have now established across a wide swath of English local government.”

https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2017/may/09/english-local-government-tory-revenue-reorganisation

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

6 May 2017

Posted under

Accountability, DCC, Democracy, Exmouth, Regeneration

Exmouth: this is the sort of County Councillor you have elected

This is an extract of a Facebook page of County Councillor Richard Scott, who you have just chosen to represent you at county level, giving us his unique view on his colleague and regeneration. Here is its transcript verbatim:

“Waste of time Town Poll over and valuable money lost. Lets see what the outcome is and whether or not the Town Council has to, which it doesn’t, have to write a letter to, thats right a letter to EDDC. I bet they are shitting themselves. I wonder if the chief exec of EDDC will read it or put it in the bin, which should be a recycle bin by the way as they are a sustainable council. I wonder why our esteemed district councillor and leader of SES didn’t try to influence the district council in her role rather than abuse the town council, our money and a retarded local ‘referendum’ regulation that effectively has no force or power over the landowner, or is it just about causing trouble because and trust me on this they do not want consultation they just don’t want any development in [Exmouth]”

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

5 May 2017

Posted under

Accountability, DCC, Democracy, East Devon Alliance, East Devon Tories, Voting

Same old, same old … with one or two exceptions

Well, the bad news is that Paul Hayward and Marianne Rixson (East Devon Alliance)were unsuccessful in Axminster and Sidmouth but good news is Claire Wright (Ottery, Independent) was re-elected with her usual stonking majority and Martin Shaw (EDA) pipped nearest rival Helen Parr to the post in Seaton.

For Devon four years of mainly same old, same old but with the added twist of massive cuts, privatisation and bec closures in the health service, the decimation of environmental controls and increase in air pollution and an education system cut well beyond the bone.

Add our expensive Local Enterprise Partnership and Brexit to this mix and the air could get really toxic!

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

4 May 2017

Posted under

Accountability, DCC, Democracy

Colyton issue makes Express and Echo front page, our other MP makes it a double for Private Eye

Here’s Mrs Parr (you can find her today making the rounds of Seaton and Colyton polling stations in her bid to become the area’s Devon County Councillor):

and, coincidentally, Conservative MP Neil Parish appears in this week’s Private Eye:

only one edition later than our other Conservative MP Hugo Swire appeared in the publication:

And who can forget 2013 when disgraced Conservative councillor Graham Brown made this headline:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9920971/If-I-cant-get-planning-nobody-will-says-Devon-councillor-and-planning-consultant.html

There’s no such thing as bad publicity, they say.

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

2 May 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Colyton, Councillor Cathy Gardner EDA, DCC, East Devon Alliance, EDDC, General Election, Mark Williams CEO EDDC, Monitoring Officer, Police (local)

Comments

1 Comment

EDDC uses purdah rules to avoid tricky questions on police criminal inquiry into Colyton Village Plan.

The Western Morning News has today covered in detail the situation in Colyton where police investigations are ongoing into aspects of its Village Plan.

When asked questions by the newspaper on this – via its CEO Mark Williams – EDDC hid behind rules covering “purdah” before local and general elections, when council officers must maintain political neutrality and avoid politically contentious subjects and instead went on the offensive against the EDDC Councillor (Cathy Gardner) who brought it into the open, querying where Councillor Cathy Gardner had got her information from, saying it had been known to only three senior officers.

He added that those three officers did not intend to comment until after local county elections on Thursday this week – and (possibly) even not until after the General Election, if anyone involved were to indicate that they wished to stand for Parliament. He said:

“…The council cannot comment on how Councillor Gardner became aware of the police investigation. The Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer were surprised she raised this at a public meeting”.

THIS IS WRONG.

First, because the act of drawing attention to Councillor Gardner breaks his own rule! He is not willing to discuss if any councillor is involved in criminal proceedings in Colyton but IS prepared to discuss Councillor Gardner’s action in drawing attention to it.

Secondly, purdah can be overridden if it is in the public interest as this surely is.

Thirdly, had she not raised this matter at a public meeting – where was she expected to raise it? In private? Far, far too much of THAT going in at EDDC!

Purdah is NOT law, it is advice. Or, as the Local Government Association puts it, Civil Servants ARE (REPEAT ARE) ALLOWED TO:

“Use a politician who is involved in an election when the council is required to respond in particular circumstances, such as in an emergency situation or where there is a genuine need for a member-level response to an important event beyond the council’s control. Normally this would be the civic mayor (as opposed to the elected mayor in those areas with elected mayors) or chairman (that is, someone holding a politically neutral role). If the issue is so serious, it is worth considering asking the council’s group leaders to agree to a response which would involve all of them.”

Click to access purdah-short-guide-public-4d3.pdf

Owl contends that this IS such a circumstance.

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

2 May 2017

Posted under

Accountability, DCC, Democracy, East Devon Alliance

County elections: only 8 seats need to change hands to change the political majority

As EDA candidate Paul Hayward points out on his Facebook page:

“Over the last 8 years, across the whole of Devon, decisions have been made by a majority group with no effective opposition. Result. Cuts, cuts and more cuts.

But in 2017, it only takes 7 seats to change and a new era of cooperation, debate and compromise can begin at Devon County Council.

Services can be protected. Fair funding can be applied. National party politics can be taken out of local government.

On May 4th, please choose to mark Independent, East Devon Alliance on your voting slip.”

You want change, you have to vote for it.

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

29 Apr 2017

Posted under

Accountability, AONB, Austerity cuts, Claire Wright, DCC, East Devon Alliance, East Devon Tories, Electoral Commission, Environment (local), Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local)

Election irony

Does anyone else find it ironic that Tory candidates are saying that they will “fight for” local hospitals, fairer funding for schools and our precious environment when it is THEIR party that brought the CCG’s that are already cutting beds by stealth, the unfair school funding and which wants to loosen environmental regulations as soon as possible to enable more building on green fields and who are trying to stop frightening air pollution figures being published?

The Tory battle cry seems to be:

“What do we want?”
“No bed cuts, fairer funding for schools and a healthy environment!”
“When do we want it?”
“Er, whenever Mrs May says we can have it, pretty please?”
“When will it be?
“Brexit means Brexit!”

Have fun with that one – and if you vote for the Tories in Devon just hope you, your children and grandchildren can afford a private education and health care and never need to go to an NHS A and E or GP – or breathe the air in our towns, cities and countryside – tall order!

We need a credible opposition at DCC to fight for us. Claire Wright has done a magnificent job fighting for our schools, our hospitals and our environment at DCC – but could do even more with an army of like-minded councillors alongside her whose battle cry would be:

“What do we want?”
“Our fair share in a clean, green Devon”
“When do we want it?”
“When our voters empower us to get it”
“When will it be”?
“When you vote Independent on 4 May!”

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

28 Apr 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Claire Wright, DCC, Environment (local)

So, Independents don’t make a difference … wrong!

“Devon County Council yesterday, voted in favour of my motion on sending a strong message to central government that nature MUST have at least the same level of protection after we leave the European Union.

Only one councillor voted against the motion, which is below.

Devon is thought to be the first council to endorse such a motion in the country. …

http://www.claire-wright.org/index.php/post/devon_county_council_signs_up_to_my_motion_on_protecting_devons_nature_afte

and

“At their meeting this week, members of Devon County Council backed a motion by Claire Wright, Independent councillor for Ottery St Mary, asking for retention of at least the same level of protection for wildlife and environment, as provided by EU law. …

… Only one councillor voted against the motion – Cllr Richard Hosking of Yealmpton – who said the EU habitats regulations had “very many shortcomings”. Great crested newts were either “very successful at parachuting into every environmental impact assessment I have seen, or they are much more prevalent than their protection suggests”, Cllr Hosking said.”

http://www.devonlive.com/devon-leads-the-way-in-demanding-tough-protection-for-nature-after-brexit/story-30300920-detail/story.html

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

28 Apr 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Councillor Marianne Rixon EDA, DCC, East Devon Alliance, East Devon Tories, Stuart Hughes

Sidmouth husting cancelled … so what would we have liked to see debated?

It appears only two of Sidmouth’s DCC candidates were prepared to attend tonight’s husting, which has now been cancelled at short notice – Stuart Hughes (Conservative ex- Monster Raving Loony) and Marianne Rixson (Independent East Devon Alliance).

Such a pity as there are burning questions for the Sidmouth and Sidford candidates, and the incumbent in particular, such as:

Asking Councillor Hughes why he seems to value photo-opportunities and silly songs

over action (for example, Alma Bridge…talk for years…no action)

The state of our roads in Sidmouth and Devon – Councillor Hughes having been in charge of them at DCC for years.

His worrying lack of preparedness about said highways when he should have known the information about them that should have stopped Sidford Industrial Estate ever getting into the local plan – information Sidmouth Councillor Rixson uncovered and used to help to stop it. A story of too little too late.

Councillor Hughes also needs to clarify his views on the NHS. While Sidmouth retains beds in this round of cuts, no-one can predict the future and the hospital will certainly come under pressure with extra patients from Axminster, Honiton and Seaton.

Unfortunately, a vote for Councillor Hughes is a vote for cuts – NHS and just about everything else including social care and education – big DCC responsibilities.

Councillor Rixson, and the local community, stopped the industrial estate. Councillor Rixson is an indefatigable supporter of our NHS and sees the issues way beyond the narrow confines of whipped party politics.

Councillor Rixson is the ONLY credible contender to beat Councillor Hughes, given the results from the 2015 election and to help beat any future cuts in the pipeline.

No wonder other candidates didn’t plan on turning up!

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

28 Apr 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Colyton, DCC, East Devon Alliance, East Devon Tories, Independent Councillors, Lib Dem (local)

Will Colyton village plan revelations and local health issues affect DCC election choice?

Three major developments may affect how people choose to vote in Devon County Council elections next week.

First, and most tantalising, is the ongoing serious allegation that there seems to be a police investigation ongoing into Colyton’s EDDC villages plan, see here:

https://eastdevonwatch.org/2017/04/27/police-investigation-into-colyton-village-plan-question-raised-at-eddc/

This project is somewhat similar to the Neighbourhool Plan project which also hit controversy right from the start, as reported by Owl:

https://eastdevonwatch.org/2016/03/22/colyton-parish-councils-reputation-takes-yet-another-serious-knock/

https://eastdevonwatch.org/2015/09/23/a-few-tips-for-the-colyton-and-colyford-neighbourhood-plan/

Seven volunteers resigned from the project, their letter stating:

… This is the community’s plan, not the parish council’s or a few of the individuals who seem to control it. The entire community has the final say in what goes into it. We urge all residents of the parish to ensure that the plan is truly representative of everyone’s collective aspirations for the parish in the coming years. Our concern is that a few could perhaps dictate how the communities are shaped, which would be disastrous for the parish as a whole. …
http://www.colyton-today.co.uk/article.cfm?id=104098&headline=COLYTON

Colyton voters might be advised to perhaps go for a DCC councillor from outside the parish this time round.

Second is, of course, the closure of Axminster Hospital in-patient beds to the north and scheduled closure of Honiton’s in-patient beds to the west and Seaton’s to the south. DCC candidate Mrs Parr (Conservative) is on record as having been persuaded by CCG plans to close these beds. Jim Knight, who having been passed over for selection is standing as an “Independent” Conservative (whatever that is – how do voters differentiate it from UKIP these days?) is between a rock and a hard place on this one too?

DCC has the major committee for holding health authorities to account and Independent Claire Wright is doing a sterling job of fighting for us, but she desperately needs the help of others prepared to fight with her.

So, who is left?

Well, that’s the third issue.

Let’s dismiss tha Labour candidate – who had to be parachuted in from Exeter who no-one (including Labour activists) seems to know anything about!

Let’s also dismiss Peter Burrows (Lib Dem) – who declined to face voters at a recent hustings (but apparently crept into the back of the room towards the end). Who uses family connections to the health service to boost himself, rather than his own actions, which are surprisingly thin on the ground. Also Burrows has recently become notorious as a censor on the 1500-strong Facebook group, ‘It’s Seaton Devon Thank You Very Much’, of which he is administrator. After deleting posts by Shaw and others about the hospital beds, he even removed Shaw – and various other people with no connection to his campaign – from the group, provoking a considerable backlash.

With this controversy around Burrows’ role, Knight could come in ahead of him and see Burrows struggling to come third as in 2013.

This leaves the field wide open for the only other contender – Martin Shaw, Independent East Devon Alliance. Shaw has been vociferous in his support of retaining beds at Seaton Hospital, instrumental in organising a legal opinion to fight closures and has proved to be something of a tiger in his role on the town council’s planning committee.

Will voters feel minded to dismiss the “same olds” of the past and vote for someone untainted by past choices and misdemeanors?

Let us hope so.

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

27 Apr 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Councillor Marianne Rixon EDA, DCC, East Devon Alliance, Martin Shaw (Seaton), Paul Hayward (Axminster)

All three EDA candidates for Devon County Council have You Tube links

Marianne Rixson – Sidmouth and Sidbury

Paul Hayward (Axminster) and Martin Shaw (Seaton and Colyton):

https://eastdevonwatch.org/2017/04/23/axminster-and-seaton-independent-dcc-council-candidates-youtube-videos/

and all three have signed the pledge to make NHS protection a top priority:

https://eastdevonwatch.org/2017/04/26/east-devon-alliance-candidates-for-dcc-have-all-signed-nhs-pledge/

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

23 Apr 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Axminster, DCC, Democracy, East Devon Alliance, Independent Councillors, Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton

Comments

1 Comment

Axminster and Seaton independent DCC council candidates: YouTube videos

Paul Hayward

Martin Shaw

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

22 Apr 2017

Posted under

DCC, General Election

Standing for DCC and thinking of standing for Parliament? Hold on!

DCC confirms that anyone intending to stand for Parliament at the coming election must NOT declare their candidature until after county council elections on 4 May 2017.

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

21 Apr 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Claire Wright, DCC, Democracy, Feniton/ Talaton, Flooding, Phil Twiss

Comments

1 Comment

Twiss and shout in Feniton

Phil Twiss is hoping to follow in the footsteps of disgraced fellow Tory Graham Brown, and latterly independent councillor Claire Wright to represent the ward of Feniton and Honiton in the forthcoming County Council elections.

Leaflets currently adding to EDDC’s recycling efforts include a testimonial from MP Neil Parish that “Phil will be an asset in a number of matters, such as helping positively to continue with the work put together, to make Feniton more secure from flooding”.

Strangely there seems to be no room to acknowledge Graham Brown’s inability to get a flood scheme going for Feniton, Claire Wright’s dogged success in ensuring that the scheme was not forgotten, and independent District Councillor Susie Bond’s determination and success in getting the £1.6m programme implemented. Not to mention Susie Bond’s tireless work as a flood warden and information broadcaster each time danger has struck the village.

Any “continuation” is totally down to the efforts of these two ladies.

Whether Mr Twiss is willing to acknowledge their contribution on the stump remains to be seen.

Readers will recall it was Mr Twiss who, in 2014, took offence at a metaphor on Ms Wright’s blog about the need to “cull” Conservatives in East Devon.

Police subsequently declined to investigate. Hardly surprising since Conservative Leader David Cameron used the word in exactly the same sense in 2012:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/sep/04/david-cameron-cabinet-reshuffle-deliver

Truth or post-truth in Feniton’s election?

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