One of the great mysteries of the HotSW LEP’s devolution plans is the fact that massive development is planned for Exeter/East Devon, but they don’t want to see the A303 dualled between Honiton and Broadway/Ilminster.
We are proposing a huge increase in employment and population, but the LEP is campaigning to keep the road single carriageway. It really is most odd that Devon County Council and the LEP don’t want to see the road dualled, despite ambitions for enormous growth.
What excellent timing for Pegasus. But perhaps they might be tapped to provide water storage – perhaps in one of their private swimmimg pools.
“Devon County Council (DCC) was this week surveying Station Road to extend a topographical study of the parkland – a first step in implementing Sidmouth’s 2014 surface water management plan (SWMP).
The authority has a funding allocation for 2018/19, so it is working to appraise the project and justify the cost – estimated at £436,000 in 2014’s SWMP – before it approaches government department Defra.
Councillor Stuart Hughes said: “One of the recommendations of the Sidmouth SWMP was to consider attenuating surface run-off in the grounds of Knowle. The preferred scheme and design are very much in the early stages, so this additional survey data being collected will assist us in determining the viability of this option.
“If suitable, then we will look to develop the detailed design and project appraisal to secure the required funding from Defra.”
The SWMP, compiled by Jacobs, said that the total predicted damage in Sidmouth town centre could be worth £12million over a 50-year period if surface water flooding is not addressed. Some 14 per cent of homes and 49 per cent of non-residential properties are at risk. It said ‘realistic and sympathetic’ landscaping at Knowle could provide storage for three million litres of floodwater that would otherwise run down Station Road toward the town centre.
The basin would be dry most of the time and would only store water during times of extreme rainfall, allowing the site to remain accessible. It would then be discharged into the drains once the peak of the flood has passed. Water storage at Knowle was among the options put forward for reducing the flood risk – but it would be most effective if combined with other measures. These include re-profiling All Saints Road and Station Road. The SWMP also proposed a pumped drainage system to prevent water ponding in Bedford Square and a ‘quick-win’ scheme to contain Cheese Lane’s watercourse.
It did not consider the risk of flooding from the River Sid or the sea, which remain the responsibility of the Environment Agency.”
“It means even more major government decisions and activity will be postponed until June, adding to the delays in the government’s childhood obesity strategy, Trident, BBC reforms and airport expansion.
The combination of the elections to the Scottish parliament, Welsh Assembly, London mayoral elections and local council votes across England and the national referendum on Britain’s EU membership means Government will be forced to abandon much of its other work due to neutrality rules during election periods.
Purdah – which bars the use of public money to promote one side in the final weeks before a poll – will block ministers or civil servants making any major decisions until after the elections are over.”
In the case of the EU referendum, this commences on 27 May 2016.
” I I am getting increasingly concerned about our devolution process in the South West.
Devolution is different in each region, but one thing each has in common is a lack of public consultation. In fact here in Devon most people don’t even know we are in the process and that many of the councils in Devon and Somerset have signed up already. Cornwall has already finished the process.
People don’t know what is happening and that is a concern, as the implications of devolution will impact upon all of us and I find the actual devolution bid extremely worrying.
Robert Vint, a Devon county councillor commented, on devolution recently, saying: “The Government has taken away the funds that local authorities were once spending to meet the needs of local people – for affordable homes, care services, repairing local roads etc.
“It now offers to give back £195.5 million – but only if we endorse a package of mega-projects in which we have had no say. This is coercion, not ‘devolution’. “The decisions about how this council spent its money were once democratically decided; the proposals in this Devolution Prospectus were not. “It is not the economic recovery plan that residents would have created themselves if they had been given the opportunity.”
The privatisation of local authorities in other words, yet we know so little about it. We definitely don’t know about the LEP, who are at the heart of it. LEP stands for Local Enterprise Partnership.
The one for Devon and Somerset is known as the Heart of the South West LEP (H0tSW LEP).
It is basically a business quango made up of business men and women and a few elected councillors, who channel money from the government and from Europe into local business and enterprise, or that was what it was originally set up to do.
They are the ones who are enabling devolution down here. Most people know very little about them.
They have a website detailing their aims and grants, but they hold their meetings in private and it is difficult to see the minutes of those meetings.
They say they will deliver £4billion to the UK economy. A lot of that money is going into the Hinkley C nuclear plant.
I personally do not want money spent on a highly controversial nuclear project, at a time when our local services are being cut to an absolute minimum, but I have no say in the matter and nor does anyone else, that I can see.
There is so little transparency in this process that even councillors who are supposed to be involved in the devolution bid are struggling to find information. We do know that they are about growth and not much else it seems.
This seems to me to be the opposite of localism. In the future who is going to control planning applications? Will it be the local authority still or will it be the LEP? If it is the LEP, I cannot understand how there won’t be a conflict of interest.
The proposal is also about creating a new authority but there is no information that says which, if any, current body it would replace.
The HotSW LEP is made up of elected councillors as well as business people, but the process is opaque and undemocratic. Many of those on the board who are self-appointed have business interests in property and construction. I am sure the HotSW LEP is all above board.
But it seems to me that LEPs could be vulnerable to corruption. I would like some guarantees, I would like some transparency, I would like to have my democratic rights adhered to, but I can’t see it happening.
Mr Vint also points out: “There are proposals (in the devolution bid) to build 179,000 new houses across Devon and Cornwall – but the plan ignores the priorities of all the Councils across the South West that want affordable housing for local people – not unregulated market housing.
“While ‘housing’ is mentioned repeatedly, three key words are totally missing from this document – ‘affordable’, ‘social’ and ‘rented’.
“Those are the kinds of houses we most urgently need, not commercial housing.This proposal is an attack on democracy; its priorities are not the priorities of local people; it puts the needs of big business before the needs of local people and it is helping to bail out businesses, such as Hinkley C, that are nowhere near being financially viable without massive subsidy.”
Where does this figure of 179,000 houses come from? Who is going to build them? Why do we need them? Who are the LEP to decide such matters?
I find it all very disturbing. Devolution was supposed to be about local areas deciding on local matters, not the takeover of council services by corporate interest. I read recently that devolution meant “the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership for the Shires”, a reference to the proposed international agreement that many feel hands too much power to businesses. I fear that analysis is correct.”
Apparently, DCC is looking into the possibility of having a second railway station in Cranbrook.
Just how big is this town going to be?
Bumped up from a comment so people have the chance to see how a current commentator views it:
“A quick search suggests that you can find a background summary at http://www.devon.gov.uk/cma_report.htm?cmadoc=report_hcw1371.html and further documents relating to the appeal at http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/planning/countryside/rightsofway/onlinerow/onlinerowd
The bad news is that this process seems to be well advanced – the good news is that it doesn’t appear to be completed yet.
It appears that DCC made an order on 20 November 2013 to delete these footpaths, but that this requires review by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and a Public Local Inquiry.
The Notice of review by SecState and Public Local Inquiry was dated 1 September 2014 (more than 17 months ago), with an implication that representations and objections preceded that date, and a deadline of 8 December 2014 for representers and objectors to submit their legal case. The good news is that the Public Local Inquiry has been postponed at least twice first from 11 February 2015 and then from August 2015, with no revised date appearing – and no indication why there is a delay or whether the process has stalled permanently.
I would imagine that the proposals can still be viewed at Colyton Parish Council offices on Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:30am-noon, and at Devon County Hall weekdays 9am-4pm.”
Owl is having difficulty understanding why the Deputy Leader (Conservative) of Devon County Council is moaning about cuts in public services, since austerity was the platform he chose to stand on when he asked for public votes at a recent election.
What did he think was going to happen?
Those who didn’t vote for his party (the majority of voters in the country and in Devon (first past the post creates this) knew pretty much how things were going to pan out and are angry but not as surprised as Mr Clatworthy!
Here is his view:
“The funding of rural counties over urban areas has been condemned as unfair by the deputy leader of Devon County Council.
John Clatworthy, who is also the cabinet member for finance, said Devon’s budget would have been very different if the county was funded at the national average.
He said the government had recognised the disparity between rural and urban funding and granted Devon an extra £8.4m – the fourth highest in the country.
But overall Devon’s residents were still suffering from historic under-funding.
“I did not come into local government to see fewer resources to support our communities,” he said.
“On the contrary, we need the right level of financial support. Devon does not receive average funding and there is a clear disparity between urban and rural funding.”
Mr Clatworthy said, on average, rural areas received £130 per person less Government funding than urban areas.
Devon’s schools got £287 less per pupil than the national average. If Devon received the average it would mean an extra £25m for the county’s schools, he said.
In Public Health, Devon got £38 per person compared with an national average of £69 whilst the City of London received £200 per person. If Devon received the average it would mean an additional £22.4m.
When it comes to transport infrastructure, for every £100 spent in the South East we receive £7.50 in the South West,” said Mr Clatworthy.
“Because we are receiving less than the average funding, many authorities must be receiving well above the average.
“That cannot be right or equitable and needs to be addressed because the cuts are felt harder on authorities with less than average funding.”
Mr Clatworthy said that the Government’s austerity agenda meant that between 2010 and 2019, almost £250m would have been removed from Devon’s budget.
But, for 2016/17, the county council would still be spending £443.5m on services. After allowing for inflation and other spending pressures, that represented savings of £34.3m on the current year.
In spite of this, there would be an increase of £11.3m in the budget for children and £5m in the budget for adult care.
Mr Clatworthy said the council had decided to accept the Government’s offer of a two per cent increase in council tax to help fund adult social care.
The increase in the living wage would cost Devon over £7 million and the two per cent rise would bring in £6.5m.
“With reduced Government support, we need to have sufficient funds to deliver all our services so, reluctantly, we are having to add 1.99 per cent to the two per cent making a 3.99 per cent increase this year.
“This additional funding will give certainty of income which is essential to protect services.”
http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Devon-s-historic-underfunding-highlighted-council/story-28769419-detail/story.html
Everyone SEES the problem
Everyone KNOWS the solution
NOBODY has the money
And all Swire can say: nice to see a bit of progress since 2001 but don’t look at me – pay for it by flogging off Port Royal!
“After the recent wild weather, Councillor Stuart Hughes fears that the Ham’s sewage pumping station could be ‘overwhelmed’ and said it needs protecting – and now, writes Stephen Sumner.
East Devon’s MP Hugo Swire also says any necessary work will have his ‘full support’.
However, East Devon District Council (EDDC), which is leading a long-term plan to protect the beach, told the Herald that there is no government funding available for immediate intervention.
“If the sewage pumping station was affected, Sidmouth would close down,” said Cllr Hughes. “Where would all the sewage go? How can you have a holiday resort without a sewage system? We need to do something before it’s too late.”
South West Water (SWW) has played down any concerns.
EDDC is drawing up a beach management plan (BMP) for the town and a draft of it is expected in the autumn. However, the implementation of any protection scheme could take years.
Mr Swire said: “This is a prime example of why it is absolutely vital that we deal with the problem of cliff erosion at Pennington Point and improve Sidmouth’s flood defences. This has been an ongoing issue since I was first elected as MP in 2001, and I am pleased that progress is finally being made with the publication of the BMP. However, it is likely that the BMP will not be implemented for another five years, so interim measures might be needed. Any necessary measure will, of course, have my full support. Generally speaking, I believe that any solution which addresses the problem of cliff erosion and the Alma Bridge needs to be part of a wider redevelopment that includes Port Royal and the Ham.”
Sewage is pumped from The Ham up to the treatment works at Sidford and final effluent is discharged out to sea.
A spokeswoman for SWW said the ‘substantial reinforced concrete’ pumping station is not considered to be at ‘significant or immediate risk’ of structural damage by the sea. It has an overflow it can operate in the event of it becoming overwhelmed by surface water.
An EDDC spokeswoman said there is currently no government funding available for interim measures to protect the seafront while the BMP is being drafted and funding would need to be found elsewhere. She added that a repair project to stabilise the training wall and retaining wall at Port Royal is under way.
“The timeframe for work to start on the main scheme depends on the preferred option coming out of the BMP, but we are looking to complete the funding application to the Government as soon as practicable,” said the spokeswoman.
Among potential protection works being considered in the BMP are options to remove rock groynes from the main beach and raise the height of the sea wall. Other possibilities are the construction of new groynes off the east beach, a replacement promenade at Jacob’s Ladder and a continuation of shingle recycling.”
“Before I begin I have a small announcement to make.
If you have got trouble paying your tax bill, don’t worry … I’ve had a word with George and said to just give him a call and he will do a deal with you. You might even get three per cent!
So, despite the public outrage, Cameron and Osborne STILL think that a three per cent tax deal from Google after a six year investigation is a “major success!”
What do we think about that?!
And despite our government lobbying the EU to PROTECT tax havens, ministers still insist that this country is leading the way in clamping down on corporation tax avoidance!!
What do we think about that?!
And despite HMRC getting a pasting last November by the public accounts committee for its record on tax avoidance, the Conservative government STILL insists that it’s doing a great job on getting companies to pay up!
Over the weekend news broke that six large companies, including AstraZeneca and Shell, have COMPLETELY avoided paying tax in the UK!
Using tax expert, Richard Murphy’s figures we have estimated that Devon could lose around £380m every year to corporation tax avoidance.
£380m is twice the adult social care budget and 22 times the children’s care budget. Effectively, it is equivalent to around an extra £500 for every person living in the Devon County Council area.
That’s money that could be spent on our schools, our hospitals, children’s services and the elderly. All these services are horribly underfunded and horribly under pressure.
Over the past five years £174m has been shaved off Devon County Council’s budgets. We have seen the closure of care homes, youth centres, children’s homes, bus cuts, highways related cuts.
But things are about to get worse. On 10 February (we think) MPs will vote on yet more massive council funding cuts. Devon County Council is set to lose around £28m. This will mean the axing of school crossing patrols, the arts and a raft of other cuts. The social care budget is so under pressure that its scrutiny chairman said last week that the risks of the budget cuts are “massive.”
So this demonstration is aimed at both drawing Mr Swire’s attention to the modern day scourge that is tax avoidance AND also to the forthcoming vote in the House of Commons and how important it is for him speak and vote against it.
And Devon County Council has already urged Devon MPs to vote against the funding cuts.
Mr Swire is a Foreign Office minister for the Commonwealth and responsible for economic and commercial diplomacy, and so in a sound position to press for action on this issue.
I wrote to him about this a few weeks ago but the only reply I received stated that the email was being forwarded to the treasury minister, David Gauke.
This is all very well, but I think we want to know what MR SWIRE himself is doing about corporate tax avoidance – and where he stands on next week’s council funding cuts vote!
Otherwise some of us might start to wonder whether a more appropriate title for him should be Minister for Tax Havens!!
I organised this demonstration BEFORE the Google scandal kicked off, but I am absolutely delighted that it has prompted this issue to dominate the news agenda. The white light of public scrutiny is the ONLY way that we will ever see the rules change on this.
One last thing this is a protest demonstration and we need to demand action verbally as well as visually.
How about:
Hugo Swire: No ifs, no buts, vote AGAINST the council cuts!”
Organised by Independent DCC councillor, Claire Wright. More information to follow.
From the blog of Independent DCC Councillor Claire Wright. My comparison, EDDC’s majority councillors from the same party seem to be rolling on their backs to be ticklec.
County councillors today overwhelmingly agreed to urge Devon MPs to speak and vote against the swingeing funding cuts that are set to be debated in the House of Commons in mid February – possibly on 10 February.
I made the proposal at today’s joint budget scrutiny meeting, which saw all four scrutiny committees come together to scrutinise the budget, which is set to have £28m shaved off it by central government.
I said (among other things) that if enough MPs actually voted against the settlement central government might think twice about imposing such draconian cuts, which affect the most vulnerable in society.
It comes on top of £174m of funding cuts since 2010.
This year’s cuts will mean the removal of funding for the arts, school crossing patrols and many many other cuts within services, which will mean a poorer service for vulnerable people.
The tenor and tone of today’s meeting from all parties was total exasperation, anger and frustration with central government – firstly for providing news of the final financial settlement so late as to be almost impossible to set a budget within the required timetable. The public health budget isn’t even available.
Voicing his own frustration, Conservative deputy leader, Cllr John Clatworthy said of the delay “It’s really not good enough.” And referring to the areas (most) where Devon is hugely underfunded compared with other parts of the country, Cllr Clatworthy pointed the finger at local MPs saying: “MPs are the guys who should be doing something about this.”
Leader, Cllr John Hart said “This has been the most difficult budget so far. We still don’t know what the final settlement will be. If it is lower, it will have to come out of our reserves.”
The council’s reserves are among the smallest in the country and would last for just a few days if relied on for austerity funding cuts.
Cllr Sara Randall Johnson – chair of people’s scrutiny said: “The people’s department (social services etc) is very very fragile. Just a small number of adults or children would topple that budget.”
And speaking generally about the people’s budget, she said: “The risks are massive…”
A briefing to all Devon MPs described the scale of the proposed funding cuts as “unprecedented.”
Chief executive, Phil Norrey, pointed out that this was the last budget of the first stage of austerity and next year the council would be not only planning for three years, but would be looking at the complete removal of the government grant, to be replaced with by a new distribution of business rates.
Devon County Council will have to rely on business rates and council tax income only in the coming years. John Hart commented that he was sceptical that any redistribution of business rates would see Devon better off.
The joint scrutiny committees voted in favour of the the proposed budget and in favour of the increase in council tax of four per cent, on the basis that there was simply no other choice given the unprecedented government funding cuts.
The criticism of central government’s cuts as well as the tardy financial settlement was powerfully made throughout each recommendation.
Devon MPs are set to receive the minute this afternoon, urging them to speak and vote against the huge funding cuts.
Here’s the webcast – http://www.devoncc.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/195910 (my speech is at 57 minutes)
From a correspondent:
The Local Government Association is taking a strong stand against very damaging parts of Housing and Planning Bill currently in the Lords. Fundamentally, the proposal is to tax councils for a third of their most expensive council homes, expecting them to have been sold at a discount whenever vacant. Ministers Lewis, Clarke and presumably Osbourne are very intransigent on this issue, saying it was in the manifesto which 36.9 per cent of people voted for. They are dead set on a smaller public sector.
Under new legislation, councils will have to hand over the estimated equivalent sum for the sale of a third of their housing, whether they have sold them or not. Housing Associations will be expected to use that money towards building more housing somewhere in the country. It is hard to make it add up when substantial discounts are taken out along the way. It is also very discouraging for councils to build, knowing they will have to sell cheap. That pushes more people into the private rented sector. That is accompanied by an increase in the cost of welfare benefits and a greater risk of homelessness. Meanwhile the councils’ ability to assist is reduced.
Working with the Lords, the LGA has been clear that this legislation as it stands is very damaging. Crossbench Peers who have a great deal of expertise on this field and are working very hard on this, this week. They are proposing improvements in the legislation and hopefully some amendments will survive the course through the Lords and when it goes back to the Commons.
Next week, the Minister is considering our responses on the Finance Settlement 2016/17. The LGA submission is hefty and wide-ranging at nearly 30 pages long. It follows a series of direct meetings by leading members and officers to clarify each point. The Independent group members have played a substantial role in this. The reductions of 40 per cent in real terms is enough for some councils to be unable to set a budget at all, even with raising their council tax by 2 per cent. The additional 2 per cent care tax on top is a big help but will not cover the rising costs. Effectively there is a replacement of the income tax, in the government grants that comes to Councils in RSG, with council tax. This is less and being a property tax is a blunter tool.
The new business rates that are due to arrive are to be allocated to particular responsibilities of councils. For example, public health, capital development for transport in London, housing benefit administration and attendance allowance. This means the cuts we face now are long term. The effect of this is very harsh in some councils. For example, in one County Council it is currently proposed in this one year to use pretty well the remains of irs reserves to make the budget balance (£38m) and make cuts/savings of £42m, all on a budget of £476m. The council has also been selling off property as fast as possible, not looking for longer term gains, to help cover next year’s shortfall. However, it is now evident that the shortfall is not likely to be temporary.”
Quite a lot of tinkering – interesting there will be no DCC councillor specifically for Cranbrook – they come under “Broadclyst”.
The summary is here:
Click to access Devon-final-recs-summary.pdf
The report is here:
http://www.lgbce.org.uk/current-reviews/south-west/devon/devon-county-council
Sandbags, tools, equipment, protective clothing, road signs … it won’t go far but better than nothing:
“For advice about applying for the grant, contact David Kinross at Devon Community Together, or visit the Devon Community Resilience Forum pages:
https://www.devoncommunities.org.uk/emergency-flood-resilience-grant.”
EDDC by 1.9%
DCC by 2.00%
and both slash services as government help dries up and more services are privatised. 2% is maximum allowed by central government before triggering a referendum.
Here is what Claire Wright thinks about the DCC rise:
“Devolution: the moving of power or a responsibility in a main organisation to a lower level or from a central government to local government”
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/devolution
WHAT IT DOES NOT MEAN:
The moving of power from an elected body of councillors to an unelected small group of business people (Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership) who have their own agendas and pecuniary interests and who are untransparently unaccountable to no-one.
And all being done in secret with no public consultation.
Anyone not understand why people might be critical of this?
I see that Mr Swire has been publicly critical of those of us who have expressed concerns about devolution.
Devolution is essentially the transfer of some government responsibilities to local councils.
I am not opposed to the principle of devolution, however, Chancellor, George Osborne has strong-armed councils into taking on these extra responsibilities, which gives me a cause for considerable scepticism.
A group of councils in Devon and Somerset, as well as the NHS and businesses are currently negotiating a deal to be put to ministers for devolved powers.
As Devon County Council prepares to shave off nearly £40m again, from its budgets in a few weeks, thanks to austerity measures, it will be even less well equipped than before to provide vital services.
But now Local Enterprise Partnerships (run by largely by business people) must take a leading role in preparing a bid to government for devolved powers. Ministers have insisted that bids must be business focused.
At the Devon County Council meeting in December, councillors voted in favour of my motion to allow public consultation on the bid. Although, from Mr Swire’s recent opinion, one might be forgiven for thinking that this was a Conservative proposal!
East Devon District Council Independents (especially the East Devon Alliance councillors) have been very proactive in raising concerns about plans, which up until now have been extraordinarily vague and tricky to get to grips with.
From what I have seen however, the bids will be very big business focused. And politically conservative, with a huge emphasis on the importance of Hinkley Point for example … while renewable energy, which has been a thriving industry in the south west – or at least it will be until the 64 per cent subsidy cut hits in a few weeks, doesn’t appear to get a look in.
Mr Swire might not like Independents expressing opposing views to government policy (has he ever voted against the party line?) but I tend to take the view that councillors (and MPs) are here to represent constituents, not to protect corporate interests or nod in sage agreement with every ministerial announcement.
I have raised many important issues in many of my columns in this newspaper and invited Mr Swire’s to respond.
He appears to favour silence, however.
Here’s the article – http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Comment-renewable-energy-sidelined-devolution/story-28436976-detail/story.html
http://www.claire-wright.org/index.php/post/why_is_mr_swire_angry_over_devolution_criticisms
Get walking and registering – especially as EDDC will allow developers to build on ANYTHING where there might be a loophole to exploit!
“Thousands of footpaths, alleys and bridleways across the UK face being lost forever within a decade under a clause in right-to-roam legislation, campaigners have warned.
From 1 January, walkers, horseriders – and even those taking regular shortcuts to the shops in towns – will have 10 years to apply to save any rights of way that existed before 1949 but do not appear on official maps.
Experts on land access rights say the clock is ticking to save routes that many people take for granted as public highways but that do not appear on official records.
… urban alleyways were of greatest concern, with shortcuts behind houses under threat from homeowners extending their gardens, or fencing off paths that have existed for decades.
… Time was of the essence, he said, as cash-strapped local authorities faced huge backlogs in processing applications. “We have a rights of way network which is really historic and has been around for hundreds and hundreds of years,” he said. “We do take an awful lot for granted.”
Ferwins said it was essential to legally protect that network of routes to preserve “history, culture, heritage, convenience, and a way of making your life happier and healthier”.
… Anyone wishing to register a right of way can seek advice from their local authority, the Open Spaces Society, the British Horse Society, and The Ramblers, who all have volunteers with expert knowledge.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/25/countdown-begins-to-prevent-loss-of-thousands-of-footpaths-and-alleyways
It’s hard to see an argument AGAINST the public being able to speak at Scrutiny Committee meetings, but DCC seems to be afraid of it.
Transparency is something that all councils SAY they have but time and again they show that this is just meaningless.
Is DCC up to this? We shall see.
East Devon Watch 