Category Archives: Democracy
Another Conservative uses his last day in office to defeat democracy
Conservatives do not like their fellow-Conservative Speaker of the House, John Bercow, who was elected in a transparent ballot. So, William Hague is using the last day of this Parliament to try change it so election of Speaker is done by secret ballot.
Why? So Tories cannot be seen NOT voting for someone of their own party.
“William Hague, who is Leader of the Commons until he quits as an MP, tonight stunned opposition parties by drastically tabling the change to the rules.”
What can you say except: DO NOT VOTE FOR THESE PEOPLE
who trample on democracy and who want EVERYTHING decided behind closed doors.
Get angry, get even on 7 May 2015 says Real Zorro on relocation
http://realzorro1.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/rip-knowle-get-angry-get-even-vote-7-may.html
Not to mention a post on comparing our current MP, Hugo Swire, to Mr Bean!
http://realzorro1.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/more-press-coverage-for-hugo-swire-aka.html
Relocation rolls on…
..and the money rolls out, thanks to a District Council which (as Seaton Cllr Peter Burrows put it) “may not be in existence when the loan expires.”
Yet no-one knows whether Pegasus Life Ltd will offer EDDC for the Knowle a figure nearer £7million or nearer £8million (the rough price-range agreed). But with no Heads of Terms yet fixed, councillors’ vote tonight to go ahead with relocation nonetheless, puts the ball firmly in Pegasus Life’s court.
As usual, questions from the public went unanswered.
Extracts from the meeting will be available on YouTube soon. The link, and more on tonight’s Extra Ordinary meeting, will be posted on EDWatch in due course.
District Councillors may be left wondering what happened to “cost neutral?”
Rush, rush, rush! Councillors will have barely had time to read through and fully digest the minutes of the Special Development Management Committee meeting (on Monday 23 March), which have just been sent to them, before they are required to make a ‘final decision’ on relocation at this evening’s 6.30pm meeting.
Will all have opened their e-mails straightaway? And how many will have been able to collect well in time, the paper copy of the minutes available from their pigeon holes from 4pm today?
In a whirlwind week of Extra Ordinary meetings, some Councillors might be hardpressed to sufficiently absorb the latest information on a whole raft of extremely important decisions with long-term consequences. They are being inexplicably and unreasonably squeezed into a decision on the sale of Knowle, AND proposed changes to the revised Local Plan, in the same short period of time.
The links received (hopefully) by Councillors are:
http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/1002849/260315-extra-ordinary-council-ag
> enda-local-plan.pdf
The previously circulated Special Development Management Committee
> agenda papers:
> Agenda –
> http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/990985/230315-special-combined-dmc-agend
> a.pdf
> Draft schedule of proposed changes –
> http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/990982/230315-sp-dmc-table-of-changes-to
> -local-plan-v3-march-15.pdf
Addendum report with proposed changes –
> http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/1018372/230315-sp-dmc-addendum-report-it
> em-5.pdf
Revised Draft New East Devon Local Plan with tracked changes:
> http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/990979/230315-sp-dmc-local-plan-with-cha
> nges-for-post-hearing-consultation-ver-04-march-2015.pdf
Councillors have a lot on their shoulders. The public speaking this evening would clearly like to share the load.
Knowle Relocation …Will tonight’s ‘final decision’ leave poison chalice for East Devon?
What’s at stake tonight’s Extra Ordinary Council meeting? No less than our big money (a 20 year Council debt is proposed), and the re-shaping of one of East Devon’s loveliest towns.
So,once again, the public gallery will be full. Once again, Councillors may be seen to be pulled by the nose into making a huge decision, with possibly incomplete information at their disposal. EDDC may be obliged to release further ‘sensitive’ documents in just a few days’ time.
The meeting starts at 6.30pm this evening, at Knowle Council Chamber. Agenda on EDDC website, under ‘ Councillors and Democracy’.
Come early to get a seat..and enjoy a stroll in the whole park, while you still can!
It’s not which party you are, it’s whether you are in the majority!
Here are Conservatives talking about the actions of the Labour majority in Plymouth. It really doesn’t matter what the subject is (in this case provision for travellers sites) and it is spooky how the amount of money spent by the majority party (Labour) is so similar to that spent on relocation so far here in Tory East Devon.
What matters most, it seems, is that it seems the party in power likes secrets, the party that isn’t in power doesn’t and there seems to be nothing to choose between them!
“… Labour voted to call the meeting into secret, evicting the public and the Press, after accusing Cllr Beer (Con) of releasing “commercially sensitive” information about a travellers site being considered in the north of Plymouth.
Council leader Tudor Evans (Lab) told the monitoring officer he wanted to hold the rest of the debate in private, saying he couldn’t be sure the Tories “could be trusted” not to mention privileged information again.
Labour councillors supported the call, upon which Tory councillors walked out en masse.
Tory leader Cllr Ian Bowyer, speaking outside the chamber, said Labour had “completely overreacted”.
“It is undemocratic to exclude the public from this debate and they should be ashamed of themselves,” he said.
“We won’t be party to that debate if it is not in public.
“There is no point in debating in secret about things that residents are concerned about.
“They [Labour] have been happy to spend £750,000 on clean-ups since they came to power three years ago, but our argument is that enough is enough and that tax payers have the right for their money to be spent wisely.”
Exactly the argument used against TORY secrecy in East Devon!
Council redundancy payoffs for senior staff must be disclosed
Several high profile officers have left East Devon District Council recently. We look forward to details of their payoffs – which it seems are NOT protected by “confidentiality agreements” (gagging clauses) they may or may not have signed:
In a letter earlier this month to Rother’s Leader (Cllr Carl Maynard), Hopkins highlighted a “clear legal requirement” within the Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2011 for authorities to publish certain information on senior remuneration in their annual statement of accounts.
He noted that the secondary legislation set out the separate elements of remuneration that must be published for certain senior staff, and that this included any payments made in connection with the termination of employment.
“Such payments cannot be protected from disclosure by confidentiality agreements,” the minister said. “To be absolutely clear, neither the Code of Local Authority Accounting nor past judgements by the Information Commissioner can override these statutory obligations.”
Hopkins also said that the DCLG had, in light of the approach Rother had taken in its annual statement of accounts, taken the opportunity to look at the local authority’s broader approach to transparency.
This had raised further concerns, the minister suggested in the letter, including that the council did not appear to be following best practice on Localism Act pay policy statements.
“Our guidance states that councils should ensure that pay policy statements are easily accessible to the public as stand alone documents, not hidden in committee papers. Your council does not appear to have followed this guidance,” Hopkins said.
The minister said he was also concerned that the information published on Rother’s website on senior salaries did not meet the requirements of the mandatory Local Government Transparency Code 2014.
“Indeed, I note that your council has stated that it intends to achieve compliance with the Code by April 2015,” Hopkins wrote. “Councils’ statutory obligations under the Code are very clear – the first set of quarterly data had to be published by 31 December 2014 and the first set of annual data had to be published by 2 February 2015.
“It appears from your website that your council has not published data in a number of important areas, for example, contracts over £5,000, land and assets, senior salaries, an organisation chart, trade union facility time, parking revenues, grants to the voluntary sector and the like. This is a significant failing.”
Hopkins said that, in light of this, he had decided to withhold Rother’s new burdens funding for 2014-15 in respect of publishing data in 2014-15 under the Code.
Bad day for EDDC’s Local Plan officers. Good day for Clyst St Mary.
A barrage of questions from the public (no less than 17 people had pre-registered to speak) were fired at the DMC who were today considering the revised Local Plan. Several councillors firmly added their own particular concerns.
Seven speakers were from the Save Clyst St Mary Group. Campaign leader Gaeron Kayley has just circulated the news copied below:
As you will be aware, today was the day the Development Management Committee met at EDDC to discuss the Local Plan.
This had great significance for Clyst St Mary, given that it had been proposed that both the Winslade Park area and the green field owned by the Plymouth Brethren would be used for the village’s allocation of an additional 200 houses.
22 members of our group met last Monday and discussed our key arguments against this which were to be delivered at today’s meeting.
We are thrilled to announce that, following today’s Committee meeting, it was unanimously agreed by the 15 councillors present to reject the green field proposal and reduce the housing allocation for Winslade Park to 150 in total.
A massive thank you to everyone who attended last Monday’s meeting, including the seven brave souls who spoke so passionately and articulately today, as well as all those local residents who turned up simply to offer moral support. It really was greatly appreciated.
Whilst this was only a hearing for the Local Plan – not a hearing for the specific applications to which we have all objected – it does give us hope for the future. Things certainly appear now to be less bleak than they did ten days ago!
Rest assured, with your support, we will continue to fight in a dignified, professional and open manner to unite and preserve our village community.
Roll up, roll up: just a week left for politically-mindec councillors to get their names into the papers!
“Purdah” – the period when all serving councillors (and their supporting officers) have to stop placing party politically-targeted stories and photographs about their party-politically motivated actions in newspapers, journals etc when they involve using council resources and not their party resources.
No more “politically sensitive” press releases, no more pictures taken by press officers of our local majority party councillors doing what they do best .. er .. though not sure what that is!
Expect a raft of mutual back-patting stories and press releases of local do-gooding in this week’s local and regional newspapers!
Once again, here is our guide to what can and cannot be done during this period.
The first question to ask is ‘could a reasonable person conclude that you were spending public money to influence the outcome of the election?’ In other words it must pass the ‘is it reasonable’ test. When making your decision, you should consider the following:
You should not:
• produce publicity on matters which are politically controversial
• make references to individual politicians or groups in press releases
• arrange proactive media or events involving candidates
• issue photographs which include candidates
• supply council photographs or other materials to councillors or political group staff unless you have verified that they will not be used for campaigning purposes
• continue hosting third party blogs or e-communications
• help with national political visits (as this would involve using public money to support a particular candidate or party). These should be organised by political parties with no cost or resource implications for the council.
The “transparency gap”
Councillors “like puppets on a string” over Knowle sale
Mike Temple’s letter in today’s Sidmouth Herald blasts the “cracking good deal” myth put about by Honiton Cllr and Tory Whip,Phil Twiss.
Here’s the letter:
‘Popping up like puppets on cue, Cllr Diviani’s obedient cabinet, aided and abetted by Sidmouth’s own Tory District councillors, nodded through the sale of Knowle last night (March 11) in the latest stage of the long-running farce that is the office-relocation.
According to the puppets, Sidmouth will never have had it so good. It’s getting “a cracking good deal,” piped Cllr Twiss (he who’d rather stick “hot pins in his eyes” than engage in a public debate with an Independent candidate – a serious case of “frit” perhaps). After all, Sidmouth is gaining a retirement community and we all know we need more of them, especially the expensive second-homes we so desperately lack.
No matter about the loss of community assets like the fine chambers used for concerts, religious services, talks and wedding receptions. No matter about the loss of 150 parking places for weekend visitors to a tourist town. No matter about the loss of the best of its unique woodland park, namely its magnificent prospect, the loss of which will trash the rest of the gardens – which no doubt can be built on later.
What’s more, it was all the fault of a vocal Sidmouth minority (like the 4,000 on the march) who , according to Cllr Diviani, prevented the Council from getting £10 million for the Knowle when its own plan to build all over the park was refused.
Yes, it’s all Sidmouth’s fault and all Sidmouth’s “gain”. And what goodies are we next promised? Well, look forward to Sidford Business and Industrial Park and then a superstore at the Alexandria Road estate and even more empty shops in town to let…’
Local newspapers “vital for democracy”
The Budget document said: “Local newspapers are an important source of information for local communities and a vital part of a healthy democracy.
“To support them as they adapt to new technology and changing circumstances, the Government will consult on whether to introduce a business rates relief for local newspapers in England.”
Though some newspapers are better than others at this, of course.
Another Green Wedge for East Devon? Don’t miss DMC next Monday, 23 March.
Some points DMC may keep in mind are pictured here:
:
and here (Sidford-Sidbury road):
and more (as recently referred to on EDW) here: http://saveoursidmouth.com/2015/03/16/what-eddcs-revised-local-plan-specifies-for-the-sid-valley/
A guide to local government “purdah”
Can EDDC be serious, with revised Local Plan?
Who REALLY decided on Knowle relocation?
We have all assumed that the (wholly Conservative) EDDC Cabinet was involved after all, that is what they are for. But there is an intriguing sentence in (Cabinet Member) Ian Thomas’s critique of the project on his website:
” … Recognising that the relocation project has been in the stewardship of the Executive Group of just four senior Members since 2013, I proposed to Cabinet remaining Members should be invited to inspect the underlying model, figures and assumptions, in an informal session in advance of a final decision to be made by Full Council on the 25th March, to ensure that the best possible decision is reached.”
Now, Councillor Thomas is a Cabinet member and his responsibilities are listed as:
Economy Portfolio Holder
Asset management forum
Budget working party
Capital Strategy and Allocation Group
Joint bodies:
Seaton regeneration programme board (Chairman)
Representative on outside bodies:
Exeter Science Park – board (Director)
Exeter University Innovation Centre Board
Now, if someone as senior as this says he was excluded fron discussions and decision-making on this multi-million pound spend, what does this say about the Cabinet style of managing the district? It appears that there is an “Inner Cabinet” of only four Conservative councillors which excludes not just backbench councillors but also other cabinet members, including the Economic Portfolio Holder, from its secret discussions.
This is obviously an urgent matter for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Which begs the question: how can they be a check and balance on the Cabinet when the Cabinet is so flawed?
More East Devon AONB under threat
Just heard from an EDWatcher, who says: “Did you know that Clinton Devon Estates are applying for 22 houses in East Budleigh AONB…? 14/2959/MOUT ”
EDDC Revised Plan- directly affects CLYST ST MARY
Gaeron Kayley, leading the Save Clyst St Mary campaign, urges you to read his message:
There has been a significant development regarding the Clyst St Mary planning applications of which you need to be aware.
We have been advised that East Devon District Council, in its amended Local Plan, has now stated that our village is to take an additional 200 new homes (on top of the 95 that we have already agreed to.) Moreover, the Friends Provident and Plymouth Brethren sites are the proposed locations of these new homes.
It is important to note that this news concerns East Devon’s Local Plan – it is not a result of the specific hearings for which we have all battled so hard to object to (these planning applications are still to be heard). This announcement is part of a totally separate decision where, for reasons we are not party to, our village seems to have become the exception to the apparent aim of preserving East Devon villages’ identity; it is believed it is due to our ‘proximity to Exeter’.
As you can imagine, having devoted a large part of our spare time to this campaign for several months, we feel, as you probably do, utterly devastated to hear this shocking news. There remain many questions unanswered and we would, in the longer term, be keen to hear your views regarding the group’s response and possible actions. In the first instance, we desperately need speakers at the meeting at the Council’s headquarters on Monday 23rd March at 10am. It is crucial our voice is heard. Would you be prepared to speak? If so, please respond to this email – or call 01392 969100 – as soon as possible. Anyone that is prepared to speak must have a booking made by mid day with EDDC. We are hoping to arrange a short get together for anyone prepared to speak on Tuesday evening.
To say that we are shocked at this development is an understatement; now, more than ever, we have to stay strong and united as a group and really hope that, despite how recent events appear to have manifested themselves, ultimately justice, transparency and equality shall still prevail.
Gaeron
Relevant links:
The agenda for the Special Development Management Committee to be held on Monday, 23 March at 10amcan now be viewed at: http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/990985/230315-special-combined-dmc-agenda.pdf
The revised draft New East Devon Local Plan can be viewed here: http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/990979/230315-sp-dmc-local-plan-with-changes-for-post-hearing-consultation-ver-04-march-2015.pdf
The draft schedule of proposed changes to the East Devon Local Plan can be viewed here:http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/990982/230315-sp-dmc-table-of-changes-to-local-plan-v3-march-15.pdf
Paper copies of the agenda, revised draft Local Plan and schedule of proposed changes have been posted to those committee members that would normally receive a paper copy of the DMC agenda.
Cautions for Councillors voting on relocation
Incursion into Knowle’s Public Open Space “has never been debated by councillors”
and from more than one senior Honiton Councillor, at various stages of EDDC’s ill-starred (jinxed?) ‘road to relocation’ project. Remember this SIN post, anyone? https://sidmouthindependentnews.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/watchdog-kennelled/
East Devon Watch 