As EDDC’s majority party is known for toeing the national party line, when can we expect a pre-election reshuffle that gives us a younger cabinet with more women?
Category Archives: Democracy
Development at Gittisham: some strange goings-on
Developers want to build more than 300 houses on the outskirts of Honiton along the country lanes between Honiton and Gittisham. This planning application has gone like a ping-pong ball at DMC meetings.
See here for a summary of the latest omnishambles:
https://susiebond.wordpress.com/2014/07/13/decision-deferred-on-land-west-of-hayne-lane-gittisham/
So many, many questions!
Why was the warning of Councillor Claire Wright (which predicted exactly these problems in November 2013) not heeded? Surely not because she does not belong to the majority party because, of course, as we all know, planning is not a party issue:
Why was this originally recommended for approval when even the Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government has said it is so controversial it will need to go to him for determination?
Why, given that so many of our councillors have “two hats” and serve on local AONBs (and boast about it) did they not object earlier?
Why did officers not take into account the effect of this development on health service education and local infrastructure?
The Chief Executive NOW says:
“Further consideration and discussion needs to take place. As a result I would like to recommend that Members defer this application to enable this further work to be carried out. The matter to then be reported back to the committee at a future date when all of the necessary information and professional advice can be made available to Members in the officer’s report so that a fully informed decision can be made.”
so what has changed since this development was recommended for approval?
Who ARE Welbeck Strategic Land LLP – they seem to have appeared all over the country with their reductive compass and square logo, shoving in similar speculative applications just about everywhere? Why is its original planning application form so devoid of information (no information about the types of houses, parking, no waste storage or collection information, etc.? If people can put a planning application in with so little information how can a DMC make a decision about it?
How NOT to undertake a police investigation: a cautionary tale
There is an ongoing scandal in Carmarthenshire, where the question of unlawful payments to the Chief Executive of Carmarthen Council became a national scandal. For the background on this see:
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/police-launch-investigation-unlawful-payments-6701913
As a result it was decided that there would be a police investigation. However, it was decided that because council and police in the area had many joint undertakings, the investigation would be undertaken by an outside force. Gloucestershire and Avon police were chosen to do this investigation:
http://carmarthenplanning.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/gloucestershire-police-to-investigate.html
After three months, the police called off the investigation saying there was no case to answer:
http://carmarthenplanning.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/police-call-off-investigation.html
However, a local blogger was not satisfied with this and asked the police how they had come to this conclusion:
http://carmarthenplanning.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/unlawful-payments-police-foi-response.html
Here is what she says:
Following the conclusion of the police investigation I made a freedom of Information request to Gloucestershire police. The response came today and there is a link at the end of this post.
I asked for;
1. A list of any persons interviewed, and /or job titles, and whether any of these were
interviewed under caution
2. Correspondence between Gloucestershire Constabulary and Carmarthenshire County
Council
3. Whether or not the Crown Prosecution Service were involved and if so, any relevant correspondence.
The responses were that;
….nobody was interviewed,
….there was no correspondence between the council and the police and
….the CPS weren’t involved.
This was, you recall, a three month long criminal investigation….
I also asked for;
4. The final report following the conclusion of the investigation
5. A list, or summary, of all documents in either paper or electronic form which formed part
of the investigation.
These were refused under the Section 30 exemption in that the release of this information may jeopardise police tactics in the future…presumably they’re expecting a flurry of similar local authority unlawfulness.
A thorough investigation? We’ll have to take their word for it. I remain of the view that in both instances there was, amongst other matters, the deliberate prevention of proper scrutiny as documented in the two Wales Audit Office reports.The full FOI response can be read here.
I am now considering whether to request an internal review of their response.
Those missing 6,000 voters in East Devon – how do we compare with other councils? Pretty badly
Firstly, it is a missing 6,300 voters in East Devon and the worse council of all (Taunton Deane, see below) managed to lose 8,800 voters.
This comes from a very interesting table on page 10 of the Electoral Commission’s report of June 2014
which identifies East Devon District Council as one of the worse 17 councils in the country for not dealing with the transition from the old system of voter registration to the new one.
The table shows the 10 local authorities with the largest decrease in elecorate. Taunton Deane was worst – they managed to lose 8.8% of the electorate between 2012 and 2014 followed by Allerdale (7.9%), Maidstone (7.7%), Northampton (7.4%), Isles of Scilly UA (6.5%), Newham (6.4%), East Devon (6.3%), Wellingborough (6.0%), Tonbridge and Malling (5.9%) and Hastings( 5.8%).
What do the police know about the investigation into disgraced ex-councillor Brown? Not much, it appears, as they don’t know what a “joint statement” is
See this interesting exchange of correspondence between Paul Arnott and Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, via a Freedom of Information request about the procedure followed by EDDC and the police after the front-page expose of Councillor Brown in the Daily Telegraph last year (“if I can’t get you planning permission no-one can, but I don’t come cheap”):
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/police_protocol_d22_and_east_dev#incoming-538562
including this cracker:
“The Crime Department have asked if you can clarify what you mean by ‘joint statement’ to assist us with our searches. Are you referring to press statements? If you are unsure on the nature of the statement then we recommend you contact East Devon District Council to clarify what was stated in their minutes.
Therefore could you please provide further detail on the type of statement required or, if you wish, withdraw that question from the request so that the other questions can be progressed.
After receiving your reply, your request will then be considered.”
Er, sorry, they don’t understand what “joint statements” means and this is holding up the entire response from them?
Fortunately, with members of the EDDC Executive being ex-police officers, no doubt they can explain to their current and former colleagues what the phrase “joint statement” means!
Oh, and we haven’t forgotten the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Task and Finish Forum into the relationship between East Devon District Council’s first Local Development Framework Panel (Chairman, Graham Brown) and its relationship with the East Devon Business Forum (Chairman, Graham Brown) … EDDC may have attempted to kick it into the long grass, but we will keep mowing it!
“Parish Pulse” survey
Community Rights: Parish Pulse Survey 2014 Launched
Published 14th July 2014
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is conducting a short informal survey – ‘Parish Pulse 2014’.
“Last spring DCLG conducted a survey to learn more about how town and parish councils were embracing Community Rights to empower their neighbourhoods to take action and to influence local services. Over 870 councils completed the survey, which provided Government with a valuable insight into the take-up of Community Rights and an understanding of how it could support more town and parish councils to encourage them to make better use of the rights.
The aim of the ‘Parish Pulse Survey 2014’ is to find out what the picture looks like now for town and parish councils with Community Rights.
DCLG wants you to tell them about what activity your town or parish council is taking forward to support Neighbourhood Planning, Community Right to Challenge and Community Right to Bid & Asset Support. The outcomes will help to inform the continuing development of Government’s work with town and parishes and shape the type of support we provide to respond to the issues highlighted in the survey.
The survey includes a short series of questions and will only take 10 – 15 minutes to complete. The survey is open until 11 August 2014.”
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/parishpulse2014
One would imagine that residents of most of our towns and parishes would have a lot to say!
Source:
http://www.slcc.co.uk/news-item/community-rights-parish-pulse-survey-2014-launched/799/
Plain English guide to transparency for council meetings
Just in time!
Hello, hello …
From the blog of Councillor Claire Wright:
“Doubt has been cast over whether a police investigation is still ongoing into a former East Devon councillor, who made the front page of the Daily Telegraph in March 2013 in an undercover sting operation last March (2013).
At the EDDC audit and governance meeting of 26 June, a councillor can be heard on its audio recording, enquiring about the status of the investigation as he understands that Mr Brown went to see the police with his solicitor and was informed that the investigation had concluded.
He adds that several other councillors were also reporting this.
A senior EDDC officer replies that the council believes that the investigation was still live.
But the councillor is insistent that he has heard differently and asks the officer for clarification, appearing to refer to next year’s council elections.
The officer agrees to double check the status of the police investigation.
Here’s the recording – the question comes at about 1:01 – http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/webasp/recordings/auditgovernance/ag260614recording.mp3
Mr Brown resigned as an EDDC conservative councillor last March, following the publication of the Telegraph undercover sting operation, which has him on camera boasting to journalists posing as developers that if he couldn’t get planning consent nobody could. He added that he wouldn’t do it for peanuts.”
So, who do we believe – and why? And why do some councillors and officers seem to know far more than others about what may or not be happening?
Have all witnesses been interviewed? …
Watch this space …..
Curtailment of public right to speak at EDDC meetings – your chance to stop this
23 July 2014 (agenda not yet published so time not yet available – hmmm)
Oh, look, just after we’ve mentioned it the agenda appeared here:
Click to access 230714_council_agenda.pdf
Knowle, 6.30 p.m.
EDDC full Council to vote on curtailment of public right to speak at EDDC meetings –
EDDC’s Executive Board has already voted for the curtailment of the rights of the public to speak at its meeting but it needs the rubber stamp of the full Council which will meet on 23 July 2014.
It is not too late to get this decision reversed. Write to your local councillor asking how he or she is planning to vote and why, and turn up on the day to show your support in preventing the erosion of democracy in East Devon.
(Contact details for your local Councillor can be found here, Wards and Councillors. Simply scroll down the list to find the Councillor for your ward and click on the orange highlighted name to bring up the details.)
A motion challenging what the Independent Councillors see as a clampdown on free speech, is proposed by Cllr Claire Wright and seconded by Cllr Ben Ingham. Cllrs Roger Giles, Trevor Cope and Susie Bond have also signed up to it. Below is an extract from Cllr Wright’s blog on the issue:
“The motion will be debated at the full council meeting of Wednesday 23 July, which starts at 6.30 pm. It reads: “This council believes wholeheartedly in democracy and the fundamental right of its citizens to be fully represented by their elected members. This council also believes in the democratic process and commits to do everything within its power to enhance the role of the elected member.””
EDDC has recently sought to place a number of restrictions on the freedom of speech including: – 1) Recommendations to dramatically reduce public speaking at planning committee meetings. (Also to be decided on the 23rd). 2) Restrictions on public speaking at all committees. 3) An agreement that, “any motion not immediately relevant to the business of the council will be referred to a council committee first.”
Whilst everyone agrees the meetings can be long, especially when issues of public local concern are being discussed, if these restrictions are passed they will betray the key principles of Localism, designed to improve and encourage local authority engagement with the community. If EDDC wants to make meetings more time efficient, they could instead refrain from so much self-congratulation, nor raise issues of national policy over which they have no control; e.g. the recent half hour presentation and subsequent debate on the evils of illegal highs.
We very much hope you will take the time to contact your EDDC Councillor and urge them to vote against this reduction in the level of transparency, accountability and democracy at East Devon District Council. We also hope you will be able to show your support for those objecting by attending the meeting at the Knowle in Sidmouth on Wednesday, 23rd July.
Please feel free to pass this invitation onto your family, friends and neighbours, since this vote directly affects the rights of everyone living in the East Devon area.
Look forward to seeing you there!
Warmest regards,
Nicky King – (Hon) Secretary – East Devon Alliance.
Motion to curb public speaking at planning meetings, at next Full Council (23 July).
Today’s Opinion page in the Sidmouth Herald has this letter from an EDA member:
Sir,
The “democratic deficit”
The present Leader of East Devon District Council, when he was returned (unopposed) at the last district election, coined the above phrase, vowing to introduce greater democracy and transparency into local government.
So what has happened since?
Well, among countless other examples of secrecy and undemocratic procedures, the Council helped set up a business forum to promote the interests of their “customers” – no, not tax-payers but building developers. Then, after the Daily Telegraph’s exposure of “Councillor-for-hire”, Graham Brown, head of this Business Forum, the Council’s Chief Officer gagged the scrutiny committtee whose task it should have been to investigate the forum’s influence on planning.
Soon, too, on 23 July, Full Council is to vote on a motion to curb public speaking at planning meetings.
It is to be hoped that there will be a recorded vote at this meeting so that electors may know exactly which councillors voted to restrict the public’s fundamental right to freedom of speech.
Michael Temple,
Sidmouth
Further relevant information is on the Save Our Sidmouth website: http://saveoursidmouth.com/2014/07/07/eddc-decision-to-curb-public-speaking-is-imminent/
“Customers” and compensation culture
EDDC now calls developers “Customers” and in many cases puts these “customer” interests ahead of those of the local electorate that they are supposed to be working for.
Now the EU is considering something similar, putting corporations ahead of citizens in a proposed law to provide compensation to corporations whenever a law has an adverse affect on them (called ISDS in TTIP). See
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/m/74c0440d/2d720dbc/4ab73af9/464437c5/2117595504/VEsD/
if you want to find out about this particular proposal.
However the point here is that democracy is under attack at all levels, including in our local councils.
Cllr Roger Giles has recently spoken out on Cllr Claire Wright’s blog about how the EDDC Monitoring officer has overturned a motion agreed by majority vote by Ottery St. Mary Town Council to publish the full details of one of her rulings in favour of a request from two minority dissenters on OSMTC to keep it secret.
EDDC and its Leadership needs to recognise that their role is to serve us, the citizens of East Devon, and that we have the right to know what is going on. That, after all, is presumably what Leader Diviani meant when he promised transparency in his nomination speech in 2011.
Those missing 6,000 voters haven’t moved to Mid-Devon
Remember, that for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 East Devon’s voting population remained stable at around 104,000 and then plummeted in 2014 to around 98,000.
In Mid-Devon it seems that no such dramatic change occured:
DCC relaxes rules on public speaking just as EDDC tightens them
This is how a request from East Devon County Councillor Claire Wright for a relaxation on the rules about public speaking was dealt with at Devon County Council where the principle was upheld:
Contrast this with East Devon District Council where rules to srastically cut the right of the public to speak at meetings has already been agreed and where the decision will be rubber-stamped later this month (see diary dates above) unless there is a change of heart amongst councillors who want the public to be neither heard (at meetings) or seen (at inaccessible Skypark).
The missing 6,000 voters – update
Our MP doesn’t seem to understand that our council was amongst only 17 failing to fulfil its obligations. Something more than “Well, it doesn’t seem that bad” may be called for.
After all, those missing voters just might make the difference between him being elected and not elected next time.
And where is the quote from the person responsible for all the decisions that led to EDDC being in this situation, its CEO and Returning Officer, Mark Williams?
The missing 6,000 voters: EDDC responds
Question: the number of electors was stable in 2011, 2012 and 2013 at around 104,000 then it plummeted this year by 6,000. EDDC was supposed to arrange to physically visit properties which had not registered but someone made the decision not to do so. Who? Why? Where is this decision documented?
EDDC makes light of the fact that it is named by the Electoral Commission as in the bottom 6% of councils for registration. Were councillors aware of this before the May 2015 European elections? If not, why not? If so, why was there no call for this to be remedied before that election?
Date for court hearing on Knowle secrecy set – 28 August 2014 at Exeter Magistrates Court at 10 am
EA/2014/0072 East Devon District Council v IC & Jeremy Woodward
The oral hearing in the above case has been rearranged for 28 August 2014 at Court 3, Exeter Magistrates Court, Heavitree Road, Exeter EX1 2LS.
The hearing has been listed for half a day and will begin at 10am.
The details of the hearing will be uploaded to the Tribunal’s website over the next couple of weeks (it’s hard to say when exactly as the website is managed by a separate office), in the meantime you are welcome to share the details of the hearing with anyone who is interested to know.
Observers of the heating are also welcomed – all GRC hearings are open to the public (and press) as a matter of course. The judge may direct a ‘closed session’ (in which the disputed information is discussed) but would simply ask any observers etc. to leave the court room for the duration of this.
For background information on this important First Tier Tribunal case which pits EDDC’s intention to keep all documemts regarding Knowle development secret against our right to know what is being done with our money see our earlier post:
The missing 6,000 voters – EDDC is in the worst 6% of councils in the country for voter registration!
Oh, and Hugo Swire was told about this at the time and it may have affected the European election results – all confirmed below:
June 2014:
… The Commission’s detailed analysis of the registration data has identified that in addition to the 5 EROs (for Mid Devon, Taunton Deane, Torridge, West Devon and West Somerset) who reported that they did not meet performance standard 3 – the house-to-house enquiry standard – in 2013, there are a further 17 EROs who did not ensure that during 2013 all non-responding properties were canvassed in person.
These are the EROs for: Broxbourne Borough Council; Castle Point Borough Council; Ceredigion County Council; Durham County Council; East Devon District Council; Gwynedd County Council; Kingston-upon-Hull City Council; Maldon District Council; Mid Sussex District Council; Northumberland County Council; North Devon District Council; North Dorset District Council; North East Lincolnshire Council; North Warwickshire Borough Council; Scarborough Borough Council; Sedgemoor District Council and South Staffordshire Council
Click to access 6.SPEAKERS-Committee-Electroal-Commission.pdf
AND
the same link confirms that European elections could have been affected:
1.16 An added risk is that the period between March and June 2014 coincides with elections to the European Parliament and to the majority of local authorities in England (including London and metropolitan boroughs), which will mean that there is next to no capacity in local elections teams to deal with any remedial activity that may be recommended.
The March 31 2014 report referred to above is here:
Click to access Readiness-for-the-transition-to-IER-Progress-Report-March-2014.pdf
and its later update here:
Click to access Analysis-of-electoral-registration-data-for-Great-Britain-2013.pdf
with this golden nugget:
East Devon District Council
“East Devon originally planned for house-to-house enquiries to be carried out as a part of the canvass, but none were conducted in practice. Their plans were later adapted to use telephone canvassing as a first step for non- responding properties, and the details of 39% of such properties were confirmed through this mechanism. The overall canvass response rate for East Devon was 95%.
East Devon’s IER implementation plan indicates that they intend to recruit canvassers to undertake the necessary house-to-house enquiries as part of the 2014 write-out and canvass. We will continue to monitor their progress through the transition to ensure this is delivered in practice.”
And here is a briefing sent to all MPs about what they should be do ing:
Click to access IER-Parliamentary-Brief-July-2014-PDF.pdf
Isn’t it odd, too, that many of the worst- performing councils are near to us!
“Protecting the system”
Is there about to be a sea-change in political transparency now that the child abuse cover-up is coming out into the sunlight?
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/06/child-abuse-inquiries-widespread-cover-up
One must hope so for the sake of the children and any others who have suffered from cover-ups designed to “protect the system” .
The missing 6,000 (some of) the evidence
Electoral Commission give evidence on voter engagement
Is East Devon one of the 6% of local authorities failing to reach targets for registration? We must await the response to a Freedom of Information request (see below)
Press 1 for Yes and 2 for no: Carphone Warehouse millionaire Tory Party donor in line for top Ofsted job with concerns about “transparency” in the choice
David Ross, 48, co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, is understood to be a leading candidate to take over the watchdog.
East Devon Watch 