Owl has had an email saying the name for the new administration (TiggerTories) could cause confusion with the small national party “Change UK” which has apparently attracted some similar naming.
Owl is sure no-one in East Devon will make such a link … there is no connection with Change UK and TiggerTories (the acronym of The Independent Group plus bedfellow true blue Tories) will likely be around much longer (four whole years) than Change UK.
So, TiggerTories it is …
Owl is having difficulty understanding how Tories can be the “official opposition” if one of their members chairs a current influential committee (Mike Howe, Development Management).
If East devon Alliance, Lib Dems and Greens got together they would have one more member than Tories … not that this will happen, but just saying …
Surely you can’t oppose what you have just inserted yourselves into?
From Facebook page of Paul Haywood, EDDC East Devon Alliance councillor for Yarty:
No representation at all for East Devon Alliance members, except Val Ranger for symbolic appountment as Deputy Chairman. Lib Dems totally excluded too.
Stuart Hughes (Tory) voted in as new Chairman – unopposed and nominated by Independent Ben Ingham and seconded by Tory Phil Twiss!
Says it all really …
Vice-Chairman Val Ranger – EDA
New Leader – Ben Ingham – Independent Group, Exmouth
New deputy leader – Susie Bond – Independent Group, Feniton
Committee chairmen:
Overview – Nick Hookway – Independent Group, Exmouth
Scrutiny – Alan Dent – Tory, Budleigh
Housing Review Board – Tony McCollum – Independent Group, Honiton
Strategic Planning Committee – Susie Bond – Independent Group, Feniton
Development Management Committee – Mike Howe – Tory, Clyst Valley
Audit and Governance – Sam Hawkins, IndeGroyp, Cranbrook
Standards – Stuart Hughes – Tory, Sidmouth Sidford
Interviewing (chief officers) – Ben Ingham, Independent Group, Exmouth
Employment Appeals – Susie Bond – Independent Group, Feniton
Licensing and Enforcement – Paul Jarvis – Independent Group, Budleigh
So, first day – sold out.
Owl knew it had to keep an eye on this lot …
A bad, bad day for East Devon.
Elections for various posts will take place at the Annual Council meeting on WEDNESDAY (Blackdown House, Honiton, 6pm) where Leader, Chairman etc will be revealed.
Then the interesting bit.
How representative will the new cabinet be of different types of independents?
Jobs for the boys/girls or best man/woman for the job?
Will Greens or Lib Dems get a seat at the table?
Will it be loaded geographically to one side of East Devon or spread out equally?
Who will lead the influential Development Management Committee?
Who will represent EDDC at Greater Exeter Strategic Plan meetings?
Who will the MINORITY Conservative leader be?
Who will chair the Scrutiny Committee?
So many questions!
Perhaps THIS is why EDDC ex-Tory Leader Ian Thomas left the party (though Owl is STILL waiting to hear his explanation).
Imagine the debates at EDDC as Twiss and Skinner have to argue for it!
“The British government will renationalise the management of probation services in England and Wales five years after a heavily criticised programme of privatisation was deemed to have put members of the public at risk.
The supervision of about 200,000 low and medium-risk offenders will be removed from part-private companies and taken over by the government when the current contracts end in December 2020, said Justice Minister David Gauke.The existing model was intended to drive down re-offending levels when it was introduced but the chief inspector of probation, described the system last month as being “irredeemably flawed”.
The probation watchdog had previously found thousands of offenders were being managed by a brief phone call once every six weeks. Some prisoners were being given tents on their release from jails, an inquiry into homelessness published in March found.
“Delivering a stronger probation system, which commands the confidence of the courts and better protects the public, is a pillar of our reforms to focus on rehabilitation and cut reoffending,” Gauke said.
The U-turn marks a fresh embarrassment for Transport Minister Chris Grayling, who introduced the shake-up when he was justice secretary and has been dubbed “Failing Grayling” by the British press.
In his current job, Grayling awarded a 14 million pound contract for companies to ferry in essential supplies to Britain in the event of a no-deal Brexit to a company that owned no boats.
The decision to partially privatise the probation service was heavily criticised at the time.
Companies including France’s Sodexo, the United States’ MTCnovo and British firms Working Links and Interserve have been given contracts to oversee probation services.
The government has already announced it would abolish the use of handing out of new contracts to private companies to run government projects after reviews revealed little evidence of financial benefits.
It has also moved to strip some companies of their contracts because of poor performance or due to financial trouble.
Last month, the government announced it was taking over the running of a Birmingham prison from private operator after inmate violence made it unmanageable.
Last year the collapse of Carillion, one of the biggest beneficiaries of such privatisation contracts, forced the government to step in to guarantee services ranging from school meals to roadworks that the company had previously provided.
A few months later, it renationalised the rail route between London and Edinburgh, taking back the line from a private company after it over-estimated profits.”
Independents by their nature are a funny bunch! With no party politics to bind them (a VERY GOOD thing!) what else can bind them?
The East Devon results are particularly interesting: a very cohesive group for the eastern area based on Exmouth, but with a smattering of Lib Dems and Greens, a very cohesive group for the whole of the Axe Valley and Yarty and a bunch of mostly newbies literally in the middle (Ottery St Mary, Cranbrook, Feniton).
Might we see a new way of doing things this time around – geographically rather than party politically? But might that have its own dangers as each area vies for scarce resources? Or, can the three different areas blend and share resources equitably and be seen to be doung so? The values of independents suggests they could if the will is there.
Now that would be interesting …..! It would certainly keep the now somewhat raggle-taggle mostly Honiton-based minority Tories on their toes and fighting their now very,very much smaller corner!
Interesting times … interesting times!
Bet MINORITY party Tories will be MUCH more keen on this than they were when in power!
“The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has issued new statutory guidance for local and combined authorities in England on scrutiny of their decision-making.
It said councils were being “encouraged to embrace scrutiny of their spending decisions to achieve value for money, improve services and address the public’s concerns”.
The guidance, which can be viewed here
stresses the role of scrutiny committees in holding authorities to account over local decision-making. It outlines what effective scrutiny looks like and the positives it can bring to local authorities.
Key points highlighted by the Ministry include:
councils should adopt a position of sharing any information asked for by their scrutiny committee, and if information cannot be shared in public they should consider sharing it in a closed session;
scrutiny committees should be constructive ‘critical friends’ with a vital role of amplifying the voices and concerns of the public when councils take important decisions;
local authorities should also consider whether contracts with companies delivering services should include a requirement to supply information to scrutiny committees.
Rishi Sunak, Minister for Local Government, said: “Scrutiny committees form an integral part of the work of councils in delivering services by acting on behalf of residents to hold councillors and staff to account for the important decisions they make.
“That is why I have set out new guidance to ensure authorities and residents can reap the benefits of effective scrutiny, by instilling a culture that welcomes challenge.”
The Centre for Public Scrutiny assisted the Ministry in developing the guidance. Its chief executive, Jacqui McKinlay, said: “We welcome government’s timely revision of its statutory guidance on scrutiny, and particularly its focus on leadership buy-in, culture and behaviours that are so central to ensuring that effective overview and scrutiny can operate, and make an impact, at local level.
“We look forward to working closely with our colleagues at the Local Government Association and individual councils to use the new guidance as an excellent opportunity to reflect and review their current approach to scrutiny.”
This communication from ex-Leader and now also ex-councillor Paul Diviani really deserves a far wider audience than former Yarty voters:
“Dear All
As there is not a lot of substance to report other than repetition and the ghastly shenanigans afoot nationally, regionally and within the Conservative Party, I feel I should draw a line under my 20 years representing Yarty.
I have appreciated the many friendships I have made in that time and will always have your best interests in mind.
For the sake of clarity, I was deselected by the Conservative Executive as a result of a personal vendetta from standing in Yarty and had to find another ward away from Tiverton and Honiton with a disastrous personal result.
Wishing you all the best for the future and if I can help in any way (without interfering!) I am at the end of a call.”
No, Paul, everything really is fine in Yarty, the voters have spoken, so its time to hang up your Tory council boots … no-one appreciates old Grandpa insisting he’s the only one who knows how things should be done! And those disastrous results would almost certainly have been just as bad in Yarty.
Though, for the sake of even more clarity, Owl thinks you might name a few names before you hang them up!
And it certainly shows that there is definitely “something VERY nasty in the woodpile” if the current and ex-Leader complain about the party that served them so well until recently.
Owl is STILL waiting for Ian Thomas to explain exactly which of the national Tory policies he disagreed with (since he is on record as saying all was fine among East Devon Tories when it so obviously wasn’t).
“If voters wanted to reward parties committed to making Brexit happen, why would Ukip get wiped out at the polls? If a People’s Vote is such an anti-democratic proposal why did we not see losses to the Liberal Democrats and the Greens? …
… Voters who supported Brexit then or now share something in common with many pro-Remain voters: they want Westminster to pay greater attention to concerns on the doorstep and reconnect with the issues that matter most to them. Brexit was a way of giving the establishment a wake up call. If this was really about making Brexit happen, Liberal Democrats and Greens would be wiped out and swept away. But that did not happen either north or south.
The local election results indicate that bringing the country back together is achievable. It will require offering policies bringing tangible benefits, not playing it overly safe and support for a confirmatory People’s Vote. Those parties learning these lessons stand to weather the European elections best and will have the winning results when a general election is called. Banging on about a Brexit plan no one wants to the exclusion of everything else is a fast track to political extinction, as some parties may find out, unless a swift change in direction is made.”
Thom Brooks is Dean of Durham Law School and author of Becoming British
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/local-elections_uk_5ccc3103e4b0076cfb2a8a23?guccounter=1
Owl is not convinced several “Independent” councillors have their hearts in true independence …
The proof of the pudding will be seeing how they vote over the coming months … Owl is betting a small number will find themselves voting again and again with old Tory pals.
But not enough of them to break the new Independent majority …
Interesting times.
How does Owl know this?
Because the 31 Independents elected on Thursday did not mention Brexit at all when appealing to voters to vote for them!
VERY easy to blame national politics for local losses … no – you lost because you put your party (and your party’s donors) before your district.
Never mind, you have 4 years to work out what to do next time!
Sidmouth Sidford (three seats)
Stuart Hughes (Conservative) – 1,089 ELECTED
Dawn Manley (East Devon Alliance) – 1,303 ELECTED
Zachary Marsh (Conservative) – 721
Colin Mills (Labour) – 381
Marrianne Rixson (East Devon Alliance) – 1,326 ELECTED
Jenny Ware (Conservative) – 757
Ken Warren (UKIP) – 369
Newton Poppleford & Harpford – 1 seat
David Graham Atkins, Conservative 114
Val Ranger, Independent East Devon Alliance 710 ELECTED
Budleigh and Raleigh (three seats)
Alan Dent (Conservative) – 1,112 ELECTED
Pete Duke (Green Party) – 971
Brigitte Graham (UKIP) – 518
Patsy Hayman (Conservative) – 982
Paul Jarvis (Independent) – 1,187 ELECTED
Penny Lewis (Liberal Democrats) – 907
Thomas Wright (Conservative) – 999 ELECTED
Rebecca-Jayne Lipscombe (Liberal Democrats) – 397
Rob Longhurst (Conservative) – 345
Chris Pepper (Conservative) – 506 ELECTED
Eleanor Rylance (Liberal Democrats) – 555 ELECTED
Sarah Louise Chamberlain (Liberal Democrats) – 612 ELECTED
Paul Diviani (Conservative) – 319
Henry Frederick Gent (Green) – 426
NOT a marriage made in heaven!
Vicky Johns (Independent) – 1501 ELECTED
Margaret Anne Piper (Conservative) – 245
Geoff Pratt (Independent) – 1044 ELECTED
Harv Sethi (Independent) – 422
Paul Richard Carter (Conservative) – 477
Anne Edwards (Conservative) – 428
Peter Hamilton Faithfull (Independent) – 878 ELECTED
Luke Gray (Labour) – 381
Ah, one person’s results left off and all votes then transposed. Wishful thinking Tories?
First this:
followed by this:
East Devon Watch 