The latest Sidmouth Herald’s report (10th October, p.4) on East Devon District Council’s New rules to trim ‘unwieldy ‘talks , includes strong criticism by the East Devon Alliance Chair, Paul Arnott. In summary, Mr Arnott warns, “Our beautiful district is under pressure from speculative planning applications as never before, and while EDDC fails to have its Local Plan in place this will only increase. In this context, public speaking at the DMC has repeatedly prevented the council from rubber-stamping a hard-pressed officer’s recommendation to approve. To curtail the right for such sincere people to contribute at this very moment is self-defeating, reactionary and arrogant. For the leaders to claim that EDDC’s new speaking restrictions make them somehow better than other councils in the south west ignores the elephant in the room – the severe crisis in public confidence in planning and democratic practice specific to East Devon.”
Category Archives: EDDC
‘Council meetings must be open’
Following its recent front page report on the widespread local unrest, the Western Morning News today highlights a letter from EDA member Tim Todd. 
(Bigger version will be posted here shortly).
For those who missed it, here’s the WMN story: http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Grassroots-rebellion-arrogant-leadership-Devon/story-23044099-detail/story.html
We have had enough … sack the man in charge
“We have had enough. Since he came to power [he has] has undermined local democracy, contravened the local plan, and gone against the wishes of local people – enough is enough.”
Relax Mr Diviani – this is a petition circulating about the Mayor of Torbay who has sacked the majority of his Cabinet because they do not agree with him.
But today Torbay, tomorrow … who knows.
EDDC’s new website – another Council Bloxham project, oh dear …..
Anyone tried the “new” EDDC website yet – the responsibility for which can be laid at the door of the redoubtable Councillor Ray Bloxham – you know, the one who cut down public speaking so much at EDDC that it is now virtually non-existent and you can’t say anything until you have told EDDC in triplicate a year before what you intend to say …..
Well, he’s at it again – trumpeting the newly-designed EDDC website. Except that we hear it is generating lots of complaints. Unwieldy, not-fit-for-purpose, a step backwards rather than a step forwards, etc etc.
Trying to find out what is going on at meetings to come or meetings past is an absolute nightmare – minutes linked individually so that you have to go back and forwards many times to read them all, links that don’t lead anywhere, you name it, all in the name of “progress” so that EDDC can offer “more services” online.
Except that it is almost impossible to find the services!
However, see what Councillor Bloxham has to say here (if you can find it):
http://new.eastdevon.gov.uk/news/2014/07/open-for-business/
Well, yes, we do know that EDDC is open for business for SOME people who get unlimited access to REAL people – mostly developers. But for the rest of us are we to be subjected to “New-EDDC website lite beta” rather like “New Labour” or “New Fairy Liquid” … not always a step in the right direction!
Information Commissioner v East Devon District Council and Knowle relocation updates
Knowle relocation: the sums are not adding up
Why are the missing 6,000 voters so critical?
THIS is why:
A majority of 617. UKIP could have won if just another 1,000 or so voters had been registered.
Is this what our council is afraid of?
More on Mid-Devon’s missing voters
Well, we can aee how their CEO is attempting to wriggle out of his responsibilities. Will ours choose the same route? Will the Parliamentary Select Committee buy it?
As a commentator said – Devon is hardly the Sahara where canvassers have to chase tribespeople on camels to persuade them to register to vote!
And sparsely populated regions of Scotland seemed to manage registration too!
Police and Crime Commissioner in Honiton on Monday but questions must be posed in advance in writing
Looks like he follows the EDDC mode of public (non) engagement.
His last outing had ONE audience member – bet he gets more in Honiton!
What if all those 6,000+ electors had been registered for the Euro Parliament elections?
And if Mid Devon had done its homework too?
Well, here is what did happen in East Devon:
Click to access eu-elections-lro-declaration.pdf
Here is what happened in Mid Devon:
http://www.middevon.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=23530&p=0
Here is the result for the South West region
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_West_England_(European_Parliament_constituency)
Interesting – another few thousand votes could have tipped balances.
Pickles says brownfield land should be developed first
Unfortunately, he says “should” (advice which can be ignored) and not “must” (law which must be obeyed). So, no change in East Devon as green fields and Grade 1 and 2 agricultural land is swiftly turned into concrete:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/councils-must-protect-our-precious-green-belt-land
Devon’s rural roads most dangerous in Britain
“Researchers for THINK! found that nearly a third of drivers in the region report having had a crash or near miss on a country road, while 42% have been surprised by an unexpected hazard, such as an animal on the road. Over a third also confess to taking a bend too fast.”
Read more: http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Campaign-launched-West-s-rural-roads-revealed/story-23063234-detail/story.html#ixzz3Fe4zeHZU
Follow us: @WMNNews on Twitter | westernmorningnews on Facebook
Read more at http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Campaign-launched-West-s-rural-roads-revealed/story-23063234-detail/story.html#7ztVpD8XHqYmxGyB.99
And yet EDDC proceeds to allow the building of 300+ houses in Gittisham: where the only route in and out is a very narrow country road with an even narrower point at an overhead main line railway bridge:
New buyers drop for south-west homes
And still we build more and more. If people can’t afford them what happens next? If interest rates go up and put those in homes in negative equity where they can’t afford higher payments – what next?
Email from Chairman of EDA to Chairman and Vice-Chairman of EDDC Overview and Scrutiny Committee
I have written this evening to the Chairman of the O&S Committee, Cllr Tim Wood, and copied to his deputy, Cllr Graham Troman. My letter reads:
Dear Councillor Wood
I am a council tax payer living in East Devon, and my full details are below. I write to you in your role as Chairman of the EDDC Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
I would be grateful if you could answer the following questions urgently, as they relate to an event of unusual local concern on Monday in Westminster as well as to Full Council next Wednesday, when I and others will ask about your Chief Executive’s dismissal of sincere concerns put to him in July’s public question time by Mr Paul Freeman. I was in attendance, and can confirm that the minutes are correct, and that Mr Williams did tell Mr Freeman to get his facts right …
You will be aware that Mr Williams’ appearance before the Select Committee has only just become public knowledge, and that EDDC has given such an interesting occasion on the national stage no publicity at all. I and many others have to be grateful for the vigilance of other local people for any knowledge of this, and even the four district councillors I have asked about it had not been told.
Please advise:
1. If/when the Overview and Scrutiny Committee was appraised of the missing voters and lack of canvassing in the East Devon District.
2. If/when the Overview and Scrutiny Committee was made aware of the Returning Officer’s appearance before the Parliamentary Select Committee on voter engagement
3. If/when this matter will come before the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for discussion.
4. If it is not the intention of the Committee to bring this matter forward, please confirm this.
Yours faithfully,
Paul Arnott
cc Vice Chairman O&S Committee, Cllr G Troman.
d
Responsibilities of Returning Officers
Click to access EPE-LGE-Part-A-Returning-Officer-role-and-responsibilities.pdf
2.8 While you can appoint one or more persons to discharge any or all of your functions, you cannot delegate your personal responsibility for delivering the election. Further information on the appointment of deputies can be found in Part B – Planning and organisation.
2.9 You are also subject to breach of official duty provisions. This means that if you or your appointed deputies are, without reasonable cause, guilty of any act or omission in breach of official duty you (and/or they) are liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £5,000.
When will the EDDC Overview and Scrutiny Committee discuss the missing voters?
Or will it get kicked into the (now very long) grass the same way the investigation into the East Devon Business Forum was?
Express and Echo takes up our story of the missing 6,000 voters
Stop Press: The missing 6,000 voters – EDDC Chief Executive Mark Williams called before Parliamentary Select Committee to explain himself next week
EDA exclusively broke the story of the district’s 6,000 missing voters in July this year and on the fiasco that followed (where very-belated attempt to recruit 10 house-to-house canvassers resulted in only 2 taking up the offer)
According to
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/calendar/?d=2014-10-13#cal41011
and here:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/political-and-constitutional-reform-committee/news/voter-engagement-13th-evidence-session/
EDDC CEO Mark Williams (also the district’s official Returning Officer)has been called to give evidence on
13 October 2014
to the
Parliamentary Select Committee on Political and Constitutional Reform
who are investigating “Voter engagement in the UK”.
Extract from site here:
Political and Constitutional Reform:
Voter engagement in the UK 5:15 pm
Witnesses: Mark Williams, Chief Executive and Electoral Registration Officer for East Devon District Council and Kevin Finan, Chief Executive, Mid Devon District Council; Roger Casale, Chair, New Europeans and Samia Badani, New Europeans
This committee appears regularly on the UK Parliament Channel on TV and Chris Ruane Mp, who has taken a keen i terest in our district, does not pull any punches. And, since he has been extensively briefed about the situation in East Devon, we do not anticipate that Mr Williams will receive an easy ride.
If it is not televised, a transcript of his performance and that of the CEO of Mid-Devon (also heavily criticised by the Electoral Commission) will be available a few days later.
Watch this space yet again!
And to remind you of what Mr Williams said in response to a public question about this, see:
THE MISSING 6,000 VOTERS: A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE FROM AN EDA BLOG COMMENTATOR
http://eastdevonalliance.org/2014/07/
where the (in)famous quote: … “in any major change process it is not where you start from that counts but where you end-up” was uttered by the CEO as an explanation of why the lack house-to-house canvassing of missing voters in the previous three years led to the loss of more than 6,000 voters on the register of electors at the recent European Parliament elections.
No knowledge of “The Knowledge”
So where’s last week’s edition of the EDDC councillors newsletter “The Knowledge” usually published each Friday? No sign of it so far.
Or is it another thing that is now being kept secret from the public?
Source: http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/the_knowledge
And late on Tuesday evening, lo, it appears – just needed a little nudge perhaps?
EDDC and transparency: the government sets its cats against EDDC pigeons!
The Government has just published an FAQ on the new transparency rules that come into effect om 7 November 2014. One or two of the questions and answers perhaps need to be highlighted to EDDC – particularly questions and answers 47, 66 and 81 below:
Q 23: How will the Code be enforced?
The Information Commissioner’s Office will not monitor compliance with the Code: it will react to complaints from the public under existing frameworks – the Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information Regulations7. In order to ensure that authorities fulfil their obligations:
anyone can make a complaint to the Monitoring Officer of a local authority and remind them of their duty;
the public can use the local authority’s complaints procedures;
it may be possible to make a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman where
other local authority complaints procedures have been exhausted;
the authority could become subject to judicial review;
the public can make a Freedom of Information Act request. Where the local authority
does not respond positively to the Freedom of Information request, members of the public can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office under the existing Freedom of Information framework. As well as any issues related to a request, the Information Commissioner’s Office will consider whether the matter under the Code aligns with Freedom of Information obligations.
Q 37: Does publication of expenditure transactions exceeding £500 include all individual salary transactions?
Salary payments to staff normally employed by the local authority should not be included. However, local authorities should strongly consider publishing details of payments to individual contractors (e.g. individuals from consultancy firms, employment agencies, direct personal contracts etc) either here or under contract information. Furthermore, there is a separate set of requirements to publish details of senior salaries in paragraphs 38 and 39 of the Code. And, we think it is important that local people are aware of how much, in total, is being spent on salaries: the Code recommends that this information is published at least quarterly.
Q 47: How can my authority publish details of contracts given they are commercially sensitive?
Where local authorities are disclosing information, they must ensure that they comply with all existing legislation. However, the Government has not yet seen any evidence that publishing the details specified in the Code about contracts entered into by local authorities, breaches any obligations to maintain commercial confidentiality. Local authorities should make potential contractors aware that details of any contract will be made public under the Code to avoid any problems.
Q 57: Isn’t there a risk that the requirement to publish contractual information might deter suppliers from bidding for contracts?
The Government has not seen any evidence to suggest that this is the case. Whilst the point was made during consultation, no evidence was presented to demonstrate that suppliers will be deterred from bidding for contracts. And, local authorities must continue to abide by all data protection and privacy requirements.
Q 66: Is there a minimum size of site or asset for which information should be published?
No, there is no de minimis for the size of site or asset on which information should be published. Small tracks of land can be high value assets because, for example, they provide access to larger developable land.
Q 81: Should contractors employed by the local authority be included in organisation charts, published senior salary details etc?
The Code does not prescribe whether contractors’ should be included. Authorities must ensure that the information they publish gives local taxpayers a clear and accurate picture of the way their workforce is organised and how public money is spent on senior pay and reward. Within that context, it is for each authority to strongly consider whether to include contractors.
East Devon Watch 