Now what does St Modwen (owner of the site) know that we din’t know?
Category Archives: EDDC
Register to vote online
If you are not yet registered to vote you can do this with a “one stop” registration direct with the Electoral Commission:
https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
With the swing to minority parties such as UKIP and to Independent candidates your vote could make all the difference to election results in East Devon.
Why is the 6% drop in electors important for EDDC policy?
Asks one commentator.
Well, there are several reasons and maybe you can think of others.
One is that our Local Plan relies on current data to set its targets. EDDC constantly tells us we need more houses. This data says that almost every part of East Devon may be losing population. The numbers dropping in each area is not explained by them moving to other parts of the district – so where are they going and why?
Another is that if it reflects people unwilling to join the electoral roll – what is the reason? Those who do not vote, when encouraged to do so often seem to vote for minority parties, si it might mean results are skewed towards the majority party if they are not encouraged to register. In a district where majority could be decided by a handful of votes this becomes important.
Finally, these could be people attempting to avoid council tax or second home owners – we need to be able to trace such people both for income and statistical purposes.
A 6% drop in one year is a big drop – it needs explanation. Maybe there is a simple one – either way we need to know.
Budleigh Salterton: EDDC wants its car park back so no more free parking
This district responsive to tourism needs?
Tourism, what tourism? Now let’s talk instead about more industrial sheds and little boxes .. that’ what our district specialises in now.
The missing electors: curioser and curioser
In the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 (the 3 years after the last local elections) the number of electors hovered at just over 104,000 each of those years. In February 2014 it plummeted to around 98,000.
Where are all these missing electors taken from? Well, it turns out that in EVERY one of the 69 areas enumerated with the exception of Broadclyst, Clyst St Lawrence and Dalwood there were substantially fewer electors this year than in the previous year in every one – yes, in 66 out of 69 areas, there are fewer electors!
Broadclyst’s jump from 2,370 to 2,818 is understandable: it now includes Cranbrook. Dalwood increases from 341 to 349, Clyst Lawrence up from 56 to 59. EVERYWHERE ELSE FALLS! Some of the smaller places by only a few, bigger places substantially, though the percentages may show differences, of course.
For example, take the larger places. Axminster down from 5,028 to 4,707, Budleigh Salterton has dropped from 4,259 to 4,063, Exmouth has fallen from 25,890 to 23,831, Feniton down from 1,411 to 1,291, Ottery St Mary down from 6,652 to 6,298, Seaton down from 5,960 to 5,539, Sidmouth down from 11,964 to 10,957.
Then take some of the smaller places: Beer down from 1,087 to 995; Farringdon down from 283 to 263, Huxham down from 64 to 47, Newton Poppleford down from 1,717 to 1,626, Shute down from 495 to 471, Uplyme down from 1,383 to 1,281.
If each of these represents 2 electors per household, it means, at say an average of £1,000 council tax per household East Devon could be losing at least £3 million in council tax if the new total figure of electors for 2014 is wrong!
A more forensic calculation of all the figures to follow.
Asset renovation better than newbuild.. implications for Knowle
EDDC may perhaps have read the recent LGA report, detailed here, with useful commentary: http://futuresforumvgs.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/knowle-relocation-project-and-asset.html
Councillors can address a planning committee even if they have been involved with negotiations prior to the meeting
Whilst this judgment is about a Cabinet member who spoke in favour of the application the ruling seems to make it clear (to us) that this must also apply to ward members, who are currently not allowed to speak.
The judgment said:
Decision
The High Court held that the planning committee was made up of experienced councillors who were aware of the need to base their decisions on relevant planning considerations alone. In the absence of an express provision in the council’s constitution preventing attendance any councillor, where there is no disabling personal interest and with the committee’s permission, can attend and address it.
The councillor’s motives in addressing the committee were irrelevant. The relevant issue was the impact on the committee members’ decision. There was no reasonable basis for concluding that the committee would have voted differently in the absence of the councillor’s intervention.
The Court noted that members should be free to express their views as, if they do not, their real reasons for voting may be veiled or unclear. Retrospectively asking individual councillors to explain their voting was ‘deplorable’. The court’s view was that “excessive forensic analysis of political debate has the appearance of fettering the democratic process”.
The missing 6% (?plus) of voters now missing from the EDDC electoral roll
What happens if you don’t register
If you meet the conditions for registering to vote (eg you’re 16 or over and you’re British or a national of an EU or Commonwealth country) and you’re asked to register, you have to do so.
If you don’t, your local Electoral Registration Office could fine you £80. They won’t fine you if you have a valid reason for not registering – eg a long stay in hospital, or you have severe learning difficulties.
So why is the Electoral Registration Officer not doing something about this? Could it be that there is a worry that the missing people may not be majority party voters?
EDDC accounts open to the public for month of July.
This is a quick reminder that the EDDC will be opening its accounts to the public from Tuesday 1st July until 28th July.
For details on red tape procedures please see our link: http://eastdevonalliance.org/2014/06/12/eddc-accounts-public-inspection-of-accounts-dates-and-procedures/
For an idea of the summary of the Internal Audit – please see http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/combineda_gagenda260614final.pdf
If East Devon’s population is going up, why has the number of electors gone down (official EDDC figures)
Each year EDDC must publish the total number of electors in the district. Numbers for 2013 and 2014 show that there were 6,408 fewer electors in 2014 than in 2013.
2013
Electorate: 104,351
Click to access parish_electorate_-_feb_2013.pdf
2014
Electorate: 97,943
Click to access numbers_of_electors_feb14.pdf
Difference: 6,408 fewer electors – despite Cranbrook having come on stream at that time.
Save Our Sidmouth’s critique of EDDC’s 5 year land supply
Hear, hear!
And, as mentioned before, how convenient that the developer-free-for-all will almost certainly continue right up to the local elections in May 2015.
Relocation for less than £4 million my a**e!
EDDC has said that relocating its HQ from Knowle to Skypark will involve a total cost of less than £4 million. Remember that any income from the sake of Knowle and Manstone Depot should not be offset against the total cost as the income from that asset sale should benefit the whole of the EDDC community, not just a few councillors and officers who will site themselves nearer to Exeter than any other town in East Devon except Cranbrook..
Here are some recent costs for new council HQ some of which sold off their old HQ:
£11 million:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-26674095
£7 million:
http://www.warwickdc.gov.uk/news/article/17/warwick_district_council_is_on_the_move
£10.5 million
http://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/9956172.New___10_5m_Wyre_Forest_District_Council_HQ_to_open_its_doors/
£9.7 million:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-23288032
Information Commissioner says most environmental and land information should be on council websites and not subject to charges for it
Cabinet meeting on 2 July: almost half the agenda to be discussed in secret
Never seen so many Cabinet items to be discussed in secret! At this rate the Cabinet will be soon meeting in a secret bunker!
Click to access 020714_cabinet_combined_agenda_-_public_version.pdf
8 items in public, 7 items in secret. Is this a record?
Would the Information Commissioner agree?
Heritage Lottery Fund says parks at risk
http://www.hlf.org.uk/news/Pages/StateUKParks.aspx#.U60xwOe9Kf0
Well, we know our council isn’t interested in them (except as housing or supermarket land) as they are trading in their beautiful working environment (so good for mental and physical health) for an HQ between an airport runway, power generatingfacility, call centre and a parcel depot!
Government’s planning policy again under attack
Sir Andrew Motion points out the irreparable damage resulting from the current National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), in an article published today: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/26/fields-england-postwar-countryside-englishness
East Devon Business Centre: correction – it’s a £1 m building being demolished, not £850,000!
The building costs (£850,000) did not include VAT so add another £150,000 plus (assuming most work done at 17.5% and not the current 20%)
So it isn’t £850,000 – it’s a £1 million olus building that’s being demolished.
Now, bearing in mind how small it is – can you see the Skypark HQ being built for a TOTAL cost of £4m including land costs and planning costs?
Why the ink must dry quickly on Skypark
In the roughly six weeks before a general election local authorities should not take any actions that might affect the outcome of such elections, such as signing contracts for controversial projects.
The next general election and local elections will be on 7 May 2015. This means that controversial activity should cease by 26 March 2015.
One can see why the Skypark issue is being railroaded and kept so secret. The ink must be dry on the purchase of the site by the end of March next year. Especially if the European Election results in 2014 are replicated in East Devon as, if they are, the Conservatives will lose their overall majority and will be at the mercy of Independents, Greens and UKIP.
Here is the political guidance which was issued for 2014 elections.
http://www.parliament.uk/Templates/BriefingPapers/Pages/BPPdfDownload.aspx?bp-id=SN05262
£850,000-plus East Devon Business Centre to be demolished to make way for supermarket in Honiton
Where will Economic Development Manager and former Hon Sec of the East Devon Business Forum be decanted to one wonders?
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/value_of_it_contracts_placed_wit#incoming-532767
“One percent of Exeter homes are ‘affordable’ “
Probably even less in East Devon where most developers recently appear to have been let off their affordable obligations.
East Devon Watch 