Category Archives: Independent Councillors
Not-so-secret secret meetings – and the very secret Asset Management Forum
Those of you who are as eagle eyed as the Owl may have spotted that EDDC have now started publishing the agendas and minutes for some of its less well known meetings such as:
- the Tree Task and Finish Forum (TaFF), of which Claire Wright was previously a member and prime mover;
- the Arts and Culture TaFF, a pet project of Paul Diviani and his partner (and co-councillor) John O’Leary, which has spent a lot of money on our behalf on the Thelma Hubert Gallery in Honiton;
- the Grounds Maintenance TaFF (yawn);
- the Garage Management TaFF (from 2012 – double yawn)
etc.
But just in case EDDC decide to crow about this being an example of how they have decided out of the goodness of their hearts to voluntarily be more transparent, we should mention that:
- EDDC are actually doing this because of the persistence of a local resident and East Devon Alliance member who has complained to the information Commissioner that EDDC are not publishing what ALL councils are already required to publish (i.e. agendas, reports and minutes of all standing forum meetings – see Definition document for principal local Authorities page 7); and
- EDDC has still to publish the papers for perhaps the most important of their secretive meetings, the Asset Management Forum.
EDA members and councillors are continuing to fight to have EDDC be fully transparent, so we can all see the full set of documents behind their more controversial decisions.
Tories of East Devon – You just don’t get it, do you?
Wednesday 3rd June
The motion to delay the Knowle Sale by 6 months was placed before Full Council by Cllr Cathy Gardner and Cllr Matt Booth. They both presented very reasoned cases for the delay and were conciliatory in their approach. They stressed Transparency to the residents of East Devon and in particular Sidmouth. They did not oppose the move merely asked for more time to allow greater consultation to ensure that the Council made the right decision.
The reaction was set by Cllr Williamson who insisted that as the decision had already been validated by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (with a set of “independent” auditors) there was no need to delay – in fact he maintained that there was a need for greater speed. Other speakers opposing the motion spoke of the need to move and how inappropriate the current building was.
Tories – you just don’t get it! It is recognised that the current buildings are not fit for purpose AND SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE – but what that is and how due process is applied is the central issue in this motion.
Previous Committees and Councils sanctioned a move to Sky Park – not a mention of that! Then a sudden concept of two premises – why the change?
The appeal to the Freedom of Information request was scathing of the Council – no acceptance of that or any explanation of what was so important within the papers that they could not be released – I doubt most Tory members had even read (or been able to read) them.
Reference to election results and other “facts” but no concept of the Perception of the public – they rightly feel marginalised.
Tories – you seem to have forgotten that you serve your community – these assets are not yours – they are not even EDDC’s – they are owned by the Council Tax Payers of East Devon – you merely act as temporary custodians in the passage of time. You MUST consult with your Community – you have failed to do this as on other occasions. You were given the opportunity last night to make a fresh start with Openness and Transparency – you rejected that offer with your customary arrogance.
The motion was defeated by a recorded vote – this may come back to bite you!
Owl
Roger Giles (Ind) polls highest vote in District Council elections
We’ve had further feedback from today’s election of East Devon District Councillors, when Independents gained considerable ground. Here are some highlights:
– The voters’ favourite was Roger Giles, the seasoned Independent Councillor for Ottery St Mary Town Ward, with 2087 votes.
– Paul Diviani, Leader of the Council) retained his seat at Yarty. He received 776 votes. But votes against him totalled 795.
– Cabinet member, Ray Bloxham (525 votes) lost in Raleigh Ward to IEDA candidate, Geoff Jung (950 votes).
– IEDA Leader, Ben Ingham successfully held Woodbury & Lympstone, where he and IEDA colleague, Rob Longhurst, defeated David Atkins (Con).
– The most significant cull of Tory Councillors was in Sidmouth, with Independents now in control:
There was a surprise defeat for Graham Troman, who ironically has often stood up alone for Sidmouth, without the backing of the other local councillors.
Stuart Hughes is the sole remaining Conservative, sharing Sidmouth-Sidford with Dawn Manley and Marianne Rixson, both IEDA.
Sidmouth Town Ward is in the hands of Cathy Gardner (IEDA), Matt Booth(IEDA) and John Dyson (Independent).
The Sidmouth Herald reporters were quick to pick this up: http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/election/eddc_independents_oust_tories_in_sidmouth_town_1_4066681
For complete election result information, go to http://eastdevon.gov.uk/elections-and-registering-to-vote/elections-2015/2015-district-council-elections-results/
If only …..
“Yesterday Sid Valley was represented at EDDC by 7 Conservative couoncillors. Today by just one, with six Independents! The three Sidmouth Town Independents gathered 71% of the votes cast in the ward. The former Vice Chairman of the Council was ousted from Sidford Rural.
If only the incumbents had taken the opportunity last December to vote for delay until after the election before pressing on with relocation and been seen to be speaking up for their electors.”
And now for some good news … or not …
Bloxham (Conservative, Raleigh) out, Jung (Independent) IN
Drew (Conservative, Sidmouth Rural) OUT, Barratt (Independent) IN
oh yes, good news indeed!
3 Conservatives elected in Budleigh – sorry Ms Mantell! Not good news.
Steve Gazzard re-elected in Exmouth (Lib Dem) – well done Steve!
Who will take the decision whether to appeal the appeal for disclosurof Knowle relocation documents?
The Chief Executive (Williams) and Deputy Chief Executive (Cohen) along with ? who else must have taken the original decision to suppress the reports discussed in secret meetings when they were requested by Mr Woodward,
This decision to suppress the reports, to our knowledge was never brought to any public council committee. Who took the decision to suppress?
Eventually, the Information commissioner said that (redacted) reports should be published.
The ” council” then decided to appeal this decision. Who made that decision and why? Who reviewed it and agreed with it? How many councillors knew what was happening? Who thought up the idea of saying reports could not be published because the consultant was “an embedded employee” of the council?
The Deputy Chief Executive (Cohen) was chosen to present the justification for suppression and appeal at the court case in August 2014. The council’s solicitor (Lennox Gordon) presumably must have been asked for advice (though at the Court case they had engaged an outside barrister to present the case). The Chief Executive and ? who else must have then sanctioned this course of action. It was, to our knowledge, never brought to any public council committee. Who else knew about this?
At the Court case, Deputy Chief Executive Cohen admitted that at least one report from the outside consultant (Pratten) had been changed by him – Cohen – before being given to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee were not aware of this at the time and (as far as we know) still do not know what was changed or why. Who else (if anyone) was involved in the decision to change the document before it went to them? Have members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee since seen the original? Would it have changed their views if they did not see it and have not since seen it?
Are there more reports (changed, not changed) other than those under review that they and other councillors should have seen prior to making an informed decision about relocation either to Skypark or Honiton/Exmouth and then sale of Knowle that might have affected their decision?
After the Court case in August 2014 it appears that EDDC dragged its heels in providing the judge with documents and insisted that some of them were illegible. However, subsequently, legible copies were found and submitted as late as March 2015. Who insisted that only illegible copies were available? Who knew that there were legible copies available and why were they delayed? Why the long delay?
Now that the court has heavily criticised all those involved, the decision can again be appealed, at probably even greater cost than the last appeal. We do not yet know the full cost of the last appeal except that it is more than £11,000 PLUS officer time, as EDDC never apportions cost of officer time to its work.
So, who takes the decision to appeal the appeal? The same people who suppressed the documents? The person/people who altered at least one document before it went to a committee? The people who said that some documents were illegible when they were not? The people criticised by the court for being “unhelpful and discourteous?
Who is left who has not been involved in this sorry saga who can be trusted to find out the answers and make decisions now? If we return the “same old” how can we be sure this will not be brushed under a carpet so precariously balanced on all that is now underneath it?
Brave independent councillors kept bringing this subject up time and time again only to be told to stop tilting at windmills. What is here is definitely not windmills.
Only a vote for Independents tomorrow can ensure that the carpet is lifted so that we can all see what has been swept underneath it all these years.
Including, of course, some searching questions about the seven year delay to a Local Plan which has left us at the mercy of rapacious developers.
The future is in your hands tomorrow.
Bucks, so many bucks, so many questions … such a nasty, nasty smell of dirty linen
Now we have had time to digest the findings of the judge in Information Commissioner and Jeremy Woodward (and many, many thanks are due to Jeremy and his occasional stand-in Richard Thurlow for doggedly pursuing this) there are SO many questions to be asked, some of which current commentators have already suggested. Now, where will the buck stop and who is going to answer questions ?
First and foremost we must be concerned with the damning evidence. In Tower Hamlets, when the Commissioners arrived to take it over, the first thing they did was sequester ALL documents and correspondence though it is believed that some were already missing. Is it possible that some of OUR evidence is vulnerable to deletion and shredding? We hope not but we cannot be sure. However, traces will abound everywhere and sometimes what is missing throws even more light on what is going on.
At best what has occured is incompetence and, at worst, deceit – as a correspondent says – which is it?
The questions people are posing:
1. The different versions of documents and their legibility. The Judge in the case is STILL not sure he has original documents or all documents. He says that for months EDDC said that they could not provide legible copies of documents and yet, at the last moment, some turned up. However, the judge also says that he is not entirely sure they saw ALL the documents they were meant to see – he refers to document 5A when he appears not to have been given document 5, for example.
2. At the hearing Richard Cohen admitted that he did not give an original version of a document to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee but an “amended” one. Where is the original copy of THIS document and would it have changed what that committee decided?
3. Why did EDDC officers and top councillors keep delaying the process. Were they hopeful that this could be kept under wraps until after the election tomorrow. They almost managed it if this was the case.
4. How and why were the decisions to prevaricate made and by whom: was it CEO/Cohen/Diviani or a larger (or smaller) group?
5. How will those in (4) above manage to keep this from the NEXT Overview and Scrutiny Committee?
6. Who decides what goes to an Overview and Scrutiny Committee? Those in (4) above! And will it go to the Standards Committee? (Answer here: almost certainly not if the same people remain in power).
7. What is now the position of Knowle sale?
8. Who takes these decisions – officers and then the councillors are led by the nose, or councillors and then officers are led by the nose or a combination of councillors AND officers and then everyone else is led by the nose? We know from Councillor Peter Sullivan that, as a Conservative councillor, he was not allowed to see documents. Who was in the “golden circle”?
9. Why did NO-ONE blow the whistle when they realised what was happening? Why was it left to brave Independent councillors, bloggers and – most important – local resident Jeremy Woodward, to uncover this very dirty, dirty linen?
Lympstone: Independents’ Corner
http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk/candidates/woodbury-lympstone/rob-longhurst/#gallery
Gather Hugo drove past this site recently – bet that upset his digestion!
Feniton, tanks, the stump and ex-Councillor Brown – oh, and voting!
The latest blog post of Independent Councillor Susie Bond:
It’s been a fascinating run up to the 2015 election.
I’ve enjoyed dropping off my leaflets to the houses in Feniton, Gittisham and Buckerell and chatting to those who were at home and had time to talk to me. People are really engaged with this election and want to talk about national issues as much as local ones … and there was a lot of interest in the ‘rise of the Independents’, as one resident described it.
There were several recurring themes which were of concern to everyone in my ward … planning inevitably being at the top of the list.
On the stump, Question 1:
What about the attenuation tanks?
This is a continuing issue in Feniton, where developer Wainhomes eventually succumbed to pressure from me, the Parish Council, EDDC and the media, and provided the attenuation tanks which were required of them following the planning inquiry in 2012. However, the Parish Council is not happy with the system the developer was forced to install and has grave concerns that the tanks will fail. This is an unresolved issue and a great worry to those who live ‘downstream’ of the site.
There is quite reasonably very little faith in developers and the promises they make to sweeten the offer of concreting over precious sites. Residents still bemoan the loss of the tennis courts which were such a feature of life in Feniton before the developer of the existing Acland Park site bulldozed them in pursuit of profit. Promises were made that they would be reinstated, but the tennis courts never reappeared.
On the stump, Question 2:
Whatever happened to the Graham Brown affair?
The police investigation into former Councillor Graham Brown was closed with no action taken in 2014 as there was insufficient evidence to take the case forward. End of story.
My concern is not with the individual, but what process allowed anyone whose main source of income was building and development to be put in a position of such authority (he was for some time Chairman of the Local Development Framework panel, the committee set up to steer the Council towards adoption of a Local Plan, identifying possible sites for development and deciding on strategic allocations for development within the district), and who must have found it extremely difficult not to confuse the two roles. I have called on a number of occasions for an internal inquiry at EDDC to look into the lapse in decision-making which allowed this to happen. Each time I posed the question, I was met with the response that the matter was in the hands of the police and therefore any internal investigation would be inappropriate.
At the full Council meeting in February, and given that the police investigation had concluded, I asked the question again.
I was surprised on this occasion when my request for an internal inquiry was met with the minimal response, ‘Why?’, with no further explanation. In other words, whether the former councillor was charged with any misdemeanour or not, EDDC never had any intention of conducting a full internal inquiry.
Something to think about for the next council.
On the stump, Question 3:
What is the East Devon Alliance?
There was lots of interest on the doorstep in this umbrella organisation formed to support independent candidates.
It’s a lonely business being an Independent.
I chose to stand as an Independent in 2013 so that I was not constrained by party politics which, to my mind, should have no business in local government. But standing alone means that you don’t have the backup of the party machine to write your leaflet for you and even pay for it to be printed, as well as the advice of those who have been councillors before.
Had it existed at that time, I would have welcomed the help and advice of the East Devon Alliance to steer me through the minefield of the election process. Two years on and EDA candidates have the support of their leader, Cllr Ben Ingham, whose 25 years of experience is invaluable to those who don’t know how the system works. Their excellent website (http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk/) has given the candidates an on-line profile and their YouTube videos have reached a wide audience.
Once elected, every ‘Independent EDA’ candidate will work hard in their ward and represent that ward at Council. No Party Whip to ‘encourage’ them to vote in a particular way and no question of being lambasted by senior party figures if they fail to conform.
Final thoughts
Don’t forget to voteBut whatever the issues and whatever hue your politics, the main thing is to make your voice heard and Remember To Vote. The turnout at elections has fallen steadily from an all-time high of 83% in 1950 to just 65% in 2010, reflecting disillusionment and mistrust of party politics.
If you want to change the status quo, Thursday 7 May is the day to make a difference!
Local Tories show their true colours
Andrew Moulding and Steph Jones’s election leaflet issued in Axminster, seems designed to misinform.
A close look at the leaflet (above..click to enlarge) reveals some apparent misconceptions and economies with the truth:
Moulding/ Jones: Imply East Devon Alliance is centred in Sidmouth.
Incorrect: EDA Chair lives in Colyton; Vice-Chair in Feniton; vast majority of East Devon Alliance Independent candidates are from other parts of the District.
Moulding/Jones: Suggest Knowle is just adapted bedrooms and bathrooms.
Incorrect: Only the old part, which was once used as a hotel, then as flats. No serious attempt has been made to market this individually to fund update of the newer building, which consists of purpose built offices in 1970-80s, with outside space for extension if required.
Moulding/Jones: Move will save £6m over 20 years.
Figures are disputed ( posts on http://www.saveoursidmouth.com may explain why ‘Sidmouth’ is a painful subject for EDDC Deputy Leader, Cllr Moulding) – and some withheld documents concerning office relocation are still under legal review (Tribunal decision imminent: Information Commissioner and J. Woodward vs East Devon District Council).
Moulding/Jones: Why Honiton and Exmouth? “Because Honiton is more central, and Exmouth is the largest town.”
Then why did they previously support Skypark (which could not be less central) and selling the site in Honiton? In reality, a newbuild office at Honiton is just the fall-back plan, as the Honiton site couldn’t be sold for enough money to make a move to Skypark financially viable. And Exmouth has only now come into the equation, as space at the Town Hall has become available. The leaflet makes no mention of the issues of running a split site; nor of existing air pollution problems where the £7m newbuild HQ at Honiton would be sited (no such problem in Knowle parkland!), etc.,etc.
Moulding/Jones; Why is Local Plan taking so long? “Because we want to get it right”
Or is it because EDDC are struggling, having got it so wrong in the past, and exasperating the Inspector, who rejected the previous one? (Remember the 53 ‘minor changes’ which the Inspector found to be ‘major’? SIN blogged the story: https://sidmouthindependentnews.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/sum-thing-amiss/)
Moulding/ Jones: Why so much new housing in Axminster? “Because you wanted it!!”
Who are ‘you’? Does it embellish the town and help it to thrive? Or is it symptomatic of consequences when deciding where to build the massive number of new houses EDDC has chosen to opt for?
Moulding/Jones: Do you have a plan for the future of Axminster. “Yes, we have a vision.”
Who are ‘we’, and has the vision, with no neighbourhood plan yet in place, been led by speculative development?
This leaflet, along with quotes from Hugo Swire in the local press yesterday (https://eastdevonwatch.org/2015/05/02/east-devon-alliance-responds-to-hugo-swire-misinformation/), show tired tactics which are looking rather stale. On May 7th, East Devon voters may well show they’ve had enough of them.
East Devon Alliance is not standing for Parliament, Hugo! Stick to facts
From a correspondent:
“Hugo Swire manages to mix a tiny bit of truth with some outright misinformation when he says, “There is no doubt that Claire Wright and the EDA are one and the same – I don’t know how they manage to say they are independent when it is a registered party.”
Firstly, the East Devon Alliance is NOT a party in the usual sense – they needed to register with the Electoral Commission in order to get a shared group name on the ballot paper. This has been stated on the home-page of their web site for several months, so Hugo has no excuse for being misleading about it (which by the way is against the rules set by the Electoral Commission who require candidates to be completely factual).
It is also wrong to associate Claire Wright with the East Devon Alliance – again their home page makes it clear that their registration with the Electoral Commission is only for local government and not central government elections. Indeed a quick search for Claire Wright on the EDA website shows only two mentions which are not in quotes from the press – where she endorses the EDA candidates standing to replace her as Councillor in Ottery Rural, and pictured with their candidate for Budleigh, Les Cotton. So, by failing to check his facts before opening his mouth, Hugo has misled again.
That said, there is obviously some common ground between Claire Wright and the EDA. Each are standing as Independents. Each believes in open and transparent local government, each are fearless in exposing the secrecy and poor quality decisions made by the Conservative leadership at EDDC, a leadership which Hugh Swire has himself criticised for their plans to relocate from the Knowle, originally to Skypark, and now to Honiton and Exmouth.
But the most obvious similarity between Claire Wright and the EDA is that they are both looking very electable, and that the local Conservative party is both so scared of losing and so lacking in their own policies for East Devon that they are panicked into making wild accusations which are easily provable as totally wrong. Shame on them!”
East Devon Alliance responds to Hugo Swire “misinformation”
Dear Hugo Swire
In a Western Morning News interview with Phil Goodwin, published online on 1st May 2015, you state, “There is no doubt that Claire Wright and the EDA are one and the same – I don’t know how they manage to say they are independent when it is a registered party”.
We would be grateful if you now desist in attempting to influence the District Council election with this misinformation. I am Chairman of the East Devon Alliance and whether you are or are not returned as the member for East Devon to Parliament is of no matter to me, my vice chairman, treasurer or communications director. None of us live in your former constituency.
If you visit our website and read our extensive literature – indeed, watch our videos – your name does not occur once. We have taken great pains to defend ourselves from the moment when someone such as you casually concocts the canard that Mrs Wright and we are co-campaigners with the intent of denigrating both her and us.
It would be worth your taking the time to properly research your subject. As Independents we have allied under an umbrella because many of your operatives in the local Conservative party in East Devon are unfit to wear the national rosette. Standing as an Independent in very many of the towns and villages is to be the subject of tactics unfit for our nation’s political life. In the self-evident lack of public faith in East Devon District Council – well-known matters which you have disdained to engage with – is the epitome of our failing democracy. Our alliance is precisely how it will be rebuilt, and it is at moments such as this that we can defend ourselves from untruths such as yours. What is the East Devon Alliance but a manifestation of the Localism your party professes to support?
Your sources should have told you – as could the Electoral Commission – that we specifically chose to register with them in the category of groups precluded from campaigning in national elections. I have not spoken for Mrs Wright or even seen her campaign literature; I live in Colyton, on the eastern edge of Neil Parish’s patch. I have not attended any of your joint hustings, being too busy with the district election.
I am aware, however, that she has consistently tried to address the well-recorded problems at EDDC with courage and determination. If you had bothered to attend any of the meetings at which she was shouted down by the sexist goons on the Conservative side I like to think you may have been alerted to the public disgust with them – and with your party in the District – rather sooner, and that you would have been man enough to intervene.
To conclude, we are not “one and the same”, and we are registered as a party because despite 5 years to do so your government has not found the time to move on with recommendations emerging from select committees that local campaigning groups such as us should not, of course, have to register centrally at the Electoral Commission. Please desist from making false statements about us and fight your own battles rather than those of your district underlings who, you must surely realise, have done so much to have created your current predicament.
Signed Paul Arnott
eastdevonalliance.org.uk
Meet the candidates, in the comfort of your own home!
Before you vote on 7th May, want to know who’d like to replace the current EDDC, and why? On the http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk website, EDW sees that 14 candidates have already taken the brave step of presenting themselves on video.
On each candidates’ page, click on video intro, and scroll down to video just below candidate’s pic. Videos currently available for Paul Arnott (Chair..standing in Coly Valley Ward) ) Ben Ingham (Leader..standing in Woodbury & Lympstone) ), Cathy Gardner (Communications Director..standing in Sidmouth Town) ), Steve Horner (standing against P. Diviani in Yarty), Martin Shaw (Seaton), Megan Armstrong (Exmouth Halsdon), Rob Longhurst (Woodbury & Lympstone),Val Ranger Newton Poppleford), Mark Daugherty (Exmouth Brixington), Marianne Rixson (Sidmouth, Sidford), Les Cotton (Budleigh Salterton) , Dawn Manley (Sidford, Sidford), Matt Coppell (Ottery St Mary Rural), Robert Crick (Exmouth Littleham)….more coming soon (if they can be caught for a few minutes’ filming between leafleting, we’re told!)
It’s time to decide
Less than a week to go. The information is all out there (see the links to all parties above). You know where our votes are going but yours is yours to decide.
If you have a postal vote, check that you have the right instructions (voting for as many people as each ward has, not just one cross per ward in multi-councillor wards). Send those envelopes back as soon as possible.
And remember, the website for East Devon Alliance:
which has masses of information on all its candidates – the only group that has such comprehensive information…and even Video Intros for most of the candidates!
Election hot topics on IEDA blogs.. and on the video intros
Confused about who to vote for, how many votes you have, or why all the talk about neighbourhood plans? This blog has brief, clear summaries: http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk/candidates/sidmouth/cathy-gardner/
EDW also recommends Cathy’s video intro; and the one by the iEDA candidate standing against Paul Diviani (in Yarty), Steve Horner.
Many of you will already have watched this straight-talking one, which we highlighted yesterday : http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk/candidates/coly-valley/paul-arnott/
Then there’s one by Megan Armstrong (Exmouth); and by Martin Shaw (Seaton)…… the list goes on, and is steadily increasing.
Election only one week away!
Cranbrook hustings, first report
From a correspondent who was there:
“Claire Wright was the winner tonight, with about 150 people in the audience.
And hopefully she will be the winner on 7 May.”
Meet the candidates on video!
Here’s a taster, from iEDA Chair Paul Arnott, on the theme of ‘EDDC and Tower Hamlets compared’: see Paul’s ‘video intro’ at http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk/candidates/coly-valley/paul-arnott/
P.S. Lots more video introductions now available for other candidates, on the same website. And more in the pipeline…
Another hustings packed to overflowing last night, this time in Sidmouth
The third in the series of hustings organised in Sidmouth (for District,Town and Parliamentary elections, respectively), admirably had all five of the Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs) there to meet the public face to face.
Andrew Chapman (UKIP), Hugo Swire (Cons) , Stuart Mole Lib Dem), Claire Wright (Ind) and Steve Race (Labour) gave their views clearly and characteristically, from their various standpoints, showing that politicians are NOT all the same!
The evening began with an element of almost high comedy, as a phalanx of Tory supporters arrived half an hour early, having been informed in an e-mail from the party office of the wrong start time…rather conveniently enabling them to claim the front row seats.
There was not enough time to cover all the questions submitted, but topics were wide-ranging. They included Trident,and defence spending; decarbonising the energy sector; provision of mental health services; and housing figures in East Devon’s latest draft Local Plan.
The audience was clearly strongly divided, but for the most part listened attentively to the speakers.,although there were outbreaks of heckling when the Party lines were rolled out, as when Hugo Swire (Con) said repeatedly that Labour + the SNP would make a chaotic combination in government; and UKIP’s Andrew Chapman insisted our housing shortage was caused by EU immigrants. There was also applause, as when Claire Wright declared, in her closing speech, that as an MP she would never belittle people who were poorer than herself.
At the end of the meeting, VgS Chair, Dave Bramley, praised the courage of the five PPCs, for being prepared to stand on their platform in front of the large audience (about 200 people), and answer questions in person. Regrettably, the bulk of the District Councillors representing Sidmouth, sitting in those front row seats last night, had not been so keen to do so themselves, having boycotted the previous two Sidmouth hustings as “too political”, we hear. Last night all that was required of them was to clap in unison, on cue.
EDW note: If the hustings in progress right now, at St Martins School, Cranbrook, is equally well-attended….is it a sign of the times?
Who exactly are the EDA Independents?
Well, quite a determined, well-qualified and varied team, judging from their VIDEO INTRODUCTIONS, (14 available now…and more in the pipeline) on the Candidates’ pages on http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk
Seems a dialogue with the East Devon public has started in earnest, at last!
That’s clearly the style of the IEDA candidate for the Exe Valley, who’s set up a new twitter account: Erin Whitcroft@ExeValleyVoice
East Devon Watch 