Category Archives: Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation

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10 Mar 2017

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Accountability, Democracy, EDDC, Freedom of Information Act, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, Scrutiny, Transparency

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Exeter court case with ramifications for EDDC HQ relocation

“Exeter City Council’s appeal against the Information Commissioner’s decision that it should publish details of the business case for the controversial St Sidwell’s Point leisure complex on the current bus station site will be heard by an Information Tribunal.

Exeter resident Peter Cleasby used the Freedom of Information Act to ask the Council to release details of the business case for the development so that the assumptions contained in it – particularly about the running costs – could be open to wider scrutiny before contracts were signed.

The Council refused on grounds of commercial confidentiality, and Mr Cleasby complained about its refusal to the Information Commissioner.

The Commissioner ordered key information in the business case to be made public, but the Council appealed against the Commissioner’s decision.

The matter will now be decided by a judge-led Information Tribunal, in a public hearing at Exeter Magistrates Court on Monday 13 March starting at 10am.

Peter Cleasby said:”Exeter City Council is set to spend £26 million of public money – a sum that may well increase – on the leisure complex. It claims that the complex will make a profit, but only a handful of officers and councillors know what assumptions are made in support of these claims. If the Council get this wrong, the city could be saddled with an expensive liability for years to come, so wider scrutiny and challenge of the business case assumptions is vital.”

A City Council spokesman said: “The Council will make its case before the Tribunal. It would be inappropriate to comment further ahead of the hearing.”

The pool project was recently put on hold because the council had not appointed a contractor, despite having already spent a significant proportion of the £32.5million combined pot for St Sidwell’s Point and the bus station.”

http://www.middevongazette.co.uk/exeter-city-council-taken-to-court-after-refusing-to-release-leisure-complex-details/story-30186062-detail/story.html

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6 Mar 2017

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Accountability, Developers/ Development, EDDC, EDDC HQ, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation

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When is a council asset not an asset?

” … If you didn’t know your local council had become a trader in gardening services, you may be even more surprised to learn it has turned into a property trader, buying up shopping centres, business parks, office blocks, hotels and garages. In 2016, local authorities spent over £1bn on real estate. [EDDC will be doing this when it funds its new Honiton HQ].

You may think this is a peculiar state of affairs when councils are simultaneously selling assets to mitigate budget shortfalls. But the arithmetic is simple. The Public Works Loan Board, a statutory body established in 1793, will lend at 2.5% interest. Property assets will yield at least 4.5% and often far more. The result is that local councils are becoming significant players in the UK property market, causing the Financial Times columnist John Plender to warn of its “creeping nationalisation”. Canterbury’s Whitefriars shopping centre (Kent), Sutton Coldfield’s Red Rose shopping centre (Birmingham) and Sunbury’s BP Business Park (Surrey) are all owned or partly owned by a local council.

Municipal enterprise is nothing new – councils sold local gas supplies in the Victorian era, and Joseph Chamberlain, Harold Macmillan and Anthony Crosland all proposed an expansion of municipal trading. But until recently, such opportunities were strictly limited by legislation that, for example, restricted them to trading only with each other. New Labour gave them explicit permission in 2003 to trade “ordinary functions” for a “commercial purpose”. In 2011, the coalition government’s Localism Act allowed them to do whatever they liked unless specifically prohibited by law. Now councils, having been forced to relinquish their roles as landlords of inexpensive housing for local people, re-emerge as landlords of multinational stores.

The dangers are obvious. If the property market were to crash, councils would be saddled with assets of dubious value. Moreover, it seems strange that, after deeming them incapable of running schools, Tory ministers are now happy for councils to manage investment portfolios covering areas of which they have little experience. But it is all part of the neoliberal vision for the world.

Boundaries between public and private sectors are being blurred. Since 1990 companies have been allowed, in effect, to bribe councils with payments for improved roads, new schools, high-street facelifts and affordable homes in return for planning permission. It is another step along the same road for the council itself to become a company and/or a property developer. Just as the state was omnipresent in the Soviet Union, stamping out entrepreneurial instincts, so the market becomes omnipresent in our society, sweeping away the ethos of public service. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/06/councils-local-authorities-bankruptcy-public-service

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6 Mar 2017

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Accountability, Democracy, East Devon Tories, EDDC, EDDC HQ, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation

Pots call kettles dirty in Exeter – vice versa in East Devon!

Tories call for transparency from Labour over bus station vanity project gone wrong in Exeter whilst in Tories try to block transparency on Knowle relocation gone wrong in East Devon. Tories demand answers in Exeter, Tories refuse to give answers in East Devon!

“Exeter Tory leader Cllr Andrew Leadbetter has blasted the city council for “biting off more than it can chew” with their unrealistic “passion project.

In his 20 years on the council he claims he has never seen “such disarray” on a development.

He said: “The whole thing so far has been shrouded in secrecy. And we want a proper explanation about what is happening.

“For instance, is it a long-term delay? Is it a cancellation? How much has been spent so far? What is the secrecy and why can’t all members be told?

“If the Labour council is getting this so wrong, what else can they get wrong?

“We want to talk to the people about what cheaper option they would want there. We are certainly not adverse to the idea of a theatre or a hotel and conference centre.”

He added: “I also have strong concerns about the Crown Estate’s Princesshay Leisure part of the scheme. They do not need much to walk away from this, and we’ll be left with a bomb site.”

http://www.devonlive.com/exeter-bus-station-redevelopment-in-deep-water-as-tories-hit-out-at-council-passion-project/story-30182392-detail/story.html

You can see why (Tory) politics gets a bad name in Devon!

Remmber this when you vote in the May 2017 county elections and vote Independent!

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28 Feb 2017

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Accountability, Audit (EDDC), Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, NHS (local), Spin

Why employ consultants?

After the Oscars fiasco, laid firmly at the door of management consultants PriceWaterhouseCooper, the Guardian has this to say:

“These big companies and the legions of highly paid experts are supposed to be delivering measurable results, yet it seems most of what they touch runs worse than before.

So it’s worth asking what it is they are actually selling that is worth so much.

The first, obvious answer is plausible deniability. If a management wants to slash its workforce then it is obviously better that the bad news be delivered by outsiders who can be blamed later.

This evasion of responsibility may well be worth a great deal to the managers concerned, if not to the other stakeholders of the enterprise.

This motive overlaps or shades into another, more interesting one. The one thing that consultancies and even accountants are meant to deliver is objectivity – and from that springs authority, which is what they’re really selling.

Someone who comes along with an air of confident command will always find followers even if they know nothing about their subject, providing the followers are more painfully confident of their own ignorance.

The vocational education of the English ruling classes taught the art of bluffing at the speed of thought – and though this skill is indispensable at the bar, and still more in the House of Commons, unfortunately it’s not the best way to make really important decisions, as the career of David Cameron so catastrophically demonstrates. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/27/the-guardian-view-on-management-consultants-the-trick-is-confidence

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23 Feb 2017

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Accountability, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Exeter City Council, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation

Time for a relocation cost update?

Including the REAL cost of satellites in Exmouth and Manstone Depot.

“Exeter’s planned leisure centre and bus station now face an indefinite delay, sparking fierce criticism of the council for not having a tender in place before beginning disruptive city centre works.

The chair of the Leisure Complex and Bus Station Programme Board, Cllr Phil Bialyk, also says he cannot promise the current £26m and £6.25m price tags attached to the major development won’t increase as a result.”

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/here-s-the-full-story-behind-the-indefinite-delay-of-st-sidwell-s-point-and-the-bus-station/story-30158750-detail/story.html

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11 Feb 2017

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Accountability, Democracy, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Freedom of Information Act, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, Transparency

Has EDDC’s new Manstone depot satellite office block been included in relocation costs?

The following Freedom of Information request implies that the cost may not have been included, but we shall see, we hope.

Owl wonders why just one set of employees has been left in Sidmouth in brand new offices and why they could not be accommodated on the Honiton site or the Exmouth site. Surely, THREE sets of offices will be MUCH more expensive to run than one HQ? But cost barely seem to concern Tory councillors, who seem to feel there is little need to scrutinise them.

“Laissez les bons temps rouler!”

“Dear Ms Symington,

I would like to make a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I am also making this request under the Environmental Impact Regulations 2004 which require disclosure on the part of Local Authorities.

On 22nd December, I corresponded with the Planning Department with regard to the Council’s planning application for offices for its Estates Department at the Manstone Depot in Sidmouth: https://planning.eastdevon.gov.uk/online…

Several of my questions were answered, but not the following:

“The site is now clearly part of the District Council’s relocation project. This application represents the relocation of one of the key departments from the Knowle site – and yet there has been no mention in the Moving and Improving site pages: http://eastdevon.gov.uk/moving-and-impro…
“And I am unable to find any other information about this relocation of the Estates Department elsewhere.”

Could you provide me with any such references to this project (other than the planning application itself), either as documentation or weblinks.

And could you provide me with the full and exact costings for this planning application: the building costs of the new offices and where the finance for this project will be coming from.

On 9th January, the District Council stated the following to the press:

“The transfer of depot activities is an existing costed element of the relocation project and, as such, included within the independent and positive cost modelling of relocation.”
http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/dis…

Could you provide me with the documentation which shows how the transfer of depot activities is an existing costed element of the relocation project.

And could you indicate exactly where this information is located within the independent and positive cost modelling of relocation.

I would be grateful if you could answer the four stipulated questions above.

Thank you.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully,
Jeremy Woodward
Sidmouth”

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/costing_the_relocating_of_the_es

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10 Feb 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, EDDC, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, Scrutiny

Many councils expect to find themselves technically insolvent soon

Many councils fear that they will become technically insolvent. So what does ours do? Pursues a vanity project relocation from one HQ to an HQ with two satellite offices – one which needs a massive amount of money spent on it because estimates of cost were made before a full survey was done (Exmouth) and one that requires new build (Manstone) – all three when building costs are rising 20-35% coupled with a growing shortage of skilled labour which will push wages up.

Fiddling while Rome burns? Play that fiddle! 🎻

“Some local authorities may be forced to declare technical insolvency in the next two years, experts have said, as councils struggle to weather the financial pressures caused by budget cuts and growing demand for social care.

A survey of councils in England and Wales by the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) thinktank found that three-quarters had little or no confidence in the sustainability of local government finances and more than one in 10 believed they were in danger of failing to meet legal requirements to deliver core services. …

… “Councils have no faith in the system. They are patching together their finances by putting up council tax, drawing down reserves and increasing charges. Increasingly they worry that they will not be able to provide the vital services that people rely on.”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/10/councils-budget-cuts-social-care-bills

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5 Feb 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, Post-Brexit Adjustments

Some building costs up 35% – another (expensive) nail in the relocation project?

And to think, some careful maintenance of Knowle and some judicious spending when the sun was shining and councillors could have been enjoying up-to-date facilities for years!

“Bricks and timber have become the latest products to be hit by sterling’s slide after Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

An investigation by The Mail on Sunday into the effects of the referendum has identified sweeping price rises of up to 35 per cent on some building materials.

The revelation comes in the week the Government unveils its Housing White Paper aimed at easing the country’s housing shortage with a massive boost to home-building.

The building industry is also under pressure from an acute skills shortage – which trade bodies warn may be made much worse if tradesmen from countries such as Poland find it more difficult to work in the UK.

The Mail on Sunday’s analysis of figures released last week shows prices on a wide variety of materials, including loft insulation, plasterboard and chipboard, rising at their fastest rate for 25 years.

The increases will hit not only those looking to buy new-build homes, but anyone thinking of extending their house or planning a loft conversion. …”

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-4191564/Building-costs-rocket-brick-timber-prices-soaring.html

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4 Feb 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Devolution, EDDC, Golden Triangle LEP, Greater Exeter, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, Local Enterprise Partnership

Single unitary councils would save most money say researchers

This post is from November 2016 but is reprinted here due to its topicality. Given LEP power-grabbing and “Greater Exeter” and “Golden Triangle” options, our district council’s plan to move to Honiton looks questionable to say the least.

Should any of the above options pan out, even the current bases at Sidmouth and Exmouth (plus changing Manstone depot to part-office) seems grandiose!

“Creating 27 unitary councils across the whole of England could save as much as £2.9bn, according to an independent analysis of local government reorganisation options undertaken for the County Councils Network.

The report by consultants EY examined six different single and two-tier governance scenarios for county and district authorities, using existing county boundaries. Based on the analysis of national data, EY found that creation of unitaries along county boundaries could save between £2.37bn and £2.86bn over five years, and average up to £106m per county. The single unitary option has the shortest payback period, generating savings within two years and two months, according to the review.

Among the other options examined was a move to create two unitary authorities per county, which would establish 54 councils.

Under this proposal, savings worth £1.17bn and £1.7bn would be made in a five-year timeframe, only around 59% of the saving of the proposal to create unitaries along current boundaries.

A third approach considered abolishing county and district authorities and creating three unitaries per county. However, the creation of 81 new councils countrywide could result in a net cost to the taxpayer of £33m over five years, although the range could also include a saving of £526m, dependent on how senior management and councillors are structured across the authorities. Whatever transpires, our council serms hell-bent on the most expensive option:

The review also considered reforming the current two-tier system through merging districts to reduce the average number in a county area from 7.4 to 3. Such a scenario could make savings of between £531m and £839m over five years.

A further scenario to create three unitary authorities and a combined authority, which would then deliver major services like adult social care, children’s social care and transport, was likely to cost between £36m and £366m over five years. Such an approach has been considered in areas such as Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, but EY highlighted the risks of this ‘untried and untested’ model of reorganisation. …”

http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2016/11/local-government-reorganisation-switch-unitaries-could-save-ps29bn#disqus_thread

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2 Feb 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, DCC, Dorset, EDDC, Golden Triangle LEP, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, Local Enterprise Partnership, PegasusLife, Scrutiny, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury, Somerset, Transparency

Relocation and local government reorganisation – a chance to save money!

What is currently more important in local government? Saving money, saving money by merger or being profligate? These seem to be the stark choices facing our district, with its reliance on the Local Enterprise Partnership for strategy, direction and funding.

Closer examination of the agenda for the next Cabinet meeting reveals that there are two references to local government reorganisation: at the bottom of page 111 and on page 115:

“Identify opportunities for rationalising/improving existing public sector governance arrangements and make recommendations to the constituent authorities/partners”

This appears to be a clear reference, as it not only refers to reform, but also says that the recommendations will go to ‘constituent authorities’. In other words we are not talking just about the LEP. The new Joint Committee clearly has mergers in mind. Add “Greater Exeter” into the mix and we come out with even more likelihood of massive changes. THEN add a mooted “Golden Triangle LEP” and we have a truly chaotic situation.

Owl wonders if these are circumstances in which to pursue a new HQ for EDDC at Honiton. Any proposal involving EDDC and avoiding building at Honiton can immediately claim to have made a minimum saving of £10 million plus interest payments, plus many associated costs – savings now being the mantra nowadays.

The relocation from Knowle could, in the above circumstances prove to be most expensive suicide note in the history of our district. And those EDDC members who waved through the move to Honiton, without the slightest idea of the cost, could in these circumstances be likened to turkeys voting for Christmas.

We have seen with the reorganisation in Dorset, that the reform and merger of local government authorities is very much in the air, and Dorset has been suggesting that the creation of two unitaries will lead to annual savings of many millions of pounds.

So it’s not surprising that things have gone very quiet with EDDC relocation. Firstly, there is local government reorganisation all around us and within our nearby city and the county. Secondly, the Pegasus deal for Knowle has seemingly gone very much on the back burner.

We have recently seen the formal separation – ‘decoupling’ – of the Exmouth Town Hall work from the Honiton proposal which seems to have had more to do with mothballing Honiton than it had to do with allowing Exmouth to proceed more quickly.

Work to refurbish Knowle is almost certainly millions of pounds cheaper than relocating. Plus, a new building in Honiton would immediately depreciate enormously on day one of occupation – 50% plus has been suggested.

Of course, PegasusLife could always put in a planning application for the Honiton site!

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30 Jan 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, EDDC, Exmouth, Freedom of Information Act, Honiton/ Gittisham, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury, Transparency

Knowle relocation costs: it’s up to us to check as councillors don’t get the information

And this is how we do it (whilst we have a Freedom of information Act):

“Dear East Devon District Council,

I would like to make a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I am also making this Request under the Environmental Impact Regulations 2004 which require disclosure on the part of Local Authorities.

Please let me have the costs to date of the Knowle relocation project, to include all preliminary pre “moving decision” costs, and subsequent costs of all work associated with the intended reallocation, including those at The Knowle, Manstone, the intended Honiton site and Exmouth Town Hall

I should also like to know the current projected costs of the Exmouth Town Hall move, (including all associated costs such as moving, staff compensation and travel costs and fitting out costs), and for Honiton and costs associated with the “mothballing” of various parts of the Knowle contingent upon the intended relocation of 90 staff to Exmouth.”

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/costs_to_date_of_knowle_bhonito?nocache=outgoing-618160#outgoing-618160

And if they say they can’t tell us how much it has cost so far …..

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27 Jan 2017

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Accountability, EDDC, Freedom of Information Act, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, PegasusLife, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury, Transparency

Just poor grammar in the Sidmouth Herald? …

In its piece on EDDC being forced to publish the PegasusLife contract for The Knowle, it concludes:

“… Mr Woodward had previously challenged EDDC in 2015 when it refused to comply with Freedom of Information requests, also on its relocation. The eight-month legal battle saw EDDC blasted as ‘discourteous and unhelpful’ and cost taxpayers £11,000 in lawyers’ fees.”

http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/revealed_how_eddc_reached_7_5m_deal_for_sidmouth_hq_1_4866174

What is not made crystal clear is that it was the JUDGE in the case – the judge in the case, Judge Brian Kennedy QC – who made this remark, not Mr Woodward.

In fact the full sentence read:

“Correspondence on behalf of the council, rather than ensuring the tribunal was assisted in its function, was at times discourteous and unhelpful including the statement that we had the most legible copies possible.”

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/judge-tells-east-devon-councillors-classified/story-26559459-detail/story.html

Sloppy, Sidmouth Herald, very, very sloppy.

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26 Jan 2017

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Accountability, Democracy, Development Management Committee, EDDC, Freedom of Information Act, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, PegasusLife, Scrutiny, Spin, Transparency

Save Our Sidmouth press release on PegasusLife contract

“PRESS STATEMENT

EA/2016/0279-0280 East Devon District Council v Information Commissioner

It is well over a year since Freedom of Information requests were made to have key EDDC documents published – the contract with developer Pegasus to buy the Knowle site and the agent’s report on the bidding process and sale.

EDDC refused to publish these, even after being told to by the Information Commissioner. But, now that the case has gone to Tribunal, it has decided to release the documents.

But why now?

What is very clear is that the release of the contract and agent’s report is happening only now that Pegasus’ planning application for Knowle has been considered.

As the EDDC press release makes clear: “With the PegasusLife planning application having been refused, it is considered that this sensitivity has now been reduced and that publication of the information is acceptable.”

And this is very much the point.

Not only was the leadership at EDDC keeping this ‘sensitive’ information from the public – it did not want its own Councillors to know what was in the contract and the bidding process. What is particularly alarming is that the leadership at EDDC hid these details from the planning committee (the DMC) before it made its decision over Knowle.

Looking at the details, the documents reveal the following:

> The agent warned that the development might be perceived by the planning committee as ‘over development’. As they said: “If this is the case, then the application may lead to refusal, delay or in the worst case prevent the relocation of the Council’s offices.”

> The agent also said that “Pegasus is not making any allowance for affordable housing or 106 contributions, as they are classing it as C2”. In other words, the plans were always about classifying the development as C2 (a care home) and not C3, which would mean paying for affordable housing.

> Finally, Pegasus were not prepared to offer significant ‘overage’ – meaning that EDDC would not be able to ‘claw back’ any excess profits Pegasus might make.

But what is particularly disturbing is what these documents reveal about how EDDC operates:

> From the outset, Planning Officers challenged the C2 designation and the scale of development and clearly wanted to give the site C3 status – but later they changed their mind and recommended approval of the Pegasus plans.

> In which case, the DMC have been totally vindicated in their decision to reject the planning application. But we only know this now that the contract and bidding process have been revealed.

> Had the Full Council been aware of the terms of the deal with Pegasus – for example, no significant overage – then then their approval of Pegasus as the ‘preferred developer’ might not have been forthcoming.

> The Information Commissioner insisted that EDDC reveal the contract and negotiations to the public. But what is particularly reprehensible is that the leadership at EDDC refused to reveal these crucial details to their own Councillors.

We now have to ask how the Council will respond – in particular, whether they will want some answers as to how the whole process was mismanaged.

And we have to ask why once again the leadership at EDDC continue to be so secretive in their dealings over the Knowle relocation project – and whether they are going to act on their promise to be truly open and transparent – with both the public and their own Councillors.”

http://futuresforumvgs.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/knowle-relocation-project-full-pegasus_26.html

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24 Jan 2017

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Accountability, Democracy, Development Management Committee, EDDC, Freedom of Information Act, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, Local Infrastructure and CIL, PegasusLife, Scrutiny, Section 106, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury, Transparency

“Knowle relocation project: full Pegasus contract published”

Some VERY VERY interesting information!

It seems that PegasusLife had no plans to pay any Section 106 contributions, or Community Infrastructure Levy.

The PegasusLife contract that would have been signed had the DMC not refused planning permission and the Savill’s report on how the company got it is detailed in full here:

http://futuresforumvgs.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/knowle-relocation-project-full-pegasus.html

Where further revelations are promised.

Sidmouth – indeed the whole district – should thank Jeremy Woodward, who worked tirelessly to get this information.

The Information Commissioner had to threaten EDDC with the possibility of being in contempt of court when they issued their Decision Notice forcing publication, after an appeal from EDDC that they should not be made to issue it or at least not without without so much redaction it would likely be pointless. EDDC had been planning to appeal the Information Commissioner’s Decision Notice but suddenly withdrew this action – presumably knowing it would not succeed.

EDDC then issued a press release saying that all the hours and hours they must have spent opposing publication “cost nothing” as it was only officer time.

Owl wonders which senior officers work for nothing!

This sorry tale should be examined by EDDC’s Scrutiny Committee forthwith.

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23 Jan 2017

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Accountability, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Freedom of Information Act, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, PegasusLife, Transparency

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EDDC forced to publish documents on Knowle relocation – again

Owl loves the EDDC description: “there were no costs to the taxpayer because they were all ‘internal’. Everything that happens at Knowle obviously costs us absolutely nothing!

“East Devon Council is to publish previously confidential documents relating to the sale of its HQ.

The action follows the authority’s decision to drop its appeal against a ruling by the Information Commissioner which ordered it to release the documents.

The information relates to the bidding process for the council site at Knowle, Sidmouth, and its contract with the buyer Pegasus Life.

The appeal followed requests for the information from Jeremy Woodward of the Save Our Sidmouth campaign group.

The council is planning to move its HQ from Sidmouth to sites in Honiton and Exmouth.

In December last year East Devon councillors rejected plans from Pegasus Life for 113 apartments for older people at the Knowle site.

The move has been opposed by Sidmouth town council and residents’ group who want to protect the land from development.

The commissioner criticised the council in 2015 over the way it had handled a Freedom of Information request from Mr Woodward made in 2013, relating to the proposed £7.5m sale. The council refused, Mr Woodward appealed, and the commissioner ordered the documents to be released.

The council said in a statement in November last year it lodged appeals for a second time against the Information Commissioner’s order to release information about the sale process because of the sensitivity of the information at that time.

It said: “With the PegasusLife planning application having been refused, it is considered that this sensitivity has now been reduced and that publication of the information is acceptable.

“In addition, the ICO, through the appeal process, has clarified that the council was right to question the way the decision was made and, as such, the council has now obtained much needed clarity on the position relating to the confidentiality of tendering processes, not just for Knowle, but for all its commercial activities.”

The council added paperwork relating to the sale up to September 2016 would be available on the relocation section of its website soon.

It said there had been no cost to East Devon taxpayers from the appeal process.

The statement said: “The council would like to reaffirm its commitment to publishing information relating to the relocation project as and when it is appropriate to do so. The next tranche of paperwork, which covers up to September 2016, should be available online very shortly.”

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/east-devon-council-to-release-previously-confidential-documents-about-sidmouth-hq-sale/story-30079396-detail/story.html

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16 Jan 2017

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Affordable and Social Housing, Austerity cuts, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation

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EDDC to see drop in income which may affect relocation funding

EDDC has been relying on the New Homes Bonus ( which can be spent on anything) to partly fund their relocation expenditure:

“Planned changes to the New Homes Bonus will have an adverse effect on communities, shrinking funding and reducing the incentive for new housebuilding, the District Councils Network has warned.

Responding to the provisional local government finance settlement for 2017-18, the DCN said its members will see a 5.2% cut to core spending power. This is compared with average cuts of 1.1% across local government, it stated.

Introduced by the coalition government, the New Homes Bonus aims to encourage local authorities to grant planning permissions for new housing in return for additional revenue.

In the settlement, the government outlined plans to divert funding from the NHB scheme to upper-tier councils to fund a growing crisis in adult social care.

DCN chair Neil Clarke said the plan essentially “robbing Peter to pay Paul”. It will strip out £75m from district council revenues and “risk destroying the link between economic growth and the funding of local public services”, he said.

Clarke added: “It is clear that district councils are taking the largest hit in spending power reductions between 2016/17 and 2017/18.”

Government plans will see a 0.4% baseline for housing growth introduced, under which councils will not receive any NHB. Clarke called this “unfair” because the idea had not been included in the original consultation on the bonus and “could not have been predicted”.

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10 Jan 2017

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Accountability, EDDC, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation

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EDDC leads the way in showing HMRC how to relocate!

Extra £600m needed to pay for taxman’s new offices

“Britain’s tax authorities will spend nearly £600 million more than they promised on an “unrealistic” plan to modernise and streamline their offices, a critical report has concluded.

The National Audit Office (NAO) found that Revenue & Customs was operating out of 170 properties, costing £269 million a year to run. But it warned that the cost of plans to modernise and rationalise into 13 regional centres had been significantly underestimated and said that the reorganisation would disrupt services.

Meg Hillier, chairwoman of the public accounts committee, said the NAO’s findings showed that “early over-optimism” had once again resulted in increased costs to taxpayers. The committee is expected to call HMRC officials to explain how the forecasts were so wrong.

The NAO said that since HMRC first announced its relocation plans in the 2015 spending review, costs had risen and the project would now cost £594 million more over the next decade — a rise of about 22 per cent.

The organisation had also accepted that its current plans, that would involve moving all staff into new offices by 2020, carried “too high a risk of disruption to its business”.

An updated plan is yet to be published and relocating to regional centres will now happen later than the HMRC had planned.

It will take longer before savings from the new estate are realised, the NAO said.

An HMRC spokesman said: “Our most recent calculations now include updated day-to-day running costs, additional investment in two transitional sites which will ease the move for both staff and customers, and provision for more support for our staff with the travel costs of moving to a new office.”

Source” Times Newspapers Limited 2017 (paywall)

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10 Jan 2017

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Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

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EDDC kicks out affordable housing on its own land in Sidmouth – using it for a third office site after relocation

Remember the old days, when EDDC said its move to a single new building in Honiton would save money?

Then it added an old, crumbling building in Exmouth (the Town Hall) neglecting to have a full survey before estimating the cost of refurbishment. Those refurbishment costs are now £1.669m, – £408,000 more than the original estimate.

Now we hear that, instead of providing 20 affordable houses on the Manstone Depot site in Sidmouth as set out in the local plan, EDDC has instead decided to build offices for its Estates Department and keep the Streetscene department there.

No costs appear to be in the public domain for this – which should form part of the relocation budget. And it begs the question: why is the Estates Department and Streetscene relocating to Manstone Depot rather than to the new site in Honiton? Is the Honiton site too small, or does EDDC have an antipathy to affordable housing in Sidmouth? Or is there some other more murky reason?

Or is it just that officers and councillors don’t want Streetscene vehicles and materials spoiling their view in Honiton?

Here is the story from Sidmouth Herald:

“East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) Manstone Depot is allocated for 20 homes in its Local Plan – but now the authority wants to keep its estates department in Sidmouth when it relocates to Exmouth and Honiton.

Its development management committee (DMC) has been recommended to approve the plans for a single-storey office block when it meets on Tuesday (January 10).

Jeremy Woodward, who has campaigned for transparency in the relocation project, said: “I am dismayed about what seems to be EDDC’s disregard for its own Local Plan – and promises of affordable housing which is much-needed in Sidmouth.

“This application is clearly very sensitive.

“Firstly, it is on a site reserved for housing in the Local Plan; and secondly, it is clearly part of the ‘larger picture’ of the district council’s relocation project.”

Mr Woodward submitted a Freedom of Information request in 2014 which revealed that EDDC’s housing service had made two conditional offers to build 25 homes on the Manstone Depot site. One had a mix of market and ‘affordable’ homes; the other was fully ‘affordable’.

The report to DMC members says the offices will be limited to one section of the site and housing could still be delivered on the remaining area. It adds, the departure from the Local Plan is not grounds to refuse the application.

The office building would act as a ‘hub’ for operations that already largely take place from the depot, which is used by the StreetScene team and for storage, adds the report.

An EDDC spokeswoman said: “The consolidation of Knowle Depot activities to our existing site at Manstone is an opportunity that results as part of the relocation project.

“The transfer of depot activities is an existing costed element of the relocation project and, as such, included within the independent and positive cost modelling of relocation.

“Manstone Depot continues to provide a base for a range of important services to Sidmouth and the wider district.”

http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/dismay_at_office_plan_on_sidmouth_site_allocated_for_affordable_homes_1_4838725

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9 Jan 2017

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Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, Regeneration

EDDC teaches the government a thing or two about reorganisation and relocation ?

Isn’t this rather like EDDC’s relocation and regeneration projects?

“Theresa May faces further criticism of her domestic policy in the face of Brexit pressures after it emerged that almost half of the staff in the newly created Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy admitted they did not know what the Whitehall office stands for.

The prime minister surprised many in Westminster when she combined business, energy and climate change to form BEIS. The move, one of several changes to the makeup of Whitehall, was aimed at bolstering the traditionally weak business department, and checking the dominance of the Treasury.

But as the business secretary, Greg Clark, prepares to launch the government’s industrial strategy later this month, it has emerged that almost half of his staff say they have no clear idea what BEIS stands for.

In a recent survey, carried out in the autumn, many of the staff based at two headquarters buildings in London showed little enthusiasm for the reorganisation.

About half (48%) of said they did not “have a clear understanding of BEIS’s purpose”; while 19% agreed that the organisational changes have been for the better. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/09/may-faces-criticism-of-brexit-vote-whitehall-restructuring-staff-department-for-business-energy-and-industrial-strategy

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30 Dec 2016

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Accountability, Councillor Cathy Gardner EDA, East Devon Alliance, EDDC, Knowle/Honiton/Exmouth relocation, PegasusLife, Transparency

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More Knowle shenanigans- East Devon Alliance leader on the warpath

“Questions remain over East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) relocation project – amid rising costs and claims of a lack of transparency.

The authority has been accused of pushing ahead with the move away from Sidmouth to Honiton and Exmouth ‘at any cost’ after it approved adding nearly £700,000 to the bill.

Councillor Cathy Gardner last week argued proper scrutiny of the project cannot be achieved as long as documents are not made public. She also raised concerns about members being asked to endorse decisions relating to a contract – between the would-be developer of Knowle and the council – they have not even seen.

In response, EDDC leader Paul Diviani said the contract with PegasusLife is ‘commercially confidential’, but admitted that the developer could potentially ‘renegotiate’ a price for the site after its bid to build a retirement community was refused.

At a full council meeting last Wednesday, Cllr Gardner accused Cllr Diviani of failing to answer her questions and pressed for an answer on whether the contract with PegasusLife has an expiry date. Cllr Diviani said: “We have to wait to hear from PegasusLife. They have the option of coming through with re-submission, or appealing, and we will see what happens there.

“We will work to get the best possible result we can, but if it happens that the deal falls apart, then we will move forward.”

Cllr Gardner asked for reassurance that the £7.5million PegasusLife has agreed to pay could not be renegotiated.

Cllr Diviani said: “If the circumstances are such, then quite obviously they will be able to renegotiate, but let’s not have speculation about what’s going to happen, let’s have a decent dialogue with PegasusLife so we know exactly where we are going from here.”

Cllr Diviani refuted claims that EDDC’s approach to transparency involves releasing only documents relating to relocation that ‘no-one is interested in seeing and holding on to the rest’.

He said: “Documents will be released in due course. They are coming through on a fairly regular basis and it does take time to pull them all together, but they will be expedited as soon as they possibly can.”

Resident Richard Thurlow spoke out about increased costs relating to the refurbishment of Exmouth Town Hall ahead of relocation – which, he says, would now cost more than renovating the existing Knowle offices.

He claimed that there was no detail or adequate rationale to explain the reasons for the increased costs.”

http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk/in-the-press/20161230/sidmouth-herald-fresh-concerns-voiced-over-eddcs-relocation-from-sidmouth/