“Ministers ‘fail to measure impact’ of regional funds and local enterprise partnerships:

The government has made “no effort” to measure the impact made by organisations given £12 billion of public money to encourage regional growth, MPs have said.

England’s 38 local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) are run by boards “not representative of their local areas” that lack “scrutiny and accountability” for spending decisions, the public accounts committee said.

LEPs are voluntary partnerships between business leaders, academics and the public sector designed to give more power to regional decision makers to drive growth in their areas. They are supposed to tackle skills shortages, provide small business support and improve infrastructure and transport policy.

However, the spending watchdog said that the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which is supposed to oversee the partnerships, had not properly tracked the use of the funds the organisations were given. This is because the department does not evaluate the performance of the Local Growth Fund, the funding pot that the partnerships rely on.

A report published today concludes that the government “has made no effort to evaluate the value for money of nearly £12 billion in public funding, nor does it have robust plans to do so”. It receives quarterly performance data from LEPs, but value has not been measured.

LEPs are also blighted by overlapping geographical boundaries, which “dilutes accountability and responsibility”, while a lack of capacity within the organisations has caused them to underspend their funding allocations by more than £1 billion over the past three years. This called into question their ability to deliver complex projects, the committee said.

Concerns were also raised at a lack of expected private sector funding that was supposed to boost the impact of the partnerships.

Concerns were previously raised that a lack of oversight had given rise at some partnerships to secretive cultures, misuse of funds and cronyism.

The government asked the local partnerships to improve local scrutiny of investment decisions and the public accounts committee said that there had been improvements. However, it said there was “still a long way to go for all LEPs to reach the rigorous standards we expect”.

The government told the committee that enterprise partnerships “are not resourced sufficiently to respond to high levels of scrutiny and, as such, the department needs to prioritise what it asks LEPs to commit to”.

Meg Hillier, committee chairwoman, said: “LEPs are supposed to be an engine room of local economic growth but have been dogged by a lack of accountability and there is little evidence that they have levered in the promised private sector funds.”

A ministry spokesman said: “We continue to work with LEPs across England to further improve standards and ensure value for money.”

Source: The Times, pay wall

Boris says today he is against a sugar tax as there is no evidence it works and may hit “the poor” hardest.

Compare and contrast with his time as Mayor of London:

Just one question: who appointed her? Shouldn’t they take the blame for poor selection techniques? After all, they had known her for many years in another senior role. Perhaps they should be reviewing their selection process …..

“Great, well thank you for coming in for your exit interview, Mrs May. I know you’ve got a few weeks left to work out your notice but I’m sure you’re winding down now and not planning to do anything major.

And finally, any advice for your replacement? It’s not as easy as you made it look . . . Careful who your chancellor is, they’ll be your next-door neighbour . . . and salt is good for red wine stains. Right, thanks. Great. Good luck.”

Source: The Times (pay wall)

Exmouth community home page:

Boris Johnson in Italy with his mistress (he’s not yet divorced) in Italy earlier this month (correction: earlier this year – March 2019]:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9370973/boris-johnson-italian-holiday-girlfriend-carrie-symonds-row/

Move on, nothing to see here, move on:

The frighteningly prescient monologue by actress Anne Reid, who brilliantly plays the matriarch in the final episode of the BBC series ‘Years and Years’ – a must-see for anyone who fears for the future:

With students all over Devon, including Exeter, protesting about the need to take action on the climate crisis:

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/another-student-climate-change-protest-3002524

when will our council declare a climate emergency? Let’s see what its GEP partners are doing:

West Devon did so on 22 May after its change of leadership:
https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/west-devon-borough-council-new-2896283

Mid Devon will make a decision next week:
https://www.devonlive.com/news/local-news/residents-urged-touch-help-combat-3002268

Exeter City Council us thinking about it but has yet to make a declaration:
https://www.devonlive.com/news/exeter-wants-declare-climate-emergency-2951665

Is it just a coincidence that the two councils which will build most houses under the Greater Exeter Strategy Plan are dragging their heels?

The so-called Council Chamber is a disaster:

Now “hot desking” – also a feature of the HQ – is rubbished:

Or mYbe both were hard-headed decisions to make councillors, public and staff more uncomfortable!

Midweek Herald today:

Another Carter family business area … with their caravan park there getting bigger and bigger …

“Just 63% of Britain’s beaches meet most stringent water quality standard.
The UK has one of the lowest proportions of top quality bathing waters in Europe, according to research by the European Environment Agency.

“Our report confirms that … efforts over the last 40 years, mainly in wastewater treatment, have paid off. Today, most Europeans enjoy excellent bathing water quality,” said Hans Bruyninckx, the EEA’s executive director.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/04/tackle-inequality-land-ownership-laws?

MORTEN CARTOON

“Boris Johnson has pocketed nearly £700,000 for speeches and newspaper columns since he quit government less than a year ago, while other prominent Brexiters have received tens of thousands of pounds while cheerleading Britain’s exit from the EU.

The former foreign secretary, who is the frontrunner to succeed Theresa May as prime minister next month, was paid £407,895 for just eight speaking engagements – a rate of £20,000 an hour.

His most recent paid speeches, disclosed in the register of MPs’ financial interests on Wednesday, included a £25,540 insurance brokers’ gig in Manchester where he confirmed his Tory leadership bid on 16 May. …”

On top of his £407,000 for speeches, the Tory MP resumed his £275,000 a year Telegraph contract and received a further £3,500 for four other newspaper articles, plus £27,000 in book royalties, taking his total income to £712,500 – almost 10 times his yearly MP’s salary of £79,000 for representing Uxbridge and South Ruislip in parliament.

Johnson’s best-paying gig was a speech about Brexit for India Today at the five-star Taj Palace hotel in New Delhi, India, for which he received £122,899.74 in March. He used that address to attack Brussels and critics of Britain’s departure from the EU, which he described as an “anti-democratic, over-legislating, job-destroying machine”.

Should Johnson become prime minister, he will have to forfeit his substantial second income and survive on the basic salary of £150,402 for the top job in government. The ministerial code prohibits those in government from being paid for speeches or media articles “of an official nature or which directly draw on their responsibilities or experience as ministers”.

However, upon leaving office they are free, within reason, to cash in on their role. Payments of over £100 must be registered every 28 days with the parliamentary commissioner for standards, who then publishes a fortnightly register of all MPs’ financial interests. …

One of the most prominent backbench Eurosceptics, Jacob Rees-Mogg, has received more than £28,000 for columns and media appearances since the referendum. The Tory MP, who chairs the influential European Research Group, was paid in champagne for one speech by Global Media, the owner of LBC radio where he hosts a fortnightly phone-in. The register of interests, first disclosed in April, states that he “received 12 bottles of champagne with a total value of £323.52”.

Dominic Raab, another former Brexit secretary, was paid nearly £11,000 for newspaper columns since the EU referendum, not including the five months he was in government. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/06/boris-johnson-got-700000-for-speeches-and-columns-mps-register-shows?

New “mini-villages” are being planned throughout Greater Exeter, with East Devon’s being concentrated in the commuter belt just outside the Exeter City area.

Owl is struck by the similarity of the design of one mini-village in Exeter (close to the football stadium) to the design of squaddie accommodation at the Marine Conmmando base in Lympstone and student accommodation in Exeter.

Is this what we should expect “Greater Exeter” to look like in future?

New bed block for Lympstone Commando base:

New flats for “new mini-village in Exeter:

and student accommodation in Exeter:

I am the East Devon resident who now has answers to my question of May 24th on growth and the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan, thanks to Owl. Philip Skinner (conservative) and Susie Bond (independent) will represent EDDC.

So, East Devon’s future housing growth will still remain in the hands of Philip Skinner, he of the “22 ft extending mahogany board room table” fame. He who “put forward the idea of developing a regionally or nationally significant sports arena and concert venue within the GESP area.” (where?? more grade 1 agricultural land?)  He who has spent £285,305, and counting, of council tax money , as Chairman of Exmouth Regeneration Board , for the fun park in Queen’s Drive, Exmouth.

He, who is on the board of directors of the Exeter Science Park- a network of professionals experienced in a range of sectors, from finance to property, technology to business. His c.v. for that board boasts

“Councillor responsibilities include being portfolio holder to both the economy and development management and he also represents EDDC on the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan (GESP) steering group. He is Chairman of the Exmouth Regeneration Board and is very much at the forefront of place shaping for not only EDDC but for the region.”

Additionally, Mr Skinner’s other district duties stretch him in to other areas such as; A member of the Heart of the South West LEP Joint Committee, The Exeter and Heart Of Devon Growth Board, Joint Advisory Reference Group, and the Greater Exeter Strategic Sports Board” (unless he has been removed from any of these posts – they still remain on his Register of Interests).

Ms. Bond , EDDC councillor for Feniton, has fought tooth and nail for Feniton, its flooding issues and over- development problems over the years.

So whose view will be heard on the GESP?

I didn’t vote independent at the district election for the same old faces and with that the same old growth policies. And I am sure I am not the only one.

Speaking with his Vice President (unpaid), Public Monuments and Sculptures Association hat on:

“Seeing as we are all in the business of burnishing our thespian credentials this morning, may I refer back to the time at my little-known secondary school when I was a very convincing Badger in “Toad of Toad Hall”? It was somewhat safer to be badger in those days.

Will the Minister ensure that in the event of a foreign purchaser refusing a matching offer, an absolute ban on future export can be enforced by compelling him or her to keep the item on display in a recognised public institution and pay any insurance, rather than expecting Government indemnity?”

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2019-05-23a.799.3