Ignore the name in the link – this is about over-development in Dawlish causing sewers to overflow – today Dawlish, tomorrow almost anywhere in East Devon:
“… [South West Water] aid there was no “quick fix” because the problems at Secmaton Lane and Secmaton Rise were complex and the site had seen “considerable new development”.
“A manor house near Exeter that is one of the region’s oldest has been sold to a Chinese investor for £2 million.
Canonteign Manor is a restored Grade I listed 16th century manor with views over the Teign Valley on the edge of Dartmoor.”
“Despite widespread anxiety about a shortage of housing supply, there are 610,123 empty homes in England, according to the government. Of these, 205,821 have been unoccupied for six months or more, the official definition of “long-term” emptiness. …”
The number if empty homes in the South West is given as 2,457,713 of which 18,550 are classed as “long-term” empty (that is empty for more than six consecutive months).
“… Riba [Royal Institute of British Architects] singled out two of the leading housebuilders as the worst offenders. From a sample of new three-bedroom homes surveyed, it found Barratt homes were on average 6.7sq metres smaller than minimum space standards and Persimmon homes were on average 10.8sq m too small – about the size of a double bedroom.
“Tiny rabbit-hutch new-builds should be a thing of the past,” said Riba president Jane Duncan. “But, sadly, our research shows that, for many people, a new home means living somewhere that’s been built well below the minimum space standard needed for a comfortable home. The government must take action to ensure a fairer minimum space standard is applied to all new homes across the country. …
… It highlighted Persimmon’s Staynor Hall development in Selby, North Yorkshire, where it found the “Hanbury” three-bedroom two-storey house has a floor area of 70.7sq m when the government standard says a three-bedroom house for a family of five should be at least 93sq m. …
… Riba has identified another squeeze on housing space: the conversion of office buildings to homes allowed as a result of a 2013 relaxation in planning laws. Last year, 20,000 such homes were built, but the lack of regulations means they can be among the smallest available.
“Across the country, two-person ‘apartments’ of less than 14sq m (the size of a typical bedroom) are being delivered,” Riba’s report states. “Under the national space standard, the minimum floor area for any new home is 37sq m – almost three times the size.” … .”
It can happen anywhere.
“A former employee of West Sussex County Council who set up fake social enterprises to defraud the authority of more than £91,000 has been given a 30-month prison sentence.
Pepe Chisenga, 54, of Little Corner, Waterlooville, Hampshire, was a senior contracts officer in the drug and alcohol team at West Sussex in October 2012.
She engineered service level agreements with the social enterprise companies, of which she was a director.
… On the face of it they appeared to be legitimate companies but in fact offered no service to the council, employed no real people and were based at ‘mail drop’ addresses. This evidence was key in showing that the money was put into numerous bank accounts and spent on personal expenditure.”
“SENIOR managers rewrote a report that controversially called for a 50 percent cut in funding to the Grand Western Canal, without his input, the portfolio holder responsible for grants to community organisations has said.
Mid Devon District Council’s community well-being policy group met this afternoon to discuss plans to reduce the council’s support for the attraction from £45,000 to £22,500 next year and withdrawing financial support completely in the following year.
Supporters of the canal spoke at the meeting to express their concerns at the impact such a dramatic cut in funding would have.
Adam Pilgrim, who was a member of the Canal Awareness Group which ceased to exist earlier this year, told assembled councillors: “You would be doing the community a great disservice if you implement the recommendation.”
Cllr Slade said: “Last year I was involved in the decision-making process and I suggested concern about a few elements and some of the suggested changes were made, but I wasn’t involved this year and by the time I raised concerns, the document was in the public domain. …
… He claimed the document was rewritten by the council’s senior management and he could not make a recommendation to cabinet to support the current proposals. “I have serious reservations about the cuts, including to the Grand Western Canal,” he said.
Cllr Bob Deed, who formerly held the same cabinet post, and said he had some experience of the challenge of making reductions to the funding of worthy causes, said: “I am absolutely disgusted with the fact the cabinet member has not had any opportunity to be involved in the discussion of this paper. It’s autocratic.”
“The Swindon Labour Group Leader, Councillor Jim Grant, has criticised the decision of Swindon Council Leader, Councillor David Renard, for granting Moirai more time to start with the Oasis redevelopment. This decision was taken through a Cabinet Member Briefing Note, which consulted the Leaders of the Political Groups and the Councillors of Rodbourne Cheney Ward which covers the Oasis site. The Labour Group Leader had urged the Cabinet Member for Economic Development to take any decision on the Oasis to a Cabinet Meeting where a decision could be taken in an open and transparent way but this call was ignored and the Leader of the Council signed off the Briefing Note in August.
In July, it was discovered that Moirai had breached its development agreement with the Council by failing to obtain approval for a planning master plan of the development by the contractual deadline, March 13th 2014, and because of Moirai’s shell company, MW Contract Services Ltd (formerly Oasis Operations Ltd), going in to liquidation. Last month it was revealed that the shell company owed £850,000 to creditors at the time of its liquidation, including local small businesses like Storm Recruitment, based in Commercial Road, which is owed £4,721, and Carlton Services in Old Town, which is owed more than £2,000.
Following the briefing note being agreed, Moirai now have had the following targets set:
All remaining works to the Oasis Leisure Centre be completed by no later than 31st March 2015 and the works commence no later than 31st October 2014
A planning application with associated masterplan be submitted by no later than 31st May 2015
The backstop date for Moirai securing detailed planning consent for the scheme now is 31st January 2016;
The Swindon Labour Group Leader, Councillor Jim Grant, said:
“I am very disappointed with this decision, not only because I think that after Moirai failed to meet their targets in the development agreement it is time for the Council to break from the development agreement, but also because of the way the Leader of the Council has taken this decision behind closed doors.
We already know that Moirai’s shell company owed near to a million pounds to its creditors, before it went in to liquidation and with the economy growing as it has there isn’t any excuse as to why there have been so many problems other than because of Moirai’s poor management.
And, make no mistake, the land the Council is agreeing to give away to Moirai is worth millions of pounds so to give it away to a company whose record so far has been very disappointing, doesn’t make sense. What we should be doing is looking for another private provider to take over the running of this development who has a proven track record on delivering on large schemes such as this one.
This whole saga really does remind me of the council’s involvement in the Wi-Fi scheme several years ago where the Council made decisions involving large amounts of council-taxpayers money. With decisions being taken behind closed doors and the Conservative administration failing to realise when it is time for the Council to walk away from a company that has failed to deliver.”
14 November 2015
from 11.00 – 12.30 in
All Saints Church Hall, Exeter Road, Exmouth.
This open meeting is for people to chat with EDA Councillors.
Note that in the article below, Moirai Capital actually mentions relatively small-scale REFURBISHMENT projects (of £1.7 m and £3.5m) NOT large-scale development projects. The North Shields venue was bought from liquidators and refurbished and the Oasis Centre was already owned by Swindon Council and refurbished – the rest of the site has had many delays (see links below) and Moirai only recently put in for outline planning permission for a £120m extension of the sitejust before a final deadline loomed. It was a condition of the new site that the Oasis was first refurbished.
Here is the press release:
“THE developer behind plans for the £18m redevelopment of Exmouth seafront has hit back at criticism from opponents of the scheme.
Pressure group Save Exmouth Seafront has questioned whether developer Moirai Capital Investments has the track record to be capable of delivering the scheme.
It claims several similar high-profile leisure projects the company has previously been involved with in recent years have failed to pass the planning stage.
The group warned East Devon councillors during a meeting at the Knowle that two of the developer’s previous planned projects – including one in Torquay – failed to come to fruition.
But Moirai has told the Echo that the transformation of Exmouth’s Queen’s Drive seafront site is fully on track.
And Chris Lewis, Moirai Project leader, said the firm was delighted to be involved in the project.
He said the projects that did not proceed past the planning stages elsewhere had ended on mutual terms between the company and local council.
And successful projects cited by Mr Lewis include the £3.5m refurbishment of the Oasis centre in Swindon and a £1.7m refurbishment project in North Shields, Newcastle.
Mr Lewis said: “We are delighted to be involved in this exciting regeneration of the seafront at Exmouth, and although our design has been proposed, we look forward to public consultation to further improve and tailor it to the requirements of the town and to increase the number of visitors attending.
“This proposal will complement the new water sport facility being developed.
“Separate development companies are industry practice in regeneration projects to limit risks of other projects and protect each individual project. In all regeneration cases we have worked in association with the local councils’ support, and if projects have not proceeded this has always been with mutual consent.”
He added: “We are optimistic in creating a fabulous development that the town will be proud of and that will generate new jobs and longer staying visitors. All of this will enhance the tourism offer that Exmouth can provide.”
Save Exmouth Seafront chairman Denis O’Day said: “From our research the proposed developer Moirai seems incapable of taking on a project of this size and complexity and I would urge all councillors to really examine this more objectively.”
A spokesman for East Devon District Council said it went through “an appropriate procurement and assessment process with seven interested parties” before settling on the company.
East Devon Watch covered the group’s interests in Swindon on 25 July 2015 here:
It is also covered here:
http://www.talkswindon.org/index.php?topic=9252.30;wap2
and here, where it was criticised for missing deadlines:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-29116141
Outline planning permission has only recently been sought:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-29116141
The North Shields water park to which they refer above was NOT developed by them but bought in May 2014 from a company which went into liquidation:
http://www.thejournal.co.uk/business/business-news/wet-n-wild-sold-leisure-7151331
On 12 August 2014 (after the purchase had been finalised on 4 August 2014 and Moirai had appointed Serco to run it) the facility was closed after users reported “breathing and sickness problems” traced to faulty air conditioning equipment and re-opened the next day:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-28753449
However, as East Devon District Council has confirmed that it chose Morai from a range of 7 interested parties we can no doubt assume that the agreements in our district will be watertight and that we will get best value.
Please note that attendance at this event requires pre-registration – details below:
Saturday, 21st November 2015
10.30am-2pm
at
Kentisbeare Village Hall, Cullompton, EX15 2AB
‘Food, Farming & The Countryside’
A CPRE Devon seminar & light lunch with our special guest speakers:
Neil Parish MP, Tiverton & Honiton
John Sheaves, CEO Taste of the West Andrew Butler, NFU Devon County Adviser
RSVP Rosemary Jessel, CPRE Devon Events Co-ordinator Tel:01409 241409 cpredevonevents@gmail.com
Kentisbeare Village Hall is just 3 miles from the M5 Junction 28 (Cullompton) exit.
Roads in Cranbrook are not yet ” adopted” by DCC and EDDC. Police cannot therefore enforce parking or speed restrictions:
“There are concerns that some councils are failing to use powers available under highways regulations, which require builders to complete works.
Councils can ask builders to sign a Section 38 Agreement, under the Highways Act 1980, to ensure that the roads are built to an acceptable standard and will eventually be adopted. They are backed with a bond to cover the cost of the work in case it is not completed, or the builder goes out of business.
… “Councils can serve a notice, called a Section 220 notice, which gives them the power to prosecute a developer if the work is not guaranteed, but the fine limit is set at £1,000.
“Unfortunately, the level of the fine is only a small deterrent when compared to the value of a housing site,” said a St Helens Council spokesman.
Jim Codd of The Resident Adoption Action Group supports homeowners in this situation. He says he is aware of around 100 roads across England and Wales where work has been left incomplete and says there may be many more out there.
“There are problems all over the country,” he told the programme.
“But as it stands there is no legislation to force developers to get new roads adopted by the council.”
Even where these agreements are signed, residents have to rely on a council enforcing them when work is left unfinished. “
Perhaps councillors would like to check whether EDDC has entered into such agreements in Cranbrook and elsewhere and, if so, what it is doing to enforce them.
This is Totnes, but it could be anywhere where there are rich pickings for developers:
“The most reasonable jobs-led (policy-on) scenario is therefore CR2 & EA2, using the DCLG 2012 headship rates. This leads to a dwellings requirement of 723 per year (13,014 over the plan period).
There is a further element which has not been sensitivity-tested, which is the 549 jobs number calculated in the Ash Futures paper in Feb 2015 (psd2015e). This relies on an over-optimistic calculation of job creation at the Exeter & East Devon Growth Point, particularly the major sites at the Science Park, Skypark and Intermodal facility. I raised queries about this at the hearing in July.
The Skypark Development Partnership (Representor 7169) stated in their representations that job development has been slow: “the reality therefore is that it has taken 5 years to secure the first B1/2 occupier on the site suggesting the site will take at least 20 years to complete”.
We also heard at the July hearing that development of the Intermodal facility has stalled and is unlikely to come forward in the near future, and alternative uses may need to be found.
Therefore the job creation at the Growth Point is very likely to be lower than that predicted in the Ash Futures paper, and the total number of jobs is likely to be less than 549/year which has been used in all the Edge Analytics scenarios.
The number of 723 dwellings / year should therefore be regarded as an upper limit, and a realistic figure would be lower than that.
I therefore disagree with the Council’s continued use of the housing requirement figure of 950/year, which is not supported by the evidence.”
http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/1330903/hh2015a-cpre-comments-sep-2015_redacted.pdf
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/east_devon_district_council
Hint: the more transparent you are, the fewer Freedom of Information requests people make.
Cabinet papers for 7 October 2015 are here:
http://eastdevon.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/committees-and-meetings/cabinet/cabinet-agendas/
Warning: they took a long time to load. This snippet from the papers, on the new joint IT company might explain why, though it must be stressed that the majority of this presentation is gung-ho positive:
Page 22 of Cabinet papers:
Nasty such surprises so far… [regarding the IT amalgamation]:
“- Civic Centre datacentre powersupply not available
– Oakwood data centre noise, power, floor strength…
– Resignation of Teignbridge Street name and numbering person
– Virgin Networks delays inconnecting sites
– Microsoft licence complexity results in extra costs
– Effort required to keep existing systems going
– Changes to accounting rules “
and one slightly worrying point, given the recent publicity about massive fraud at Exeter City Council:
“Services signing off IT invoices without discussion – missed opportunities for negotiation”
and a rather worrying minute from the Scrutiny Committee which appears to suggest that the costs of running last year’s (somewhat bungled) elections are to be kept out of the public domain, where they belong:
“Election funding financial statement
The Committee had previously received a financial statement as requested, following a report by the Chief Executive to the July meeting on the local elections in May.
Councillor Ranger re-iterated her point that when election scenarios are rare, in this case with all three elections, it was important to fully review the process, which included the costs.
The Democratic Services Officer advised the committee of the continued work on the preparation of the detailed accounts. She recommended that, once complete, the accounts could be viewed by any Member and, if there was still concern, explore further through the scrutiny channels if the Committee agree to pursue this.
Councillor Ranger asked if the prepared accounts could show the cost of reprinting the postal ballot issue and report this figure back to the Committee.”
and an interesting statistic on page 67:
The ” annual” canvassing of electors produced a 52.06% return of printed forms, 6.01% return for telephone canvassing, 8.4% online and 3.24% by text.
That seems to knock the ide of only telephone canvassing on the head.
And finally the last page (68) of 9 “happy clappy” bullet points contains no less than 5 of them extol the virtues of the constantly loss-making Thelma Hulbert Gallery, including a donation of £2,500 from Councillor Diviani’s Locality Budget to improve its gardens well, you will need to have somewhere to eat your sandwiches when you are at the new EDDC HQ on the industrial estate!
“Charlotte Johnson Wahl, the artist and mother of Boris Johnson, says: …
… “I’ve never voted Tory in my life. My parents were very socialist – rich socialists with three cars and two houses, but they were socialists in the days when that happened.”
source: Huffington Post UK reporting Radio Times article
“On Day One, the book claims that:
Mr Cameron was a member of a ‘dope smoking group’ called the Flam Club at Oxford University;
Cocaine was later allowed to circulate at his and his wife’s London home;
Mr Cameron was also in a debauched Oxford society that specialises in ‘bizarre rituals and sexual excess’;
The book reports a source who claims that during Mr Cameron’s initiation ceremony he ‘put a private part of his anatomy’ into a dead pig’s mouth. Furthermore, the source claims to have seen photographic evidence;
Lynton Crosby, the pollster who guided the PM to electoral victory, privately thinks he is a ‘tosser’ and ‘posh ****’.”
“The BBC is to offer staff and content to local newspapers and allow rival shows to be seen on its iPlayer catch-up service as part of a multimillion-pound reshaping of the corporation designed to head off government attempts to reduce its output.”
But will any of those “happy, clappy, never mind the content, feel the advertising” local “newspapers” (they know who they are) be up to publishing REAL news?
