Sent by a correspondent:
Couple of good pieces in the online Echo today which hopefully will transfer to the print version tomorrow.
First a report on the Telegraph blog:
And second a report on the News Statesman Hilary Mantel support:
Category Archives: Neil Parish
Devon’s answer to One Direction
Source:
Oh dear, when you have to bring in George Osborne, things are getting bad …..
‘Peoples’ Voice on Planning’ event has support from all but one Party!
About a hundred people from various parts of East Devon gathered on the lawn terraces at Knowle on Sunday afternoon 12th April to listen to speeches from parliamentary candidates and others about the national planning set-up.
The event was part of a nationwide Day of Action called for by Community Voice on Planning (Covop) and was organised by Covop trustees and Vision Group for Sidmouth.
Parliamentary candidates representing all parties, except the Conservatives ( from both the Honiton and Tiverton and the Devon East constituencies) gave their views on the national planning system and in particular the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
All of them promised reforms, mostly involving prioritising brownfield developments, protecting the countryside and building more affordable homes for local people. Conservative candidates were unable to attend and failed to respond to requests to send a written statement.
The first speaker was ex-judge Ian McKintosh, of East Devon Alliance and Covop. After reviewing the situation nationally and locally, he argued that local communities were being ignored in favour of developers.
Caroline Kolek, Labour candidate for Honiton and Tiverton, claimed that Labour would stop land-banking and prioritise brownfield sites. She shared her slot with Henry Brown, district councillor candidate for St Paul’s ward, Honiton,who made the case for more affordables for local young people.
Paul Edwards of the Green party and candidate for Tiverton and Honiton, said the countryside was our greatest resource and should be protected.
John Kelly, standing in for Andrew Chapman, UKIP parliamentary candidate for Devon East, who was indisposed, argued that the planning crisis was caused by EU regulations.
Stuart Mole, Liberal-Democrat candidate for Devon East, contended that the reforms recommended by the recent Communities and Local Government committtee should be immediately instated, for instance the proposal that all planning permissions be counted towards the 5-year land supply.
Claire Wright, Independent candidate for Devon East, put the blame for the massive increase in inappropriate development squarely on the government’s deregulation of the planning system and on the Local Council’s developer-bias and failure to produce a Local Plan.
Robert Crick, for Vision group of Sidmouth, read a litany of some of the inappropriate developments approved in the district in the past three years together with statistics provided by the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England. These included the prospect of about a thousand houses a year in East Devon until 2031.
A Covop petition, to be presented to the new government, was handed out along with a short guide to the planning system and suggested reforms. The petition is available online at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/covop2015
Is it appropriate for a developer to arrange a parliamentary candidates meeting for 15 people who bought their flats?
Anyone else think this is poor judgment on the part of candidates to accept an invitation to talk to just 15 of his leasehold occupiers about issues of the day?
“Issues affecting Devon’s older population were put firmly on the pre-election agenda at a special event in Honiton hosted by Churchill Retirement Living.
The specialist developer invited the local MP Neil Parish and representatives from each of the main political parties to meet with existing and prospective Owners at Holyshute Lodge in Honiton and address the issues important to them in a lively ‘Question Time’ style debate.
The events come on the back of a recent survey by the retirement developer, which found that three-quarters of over-60s believe they are “unseen and unheard” by the major political parties, while one in ten are so disenfranchised that they aren’t certain they’ll vote in this year’s general election.
Over 15 voters aged 60 and above attended the event to put their questions to Neil Parish MP (Conservative) and Labour candidate Caroline Kolek. Topics raised included the privatisation of the NHS, immigration and social care policy.”
Well, he would wouldn’t he!
Election candidate Neil Parish supports bid to make Devon more dementia friendly
Yes very nice, but would any prospective MP NOT do this?
Cost to him: nothing
Cost to government: nothing
Let’s see more on what he personally will do in government on the NHS, family carers and local government adult care services for people with, or caring for, those with dementia.
Reduced benefits, reduced respite care and stretched and cut-to-the-bone adult services throw these costs on to families and force charities to step in to fill the funding gaps.
Intermittent giving to charity is no substitute for guaranteed funding.
Psephology – the study of elections – is getting complicated!
MPs constituencies can be a very puzzling thing and can lead to strange results in elections, and especially the forthcoming district and Parliamentary elections which appear to be the most volatile for decades.
For example:
The East Devon constituency (current MP Hugo Swire) includes a chunk of inner Exeter (St Loyes) which comes under Exeter City Council and where your neighbours directly across the street have Ben Bradshaw (Labour) as their MP.
If you live somewhere like Stoke Cannon then your district council is East Devon but your MP is Mid-Devon’s Mel Stride.
If you live in the Tiverton and Honiton constituency, your MP (Neil Parish, farmer) has a totally rural community except for the coastal town of Seaton (with Axmouth and Beer) which has quite different problems to the rest of the constituency.
Uplyme, in the Tiverton and Honiton constituency and under East Devon District Council is geographically and psychologically closer to Lyme Regis (West Dorset)
Could be very interesting!
Hugo Swire ignores plea for more equitable treatment of Devon
Claire Wright asked Hugo Swire to speak up for more equitable treatment for Devon when the annual settlements for Authorities was debated on 10 February, citing many examples of how the county is treated as a “poor relation” compared to other areas, such as:
“The allowance for school children is £300 per head per year less than for children elsewhere. Will it be cut again? The council has said that the school crossings budget must be cut by £100,000 per year in the next two years.”
Mr Swire and Mr Parish did not speak in the debate and the settlement for Devon (and other authorities)was voted through by them without comment.
EDDC HQ will rely on digital services: MP Neil Parish says they aren’t available in rural areas and there may be “riots” there!
Says it all really. EDDC says they will increasingly rely on internet links to provide “services” and the local MP says they aren’t good enough and there may be “riots” in rural areas if they don’t improve!
” … Neil Parish] MP, speaking at a House of Commons hearing into the plan to ditch paper-based EU farming subsidy applications from next year, accused the quango delivering the £1.2 billion broadband programme of picking “easy cherries off the tree” in towns and cities
… Farming groups are livid over the move towards “digital by default” because of the poor broadband connections in the countryside
[He] said only around 8% of properties in his constituency are connected to super-fast broadband. The national target is 95% coverage by 2017 .
“… Questioning Chris Townsend, chief executive officer of BDUK, Mr Parish said: “Are you going to change your tactics and actually roll it out faster to those hard-to-reach rural villages? Otherwise there’s going to be a riot on your hands.”
East Devon Watch 