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7 Sep 2016

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Public parks face decline and neglect says Heritage Lottery Fund

“The UK’s hugely popular public parks face falling into decline and neglect as a result of budget cuts, a new report warns.

Park use is rising, with 57% of adults now visiting their park once a month or more, while 90% of families with children under five head to their local green space at least monthly, the State of UK Public Parks 2016 study reveals.

But the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) study warns a decline in the condition of parks predicted in a first report in 2014 is set to continue, with almost all park managers experiencing ongoing cuts as austerity squeezes local authority budgets.

Some 92% of park managers had seen budgets cut and 95% were facing more reductions, a worsening of the situation since 2014, according to a survey of 193 councils as part of the report.”

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/07/uks-public-parks-face-decline-and-neglect-heritage-lottery-fund-report

Unfortunately, you won’t find the funds for flogging off part of the Knowle parkland for luxury pensioner apartments making its way to the remaining parkland. That’s all on its way to the new council HQ in Honiton.

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East Devon Watch

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13 Jul 2016

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EDDC, Public Open Space

“Help support Love Parks Week in East Devon” (except the ones they want to build on!)

Love which parks? The elephant in the park – Knowle, of course! And no events at all in Honiton, Seaton, Ottery St Mary or Axminster – only Sidmouth (Connaught Gardens) and Exmouth (Phear Park and Manor Park)!

“Enjoy lots of fun activities in parks across East Devon from 15 to 24 July
As part of the nationwide Love Parks Week 2016 initiative, which is taking place from 15 July to 24 July, East Devon District Council is running a number of fun and exciting events at its parks across the district.

Activities for children and families, such as circus skills, arts and crafts and giant garden games will be taking place at Phear Park and Manor Gardens in Exmouth and in Connaught Gardens in Sidmouth.

Love Parks week 2016 is a nationwide initiative that aims to get everybody outdoors, enjoying the beautiful parks and green spaces in communities up and down the country. All East Devon’s events can be found on http://www.facebook.com/eastdevon and on Twitter – just search for @streetsceneops

Anyone requiring further information can contact StreetScene on 01626 226960 or email: streetsceneops@eastdevon.gov.uk”

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East Devon Watch

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6 Jul 2016

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Cranbrook, Public Open Space

When does a park become an “ecology park”? When it’s in Cranbrook!

“We are currently being consulted on the following planning applications:
16/1007/MRES (access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale, for the construction of 134 dwellings, highway infrastructure, including highway access from London Road/B3174 and associated landscaping works at the land north of London Road and east of Royal Court)
…
16/1235/MRES (access, appearance, landscape, layout and scale for the construction of an Ecology Park and drainage basins at the Ecology Park land east of Cranbrook Education Campus)”

The “drainage basin” sounds just a bit ominous – let’s hope the ecology isn’t drained away with its first flood!

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

6 Apr 2016

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Asset Management Group, EDDC, Public Open Space

Green spaces in Easy Devon – for how much longer?

EDDC Asset Management Meeting,

Thursday 7 April, 9.30a.m,

includes an update on the ‘green space strategy’….. could be a prelude to all sorts of things.

Agenda:

Click to access 070416amfcombinedagenda.pdf

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East Devon Watch

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2 Apr 2016

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Developers/ Development, Education (local), Infrastructure, Public Open Space

Academies: land grab “like the dissolution of the monasteries”

Councils decry government’s academy schools ‘land grab’
Sally Weale Education correspondent, and Rebecca Ratcliffe, the Guardian:

“Councils opposed to government plans to force all schools to become academies have raised concerns about what has been described by some as a land grab reminiscent of “the dissolution of the monasteries”.

Under current arrangements, when schools become academies they lease the land from local authorities. The new plans, however, will see all school land transferred directly to the education secretary, Nicky Morgan, who will then grant leases to academy trusts.

The government says the controversial change has been made in order to speed up the process of academy conversion by avoiding time-consuming negotiations over land, but critics are concerned it represents a major handover of local authority land worth billions of pounds.

Councillor Angela Mason, the cabinet member for children on Camden council in north London, said: “The government will own all the educational land. I don’t see how they will be able to deal with it all. It’s quite an extraordinary power to take. It reminded me of the dissolution of the monasteries.

“We are very concerned. Land in Camden is extremely valuable. There’s no mechanism by which we can be sure it will not be sold off for whatever reason. Those decisions will be made by the government and unelected trusts.
“I feel quite strongly it’s our land. It’s the people’s land. It’s quite wrong that this enormously valuable asset goes to government and then on to unelected, unaccountable organisations.”

The plans are outlined in the government’s recent white paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, which says all schools are to be taken out of local authority control and will have to become academies in the next six years in order to raise standards.

On the land exchange, the document says: “The majority of academies currently lease their land from local authorities, typically over a 125-year lease. “To speed up the process of academy conversion and ensure that land issues do not get in the way of improving schools, when a local authority’s community schools convert to academy status, land held by the authority for those schools will transfer to the secretary of state, who will then grant a lease to the academy trust.

“We will also take steps to ensure that the wider education estate is safeguarded for future provision, and that the existing school estate can be used more easily for new schools and expansions where applicable.”

Roy Perry, a Conservative councillor and chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young people board said he believed the government was acting with good intentions, but added: “These are assets that have been looked after, protected and at times enhanced with investment by the council tax payers in a particular area. One can question whether it is fair to take those assets away from the people who have invested in them and looked after them for many years.”

There were also concerns about the cost of transferring school land, he said. “I’ve been advised in our council that the legal costs alone of arranging the transfer is something like £15k a go. We’ve got 200 such schools, so that’s quite a lot of money. Whether this is a process to try to do all in one swoop [we don’t know], but transferring land is obviously a complicated process so it certainly won’t be easy and whatever route they chose it could be very expensive … We seriously question whether they [the government] have actually got the resources.”

The Local Government Association, which represents councils across the country, has said it is opposed to the decision to strip local authorities of the ownership of school land.

Judith Blake, the leader of Leeds city council, said: “I don’t think the public is aware of this. There are many implications following on from this, not least the value of the land which in the city of Leeds could be over the billion mark.

“We are talking significant land holdings. It’s quite eye-watering. It’s taking local assets away from local people, moving them out of democratic control into a central pot. It has all sorts of possible ramifications.
“How would we ensure that local communities would have access to the playing fields which we have joint agreements on? These are all unknowns. We really need to get underneath and ask questions.

“We are talking with other councils across the country. These are the issues we will be looking at, trying to understand the implications of the proposal.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Education responded to concerns by saying: “We have clear safeguards in place that mean academies cannot sell or change the use of publicly funded school land without consent from the secretary of state and these proposals will not change that – it is disingenuous to suggest otherwise.

“The proposals on school land in the white paper are simply about removing obstacles to schools becoming academies, and there are too many cases where negotiations over the use of land delay this process.”

The shadow education secretary, Lucy Powell, said: “This land grab by central government will have local people up in arms. Not content with forcing all primary and secondary schools to become academies, the Tories’ are intent on taking school land from local communities across England in the process.

“Labour will oppose this costly top-down forced reorganisation of all schools which is unwanted and unnecessary.”

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/apr/01/councils-decry-governments-academy-schools-land-grab

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

18 Feb 2016

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EDDC, Exmouth, Moirai Exmouth project, Public Open Space

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The privatisation of public spaces – a fast-growing threat

” … Our parks are in the midst of a funding crisis which will almost certainly see the commercial world take another step inside our public space. Despite the widely recognised benefits that parks provide – in terms of health and wellbeing, social cohesion and biodiversity, as well as protection against flooding and defence against pollution – there is no national body to protect them and no statutory requirement for councils to pay for them.

Local authorities have subsequently announced huge cuts to park budgets – 50% in Liverpool, and more than 60% in Newcastle. Others seek alternative sources of funding that threaten the integrity of public space, like Go Ape or Winter Wonderland. These range from the mildly irritating – the Chinook helicopter that hovered over my nearest park filming James Bond for several hours in the middle of the night last summer – to the potentially devastating, such as in Bexley, where the council is selling off at least four of its open spaces.

More will follow. Our parks are in the midst of a funding crisis which will almost certainly see the commercial world take another step inside our public space. Despite the widely recognised benefits that parks provide – in terms of health and wellbeing, social cohesion and biodiversity, as well as protection against flooding and defence against pollution – there is no national body to protect them and no statutory requirement for councils to pay for them.

Local authorities have subsequently announced huge cuts to park budgets – 50% in Liverpool, and more than 60% in Newcastle. Others seek alternative sources of funding that threaten the integrity of public space, like Go Ape or Winter Wonderland. These range from the mildly irritating – the Chinook helicopter that hovered over my nearest park filming James Bond for several hours in the middle of the night last summer – to the potentially devastating, such as in Bexley, where the council is selling off at least four of its open spaces. …”

http://gu.com/p/4gn3b

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

13 Dec 2015

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Asset sweating, Austerity cuts, Environment (local), Moirai Exmouth project, Public Open Space

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“Pay to play” in “public” parks

Exmouth Splash project?

” … It is likely that there will be more tensions over the use of public space as councils across the country eye up private partnerships. “We’re seeing a lot of parks looking at introducing facilities that generate income,” said Drew Bennellick, head of landscape and natural heritage at the Heritage Lottery Fund. “Whether it’s Go Ape, crazy golf sites, multi-use football facilities that are floodlit, or cafes – they’re all exploring ways to potentially generate income to offset the cost of running the sites.”

A report by the fund last year estimated that 45% of local authorities are considering either selling parks and green spaces or transferring their management …”

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/dec/13/parents-protest-pay-to-play-parks-privatising-green-spaces

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East Devon Watch

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4 Sep 2015

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DCC, Exeter City Council, Public Open Space

Does this decision about a public green in Exeter affect Knowle Parkland

Judge upholds challenge over town green and local authority land

Friday, 04 September 2015 09:43

A High Court judge has recently upheld a judicial review challenge by a campaigner over an inspector’s refusal of an application to register land in Exeter as a town green, it has been reported.

The case of R (Goodman) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs related to Exhibition Fields in Pinhoe. The application to register the land as a town green had been referred by Devon County Council to the Planning Inspectorate for determination (as Devon is a ‘pilot’ registration authority.

The planning inspector rejected the application for the following reasons:

He concluded that Exeter City Council, as landowner, had impliedly appropriated Exhibition Fields from employment use such that the land thereafter became held as recreational open space and any recreational use was “by right”; and (and in the alternative)

as the city council had held fairs and a circus on part of the Fields, any recreational use of the land for sports and pastimes had been impliedly permitted, following the decision in R (Mann) v Somerset County Council [2012] EWHC B14.

The claimant took the case to the High Court, with Mr Justice Dove ruled in their favour on 30 July.
According to Francis Taylor Building, the judge held – in relation to the inspector’s first conclusion – that, for an implied appropriation to have occurred, there must be evidence that the local authority directed its mind to, and answered, the statutory test for appropriation set out in s.123 of the Local Government Act 1972. Simply managing land as recreational open space was not of itself sufficient to give rise to an implication that an appropriation had occurred.

In relation to the second of the inspector’s reasons, the High Court judge held that for an implied permission to arise there must be evidence that the landowner intended to grant permission and also that, in the case of local authorities, the nature of the landowner’s action was relevant including, in the Goodman case, that the intervening acts of the landowner were of themselves for the purposes of public recreation.

FTB’s Douglas Edwards QC acted for the claimant, leading Simon Lane of Magdalen Chambers in Exeter. They were instructed by Susan Ring and Harry Campbell of Richard Buxton, solicitors.

Commenting on the case, FTB said: “The case helpfully clarifies some elements of the law relating to town and village greens as it applies to local authority land and reduces the scope for local authorities to rely on ‘implied’ appropriation and implied permission for recreational use so as to defeat a town green application.”

http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24257:judge-upholds-challenge-over-town-green-and-local-authority-land&catid=58&Itemid=26

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

4 Sep 2015

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EDDC, Environment (local), Land Supply, Local Plan, Local Plan Inspector, Moirai Exmouth project, Natural England, Neighbourhood Plans, Public Open Space

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Further evidence for the Local Plan and EDDC tries to pass the buck to the National Trust and Woodland Trust for required open spaces

Mr Thickett said he would allow the participants at the housing session an opportunity to see and comment on the Council’s further submissions.

The further submissions can be accessed here:
http://eastdevon.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy/emerging-plans-and-policies/the-new-local-plan/examination-and-hearing-sessions-and-further-consultation-at-april-2015/august-2015-evidence/#article-content

If you wish to make any comments on the new evidence and submissions only; on other matters will not be accepted, please submit these comments to me the Programme Officer by 30 September 2015.”

Our comment:

The EDDC “evidence” does not inspire us with enough confidence that sufficient robust evidence has been supplied by EDDC, particularly in respect of Habitat Mitigation obligations.

Many aspects have been left for the Inspector to decide because Natural England and EDDC cannot agree that enough has been done to safeguard special sites.

It also says that the Exmouth Splash Masterplan as it stood at the last hearing, may well not be the one that Exmouth ends up with but they don’t see why this should hold up the Local Plan.

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

25 Aug 2015

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Affordable and Social Housing, AONB, Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), Cranbrook, Environment (local), Honiton/ Gittisham, Land Supply, Local Infrastructure and CIL, National Planning Policy Framework, Newton Poppleford, Public Open Space, Rural communities

Talaton planning refusal will affect many other communities in East Devon

Two planning applications for 10 and 25 houses in Talaton have been refused on appeal. It is best to read the full document (see link below) for how it might affect YOUR community.

Basically, although the Inspector had a LOT to say about how he did not trust EDDC’s figures on 5 year land supply or its planning abilities in general particularly with regard to Cranbrook, the unsuitability of the suggested S106 option of village hall extra parking, the lack of sustainability AND Talaton’s nearness (within 10 km) of the Pebblebed Heath weighed heavily in his decision:

30. From the information in front of me, the Council has not demonstrated that previous under delivery has been accounted for within its five-year supply calculations. Even if the previous under-delivery has been accounted for within the estimated need of 17,100 identified within the SHMA, which is not certain, the way in which the Council have addressed the previous under-supply is not consistent with the aim of addressing it within the first five years, where possible. In the Council’s projection the 17,100 has been split evenly over the plan period, ‘the ‘Liverpool’ method. Whilst the PPG is not prescriptive in stating that any under-deliver must be recovered within the first five years it sets a clear preference for this approach, ‘where possible’. No evidence was presented by the Council to suggest that it would not be possible to recover any previous under-supply over the next five years and the Local Plan Inspector has previously written to the Council to advocate the ‘Sedgefield’ approach with the aim of boosting housing supply.

31. Moreover, I have concerns that the projected delivery rates for the new settlement at Cranbrook are not supported by clear evidence. The predicted completion rate for the two phases of the development over each of the following five years is 467 dwellings per annum. However, the March 2015 HMU identifies that there had been 757 completions between ‘summer’ 2012 and August 2014. It is not clear when development commenced but the published completion rate suggests a figure in the region of 350 to 375 dwellings per year over the two year period. The Council suggested orally at the Hearing that there is evidence to suggest that delivery rates are likely to increase but no firm evidence was submitted to show how the predicted delivery rates had been derived. In effect, those predictions show an increase of approximately 100 dwellings a year at the site, over and above the published rate of completion to date. That rate of delivery is not supported by the evidence presented to me.

…I conclude that the location of the site is such that the proposed developments would result in unsustainable travel patterns resulting in an increase in the use of the private car. The harm resulting from those unsustainable travel patterns would be comparatively greater for the proposed development in Appeal B due to the greater number of dwellings in that scheme. Both proposals would be contrary to the requirements of policy TA1 of the LP and policy TC2 of the ELP, which state that new development should be located so as to be accessible by pedestrians, cyclists and public transport and well related to compatible uses to as to minimise the need to travel by car.

…the proposed car park [for the village hall] is not directly, or even indirectly, related to the impact of the proposed scheme and is not necessary because of it. Thus, the offer to provide the car park is not a matter that I can take into account in reaching my decision, having regard to paragraph 204 of the Framework and regulation 122 of the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations (2010). Whether an individual landowner or developer chooses to offer the car park to the Parish Council is a matter for their consideration. It is not a factor that can be taken into account in reaching my decision.

…The appeal sites are within a 10km radius of the Pebblebed Heaths SAC/SPA. The Council have referred to the South East Devon European Site Mitigation Strategy10 (the Mitigation Strategy) which identifies that planned residential and tourist accommodation development within that radius would, in combination, have a detrimental effect on the integrity of the SAC/SPA, as a result of increased recreational pressure within the designated SAC/SPA boundaries. Both main parties agree that mitigation is necessary in order to off-set the harm caused by the proposed developments and clause 3.3 of the s.106 agreements in relation to both proposals indicates that planning permission should be refused in the absence of the proposed mitigation11. Based upon the findings of the Mitigation Strategy I concur with that view.

…Paragraph 7 of the Framework identifies three dimensions of sustainable development, based on economic, social and environmental factors. The Framework identifies that these strands are mutually dependent and should not be considered in isolation. In this case, the village is not in a sustainable location in terms of its proximity to shops, services and employment opportunities. Future residents would be largely reliant upon the private car. That reliance would not foster a move towards a low carbon economy and would be contrary to the environmental dimension of sustainable development.

The full document is HERE13.1832 & 1833.mout