“To extend transparency in careful stages”
Evening Standard, Quote of the Day
Careful for whom? So careful that nothing changes, perhaps, Mr Hague?
Bet your tax returns are interesting …
Another new political movement – this time in the USA
HUNDREDS FLOCK TO US CAPITOL TO PROTEST MONEY IN POLITIC
“Hundreds of protesters flocked to the U.S. Capitol Monday for a demonstration against the role of money in politics, prompting mass arrests by the Capitol police force.
The peaceful demonstration is part of a series of protests in Washington this week by a coalition of groups and is called “Democracy Spring.”
The demonstrators chanted slogans like “one person, one vote” and “money out of politics” as they sat on the East Front of the Capitol.
Many of the protestors marched from Philadelphia to Washington over the past week. One sign read “Things go better without Koch,” a reference to the billionaire businessmen David and Charles Koch, who have promised to lead an almost $900 million campaign to back favored candidates this election cycle.
The demonstrators also protested state voter ID laws, saying they suppress voter participation. Another chant protested about Democratic “super delegates” — party figures such as members of Congress who are given votes at the Democratic National Convention but are not elected by primary elections or at party caucuses.
Police led dozens of protesters away in plastic handcuffs into a bus and shuttle vans, prompting cheers from the two groups of protestors, which were separated by a large police response.
Source: Associated Press
“Devon New Economy Gathering”
More signs of discontent – this time very local
“WHEN
Saturday, 16 April 2016 from 10:00 to 17:00
WHERE
Exeter Community Centre – 17 St Davids Hill, Exeter EX4 3RG
(Beside Iron Bridge)
Devon New Economy Gathering
organised by Exeter Pound and Exeter Transition
Tickets: £20 / £10 / £5 . Please select tickets according to what you can afford. £10 and £5 tickets are intended primarily for students and claimants.
A day to link organisers, activists, practitioners, and others working for economic change, and to hear about local and regional initiatives.
Join us in making the big shift happen!
There are exciting community-led economic solutions to austerity emerging across the region, as well as effective strategies, innovative projects and energetic collaborators. This is a chance to find out who (else) is working on a new local economy one that is more inclusive, democratically accountable, ecological and creates more wellbeing.
Find collaborators – How can we make it happen (more)?
Share visions for the wider economy to see how our local work fits in, and ways we can work together locally to move forward change in the big picture
Keynote session: launched By Stewart Wallis, Senior Adviser at New Economics Foundation
‘A new economy and how to make it happen’
Topics for discussion could include:
What needs to grow and what doesn’t? Well being and better indicators
Relocalizing money and finance – local currencies and financial institutions
Food for all – affordable and local?
Positive Money, a Green New Deal, banking reform
Fostering local enterprises – Local Enterprise Forum
Management of land for greater equality
Engines of inequality and how to interrupt them
Social enterprises – why are they different; starting them and teaching about them
If not austerity what? What to do about the national debt
Potential of the Devolution agenda
Fossil free Devon – Disinvestment from fossil fuels
To pay in Exeter Pounds or Exe’s, or to request a free ticket, please contact the organiser by email or tel 01647 24789/01392 348105
A childrens workshop will be available for the morning only: Please contact the organizer to enquire or book (by 8th April please)”
Devolution – why have a super-mayor? Because if you don’t, you don’t get the money
Plans for directly elected mayor for Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk ‘flawed’
“Plans for three counties in East Anglia to have a directly elected mayor with devolved powers are flawed, the Norfolk councillor leading negotiations admits.
George Nobbs, Labour leader of Norfolk County Council, has opened an official debate on plans for devolved powers.
The mayor would look after transport, strategic planning and skills training in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
MPs across the three counties have criticised the plans, but Mr Nobbs said negotiations should continue.
He admitted proposals in their present form were flawed but said “there are lots of things to be said for this scheme and lots of things to be said against it”.
Liberal Democrat Group leader Marie Strong questioned the need for a directly elected mayor.
“We were told the role of mayor was optional; when did it become compulsory?” she asked.
Mr Nobbs replied: “We were told by ministers it’s that or nothing.”
Conservative group leader Cliff Jordan said the plans so far had generated “a lot of confusion”.
The plan is for the mayor to be chosen by voters in the three counties in May next year. He or she will have the power to increase business rates to fund infrastructure projects.
The mayor will be answerable to a cabinet made up of nominees from the 23 local councils.
Some Conservative MPs from the region have said the idea of an elected mayor is not popular with many people, while others said the money on offer – £1bn over 30 years – was not much.
The Department for Communities and Local Government said: “We are committed to the deal and will continue to work with all the councils. Councils in East Anglia have until June to decide if they want to take part in this historic opportunity.”
Smoke, mirrors, naked emperors – or our LEP at work for us?
£2 million up for grabs via our LEP (if we stay in the EU as that’s where the money comes from.
What’s it for?
“Call for project’s (sic) enhancing the competitiveness of small and medium sized enterprises (enterprise and incubation space) in the Heart of the South West”
This call is looking to enhance the competitiveness of small and medium sized enterprises in the Heart of the South West by promoting entrepreneurship, supporting the creation and the extension of advanced capacities for products, services and development and supporting the capacity of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises to grow in regional, national and international markets and to engage in innovation processes.”
Anyone else see smoke, mirrors and a naked emperor here?
Will Serco get the contract?
Will organisations that promise to enhance nuclear interests do well?
Or perhaps a major developer?
More pop up cafes?
Or all of the above?
Nuclear security
“GEORGE Osborne has been warned that granting the Chinese a large stake in Britain’s nuclear energy infrastructure poses a “substantive” threat to UK national security.
Security concerns centre on access to IT systems, with analysts warning the UK would be left vulnerable if relations continue sour to China over the coming years.
Britain’s friendship with the communist state was strained recently over the Tata steel crisis with China putting a highly punitive tax on the metal produced in south Wales to further damage the UK industry. But experts say a nuclear power deal would put the UK at the mercy of Beijing.
Dr Paul Dorfman, an advisor to the British Government on nuclear security and a senior research fellow at UCL’s Energy Institute, said: “You don’t want to let the Chinese into complex, strategic, national energy infrastructure and you certainly don’t want them anywhere near nuclear. “There are some real security issues here.”
Fears have been raised about “backdoors” in IT technology that could be exploited by the Chinese government or rogue hackers. Malicious IT breaches could allow data to be extracted or inserted into complex computer systems, allowing Beijing to circumvent British control of a nuclear plant and shut it down.
GCHQ will be on standby to protect the UK from the threat of a cyber attack if the Chinese are allowed to build at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Bradwell in Essex. Caroline Baylon, a cyber security specialist at the Chatham House think tank, said she believes the current deal could end badly for Britain. She said: “If the international situation changes, the UK may find itself in a tricky spot if this Chinese deal goes through. Today’s alliances are not tomorrow’s alliances.”
Pegasus ducks out of Sutton Coldfield because it is too busy to build there
“More than 37 sites” on the go. Going to the more profitable sites such as Knowle first, perhaps?
Cameron’s housing policy thrown out by House of Lords
“David Cameron could be forced to make big concessions to his flagship housing policy after the Government suffered two embarrassing defeats in the House of Lords.
The Prime Minister’s plan to help young people get on the housing ladder by offering a 20% discount could be blocked unless key changes are made to force buyers to pay back the discount if they sell up.
The decision puts the Government under significant pressure to get the bill through both houses before MPs break in May up ahead of local elections and the EU referendum.
Peers supported two key amendments to the Housing and Planning Bill.
One will force those who buy under the scheme to repay the discount they receive if they sell up, less 5% for every year they own the property over a 20 year period.
The second would allow councils to choose how many starter homes are built in their area in a bid to make sure affordable housing for those on low incomes remains a priority.
Brandon Lewis, the housing minister, said the Government’s commitment to giving first-time buyers a 20% discount on new developments is “unwavering”.
He added: ” The Government believes it is wrong that a 30-year-old couple’s aspirations should be thwarted by having to wait until they are 50 to benefit from the full value of their starter home.”
But Lord Kerslake, the former head of the civil service, said the changes would make the bill fairer and protect the taxpayer by ensuring people who buy starter homes repay the discount when they move.
The Government was also forced to make a last-minute concession to avoid a third defeat, promising that safeguards would be brought forward for so-called rural exception sites to ensure that starter homes will not be built on land earmarked for affordable housing.”
“Persimmon facing revolt over executive pay and non-executive director”
“Persimmon facing revolt over executive pay and non-executive director
Investor bodies release share scheme warning amid concerns new board member Nigel Mills is not independent.
Persimmon, one of the UK’s biggest housebuilders, plans to appoint a new non-executive director to its board this week.
Housebuilder Persimmon could face protests over executive pay and the composition of its boardroom at this week’s annual general meeting.
Investor bodies have issued a warning over a share scheme set up in 2012 which could hand out an estimated £600m to 150 directors by 2022.
Some are also unhappy over the appointment of Nigel Mills as a non-executive director, questioning his independence because he is connected to the builders’ financial advisers, Citi.
Persimmon holds its AGM on Thursday, one of the first of the annual meeting season. It comes on the same day as those of miner Rio Tinto and oil company BP, which is also facing some opposition to its pay schemes.
While pay can often cause controversy at AGMs, this year companies may also face scrutiny about pledges made on climate change and any impact of the UK’s possible exit from the EU.
Advisory bodies have raised several areas of concern about Persimmon to shareholders. One, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), has advised voting against the election of Mills to the Persimmon board because of his connections to Citi.
This means he is not seen as independent by ISS, which also notes that Mills sits on the remuneration committee, which is meant to be entirely staffed by independent directors.
The Institutional Voting Information Service (Ivis) – which provides corporate governance research to investors – has also highlighted the relationship between Mills and Citi. Ivis does not give advice on how to vote but has issued an amber alert, its second highest level of warning, to raise corporate governance concerns.
Mills’s appointment to the board was announced in January alongside a series of other changes including the departures of non-executive directors Richard Pennycook, chief executive of the Co-operative Group, and Mark Preston, of Grosvenor estates.
Manifest, another advisory body, drew investors’ attention to the structure of the share bonus scheme. Another leading advisory service, Glass Lewis, also recommended voting against the remuneration report.
A Persimmon official said the long-term incentive plan had been approved in 2012. “This is a long-term plan that runs for almost a decade, which is designed to drive outperformance through the housing cycle and to incentivise the management to deliver the capital return, grow the business and increase the share price. Unlike many other schemes, it extends to around 150 executives.”
ISS does not recommend voting against the remuneration report, but Glass Lewis has advised a no vote because of the structure of the scheme, which is based on the premise that 620p per share – a total of £1.9bn – will be returned to shareholders by the end of 2021. The company has since increased its target to 900p per share but has not adjusted the basis upon which the scheme pays out to executives.
On the appointment of Mills to the board, Glass Lewis has been assured that the senior advisor at Citi has not worked on Persimmon business for three years so it would classify him as independent. However, it will monitor the situation.
ShareAction, a charity that promotes responsible investment, intends to use the AGM as an opportunity to encourage the company to consider living wage accreditation.
In February, when Persimmon announced the higher payout target of 900p a share, it had declared it had achieved an “outstanding performance” with a 34% rise in profits (before a goodwill impairment) to £638m. A shortage of new homes and schemes to encourage house buying have helped housebuilders such as Persimmon – although its shares, and those of its rivals, were among the biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 on Monday amid concerns of a slowdown in the economy.”
Property deals: fewer and fewer places to hide
“Olympic bosses ordered to reveal West Ham stadium deal
Olympic Stadium bosses have been ordered to reveal details of their deal with West Ham United over the club’s use of the east London stadium.
The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) fought a London Assembly ruling that the contract should be made public. The appeal has been rejected by a separate tribunal.
West Ham are due to move to the Olympic Stadium at the end of the season.
The LLDC has the right to appeal against the latest decision.
It has not yet made a comment on the tribunal outcome.
West Ham’s vice-chairman Karren Brady has previously said she fought for the best deal, but has denied this was at the expense of taxpayers.
A fans’ group which called for the publication of the contract said it was “naturally delighted with the outcome”. …
… Football supporters first submitted a Freedom of Information request to obtain the tenancy agreement [West Ham and the Olympic stadium] amid claims the LLDC would subsidise the rent.
However, bosses appealed saying it would place them at a commercial disadvantage, undermine negotiations and reduce returns to the taxpayer.
In January, the London Assembly heard about £17,000 had been spent by the corporation to stop details of the deal being revealed.
There are some things the French do with more flair than us!
“French police started to evacuate the Place de la Republique in Paris on Monday morning (11 April) after a protest movement that started there extended to more than 60 towns and cities over the weekend.
But the move is unlikely to stop the protest movement.
The so-called Nuit Debout movement, which can be translated as “stand up at night”, began on 31 March as protest against a labour market reform presented by the left-wing government.
The El Khomri law, named after the labour minister Myriam El Khomri, mainly makes it easier and less costly for employers to lay off staff, and requires workers to be more flexible on working hours.
Inspired by the 2011 Indignados movement in Spain, the Nuit Debout is a makeshift camp where people talk about the reform, but also about politics in general in committees and a “popular assembly”.
Music is played, artistic happenings are created and a library has been set up. The Nuit Debout has its own website and media – Radio Debout and TV Debout – and even its own calendar. Today is 42 March. …
… Several politicians asked the government to stop the movement. Former centre-right prime minister Francois Fillon said he was “shocked” that the movement was “tolerated” under the state of emergency imposed after the November attacks.
Last week the centre-left mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, objected to the movement’s “privatisation” of the public area.
Criticism from politicians from the left and right is a reflection of the Nuit Debout’s opposition to the political parties as a whole.
“Politics is not something for professionals, it is for everybody,” the movement’s manifesto says.
“The human should be at the core of our leaders’ preoccupations. Vested interests have overridden the general interest.”
Nuit Debout has no leader and has been wary of support from any politicians. Instead, it has been wooing trade unions.
However, although the unions are broadly critical proposed labour market reform, they do not seem to be interested in a wider movement that they would have difficulty managing.”…
“Hinkley Point: design difficulties loom”
” … I put it to the engineers running the Hinkley project that a source of difficulty for the EPR could be all the new safety features – for example an extra layer of containment and a sophisticated device called a “core catcher” that sits below the reactor where it would trap any molten radioactive material if there was ever a meltdown.
No, came the answer. The new features are all manageable. The basic design is similar to the previous generation. We are very confident we can build it.
The problem is that, as the EDF Board prepares to make its final investment decision, there is not yet a single example that anyone can point to of the reactor actually working.
And its development has become something of a saga which not only involves huge questions about finance and politics but also about technology.
Simon Jack has highlighted the concerns about the forging of the reactor’s housing – what’s known the pressure vessel, a tower of steel that houses the actual process of nuclear fission.
This acts as the beating heart of the power station and, in the EPR’s case, would help generate more power than was ever possible with earlier designs.
But tests last autumn rang an alarm bell.
They found that the dome capping the vessel installed at Flamanville in Normandy contained impurities – amid the steel there was a small zone with too much carbon.
This could potentially undermine the vessel’s strength. The intense radiation generated within the reactor bombards the pressure vessel and, over the decades, makes the metal as brittle as glass.
Bizarrely, in a world of gleaming high technology, this area of excess carbon in the dome is referred to as a ‘carrot’ because of its shape.
This makes it sound rather innocent. In fact, it’s forced a major pause. The dome in Normandy is now undergoing detailed investigations.
And the domes that had already been built for the first of Hinkley’s reactors – one for the top of the vessel and one for the bottom – have been returned to their makers, the troubled French nuclear firm Areva.
Replacements have been ordered from a specialist Japanese steelmaker.
So will this add yet more delay to the project at Hinkley? No, we were told.
One line, above all, is being determinedly pushed: that lessons have been learned from Finland, Normandy and China.
Contractors are lined up. The 3D modelling has ironed out potential log-jams. The sequencing of concrete pouring and deliveries and electrical work and host of other jobs has been carefully choreographed.
And many of the engineers who lived through the challenges of the other EPR projects will be on hand at Hinkley. ‘Veterans’, as Simon Jack, calls them.
That could mean they have plenty of useful experience.
Or they really know just how uncertain a task they face.”
Renewables could cost £40 billion less than Hinkley C
“Ministers cannot keep “blindly carrying on” with expensive plans for a new reactor at Hinkley Point, a group of MEPs has said this week following the release of a new report suggesting that renewables could supply the same energy for £40billion less.
The study by the Intergenerational Foundation think tank states that once long-term subsidies for the project near Burnham-On-Sea are taken into account, solar and wind alternatives would offer significant savings.
It has added that these green energy sources do not come with the added burden of nuclear waste, and would allow the UK to live “within its economic and environmental means.”
The figures are based around the expected cost of building the new Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, which is currently £24bn, plus the Government subsidy of £92.50 per megawatt hour generated in its first 35 years.
Compared with the projected costs of renewable technologies over this period, the group claims that onshore windfarms would cost £31.2bn less than Hinkley, and solar photovoltaic power £39.9bn less, while generating the same amount of energy.”
http://www.burnham-on-sea.com/news/2016/hinkley-green-costs-06-04-16.php
Note to LEP: south-west economy has weakest growth after Scotland and the North-East
“The South West private sector’s economy has had one of the weakest rises in the UK, a report has revealed.
According to PMI survey data, business activity expanded at the slowest rate since April 2013, and growth was weaker than all other UK regions surveyed except Scotland and the North East, which both saw contractions.
The South West also registered a smaller rise in new business, and a further decline in backlogs.
However, employment growth has remained relatively solid in the region compared with others.
The seasonally adjusted Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking South West Business Activity Index fell to a 35-month low of 51.2 in March, from 52.6 in February. …
… The underlying weakness of business conditions in the private sector was emphasised by data on new business inflows, which increased only fractionally in March. In line with the trend for activity, the South West registered the slowest growth among the ten regions to record expansion.”
Our LEP is dedicated to growth in the South West. Millions of pounds is routed via our LEP to promote growth.
Something isn’t working.
A bling Pegasus life
“Stylish developments for the over-60s are springing up all over Britain. They have swimming pools, saunas, spas and a carer on tap. They don’t come cheap – but they’re a great alternative to a care home.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3532816/Penthouse-pensioners-Concierges-cocktails-place-moor-yacht-Granny-flats-going-glam.html
Luxury care home with cocktails. And how long before these people start complaining about the oiks and “little people” enjoying what will remain of the Knowle parkland?
“The 1% hide their money offshore – then use it to corrupt our democracy”
” … What have the super-rich got for their investment in British politics since 2010? Cuts in personal taxes, invitations from George Osborne to advise on overhauling corporation taxes, the security of knowing that their tax havens will be treated with due leniency.
In my politics lessons, we were taught that Britain was a representative democracy. But what 30 years of plutocracy have brought is an era of un-representative democracy.
With a few exceptions, our politicians no longer resemble, nor do they work for us. Amid a crisis in the rental market, you have a housing minister, Brandon Lewis, who runs a private rental portfolio. You have a former investment banker, Sajid Javid, now claiming to do his best by the steel industry. And you have a super-rich prime minister who vows he’ll take on tax havens, all the while blocking any serious attempt to do so.”
900 sandbags on Exmouth seafront
Hope Moirai build in storm resilience at their Exmouth development – otherwise they will have some very unhappy people to answer to!
“Tory local government leader asks Lords to block housing reforms”
“The Conservative leader in local government is urging peers to vote against the government on a number of key amendments to David Cameron’s housing bill amid fears it could force more people into homelessness.
In a letter to the Guardian, Cllr David Hodge – leader of the Tories at the Local Government Association (LGA) – warns that elements of the bill being debated in the Lords this week could have the “unintended consequence of increasing homelessness and pushing more families into the more expensive private rented sector”.
Hodge has teamed up with his Labour and Liberal Democrat counterparts to ask members of the House of Lords to try to block legislation that would force councils to sell their most expensive properties in order to fund the government’s Right to Buy policy.
“At a minimum, we urge peers to back amendments that allow councils to retain enough receipts from every home sold to be able to replace it in the same area,” they write.
They have also raised concerns about the government’s starter homes scheme, which means that one in five properties in new developments will be available to first-time buyers under 40 at a 20% discount.
Critics say that only middle or higher income earners could qualify for those homes, and yet developers will be able to classify them as “affordable”.
“Current proposals for starter homes carry a risk that a crucial supply of new affordable rented homes will be displaced, and despite 20% discounts they will still be out of reach for the majority of people in need of an affordable home,” write the local government leaders.
A number of the amendments have been laid down by LGA president and former head of the civil service, Lord Kerslake. “The amendments are trying to do three things,” he said. “To make it a fairer bill, so that it is not transferring resources from social housing for rent to ownership. To make it more localist. And to make it more workable. The numbers do not add up.”
The peer said he wasn’t against ownership but argued that for many people it was simply out of reach.
But the housing minister, Brandon Lewis, said the policies were intended to help people realise their ambition to own a home. He told the Guardian that 86% of people still aspired to homeownership.
“The hardest hit part of the housing market was first-time buyers and we are very clear that we want to increase supply but also ownership,” said Lewis, who argued that a 20% discount on an average property did make it much more affordable for ordinary people. He also argued that councils could still push for developments to include other forms of affordable homes on top of the government’s new scheme.
Those against the plans believe that starter homes are out of reach for the poorest. Campbell Robb, Shelter’s chief executive, said: “By building homes for people on middle to high incomes, the government is redistributing existing resources away from those on low incomes. This will have a massive impact on ordinary families being priced out of the dream of owning their own home, and millennials faced with expensive and unstable private renting, or living with their parents well into their 30s.”
Neighborhood Plans: Parliamentary Briefing Paper and Consultants’ Paper
Parliamentary Briefing Paper March 2016
The report referred to:
Click to access Turley_%20Neighbourhood%20Planning_March_2014.pdf
Tax returns
Owl looks forward to seeing the tax returns of senior councillors and officers and is sure … well, almost sure … well, hopeful … that none of them have offshore accounts on Treasure Islands … or magnificent properties beyond their pay grades in London or warmer climates.
