How do we know?
Click to access 171115-overview-agenda-combined.pdf
Page 60 (last page)
Thursday: too late for that week’s local papers.
What is stopping the press release being published before that date Owl wonders.
Picking and choosing – EDDC doesn’t partner with Exeter to tackle homelessness, Teignbridge does
Also in the latest Express and Echo, it is revealed that Exeter has the highest level of homelessness outside London.
Exeter and Teignbridge have announced that they will work together to tackle it.
Silence from East Devon – where two homeless men have died on the streets of Sidmouth in the last few months – one in a freezing bus shelter and one in a church porch (where the church is trying desperately to do its bit to help people).
Are the homeless invisible to our council?
Cranbrook: Part of Exeter and East Devon Growth Point not East Devon
WOW – we have a new website “exeterandeastdevon.gov.uk” so “Greater Exeter” really does exist!
The website is being used to ask Cranbrook residents what they think about their community (and offering the carrot of the chance to win one shopping voucher as a prize for filling in the questionnaire).
Funny, we thought Cranbrook was in East Devon and East Devonians were in charge! But “Growth Point” is obviously something very different! Amalgamation without consultation continues apace. We wonder how many people who anticipated being in a semi-rural town in East Devon but with good links to Exeter actually feel about becoming just another suburb of Exeter?
“Cranbrook invited to have a say about their community for a chance to win a £50 shopping voucher!
“The annual Cranbrook Community Questionnaire is now landing on doorsteps asking residents for their views, ideas and priorities for the future of their town.
This year there is an added incentive, a £50 shopping voucher! To be in with a chance of winning Cranbrook residents just need to respond to the survey by the deadline of 21 December 2015.
The Cranbrook Community Questionnaire is organised and sent out jointly from East Devon District Council and East Devon Volunteer Services Association (EDVSA) and is a valuable tool in helping the community grow and identify needs of residents.”
http://www.exeterandeastdevon.gov.uk/cranbrook-community-opinions-sought/News-Article/
Breaking News: Exmouth Town Council supports seafront development
The front page headline of today’s East Devon Express and Echo says “Town Council backs seafront first phase – no objection to road changes paving way for redevelopment”.
The story goes on to say this means they support road realignment, parking areas, demolition of beach huts and DJs Diner, though reservations of some councillors led to deferral of plans for infilling of ponds at the Fun Park.
Campaigners for the Facebook Group “Save Exmouth Seafront” are incredulous that public opinion has not swayed the town councillors. They also point out that no planning application has received permission yet EDDC is committing at least £1.5m for the programme when no developer contribution has been offered towards the work.
Objections to the plans must be made by midday on 27 November 2015.
High Court action to protect wetlands – including River Axe
“Conservationists and angling organisations are taking the Government to the High Court over the protection of precious rivers and wetlands, including in the Westcountry.
The World Wildlife Fund, the Angling Trust and Fish Legal have accused the Environment Department, Defra, and the Environment Agency of “dragging its feet”.
They say that despite legally committing to ensure 44 sites across the country were healthy this year ministers have stifled action to address harmful pollution from farms.
The groups are seeking a judicial review in a bid to protect the rivers, lakes and coastal areas from further damage.
Among the list are special areas of conservation, including Plymouth Sound Estuaries, the River Axe and the River Camel.”
Community Infrastructure Levy – to be reviewed even before we get it!
EDDC has got nowhere near introducing CIL – and now the government wants to review it! Heel-dragging on the Local Plan means it hasn’t happened here. It was supposed to fund infrastructure from developers.
Well, at least EDDC won’t need to write anything about it!
Clarification re. Clyst St Mary
From Gaeron Kayley of the Save Clyst St Mary campaign:
‘Since the Bishops Clyst Parish Council Meeting on Monday night (16th November) at the Village Hall, it has come to our notice that some of those who attended the meeting were confused by the presentation on the sports and recreation proposals incorporating the Friends Life site, the Plymouth Brethren site and the Clyst Valley Football Club site, with some residents believing that the Save Clyst St Mary Campaign was responsible for this presentation and were, in fact, in agreement with the options put forward for the future proposals on these three areas of adjoining land that were explored during the evening.
Both the Parish Council in their Emerging Neighbourhood Plan and The Save Clyst St Mary volunteers have worked tirelessly to protect the green field areas owned by Friends Life and Plymouth Brethren and are adamant that these areas should remain unspoilt as they are outside of the Built-Up Area Boundary for the village.
The concept of the land being used for the community as a sports and recreation area is agreeable in principle by both the Parish Council and the Save Clyst St Mary Campaign.
However, the Save Clyst St Mary Campaign have not been party to or participated in any negotiations concerning land swapping by the Clyst Valley Football Club and Plymouth Brethren to facilitate any residential or other development on these green areas and, indeed, we were unaware of such proposals until they were mentioned at Monday’s meeting, when one of our representatives challenged such proposals.
Be assured that our interests lie in protecting this village from inappropriate unsustainable development and the protection of these green areas are paramount and will remain at the forefront of our Campaign and should you wish to discuss any issues please feel free to contact us at saveclyststmary@gmaol.com ‘
Ex- council employee defrauds council with fake companies
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.”
West Hill or Westminster – local author shares experience of Claire Wright campaign
PRESS RELEASE
West Hill or Westminster
“This is the remarkable story of an independent’s first ever campaign to win the Parliamentary seat of Devon East. In the 2015 General Election, lacking a party label, an experienced party machine and relying on private donations and friends, County Councillor Claire Wright, a hard-working and energetic candidate from West Hill in Devon, contested one of the country’s safest Tory seats. She won the highest number of votes, 13,140, of any independent in the UK. Only one other independent candidate attracted even 5,000 votes. Usually, independents fail to win more than a few hundred votes and their story is seldom heard.
This book offers a rare insight into what is necessary to challenge the big parties. Written by a member of the core team, it reveals the techniques and dilemmas, the problems and successes of the campaign. It explains how the independent, backed by hundreds of supporters, beat three of the four national parties. The developing drama is put into the context of the wider national political scene during the last 100 days and the immediate aftermath of the General Election is discussed.
West Hill or Westminster? will appeal to all those interested in politics, especially at grass roots level, and will be a revelation to the inhabitants of East Devon on the mechanisms behind their own election. This is the 10th book by Philip Algar. Initially an economist, he spent many years as an editor, journalist, lecturer and occasional broadcaster, working in 30 countries.
This book is available from local bookshops and from Amazon or Lulu within the next few weeks. The author, Philip Algar, can supply copies for £9.99 including postage and packing.”
Lobbying: dark art or vital part of democratic process?
Letter in Western Morning News from Justin Robbins, Yealmpton:
Your leading article on November 13 concerned the Countryside Land and Business Association and its new president Ross Murray, and it makes the outrageous claim that “in politics today lobbying ministers has gone from a dark art to a legitimate and indeed vital part of our democratic process.”
Surely the opposite is the case, lobbying ministers is still a dark art which is anti-democratic and potentially corrupting. It occurs behind closed doors so how can anyone assess its legitimacy?
It is hard to see how democratic principles apply to landowning in England and Wales where 33,000 CLA members own half the land. At a local level landowners have far more power than any elected representative, and their power is without any democratic accountability.
It is good to know that Mr Murray is concerned about the need for affordable rural homes (also WMN Nov 13). A major factor in the high cost of houses is the high cost of the land due to speculation and the way in which land value shoots up as soon as its use changes, through the planning system, from agricultural to residential, enabling landowners to gain hefty unearned profits. Profits that under a fairer system should revert to the community whose needs and activities serve to create the land’s value.
If Mr Murray could persuade his members to this view he would help solve the rural housing crisis. If not then Winston Churchill’s view will remain as true today as when he stated it over a century ago:
“Land monopoly is not the only monopoly but it is by far the greatest of the monopolies – it is a perpetual monopoly and it is the mother of all other forms of monopoly.”
http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/WMN-Letters-Lobbying-dark-art/story-28197396-detail/story.html
Has your MP signed today’s letter to George Osborne?
Critics say rural broadband in Devon is in dire straits, partly because EDDC failed to work together with DCC to get maximum funding.
Now more than 100 MPs concerned about lack of broadband investment in their own areas have written to George Osborne, as detailed in this extract from the Broadband for Rural Devon and Somerset (B4RDS) Facebook page:
‘Over 100 MP’s of all parties have today taken an open letter to George Osborne calling for him to invest in fixed and mobile broadband. This is before next Wednesday’s announcement of the Autumn spending cuts. If your MP hasn’t signed you should ask him/her why not.’
Link to the letter, and names of MP’s who’ve signed, is here:
Seaton to lose its Voice?
Yet another example of East Devon District Council cherry-picking which assets it sells and which it keeps.
You might think it was simple: sell those that don’t make money and keep those that do. But it isn’t that simple when it comes to the arts and the community. Money was poured into the Honiton Beehive complex (£300,000 plus and maybe much more gifted, not loaned), the Thelma Hulbert Gallery, also in Honiton, has never made money but we are not allowed to know exactly how much it loses and the Manor Pavilion (Sidmouth) is similarly a financial mystery. EDDC hived off its leisure facilities to Leisure East Devon years ago but we are never too sure how much that company still receives in subsidy – information is scant.
But not so Seaton Town Hall – the town’s only arts and entertainment venue run by local social enterprise company Seaton’s Voice and called The Seaton Gateway. [A social enterprise company is not a not-for-profit company, it is simply a normal company that has a social mission as part of its Memorandum of Association according to government information]
Currently, the Gateway occupies the large ground floor which includes a large hall and bar facilities, the town council has the much smaller first floor and the museum the even smaller top floor. The upper floors are not accessible to disabled people having many stairs for access. The Gateway has three directors who run the venue with a large number of volunteer staff.
For some years, it appears that EDDC was prepared to subsidise The Gateway – which has made a name for itself with regular musical entertainment, live theatre broadcasts and rooms rented out to local groups and societies – EDDC has just written off a £30,000 loan it gave to Seaton’s Voice and was also paying 20% of the building’s utility bills.
Now all has changed. EDDC wants to divest itself of Seaton Town Hall and will only entertain transferring it to the town council and not to Seaton’s Voice.
However, in a twist of fate, at the same time, Devon County Council was keen to get rid of its own building in Seaton – the former Marshlands Centre which has been closed for some time – and for a knock-down price and the town council decided to buy it from them, using its reserves for the purchase, fearing that such an opportunity might not happen again.
This has put Seaton Town Council on the horns of a dilemma: move into its own almost purpose-built accommodation which it would own and run for itself or share an old building where the vast majority of the space is taken up by a private tenant which has been used to being subsidised or keep both buildings and all the financial pressures and problems of owning them both. But at the moment the Council IS saying both rather than one or the other.
It has been revealed that to make the building fit-for-purpose, the town council would need to take out a Public Works Loan of £400,000 plus and The Gateway company would need to fundraise around £200,000 – massive amounts for a small town council and for a small company.
If it keeps the town hall and raises the money, the town council will have a tenant which needs most of the useable and income-producing space but which operates with a shoestring staff of volunteers and which has not been used to operating at full cost and which will presumably also expect some sort subsidy from the town council.
In yet another twist of fate, the company running The Gateway has now said in the pages of the local press that it will not co-operate with the town council on a plan for the town hall now that it is purchasing Marshlands, because the council discussed the purchase behind closed doors without including them, and fearing, presumably and probably correctly, that the town council’s priorities cannot be its priorities.
It seems now that either the town council will decide it does not want the town hall at all or it will take on two buildings with the result that they will of necessity have much less to spend on the Town Hall than if it had been the only building it owned. But at the moment the Council IS saying both rather than one or the other.
So, we have SOME arts and community venues being subsidised by EDDC, and one it doesn’t want to subsidise and wants to slough off onto a small town council which would have to raise its precept in order to subsidise a private business to provide arts and community services.
Well done, EDDC. Still, at least councillors in the new HQ in Honiton will be able to pop to the Beehive and the Thelma Hulbert Gallery in their free time.
What should police stop doing?
With mental health, social care and homelessness budgets cut and terrorist threats increasing – just what should police forces stop doing if their numbers are cut to the bone?
” … You could give more to mental health and social services to ease their case loads and save police time. Vanished youth services could be restored, instead of police coping with the fallout. If not, then we need the police to sweep up after the cuts in every other service.
After Paris, would you want to be the home secretary or the chancellor who said getting down the deficit was a matter of “national security” while cutting the safety net of a reassuring, neighbourhood police force that makes people feel secure in a time of fear? There comes a tipping point where crime and disorder will rise: we may be about to find out exactly when that is.”
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/17/britain-police-cuts-theresa-may
If Devon can’t work with Devon on broadband – whither a bigger Devon and Somerset merger?
Press Release from
B4RDS (Broadband for Rural Devon & Somerset)
Asked when Devon & Somerset might have a 95% minimum coverage, Phase 2, superfast broadband programme up and running, during the Nov 16 DCC Place Scrutiny Committee hearing, all that Ms Keri Denton, Programme Director for Connecting Devon & Somerset (CDS) could reply was: “How long is a piece of string”.
This follows the failure of CDS to secure a Phase 2 supplier for rural Devon & Somerset in June 2015, by when all other UK Counties had put their Phase 2 programmes in place. Only Devon & Somerset now remain without a 95% programme in place meaning that rural properties could now be waiting many more years before their broadband speeds improve.
It was also confirmed during the Scrutiny Committee hearing that the reason CDS failed to agree a Phase 2 contract with BT in June was because not one District Council in Devon was prepared to commit the match funding that CDS needed to draw down £22.75M from central government for the programme, although every District Council in Somerset had committed their match funding contributions. The failure of Devon County and District Councils to work together on this means that not only Devon’s rural taxpayers, but also those in Somerset, have now scheduled date for when their broadband service, often with speeds below 2Mbps might improve. Having committed match funding, Somerset Districts now have their own board representative on the CDS Project Board from which Devon Districts remain excluded. With many Scrutiny Committee members being District as well as County Councillors, Ms Denton asked for their help to get Devon Districts into the programme.
The current best estimate as to how long a piece of string may be seems to be July 2016, which will be over a year after all other UK Counties secured their Phase 2 funding and got the project underway. Government ministers still talk about all the UK having 95% superfast (>24Mbps) coverage by the end of 2017, but by July 2016, CDS will have spent two and a half years trying to put a Phase 2 contract in place and next July they will only give the chosen suppliers 18 months to deliver the project. The end of 2017 now looks like a target that will be missed.
While Devon County and District Councils continue to fail to work with each other on Superfast broadband, businesses prepare to more out of rural areas to the towns because they cannot keep their website shop windows up to date at 2Mbps and rural houses become impossible to sell when prospective buyers learn they will get no more than 2Mbps from their ISP’s.
Note to Editors:
A webcast of the Nov 16 Place Scrutiny Committee hearing is on line at
http://www.devoncc.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/178939 (Move slider to 2.40.30 in)
Pigs, snouts, troughs, gravy trains …
He says it is OK because none of them are health-related.
One is with the Roche drug company,
One is with The US private equity firm Blackstone “which was criticised in 2011 after the collapse of Southern Cross care home group under a mountain of debt. The lives of 31,000 elderly residents were thrown into turmoil through the actions of Blackstone, which had bought Southern Cross in 2004 and sold out three years later at a huge profit having sold most of its property assets”.
and
one is with a company that receives funding from “fitness companies” and Coca Cola.
These are in addition to his two other jobs
with management consultants Bain & Company and a consultancy set up by his wife called Low Associates.
“Low Associates helps people prepare before they give evidence to committees of MPs, and Sally Low has given speeches on improving lobbying skills, in which she said that lobbyists should “establish positive relationships with decision-makers before you need their help”. Lobbyist clients of Low Associates personnel have previously worked for a variety of companies including those with an interest in health, such as SmithKline Beecham, Unilever and Procter & Gamble.”
“Until December 2009, Lansley received £134 an hour from a firm of advertisers that represents clients such as Walkers Crisps, McDonald’s, Unilever, Mars and Pizza Hut; Private Eye suggests a link between these activities and Lansley’s desire to see a more lightly regulated food industry.[38] The same publication suggested a similar link to a Department of Health report on red meat in which the only products listed in the report found to contain suitable amounts of red meat to merit a “Good” rating were a McDonald’s Big Mac, and a Peperami (manufactured by Unilever)”
“The three jobs were taken by the former health secretary despite David Cameron’s promise in 2010 to end the ‘revolving door’ between government and the private sector.”
Last night Lord Lansley told the Daily Mail that he expected the majority of the work he does for the companies to be unrelated to health.”
SO WHAT EXACTLY ARE THEY ALL PAYING HIM FOR?
He was recently made a Lord by David Cameron
Sources:
Skypark – reality or illusion?
Is it just Owl, or is the picture accompanying this puff job on Skypark how it currently looks or how developers hope it will look? An awful lot of stuff must have happened in the last six months if it looks like this now. Can anyone enlighten Owl – perhaps by taking a turn along the new road?
East Devon coastal sprawl could cost you a 27% drop in your house price if World Heritage status risked
” … the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site is formed from a massive slice of East Devon and Dorset.
This includes towns already well known to attract premium price tags such as Beer, Lyme Regis, Seaton and Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton, which earlier this year was named among the most expensive places to buy in the Westcountry with average prices of £342,442.
According to Zoopla, while the average residential property is valued at £284,000, those near a site that holds Unesco status are valued at £362,000 – a difference of 27%.”
Q. When is a Plan not a Plan? A. When it’s an EDDC fudge?
At the July Public Examination Inspector Thickett instructed EDDC to reach agreement with Natural England over outstanding issues regarding compliance with the European Habitat Directive. These are legally binding on EDDC and, therefore, potential show stoppers. (It is claimed the phrasing he used was “lock yourselves in a darkened room until you reach agreement” – but who would voluntarily do that with an EDDC planner?).
Not surprising then to find the amendments proposed to the Draft Plan by EDDC in August didn’t mention that agreement had been reached, only that there had been a “dialogue”. EDDC’s proposed solution is to duck the issue by removing any dependency between the Exmouth Master Plan and the Local Plan i.e. Exmouth regeneration is irrelevant to achieving the staggering economic growth assumed in the Local Plan.
So the Watch watchers were interested to read the following article by Becca Glidden in last Week’s Journal under the title “Setback for major regeneration sites”. Amongst all the nuanced phrasing we are left wondering when is a plan not a plan? Maybe our readers can enlighten us?
Here is the text of the article:
Major sites earmarked for regeneration have been struck out of a major new planning document – after objections from Natural England.
The sites include the seafront Splash Zone/ Queen’s Drive, the Imperial Road car park, the rugby ground, bus station, estuary car park, London Inn car park and town centre post office.
They have been removed from the proposed East Devon Local Plan, which is currently undergoing public consultation.
The regeneration works have been deleted from the proposed planning document because Natural England said the proposals were not `legally sound’.
Natural England, a group championing the preservation of the natural environment for future generations, said East Devon District Council (EDDC) had failed to carry out a full conservation assessment of the Exmouth sites earmarked for regeneration. [Comment from Owl: Natural England is the Government’s statutory advisory body on this – i.e. top dog].
In a letter to EDDC, Natural England said: “Because we advise that we are unable to agree that the Habitat Regulations Assessment is complete, we consider that the Local Plan is not legally sound, since the statutory requirements of the assessment process have not been followed.
This remains the case.”
The regeneration sites are contained in a document called the Exmouth Masterplan, a planning paper which forms part of the proposed East Devon Local Plan.
An EDDC spokesperson told the Journal: “The Exmouth Masterplan is one of a suite of planning documents that support the [proposed] Local Plan, however, the Exmouth Masterplan needs updating.
“The issue which Natural England has concerns about, is whether all of the Exmouth Masterplan can be acceptably delivered, bearing in mind the possibility of adverse impacts on the Exe Estuary wildlife site.
“Because of the concerns expressed by Natural England, the council has withdrawn the direct links/references between the Exmouth Masterplan and the Local Plan to enable the Local Plan to move forward.
“The sites in Exmouth can still come forward, but to show that they are acceptable, each site and the scheme on that site will need to be subject to its own detailed assessment under the habitat regulations – Natural England will take a keen interest in these assessments.”
The district council said the seafront Splash/ Queen’s Drive, the Imperial Road car park, the rugby ground, bus station, estuary car park, London Inn car park and town centre post office would be included in a refreshed Masterplan, a council document which sets out the future for Exmouth.
The council said its regeneration plans for Exmouth were ongoing and would be completed.
The spokesperson said plans would be submitted for the Splash/Queens Drive development before the end of the year.
“Projects in the Masterplan remain in place for delivery. The delivery of Masterplan projects will be aligned with the new Local Plan policies, as well as wider rules and regulations. In the mean-time, the existing Masterplan remains in force.
“The Queen’s Drive proposals are proceeding and a planning application for the enabling works – road and car park – has recently been submitted.
“An application for the second phase will be forthcoming before the end of the year.”
Our summary: Now you see it, now you don’t!
That could be EDDC’s new motto, perhaps!
Freedom of Information: government copies EDDC
Government says ” publicity is a pollutant”
A new report from the Information Tribunal on a case about the Government refusing to say how often a particular committee meets says:
“Last week the Information Rights Tribunal rejected the government appeal, in a strongly worded judgment which described the Cabinet Office’s approach as “irresponsible”, its key witness as “evasive and disingenuous”, and her evidence as “of no value whatsoever”.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34813936
Several months ago, this is what an Information Tribunal said about East Devon District Council’s obstruction of information about meetings concerning the future of The Knowle:
“… Correspondence on behalf of the Council, rather than ensuring the Tribunal was assisted in its function, was at times discourteous and unhelpful including the statement that we had the most legible copies possible. A statement, which was clearly inaccurate as subsequently, we have been
provided with perfectly legible documents. …”
Spooky!
Wilmslow allows developers to accelerate planning permission
“This premium ‘fast-track’ service will be for significant, major planning applications – from initial inquiry to submission for planning decision – and is designed to cut through unnecessary delays.
The aim of this paid-for service will be to ensure major investment and job creation in Cheshire East does not suffer unnecessary delays and to generate a revenue stream for the Council which will enable additional resources to be brought in to deal with the large number of major applications submitted to Cheshire East.”
http://www.wilmslow.co.uk/news/article/12652/council-launches-paid-for-fast-track-planning-service
