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Devon’s Conservative leader blocks pro-Europe rally being held in County Hall grounds – Tory councillor says protest is not the way to do things
Whether or not you agree with Devon for Europe (D4E) it is worrying that Devon County Council leader, Cllr John Hart, refused a request for the campaign group to hold a rally in the County Hall grounds because he didn’t think it was appropriate for a political rally to be held there.
County officers had told the D4E there were all sorts of practical reasons why the rally would cause difficulties for the Council. D4E had approached me to help and I was surprised that the Council hadn’t discussed the reasons with them – I thought the issues should be possible to negotiate.
However at yesterday’s Council, after I put the decision on the agenda, Cllr Hart gave the game away, and fellow-Conservative Cllr Christine Channon backed him up by saying protest wasn’t the way do things. Cllr Channon – who voted Remain but thinks now that we should let the Government get on with its negotiations without making our views known to them – may not want to protest, but many do and it is their right to do so. WATCH THE DEBATE – FORWARD TO 2:45 FOR THIS EXCHANGE.
Councils control most of the public space where a fairly large number of people could assemble. So they should go out of their way to facilitate peaceful protest even at the cost of a bit of inconvenience. It is essential for democracy that peaceful protest and assembly – including by people we disagree with – should be able to take place!
I make the case for the County Council to lobby government for the least damaging Brexit trade and migration deal – the Conservatives vote it down
The majority of people in the Seaton and Colyton area, and Devon as a whole, voted for Brexit. But they did not vote to make themselves or the country poorer. At Devon County Council yesterday, the Cabinet gave their response to a motion I submitted supporting staying in the Single Market and Customs Union, which would be the best deal for Devon’s exporting companies, farmers, universities, tourism industry and especially our NHS.
However the Cabinet took out all references to post-Brexit options and just said they would assess the ‘opportunities and impacts’ of Brexit. I then proposed an amendment that the County Council should lobby government for the least damaging Brexit trade and migration deal. In the end, every single Conservative councillor voted against this – some, I’m pretty sure, against their beliefs – although Lib Dem, Labour and other Independents supported it. You can WATCH THE DEBATE HERE – FORWARD TO 3:38 FOR THIS RESOLUTION.
Neil Parish seems to have gone AWOL on this issue, along with all Devon’s MPs except Conservative Sarah Wollaston and Labour’s Ben Bradshaw. So all the more important that the County Council should speak up loud and clear for the post-Brexit deal which will best safeguard Devon’s economy. Unfortunately DCC’s Conservatives put party unity and loyalty to the Government before the interests of Devon.
I’m pictured here with other councillors and DEVON FOR EUROPE supporters attending the meeting. Anthea Simmons (second from the right) gave an excellent speech in the public speaking session.
Extra £5m earmarked for reserves should be spent on at Devon’s at risk services, Independent councillors will demand at Thursday’s budget meeting
The additional £5m that Devon County Council is squirrelling away in reserves this year should be spent on vital services, say the Independent Group, ahead of Thursday’s budget meeting.
This Thursday (15 February) will see the council set its budget and put back an extra £5m in the Business Rate Risk Management Reserve, in case of unexpected financial difficulty.
Devon’s four-strong Independent group of councillors – Frank Biederman, Claire Wright, Martin Shaw and Jacqi Hodgson (Green Party) are opposing this move and proposing instead that it is spent on funding vital services that are set to be lost.
The group’s proposal is that:
– no health visitor posts are cut (30 posts are proposed to be lost)
– no foster carer loses any income (there are proposals to reduce the income to some foster carers)
– there are no cuts to the schools counselling programme (there is no money for this)
– dangerous pavements in the county’s towns and villages are repaired (this is an ongoing problem and people are falling and hurting themselves)
Frank Biederman, Leader of the Independent Group said: “We’re frustrated at further government cuts, which means higher council tax, again, for far fewer services, again.”
Claire Wright, Deputy Leader of the Independent Group, who seconded the motion, added: Devon’s council tax has soared by almost 20 per cent in just seven years. That’s £250 for an average band D property.
“This year it is set to rise by a further almost five per cent. It’s quite wrong and it is adding huge pressures to those people on low incomes.
“I put the blame on the Conservative government and those MPs in Devon who yet again have voted in favour of unacceptable cuts that damage people’s lives.”
“It’s a predictable disgrace. We are asking Devon County Council to write an open letter to all Devon MPs, expressing disappointment to those who let down the people of this county yet again.
“The government finds money to fund the projects it wants to but unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to support the provision of public services.”
Devon County Council’s government grant has been cut by £155m (76 per cent) since austerity began in 2010.
A further £20m is set to be cut from this year’s county council budget.
Jacqi Hodgson said: “We need to encourage people into fostering, at a time when record numbers of children are coming into the service. Not reduce pay. We know the use of private homes is not in the best interests of children and are much more costly.”
She added: “Frontline services cannot be sustained with persistent chipping away at budgets; any available monies should be spent on keeping them viable, not squirrelled away.”
Cllr Martin Shaw said: “Average earnings for a full-time male employee increased by 0 per cent – nothing – in the last year, while inflation is at 3 per cent, i.e. a decline in real income of 3 per cent. That’s the context in which massive council tax rises are being proposed.”
“Ignoring our pavements is not good for local businesses and has a tremendous cost to the person and the public purse when slips, trips and falls happen.”
The full motion is below:
A – That this council does not put a further £5millions into reserves, at the same time as asking hard pressed, low paid Devon residents to pay more council tax for fewer services than ever before.
B – that part of the five millions is used to maintain the level of pay for all Devon’s Foster Parents, so no one sees a drop in their income.
C – That part of the five millions is used to maintain numbers of Health Visitors so that no posts are made redundant.
D – that part of the five millions is used to maintain the schools counselling services, currently likely to be lost via the public health budget
E – that this council writes an open letter to Devon MPs expressing deep disappointment with those who voted in favour of cuts to Devon’s council core funding
F – that any remaining monies as part of the £5millions, is transferred to repairing pavements in our city, town and village centres.
Frank Biederman added: “We hope Councillors from across the chamber support these amendments, we all have to stand together for the people of Devon, it is clear Rural counties like Devon are the poor relation, when it comes to government funding.”
Seaton to aim for ‘refill town’, supporting campaign to cut plastic waste
On Monday Seaton Town Council supported my proposal to promote the spread of free water refilling facilities throughout the town, to prevent the proliferation of plastic bottles and the pollution they cause. I gather Seaton Jurassic already offers this facility and I hope other places in the town – and throughout the area – will consider joining in. The idea is explained by Refill Devon.
Seaton Town Council keeps precept (almost) on hold
This is old news now, but in the absence of the View From, readers may not have picked up that, on my proposal, the Town Council decided in January to hold its precept to an increase of 0.58 per cent, well under the rate of inflation (3 per cent).
Council Tax will still go up substantially, however, with big increases expected from DCC, EDDC and the Police and Crime Commissioner, reflecting yet more large cuts in Government funding which are stripping services to the bone.
CPRE Devon to produce report on housing needs, to help challenges to major development proposals
Gigaclear announce superfast broadband rollout by 2020 in Branscombe, Weston, Farway and Offwell – postcode checker available online
It is intended that work will start in Q3 of 2019 (Q4 in Offwell) and finish in 2020: Q1 Farway, Q2 Branscombe and Offwell, and Q4 (Weston). You can see the map and check your postcode HERE.
Although a Carillion company has been contracted for some of the work, Ian Thomas quotes statements suggesting that Carillion’s collapse will not affect the programme.
34 per cent of children in Coly Valley, 24 per cent in Seaton, living in poverty says shocking new report
From devonlive – The End Child Poverty coalition has collated the data: altogether 251 children in the Coly Valley (34 per cent) and 232 in Seaton (24 per cent) are likely to be living in poverty. The figures are estimates of child poverty in different areas, calculated using HMRC data and the Labour Force Survey.
Sam Royston, Chair of End Child Poverty and Director of Policy and Research at the Children’s Society said: “It is scandalous that a child born in some parts of the UK now has a greater chance of growing up in poverty, than being in a family above the breadline.
He added, “There can be little doubt that the Government’s policy of maintaining the benefits freeze despite rising prices is a major contributor to the emerging child poverty crisis.”
As above-inflation council tax rises loom – men’s real earnings in Devon fell by over 3 per cent in 2017
A shocking figure leaps out from the Equality Impact Statement for next month’s Devon County Council budget – average male full time earnings in the county did not increase at all in 2017. The annual change was ZERO! Since inflation ended the year at 3.1 per cent per annum, this means average male earnings fell by this amount. Many families still rely wholly or mainly on a male full-time worker, so this means a drastic fall in many people’s income (indeed since the figure is an average, many will have lost more than this).
Average female full-time earnings did rise, by 3.8 per cent (a small real increase) but since many women work part-time, this doesn’t necessarily mean that overall women were better off. Taking male and female full-time workers together, there was a cash increase of 1 per cent, meaning a 2.1 per cent average decline.
Can Devon councillors go along with above-inflation council tax increases when their constituents already have falling real incomes?
Seaton & Colyton MATTERS 