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Pursuit of elusive ‘devolution’ deal is leading to a new layer of bureaucracy: an unelected, one-party ‘Heart of the South West’ combined authority
This week’s DCC Cabinet meeting approved a Conservative proposal to set up a formal Joint Committee with Somerset (report at item 7 of the agenda). Objections were raised to aspects of the proposal by the leaders of the Liberal Democrat and Labour groups, and I spoke on behalf of the Non-Aligned Group (which comprises the three Independents and one Green councillor). You can watch the debate, and read my speech below:
I think we know what is going with devolution. We have a government which is ripping the heart out of local government spending, pushing services to the border of viability; this is causing enormous difficulties for this council but also driving down local incomes and so weakening our regional economy. But at the same time it is holding out the carrot of giving us limited extra powers and returning a modest bit of the lost funding, if we jump through its ‘devolution’ hoops. The government barely seems to know what it’s doing over ‘devolution’ and the hoops keep changing, but we still have to guess what they are and do our best to jump.
And so we end up with the papers in front of us today. We are asked to endorse a ‘vision’ of higher productivity and economic growth and create an extra layer of bureaucracy to support it. The problem is that the vision bears little relation to reality. The ambition is to double the regional economy in 18 years, i.e. to increase its size by 100% – this requires a compound growth rate of 3.94%. In the real world, the actual growth rate in the SW over the last 18 years has been 30% and the annual rate 1.47%. Nationally, the UK economy has never grown by more than 3% p.a. in any of the last 18 years, and is currently veering downwards below 1.5%.
So we are asked to believe that we can increase local productivity growth from below the national average to well above it, and thereby buck not only regional but also national growth trends. How are we going to that? By waving the wand of the Hinkley nuclear white elephant and hoping that it somehow spreads some stardust over Devon? I can tell you that so far the LEP has produced almost nothing which offers help to the economy in the rural, small-town, coastal Devon which most of us represent.
Let’s take a reality check – if I come to the budget meeting and tell you, ‘the economy will grow by 4%, business rate receipts will shoot up, so spend, spend, spend’, you are going to look on me as a madman, and rightly so. So why should Devon County Council buy this phoney prospectus? And why should we embark on radical constitutional change to support it?
I know this is only a proposal for a Joint Committee, with limited financial implications. But it is clearly presented as enabling us to ‘move relatively quickly to establish a Combined Authority’ if that is deemed necessary. We already have 3 tiers of local government. This is the beginning of creating a fourth tier, without a mandate, without elections, and without balanced political representation.
95% of the people of Devon don’t even know they’re living in something called the ‘Heart of the South West’. It says everything about the lack of democracy in this so-called devolution that we are using this PR-speak rather than the county names which people understand. I know the Government prefers cross-boundary devolution projects, but Cornwall got a stand-alone deal, and we are much bigger in both population and area.
Apart from Hinkley there is no strong reason for us to tie ourselves to Somerset rather than Cornwall or Dorset. Our local government is being distorted to support an anachronistic nuclear project – for the benefit of companies owned by the French and Chinese states – instead of developing renewable energy for which we have a good basis in the SW.
I have this Cabinet down as a group of a level-headed people. But here we have fantasy economics, making claims which are about as credible as the figures on Boris’s battlebus, and constitutional change which means that Devon people and their councillors are asked to start handing over democratic control to a one-party quango in conjunction with unelected business people.
Since the Government is always changing its mind about devolution, there is no reason why we shouldn’t change our minds too. I ask you to
- go back to the Government with a realistic agenda for Devon, that addresses the needs of all areas of the county and all sectors of our economy and society
- back off from this unnecessary proposal for a joint committee.
Devon County Council’s Cabinet supports Plastic Free Coastlines after primary school children’s pleas
My Independent colleague Cllr Frank Biederman this week succeeded in getting DCC’s Cabinet to endorse initiatives to achieve plastic-free coastlines, after very articulate speeches by two children from Georgeham Primary School in his North Devon division. Frank’s motion said:
‘This Devon County Council supports Plastic Free Coastlines, committing to plastic free alternatives and supporting plastic free initiatives within Devon. The Council commits to lead by example to remove single-use plastic items from its premises. Also it must encourage plastic free initiatives, promoting the campaign and supporting its events. A representative of this Council will become a member of the Plastic Free Coastlines Steering group’.
The Cabinet agreed that the Council be recommended to:
i) support the spirit of the Notice of Motion, which aims to provide leadership in avoiding single-use plastic items in order to achieve a ‘Plastic Free Coastline’; and
ii) commit to addressing this issue further through this Authority’s environmental performance agenda, including a review of single-use plastic items and how suitable alternatives to these might continue to be adopted.
Devon County Council review of 20mph speed limits coming in the first half of 2018
At Devon County Council’s Cabinet meeting this week I spoke in support of Cllr Jacqi Hodgson’s motion:
‘With rising concerns about road safety for pedestrian and cyclists and in response to the growing calls for 20 mph speed limits in villages, this Council will welcome and consider proposals from Town and Parish Councils for 20 mph speed limits in residential areas, town and village centres and associated approach roads’.
I mentioning that speed is an issue in several places in the Seaton and Colyton division, where communities’ complaints about living with busy through-routes are the biggest local issues
The Cabinet advised that ‘a blanket call for Town and Parish Councils to propose 20mph speed limits would be premature at this stage given there is a commitment to reviewing the current policy.’
However it was reported that the national Atkins report on 20mph limits will be published in February, and Cllr Alistair Dewhirst, Chair of the scrutiny committee dealing with Highways (on which I sit) said that he expected reviewing speed limit policy will be a major area of work for the committee following this.
‘Local policing’ review highlights funding crisis driving loss of PCSOs – neighbourhood services may rely on Specials and volunteers
Last week I took part in, as a member of a Devon County Council scrutiny committee, a ‘spotlight review’ on ‘local policing’ attended by senior officers including the Chief Constable. Local policing, it was explained, is different from neighbourhood policing as it is delivered by officers behind computers in headquarters and other specialists, some of whom will not be uniformed, as well as on the beat in a neighbourhood. The planned drastic reductions in the numbers of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) are part of this transition, and the police made it clear that while they are not happy with this, they see it as the inevitable consequence of reduced funding. If there is any hope of keeping up the level of neighbourhood policing it may lie, it was suggested, in recruiting an increased number of Specials with a neighbourhood brief, and other volunteers.
I am a member of the scrutiny committee’s panel which will produce recommendations from this review. Without prejudging our discussion, it is safe to say that there was general agreement that there is a huge gap between how the police see their role and how local communities see it. I will let you know if we find ways of bridging it!
Vote for solar panels for Colyton Library
Please vote for Colyton Library in the Marks and Spencer Community Energy Fund by clicking HERE
We need your vote. Colyton Library has the opportunity to win £4,500 funding for solar panels. As you may know the library building now belongs to Colyton Parish Council. The running costs and maintenance costs will be split between The Friends of Colyton Library and Libraries Unlimited. Solar panels will provide free electricity and a small income.
PLEASE VOTE !!!!!!!!!!
If you have any problems go to http://www.mandsenergyfund.com and select the region Devon and Dorset
Meeting plans to secure remedial measures for Wilmington, to tame the A35’s damaging effects on the village
Last Thursday I arrived late for a meeting with the A35 Action Group in Wilmington. There had been yet another crash on the eastern side of the village (after a spate of crashes on the road in the summer: image from Devon Live).
There are problems all along this road but Wilmington’s situation is particularly bad. There is not a single pedestrian crossing and many parts of the village don’t even have pavements, although huge volumes of traffic, including large numbers of heavy goods vehicles, pass through – often at excessive speed – at all times. The situation is a scandal and I will join Neil Parish MP and representatives of Widworthy Parish Council and the Action Group to meet Highways England later this month to request urgent implementation of a series of remedial measures.
Shock proposal to close Axe Valley Sixth Form is the result of the ‘reduction in government funding for sixth form provision in schools’
I am shocked to hear of the proposal to close the Sixth Form at Axe Valley College, blamed on the ‘reduction in government funding for sixth form provision in schools’ in the first line of the consultation statement.
Turning the college into an academy, as part of the Vector Learning Trust which runs Holyrood Academy in Chard, was supposed to be a means of saving the Sixth Form, but it obviously has not worked. I look forward to hearing the views of parents and others at this serious blow to local facilities.
When will the Heart of the South West Local Economic Partnership (LEP) offer something to small town, rural and coastal Devon?
This was the question I asked Chris Garcia, of the Heart of the South West LEP, when he appeared before the Corporate Infrastructure and Regulatory Services Scrutiny Committee (CIRS) at Devon County Council yesterday. Mr Garcia said that Government funding was geared mainly to urban areas, but the LEP has a ‘rural growth commission’ which will publish a report shortly. I shall look out for it.
Mr Garcia didn’t reply, however, to my criticism that the LEP is itself skewed by the ‘white elephant’ new nuclear power station at Hinkley C in Somerset. This project, rashly endorsed by Theresa May who had a chance to halt it, will cause British consumers pay over the odds for electricity for decades to come, based on an unproved type of nuclear station which is not supported even by many who believe nuclear energy is necessary for national energy needs, and in the control of French and Chinese state companies! As renewables get cheaper and electric storage becomes viable, this is a project we don’t need. True, it will bring some jobs to Somerset, but not to most of Devon.
Mr Garcia came with a powerpoint and brandishing the LEP’s latest glossy annual report. I asked that in future, we had proper written reports circulated in advance which members could scrutinise.
Mr Garcia didn’t mention the word ‘devolution’. HoTSW is leaving all that to Devon and Somerset county councils, who apparently now planning to establish a Joint Committee. What that will involve is something else county councillors will need to scrutinise carefully.
Seaton & Colyton MATTERS 