Heart of the South West devolution

“Who Cares What You Think?” East Devon Independents’ conference

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Last May, the East Devon Alliance (EDA) supported Independent candidates across the district. Altogether 15 Independents won seats, taking 10 off the Conservatives, and now form the main opposition on EDDC.
IMG_1602EDA has now organised an open conference on 23rd April for the Independent councillors to report back to interested voters on what has been happening in EDDC since last May. It will also to discuss the challenges facing the region, especially the so-called ‘devolution’ deal which will see the Local Enterprise Partnership, with a majority of business people, given a key role in governing Devon and Somerset.
The public has not been consulted about this deal and the conference will hear from Independent councillors in both counties about what we can do about it. There will also be a chance to hear Bob Spencer, an Independent candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner (although I should add that EDA as such has not endorsed him, nor have I personally).
If you are concerned about these and other local issues, and would like to see a continuing challenge to one-party rule, please come to this event. The programme is here EDA Conference_Apr 23 and you can book by emailing conference@eastdevonalliance.org.uk. I look​ ​forward to seeing you there!

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‘Devolution’ threat to local democracy – sign the petition

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South Devon Watch: Petitioning devon county council 

          Stop the ‘unlawful’ devolution process

          in Devon and Somerset

  • The so called Devolution process taking place in Devon and Somerset right now, is an totally undemocratic and possibly unlawful transfer of power from local authorities to a quango of unelected and unaccountable business people called the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership.
  • Their meetings are held in secret and their minutes are not published.  They control £4 billion worth of grants from the government and the EU and have spent millions on Hinkley C power station.  These are the people, nearly all property developers and construction CEOs who are writing the devolution bid for Devon and Somerset.  Whilst local councils have their budgets slashed to a point they can barely function, the LEP enables enormous construction projects and is pushing for the building of 179,000 new homes, which are not affordable.
  • Local people are being shut out of decision making processes altogether while the responsibility for care homes, roads and house building is passed over to this opaque and remote quango, whose only goal is growth at the expense of everything else.

          Sign the petition here

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What a South Hams district councillor thinks of devolution

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This says exactly what needs to be said about the Devon-Someset ‘devolution’ bid.

East Devon Watch

“The dreadful “Devolution” proposals from the Heart Of The South West Local Enterprise Partnership were endorsed by South Hams District Council today – but not before Opposition Group of councillors had put up a big fight. Here is what one of them said:

“The Government has taken away the funds that local authorities were once spending to meet the needs of local people – for affordable homes, care services, repairing local roads etc. It now offers to give back £195.5 million – but only if we endorse a package of megaprojects in which we have had no say.

This is coercion, not ‘devolution’. The decisions about how this council spent its money were once democratically decided; the proposals in this Devolution Prospectus were not. It is not the economic recovery plan that residents would have created themselves if they had been given the opportunity.

ROADS. The Government has taken away…

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‘Devolution’ without democracy?

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‘To most people “devolution” implies greater local involvement, local democratic power’, says the East Devon Alliance in a new Press Release (full text here), ‘but the process being followed for the “Heart of the South West” devolution bid has no democratic element at all:

  • Input has been sought from the business community but neither the public nor elected Councillors have been consulted about either the process or on the content of the bid
  • The information submitted so far has the logos of the Councils and implies endorsement by council members that has neither been explicitly sought or given
  • The seven Nolan Principles have not been followed.’

EDA calls for the Heart of the South West devolution planning process to be more open and democratic, that both the public and elected representatives are regularly consulted, and that decisions involving the use of public funds (e.g. business rate revenue) to be made in public by accountable, elected representatives.

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SW devolution – when do we have our say?

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Our county and district councils are steaming ahead with proposals for devolution in the daftly named ‘Heart of the South West’ (that’s Devon and Somerset to you and me) to be agreed on 18 December and then submitted to Government. They hope it will all be done and dusted by March. Apart from an odd piece in the local press, what do most people know about this? I’d always thought that ‘devolution’ was about more democracy, not less.

On Wednesday 2nd December, at 3pm, EDDC has scheduled a special extra meeting of Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the sole opportunity for the press and public to be present at a devolution discussion. This will prepare the ground for the Cabinet Committee at 5.30pm when EDDC Leader’s delegated powers for ‘Heart of the South West’ are expected to be pushed through.

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