Real Zorro

Mission - to challenge in East Devon. To hold elected representatives & their officials to account.

Monday 30 March 2015

Independents - vote in change! Vote out chaos!

Voting on 7 May can bring change to East Devon
Zorro's quick reminder about the East Devon District Council elections and the general election on 7 May. It's now only 37 days until polling day in both sets of elections. So in case you needed any guidance on how to bring about much needed change locally -

East Devon Alliance & Claire Wright. A District Council & Parliamentary winning combination
District Council elections - remember how the Conservative majority group have handled things over the past years. Recall the shenanigans over the Local Plan? We are still waiting for it after all this time, effort and cost. Remember how thousands marched on EDDC to protest about the Council's original proposals?  Recall the way the decision was taken  to sell off the Knowle? Remember how only in the past couple of weeks the Conservative majority group steamrollered through the decision to relocation from Sidmouth to Exmouth and Honiton?

East Devon Alliance is fielding candidates across East Devon. This time there is a clear choice other than Conservative. Details of East Devon Alliance candidates are available at the EDA website http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk/.
Get angry! Get even!
East Devon Alliance - Independents for change!
General election - for the past 5 years Hugo Swire has been the Conservative MP for East Devon. Where has Hugo been for all that time? What has he been saying about the key local issues? If you are satisfied with the answers that you can give yourself to these questions then Hugo remains the person that you are likely to vote for.

However, if you either can't satisfactorily answer the questions then Hugo probably isn't the candidate that you should put a cross against on the ballot paper.

Hugo Swire. Electors can bang the auctioneer's hammer on 7 May
Until a year ago it seemed as if Hugo would have no meaningful opposition at the polls. That was until local Independent District and County Councillor Claire Wright announced that she was going to stand in the general election. Claire Wright http://www.claire-wright.org/ is now the only challenger to Hugo who has a realistic chance of beating him. Ladbrokes give Claire wright's odds on winning at 6/1. Not bad for someone that Hugo Swire claimed would bring chaos to politics!

Claire Wright. Ready to be East Devon's Independent MP
If you don't want to vote for the Conservative candidate then don't! If you were thinking of voting for a candidate from either the Liberal Democrats, the Greens or the Labour Party don't either. None of their candidates will beat Hugo. They can however let Hugo in by splitting the anti-Conservative vote.

It say's it all
If you want to know what Claire Wright's manifesto in the general election is, follow this link
http://sites.google.com/site/realzorro1/CWrightJanFeb2015Leaflet.pdf. If you want to watch a two minute summary by Claire Wright on why she is standing in the general election catch her on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYXMTm1lgmg&feature=player_embedded.
 
It’s time for change! It’s time for challenge!

Friday 27 March 2015

What Hugo Swire costs & claims from the taxpayer

Hugo Swire. Returning to auctioneering full time?
In case any East Devon electors were interested to know what their incumbent Conservative MP, Hugo Swire, costs the public purse Zorro has pulled together the information about his expenses claims for the past three years and they are set out below in a handy table.
IPSA. Overseeing Parliamentarians' expenses
Unfortunately the information, which has been taken directly from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority’s website doesn’t allow each year’s claim to be compared heading by heading, except for the total amount claimed. But it gives you a good idea of what Hugo (and his wife) are costing the taxpayer each year. And each year the cost has risen unlike that of the workers in the public sector whose salaries have been kept screwed down by Hugo and his Conservative colleagues in government.

Hugo Swire MP – Annual Expenditure Claim
 
2012/13
£
2011/12
£
2010/11
£
Office Costs
      2,857.30
     5,351.41
   5,587.91
Staffing Expenses
      3,960.00
         nil
       nil
Staffing
          n/a
         n/a
 75,502.59
General Admin
          n/a
      4,749.36
   4,749.36
Miscellaneous Expenses
          n/a
         225.20
      225.20
Payroll
119,1128.31
  107,365.76
       n/a
Accommodation
      8,775.78
    16,037.33
 11,250.62
Travel & Subsistence
      5,509.90
      5,302.20
    3,596.01
Total *
  140,231.29
  139,031.26
  95,937.13
*Inc Alexandra Swire @ £34,999.00 pa
 
 
 
Source: Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority

East Devon Watch. Looking over Hugo Swire's shoulder
Zorro’s good friends over at East Devon Watch http://eastdevonwatch.org/ seem, independently but simultaneously, to be following Hugo Swire’s financial interests too. They have summarised what Hugo’s declarations in the MPs’ Register of Interests at –
http://eastdevonwatch.org/2015/03/25/hugo-swire-hospitalty-benefits/.
TheyWorkForYou. A source of information about our MPs
To get a complete overview of Hugo’s hospitality and renummeration whilst an MP, go to http://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=11265.
Daily Telegraph. Put MPs' expenses under the microscope
It’s interesting that if you go back a few years Hugo’s name cropped up in a league table compiled by the Daily Telegraph about the 25 most ludicrous claims made at that point by MPs. Hugo comes in at number 20 in the league table for making a claim of £349 for a sat nav which in his claim he said was to "cover the 176.25 square miles of his constituency".
Satellite navigation. Absolutely needed to find your way around East Devon
Looking on Google today Zorro can find a Garmin sat nav for £59.99! Hugo’s sat nav must be an all singing, all dancing one! Alternatively Hugo could have popped into any petrol station and picked up a map of the whole of the UK for only a couple of pounds. But then, it’s not the price that he had to worry about was it?

In case you want to read the Daily Telegraph league table article in full - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5581638/MPs-expenses-25-most-ludicrous-claims.html.

18 months ago Hugo’s expense claims popped on a blog Another Angry Voice –
http://anotherangryvoice.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/mp-energy-expenses-fuel-poverty.html.

Energy saving. If you spend £3,192 you really need to make energy savings
Here the blogger draws our attention to the £3,192 that Hugo had claimed for his energy costs. Zorro doesn’t know about you but it takes him and Mrs Zorro a while to rack up this level of energy cost. Perhaps Hugo likes the heating up high in his house(s).

The blog pointed out – “Another egregious claim was submitted by another Tory millionaire, the MP for East Devon Hugo Swire, who billed the taxpayer £3,192 to cover his energy bills. Just a few weeks previously he told his local newspaper that "The reason we are not introducing a price freeze is it simply won’t work. If we want the lights to stay on, consumers and taxpayers are, by some means or other, going to have to pay for it". It is absolutely clear that he believes the taxpayer are "going to have to" pay for his energy usage, but us common plebs ("consumers") "are going to have to" pay for our own, whether we can afford to subsidise outrageous corporate profiteering or not”.

Finally if you are interested in how Hugo has voted in the House of Commons, have a look at his voting record -
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/11265/hugo_swire/east_devon/votes

It’s time for change! It’s time for challenge!

Thursday 26 March 2015

Further coverage of EDDC Knowle sell off decision

Further press and social media coverage in the aftermath of East Devon District Conservative Councillors last night voting through a decision to sell its Headquarters at the Knowle in Sidmouth –

Western Morning News “Tory Council insists costly council HQ move a money saver”
http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Tory-council-insists-costly-council-HQ-money/story-26237083-detail/story.html


Express & Echo “Green light for £10m relocation of East Devon Council’s Sidmouth headquarters”
http://t.co/fuxeV4CojF
Save Our Sidmouth. Concern about loss of 300 jobs in the town

Richard Thurlow, from Save Our Sidmouth http://saveoursidmouth.com/, and Councillor Andrew Moulding, Conservative East Devon District Council Deputy Leader were on Radio Devon’s early morning news today.


Save Our Sidmouth report on last night’s Council meeting –
http://saveoursidmouth.com/2015/03/26/relocation-to-go-ahead-despite-valiant-last-minute-stand-by-some-sidmouth-councillors/


BBC Radio Devon. Knowle sell off makes news

BBC Devon News

“East Devon District Council to move after seven-year debate”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-32064309

Influential Councillor Ian Thomas. One of EDDC's Conservative Cabinet
Conservative EDDC Councillor Ian Thomas Cabinet Member and Portfolio Holder for Economy, representing Trinity Ward defends the indefensible
http://t.co/ro28B9Slvh

Get angry! Get even!

It’s time for change! It’s time for challenge!

Selling off the Knowle - EDDC's press release in full

Here is the press release in full issued today by East Devon District Council setting out last night’s decision by Councillors (well Conservative Councillors anyway) to relocate from the Knowle and to sell it off.

Readers will make of it what they will. For Zorro the part of Councillor Paul Diviani’s quote that needs to be played back to all Conservative candidates in the District Council elections is highlighted below in red and reprinted here – “I’m pleased that we can give the residents of East Devon, many of whom will be voting in district elections on 7 May, a clear and transparent picture of our intentions”.
Clr Diviani, EDDC Leader. Giving voters a transparent picture of Conservative intentions
Councillor Diviani clearly hadn’t appreciated that most electors had fully understood what the Conservative Councillors’ intentions were! And they didn’t like their intentions!

Get angry! Get even!

It’s time for change! It’s time for challenge!

 
East Devon District Council Press Release: 26 March

East Devon District Council WILL be moving out of its ageing offices at Sidmouth for purpose-built and modernised accommodation at Honiton and Exmouth respectively.

After a lengthy debate last night (Wednesday 25 March) Full Council voted by a significant majority that the authority should sell its Knowle headquarters in Sidmouth and move to the dual-site solution at Honiton and Exmouth.

This vote formally gives the green light for officers to proceed towards concluding the council’s long-standing Moving and Improving project, with an estimated delivery date of mid 2017.

The decision by Full Council follows votes in favour of relocation by Cabinet on 11 March and strong endorsement of the proposals by meetings of Overview & Scrutiny and Audit & Governance committees on 12 March.

Evidence supporting the case for a move has been building for some years as the project team and a senior-level working party compared the options of staying at Knowle or moving.

High costs

The costs of heating, maintaining and repairing Knowle and converting it to accommodation suitable fit for new ways of working are high – and would mean spending money on an asset with no value.

By contrast, the dual-site option of purpose-built offices at Honiton and refurbished accommodation at Exmouth Town Hall ticks all the right boxes in terms of location, suitability for agile working, greater resilience and future-proofing against challenges that lie ahead – not least of which is continuing budgetary pressures.

In last night’s vote, Members accepted recommendations in a report # to Cabinet from Deputy Chief Executive Richard Cohen seeking permission to progress with the sale of the Knowle development site for between seven and eight million pounds. The exact figure remains commercially confidential at the request of the would-be buyer.

The report explains that figures supporting the case for a move have been modelled in co-operation with the council’s independent external auditors, Grant Thornton. Internal auditors the South West Audit Partnership have also examined the project’s governance and process.

Specialist

The proposed buyer of the development site at Knowle is Pegasus Life Ltd., a specialist provider of residential developments offering retirement and assisted living facilities.

The developer would be buying 1.8856 hectares of land, including the area currently occupied by buildings and tarmac car parks. Full Council agreed with Cabinet’s recommendation that the 3.5196 hectares (86%) of parkland, which includes the lower ‘grasscrete’ car park, would be offered to Sidmouth Town Council to own and manage, with a covenant against any future development of this land.

The capital, borrowing and running costs of relocation are published in the report and comparisons are made with the equivalent costs that would be incurred in remaining on the Knowle site, making a strong case in favour of the move.

In addition to the selling price of the development site, the council would need to find just over two million pounds through prudential borrowing* from the Public Works Loan Board over a loan period of 20 years. Critically, the calculations verified by external auditors show that in each year after the move takes place, the savings in operating costs in moving to purpose-built offices in Honiton and refurbished space in Exmouth would exceed the loan repayments.

Each year, the amount saved would increase and, after the loan has been repaid, the savings would continue on.

Challenging

Fundamental to the move is EDDC’s desire to move away from traditional working practices that are both expensive and wasteful. Investing in the working environment, technology, business processes and flexible working practices will realise the benefits of lower operating costs, high productivity and better services for our residents.

The council’s Worksmart approach will help it to move away from traditional ways of desk-bound working. New ways of working mean that increasingly work will take place at the most effective locations respecting the needs of the task, the customer, the individual and the team. Properly equipped mobile officers will be able to operate more efficiently; the use of surgeries across the district will continue to manage local demand; and an improving website, plus other applications, will offer a greater number of online transactional services.

Full Council heard that costings calculated by the project team support the case for a move. The most cost-effective option is to refurbish Exmouth Town Hall and a new-build office at Honiton Heathpark. Options of Honiton alone and combined with Exmouth are all more cost-effective than staying at Knowle with ‘do minimum’ investment, let alone any significant modernisation.

Over the 20-year period the district will be £2.8m better off if the Council moves. This compares with being £3.9m worse off by staying and carrying out ‘do minimum’ investment works at Knowle.

Transparent

Commenting on the decision to confirm the move, Councillor Paul Diviani, Leader of EDDC, said:

I’m pleased that we can give the residents of East Devon, many of whom will be voting in district elections on 7 May, a clear and transparent picture of our intentions after many years of careful consideration and fine-tuning to find the most effective solution. Whilst this approach has been prudent, it has inevitably caused uncertainty for our towns and especially for our employees.

This project is all about giving our residents, businesses and visitors the best possible service at the least possible cost. We know there is more austerity on the way and that our council – like others up and down the country – has to find more and more creative ways of saving costs and becoming more efficient. Our customers want good service without hikes in council tax.

How strange would it be for our residents to see us making piecemeal changes here and there to save relatively small amounts of money in each service, whilst pouring scarce funds into an unsuitable building that will have no value? By thinking ahead – and outside the box – we have given ourselves the chance of moving to accommodation that supports modern working practices, will reduce operating costs and will prove an investment for the future.

This has been described by some cynics as a vanity project. It’s not – it’s a sanity project!

I’m delighted that my fellow councillors have decided to grasp this fantastic opportunity and I now feel confident that we will be able to continue giving our customers the service they deserve, at a price they can afford. 

The report to Cabinet can be viewed online at: http://new.eastdevon.gov.uk/media/939266/110315-cabinet-combined-agenda.pdf.  

A move away from a site in Sidmouth that has been the council’s home since 1974 has been on the cards for at least seven years.

In line with many other public bodies and councils up and down the country, East Devon District Council’s Moving and Improving project is designed to maximise the value of the council’s property asset and minimise running costs, whilst at the same time delivering outstanding service to residents. To do this EDDC needs accommodation that will give Staff and Members the best possible future-proofed, flexible space from which to work.

Knowle is expensive to run and will continue in the future to cost millions to repair, maintain or modernise – money that the council does not have to pour into aged and inefficient buildings.

As far back as 2008, Members instructed one of EDDC’s directors to look at the options for a new HQ. The idea gained extra momentum when Government cuts started to bite. In July 2011, Cabinet called for a project team to investigate a move from Knowle (without increasing the Council Tax), with an EDDC-owned site at Honiton an early favourite in terms of making the best business sense.

Early in 2012, EDDC appointed a dedicated Project Manager and three communication events were held in Sidmouth. Refusal of outline planning permission for a home-grown development proposal resulted in a further look at the options. In July 2013, Cabinet and Full Council voted to actively seek a fresh location. A search identified 15 proposals, which were assessed by the Relocation Executive Group (REG), made up of the council’s leader, deputy leader, two other cabinet members and senior officers.

The initial choice following this exercise was a site at SkyPark to the west of the district, close to the new community of Cranbrook and at the heart of the Exeter and East Devon Growth Point.

But reduced income by way of capital receipt from the mooted sale of Heathpark meant SkyPark was not a viable option, so Honiton then became the focus for further consideration. At the same time space became available at Exmouth Town Hall, providing an ideal two-site solution incorporating a smaller head office in Honiton and achieving a greater presence for the council in Exmouth.

• EDDC’s current offices at Knowle are expensive to run, unfit for new ways of working, and a depreciating asset. • Marketing Knowle shows that potential developers are not interested in buying a site with council still occupying part of it. Not one wanted to keep any of the buildings apart from the bat house. • Ongoing austerity, falling revenues and rising costs make a move the most judicious option. • The council is investing in the Moving and Improving project to find a better all-round solution. • New offices will allow more flexible working catering for local demand across the district. • A new-build at Honiton and refurbishment at Exmouth will lower energy usage and reduce costs. • EDDC’s Worksmart project, use of surgeries across the district and an improved website will ensure residents can access our services when and how they want them. • A dual-site solution (Honiton/Exmouth) is now the favoured choice and if agreed a move would be likely in mid 2017.

*Prudential Borrowing: Introduced in 2003, Prudential Borrowing is based on local authorities planning their needs for capital spending in a sensible and long-term way, based on sound management of assets and finances. Borrowing must conform to the Prudential Code, endorsed by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. This requires that borrowing be affordable and prudent (sensible). Whilst the rate of increase of central government contribution to capital expenditure has slowed, prudential borrowing has helped to maintain an overall increase in investment, allowing local authorities to meet the local and national challenges that they face.

RIP the Knowle - Immediate reporting of EDDC Conservative Councillors decision

Immediate coverage in the aftermath of East Devon District Conservative Councillors last night voting through a decision to sell its Headquarters at the Knowle in Sidmouth –

Sidmouth Herald “EDDC relocation given the green-light”
http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/eddc_relocation_given_the_green_light_1_4009758

East Devon WatchRelocation rolls on…
http://eastdevonwatch.org/2015/03/25/relocation-rolls-on/

http://saveoursidmouth.com/

RIP the Knowle - Get angry! Get even! Vote 7 May

Zorro is saddened, but unsurprised by the outcome of last night’s East Devon District Council decision to relocate its Headquarters from the Knowle in Sidmouth and to sell the site. This decision flies in the face of what the local electorate wants, what local business want, what the local MP wants and what independently minded Councillors want.

The Knowle. Conservatives to sell a public asset
In the end 36 Conservative Councillors voted to do what had almost become inevitable after last week’s Cabinet and joint meetings of the Audit & Governance Committee and the Overview & Scrutiny Committee. They voted to relocate from the Knowle to a split site alternative in Honiton and Exmouth.

They also voted to sell the site and associated land. The preferred bidder to develop the site had been determined before last night’s or even last week’s meeting as Pegasus Life. Zorro finds it extraordinary that such a decision can be made prior to formal proceedings within the Council have concluded. So, the "for sale" sign is about to be erected at the Knowle

The sign that will now be erected at the Knowle
All of this has happened before we learn the outcome of the independent tribunal that determines whether the Council has acted properly in not making some of the key reports related to the relocation feasibility process of relocating public. All of this also comes 6 full weeks ahead of the elections on 7 May.

There have now to be two steps that electors in East Devon need to take on 7 May in order to demonstrate their anger at the way the Conservatives in East Devon have politically arrogantly acted over the past few years.

Step 1 – vote for Independent candidates in the District Council elections. Information about these is available on East Devon Alliance’s website http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk/

East Devon Alliance. The alternative to Conservative Councillors
Step2 – vote for the Independent candidate, Claire Wright http://www.claire-wright.org/, in the Parliamentary election.

Claire Wright. The alternative to East Devon's Conservative MP
Step 3 – help to ensure that East Devon Alliance candidates and Claire Wright get elected. Help their campaigns, encourage family and friends to vote for them and put up their posters and boards to publicise their candidatures. Change can happen!

Step 4 – keep up to date with all that is happening in the political world that is East Devon. You can do this by regularly visiting East Devon Watch’s website http://eastdevonwatch.org/, as well as Save Our Sidmouth’s website http://saveoursidmouth.com/.

East Devon Watch. Holding East Devon's politicians to account
 
Save Our Sidmouth. East Devon Conservatives dismissed their opposition
 
The elections on 7 May are now only 6 weeks away and so it’s time that the electors made their voices well and truly heard.

Get angry! Get even!

Ballot box. It can change East Devon

It’s time for change! It’s time for challenge!