Jobs and training for young people in East Devon

This blog has looked at what is happening in East Devon in the way of training and education for young people:
Futures Forum: Apprenticeships in Sidmouth
Futures Forum: Local Labour Agreements: "Train local young people if you want to build"
Futures Forum: Reintroducing the apprenticeship system in the UK

There was an event last summer promoting such opportunities:
East Devon Jobs and Apprenticeships Fair will showcase opportunities for young people | Exeter Express and Echo
East Devon Jobs and Apprenticeship Fair “Huge Success”! | Neil Parish

Nevertheless, provision does seem to be rather minimal...

Here's a section from the Western Morning News, looking at the election campaign:

All the pundits say the 2015 General Election is one of the hardest to predict, writes Keith Rossiter. With bookies betting on an inconclusive result and the strong possibility of a hung Parliament, we ask a selection of Westcountry candidates what to expect over the next six weeks. 

Among the big issues for the South West is jobs and the economy. With high levels of deprivation in rural and coastal communities, particularly in Cornwall, jobs and spending are key concerns.

Phoney war is over in election campaign for Devon and Cornwall | Western Morning News

Indeed, there has been quite a lot of political tussle over the years when it comes to the theme of 'jobs and training': 

Speaking after the rally, Cllr Diviani said: 
"These are complex issues and it might be we can't always agree on everything, but what is absolutely clear is that we share a common goal of a thriving, economically stable East Devon where we have enough homes, jobs and training opportunities."

4,000 march to show discontent | Exeter Express and Echo
EDDC response to Saturday’s historic rally - Claire Wright

And there are different views about:

> 'skills shortages':The construction industry in Devon is facing an acute skills shortage as the economic recovery gathers pace | Western Morning News
> the importance of tourism:
House of Commons - Communities and Local Government Committee - Second Report - STAKEHOLDERS IN EXMOUTH, 6 JUNE 2006
> the promise of East Devon's eco-town:
An honest look at Cranbrook and ‘growth point’ - Claire Wright
Here is a piece on jobs, training and young people just sent in from a commentator:

On the tough question of jobs for youngsters, when I visited colleges across the country during the 1980s I always found the employment propects for art students very difficult.

Fortunately when I left school at 15 in [the 1960s] I was able to take up an apprentice ... and was able through night school, day release and a sandwich course to progress to degree level in aeronautical engineering. What I didn't appreciate at the time was this was achieved through a central governemnet initiative to maintain skills in manufacturing. In fact many of my geeration were lucky enough to take advantage of such schemes.

Sadly post-Thatcher all this has changed and as we no longer manufacture things, youths are lucky to find a job stacking shelves at the local supermarket.

For what its worth here below is some info on the Industrial Training Boards I mentioned.

1964 Industrial Training Act: central government became directly involved in employers' training practices.

The Industrial Training Act 1964 was enacted in order to make better provision for training in industry and commerce and to ensure an adequate supply of trained personnel. The Minister of Labour (later the Secretary of State for Employment) was thereby empowered to establish Industrial Training Boards (ITBs) by making industrial training orders.

By the late nineteenth century, Apprenticeships had spread from artisan trades such as building and printing to the newer industries of engineering and shipbuilding – and later to plumbing and electrical work. 
Although there were approximately 240,000 apprentices by the mid 1960s, there were growing concerns about the effectiveness of Apprenticeship training. It was criticised for its exclusivity, for being male-dominated, for focusing on serving time rather than on outcomes, and for a failure to embrace new and expanding occupations. 
Numbers had decreased to some 53,000 ('average in learning' figure) by 1990 – the decline was exacerbated by rising post-16 participation in full-time education, a lack of public funding for Apprenticeships, and the effect of the Youth Training Scheme and Youth Training programme. 
These initiatives catered for young people who might otherwise have done an Apprenticeship, but the quality of provision was often questionable and both programmes contributed to a poor perception of vocational training generally

Industrial Training Act 1964

To finish:

The defunct but influential East Devon Business Forum was not very interested in promoting training opportunities:

Unsurprisingly, the thrust of EDBF lobbying has been to persuade the council to relax planning controls for big developers and to decrease the protection for greenfield and AONB areas. After all, the Forum commented in 2011, only 1% of East Devon was developed! (4) At 34 out of 40 meetings since 2007 planning and development issues were raised, to the evident frustration of at least one member- not himself a property developer- who wondered if other matters like education and training could be discussed.(5)

Disgraced ex-councillor Brown and the East Devon Business Forum: call for action at East Devon District Council | East Devon Watch

Planning and development issues have dominated the agendas of EDBF meetings (referred to in 34 out of 40 meetings since 2007) with on one occasion the question being raised as to whether other matters such as education and training could be discussed. (EDBF Minutes 10 Apr 2008).

The influence of the East Devon Business Forum on the Local Plan | Sidmouth Independent News
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Proposals for a business/retail park at Sidford are removed from the draft Local Plan >>> further reports

At the extraordinary meeting of the District Council's planning committee, a contentious piece of employment land was erased from the draft Local Plan:
Futures Forum: Proposals for a business/retail park at Sidford are removed from the draft Local Plan >>> to be replaced by new proposals for 'green wedge' between Sidford and Sidbury?

The Minutes cover this to some extent:

Strategy 26, Development at Sidmouth – An advisory note to be sent to the Inspector asking that he take account of the ongoing objections and concerns expressed within the local community regarding the employment allocation north of Sidford.  

Development Management Committee minutes for 23 March 2015 special - East Devon District Council

The latest View from Sidmouth covered the story in more detail:

SIDMOUTH: Business park pulled from Local Plan

31st March 2015
by Jack Dixon

jack@pemedia.co.uk

CONTROVERSIAL proposals for a new business park on the edge of Sidmouth have been struck from East Devon’s Local Plan, following a last-gasp effort from local councillors to scrap the development.

The five-hectare employment site at Sidford was pulled from East Devon District Council’s Local Plan document – a development blueprint for the next 16 years – at a meeting last week.

Sid Valley councillors Stuart Hughes and Graham Troman led the calls for the proposal to be scratched off, with a vote on the issue passing narrowly at Thursday’s meeting.

The landmark decision marks the end of four years of protest over the proposed development, which some had feared could drag trade away from the town centre.

Residents had expressed further concerns about the planned estate’s impact on the local landscape, as well as difficulties accessing the site.

Councillor Stuart Hughes assured members that Alexandria Road would meet the town’s employment needs in the future instead.

Independent councillor Claire Wright said: “The five hectare site was inserted into the Local Plan at the last minute when I was a member of the panel back in 2011. It has taken local people four years of campaigning for the council to finally agree to delete it. Many votes of a similar nature have been taken in the past and have failed. Today’s got through.”

A spokesman for the Save Our Sidmouth campaign added: “Congratulations and thanks to Sidmouth councillors Stuart Hughes and Graham Troman for proposing the amendment.

“Councillor Troman had already argued strongly at the development management committee that the Sidford site was not justified by the council’s own formulae.

“And much credit must also be given to SOS member Marianne Rixson, whose extensive research on flooding and traffic issues was presented to the inspector at the examination-in-public of the previous Local Plan. Her work has solidly informed the debate.”

The withdrawal of the proposal was one of a number of amendments to the Local Plan agreed by councillors, before sending a final draft of the document to a government inspector for further scrutiny.

Once approved, the plan will be put to local people during an extended eight-week public consultation exercise. The revised plan projects that more than 18,000 new homes will be provided across East Devon by 2031 – around 950 a year.

EDDC chairman Councillor Graham Godbeer said: “Council understood the clear evidence of the total housing numbers required by the inspector, which supports the 950 homes per year figure, and we look forward to hearing back from him in April. It was important that we pursued the Local Plan in a timely manner, particularly as the inspector advised us that delaying the plan until after the elections was not an option.”

SIDMOUTH: Business park pulled from Local Plan - View from Sidmouth

See also:
Proposed Sidford Business Park removed from Local Plan | Save Our Sidmouth
DMC refuses to amend Local Plan proposal for Sidford. | Save Our Sidmouth

and:
Stuart Hughes - Devon ConservativeMarianne Rixson | East Devon Alliance

and:
From the archives – 2 – Sidford employment land | East Devon Watch
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Hustings in Sidmouth: Town Council Election ............... Tuesday 21st April

This is a copy of the original letter sent out to declared candidates:

Dear Prospective Sidmouth Town Council Candidate

 

I would like to invite you to the Vision Group for Sidmouth (VGS) Hustings for the 2015 STC elections.

 

The Hustings will be on Tuesday 21st April at Sidmouth College, Primley Road, Sidmouth, EX10 9LG

The event will be styled on a “parents evening” format.

 

The Prospective STC Candidates will be seated at individual tables set around the College Hall, to take questions from members of the public.

 

The evening will commence at 6pm with refreshments.

Our current plan is for the candidates to seat themselves at pre-arranged tables – in alphabetical order – around the College Hall.

Members of the public would then be free to sit at the table of their ward candidates to ask questions – taking it in turn before moving on to another candidate for the same ward but in a different part of the Hall.

The evening should finish at about 7.30pm.

 

The event will be moderated by the Chair, starting off the evening with a general welcome to all and setting out the procedure – and, once the candidates had started receiving members of the public, going round the Hall to ensure respect and courtesy is afforded by all participants.

 

Refreshments will be provided by the VGS.

 

I will provide a further update nearer the time.

Please find attached our 2015 Hustings Poster showing all events.

Please confirm you will be in attendance

Best regards,

 

Dave Bramley

Chair

Vision Group for Sidmouth

www.visionforsidmouth.org 

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Vision Group for Sidmouth - Sidmouth Town Council Hustings
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“There will definitely be a slowdown in the renewable energy sector in the South West. It may, however, drive innovation for new approaches and energy solutions.

A fortnight ago, there was a big gathering in Cornwall to look at how the South West could become self-sufficient in renewable energy:
Futures Forum: "In most other countries, renewable energy projects are owned by local communities: and so there's a huge groundswell of support for them."

There has been considerable discussion of late about the position of 'green energy' in the South West:

> The South West could produce a lot of renewable energy:
Record wind power output meets 33 per cent of South West demand | Western Morning News

> And yet the South West Retrofit Market Study warned last year that there should be 'more support':

Westcountry could miss out on thousands of future green jobs | Western Morning News

Solar power snub for South West as Scotland wins subsidy auction | Western Morning News

> Meanwhile, there has been debate locally about how 'efficient' renewable energy really is:

Renewable energy 'short of promises' and subsidy schemes are 'bound to fail' | Western Daily Press
Merlin Hyman: We must be proud to be renewable energy leader | Western Morning News

The Western Morning News earlier today reported on a potential disaster for the industry in the South West:

National Grid cannot take any more power from renewable schemes in the Westcountry

By WMNJBayley | Posted: April 01, 2015

Comments (6)

The Westcountry’s renewable energy industry has been dealt a major blow after the company responsible for the electricity network said it had reached capacity for “green” schemes.

Western Power Distribution said the grid was being temporarily closed to new, large-scale renewable energy projects for the next three to six years while new infrastructure is installed.

While opponents of wind and solar farms may rejoice at the news, it is a significant setback for the renewable energy sector in the South West which supports 16,000 jobs and is worth £1.1 billion to the economy.

It will not initially affect small, domestic installations, but threatens to make many major solar, wave or wind energy projects – which will be unable to feed their “spare” electricity into the national grid – unviable.

Merlin Hyman, the head of Regen South West, said: “There will definitely be a slowdown in the renewable energy sector. It may, however, drive innovation for new approaches and energy solutions. This is a national issue and we are lobbying Ofgen hard to see a more strategic investment made in the grid.”

In a letter to industry, seen by the Western Morning News, Western Power Distribution said “much of the capacity available for generation connections” in the South West had now been “allocated”.

It explained: “We have now reached the point where one of the most critical routes in the South West is now up to its full capacity. This route is referred to as F-route. It runs 82km from Bridgwater Grid Supply Point to Seabank Grid Supply Point, in the Bristol docks area, comprising two separate circuits carried on steel towers.

“F-route is an important route out of the South West for generation. As a consequence, the connection of generation in any part of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol Docks causes power to flow through F-route. The amount of connected and committed generation in the South West has caused the predicted flows through F-route to reach the maximum ratings of the circuits.”

Western Power Distribution said it was working with the National Grid to upgrade the link in response to the planned second generation nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point. Planning permission for the scheme was submitted in 2014. Current plans are for most of that work to be finished by 2020 but that is subject to planning consent and other potential delays. As a result, the firm said connection to the network would be delayed by “3-6 years” or until the National Grid scheme had been completed.

Last October, the Government announced an end to subsidies to farmers for large-scale solar schemes.

The Western Power announcement also follows an announcement from the Department of Energy and Climate Change to incentivise organisations to install more large scale rooftop systems instead of solar farms.

Renewable energy firms in the region said the news will not just affect solar or wind farms, but any other businesses which are considering investing in renewables to offset their own energy bills and reduce their environmental impact.

Mark Smith, of Cornish renewable energy installer ZLC Energy Ltd, said: “The news from Western Power is massive and gives the industry a wake-up call of what is to come. Commercial installation make up a huge and growing part of the whole renewable installation market across the region and these could now be under threat. This is likely to have a huge impact on jobs and the sector as a whole.”

Last year, there was a record surge in the number of solar panels in the region, accounting for 67% of the total annual increase in energy produced from renewable sources. But businesses without existing permission to connect to the “green” link will not now be allowed to export electricity to the National Grid. Their choice will either be to abandon their projects, waste the electricity or store it for later use.

A spokeswoman for Cornwall-based Kensa Heat Pumps said there could be a silver lining for other technology. She added: “Perhaps this restriction will encourage adoption of less obtrusive renewable technologies, such as ground source heat pumps, which are able to take advantage of all the “renewable” electricity produced in the region and, due to their nature, are completely unobtrusive visually while able to provide the many rural, off gas grid homes across the region with clean, low-cost heating and domestic hot water.”

Peter Cunningham, chairman of Falmouth-based Wattstor agreed, saying: “The mantra of our business is to generate energy locally, store it locally, and use it locally – don’t send your power anywhere. Our systems achieve this by diverting surplus, unused, free renewable power normally passed to the grid to charge batteries and provide free hot water for later use. This means that anyone wanting to install large scale renewables in the next few years can still do so without incurring massive connection fees.”

Giant solar farm loses plans appeal

A solar farm big enough to power 1,800 homes has been turned down on appeal because of its impact on the landscape. A project to build the solar farm on a 10.5-acre site not far from the Halwell Business Park, near Totnes, was first refused by South Hams District Council in November 2013.

Developers Lightsource LPV86 Ltd appealed the decision. But it has now been refused by planning inspectors who feared the huge renewable energy scheme would have a detrimental effect on the character and appearance of the landscape.

In his judgment, the planning inspector said: “As the landscape character summary describes, where there are views they tend to be extensive. The extent of the panels would give them a prominence close to the horizon. They would appear as an alien feature very different in character to the existing buildings at Halwell Business Park, which have the appearance of simple agricultural structures in keeping with this rural agricultural area.

“While the landscape might have the capacity to absorb more agricultural buildings, the proposal would have a very different industrial, rather than agricultural, impact. Grass growing beneath the panels, and/or sheep grazing around them, would to some extent, be screened by the panels themselves and so would do little to reinforce the agricultural character of the area.”

He added: “The proposal would have an adverse local impact on character. In terms of visual impact, there would be extensive and very significant detrimental impacts from various viewpoints.”

RELATED CONTENT
Cornish car park lighting powered by the sun
Met Office climate change scientist Jeff Ridley does his bit for the environment
Anxiety over wind turbine appeal as ‘Inspector Blight’ appears
£460m raised for world’s first dedicated offshore wind fund

National Grid cannot take any more power from renewable schemes in the Westcountry | Western Morning News
No more large-scale green energy (including solar farms) for at least six years in South West | East Devon Watch

See also:
Regen SW | Regen SW – delivering sustainable energy
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Hustings in Sidmouth: District Council Election ........ Wednesday 15th April

This is from the original letter sent out to declared candidates. 

[Although the format of the final evening might change: see updates]

Dear Prospective EDDC Candidate

I would like to invite you to the Vision Group for Sidmouth (VGS) Hustings for the 2015 EDDC elections.

The Hustings will be on Apr 15th at St. Francis Hall, Woolbrook Road, Sidmouth EX10 9XH.

The event will be styled on the BBC Radio 4 programme “Any Questions”.

The Prospective EDDC Candidates will make up the panel to take questions from representative groups and members of the public.

The evening will commence at 7.30pm with refreshments.
Our current plan is for the panel to gather at 7.50pm; the session will consist of pre-prepared questions being fielded through the chair to the Prospective Candidates from the audience - namely from those organisations and individuals who have sent in questions.
The panelists will not be aware of the exact wording of the questions beforehand; they will not be subject to follow-up questions from the audience, although the chair might chose to ask for clarification.
The question-and-answer session will end at 8.50pm approximately with further refreshments.
The evening should finish at about 9.15pm.

The event will be moderated by the Chair. Microphones will be available for both panelists and members of the audience fielding questions. Refreshments will be provided by the VGS.

I will provide a further update nearer the time.
Please find attached our 2015 Hustings Poster showing all events.

Please confirm you will be in attendance

Best regards,

Dave Bramley
Chair

Vision Group for Sidmouth
www.visionforsidmouth.org

Vision Group for Sidmouth - District Council Hustings

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Climate change: 'Inconvenient facts?' on Radio 4

The debate around climate change is about 
> how you 'frame the debate':
Futures Forum: Climate change: appealing to values and identity >>> From 'worthy but dull' to re-framing the debate >>> It's about: pollution >>> inter-generational debt >>> conserving the local landscape
> 'ending denial' in 2015:
Futures Forum: Climate change: 'the end of denial' and the 'tipping point to a zero carbon energy system'
> politics:
Futures Forum: Climate change: "a badge of political identity in a debate riven by ideological and tribal conflicts"
> keeping fossil fuels in the ground - and 'divestment':
Futures Forum: Climate change: keep it in the ground

But above all, it's about the science:
Futures Forum: Climate change: "The forecasts are accurate, unfortunately." And yet: “the history of trying to make economic forecasts is one of complete failure.”
Futures Forum: Climate change: a Horizon Guide tonight on BBC Four: "One of the greatest scientific undertakings in history."
Futures Forum: Climate change: by numbers >>> "a deeper-than-usual insight into some of the methods of climate science"

On Radio 4's 'Costing the Earth' earlier today, Tom Heap looked at the modelling with experts from the Met Office and beyond:

Climate Change: Inconvenient Facts?

Costing the Earth

Listen in pop-out player

With arctic sea ice shrinking and Antarctic sea ice growing, Tom Heap asks what is happening to the climate.

Despite the consensus of scientists around the world, there are still some anomalies in the computer models of the future climate. Tom Heap is joined by a panel of experts to tackle some of the difficult questions that lead to uncertainties in our understanding of the changing climate.

The perceived wisdom in the scientific community is that the climate is warming but evidence shows that even though Arctic sea ice is melting, there has actually been a growth in Antarctic sea ice. That, along with a documented slow down in the warming of the climate since 1998, has been a 'stone in the shoe' of the climate change story. So what is happening?

Tom is joined by BBC and Met office weather presenter John Hammond to put these 'difficult' climate scenarios to a team of experts: Mark Lynas is an author and environmental campaigner, Mike Hulme is professor of Climate and Culture at Kings College London and Dr Helen Czerski is a broadcaster and 'bubble physicist' at UCL.

With the help of this panel, Costing The Earth discusses how best to communicate anomalies that don't appear in climate models and make the science sometimes hard to comprehend.

Presenter: Tom Heap
Producer: Martin Poyntz-Roberts.

BBC Radio 4 - Costing the Earth, Climate Change: Inconvenient Facts?
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Devon County are 'now looking into' access to Alexandria Road Industrial Estate

At last week's District Council's planning meeting looking at the draft Local Plan, the proposals for the employment land site at Sidford were rejected:
Futures Forum: Proposals for a business/retail park at Sidford are removed from the draft Local Plan >>> to be replaced by new proposals for 'green wedge' between Sidford and Sidbury?

[Although the Minutes are not very precise:
Development Management Committee minutes for 23 March 2015 special meeting - East Devon District Council]

The (connected) tussle over what to do with the employment land site at Alexandria Rd Industrial Estate has been going on for some time:
Futures Forum: The current state of employment land sites in the Sid Valley
Futures Forum: Supermarket saturation point: Is there really room for more in Sidmouth and in Honiton?
Futures Forum: The future of the Alexandria Road Industrial Estate

At the same meeting, the latest on the 'access' to the Estate was raised, as reported by the Save Our Sidmouth site:

New access being considered for Sidmouth’s existing employment site

March 25, 2015 by sidmouthsid Leave a comment

The long-awaited provision of access to the Alexandria Road Industrial Estate from the Bulverton Road may be getting closer. 

This week’s DMC were told by District and County Cllr Stuart Hughes, that Highways are now looking into it.
SOS has long argued that brownfield sites such as the Alexandria Road Estate should be fully used as a priority, before farmland and other non-renewable greenfield sites are earmarked for development.

New access being considered for Sidmouth’s existing employment site | Save Our Sidmouth

Indeed, over the last couple of years, the SOS site has reported on and asked lots of questions on the issue:
Alexandria Road Estate | Save Our Sidmouth
Questions about Alexandria Road | Save Our Sidmouth
Access to Alexandria Road Industrial Estate | Save Our Sidmouth
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