One of
my parishes has brought to my attention that an Ottery Councillor has been
commenting on the likelihood of budget cuts.
All Councils have a wide range of statutory and
discretionary services and all parishes are likely to be affected.
From a district perspective, statutory services
include refuse collection, as you pointed out. The picture is not that simple
though as the extent to which recycling, for example, is encouraged is
discretionary. There is a financial imperitive to reduce the amount of waste
going to landfill so our discretion is used to encourage more recycling rather
than simply relying on the old black bin bag style of collection.
Discretionary services for EDDC include the provision
of parks and gardens, leisure centres, nature reserves and the like. More often
than not these are the ones the public appreciate and the Council enjoys
delivering.
As Andrew Moulding and I have warned, the main danger
for the County Council is that it has many protected statutory obligations to
provide services such as the care of vulnerable people, education, social
services, etc. Devon’s 8,000 miles of county highways, for example (by far the
highest in Britain) will get less attention while we concentrate on maintaining
the A & B roads. We constantly review and prioritise our services and never
more so than now in order to make best use of resources. There will be very
difficult decisions to be made but as John Hart Leader of Devon County Council
has said, we have cut away the fat, cut into the flesh but we are now hitting
the bone.
We are lobbying hard at District, County and
Westminster for fairer funding for rural authorities, both in London and next
week on Wednesday and Thursday when I shall be meeting with the Chairman of the
LGA and other SW Leaders, as part of their campaign for “Rewiring Public
Services” which recommends shrinking dramatically the size of Whitehall and
transferring responsibilities to the most efficient part of the public sector,
namely Local Authorities.
The Ottery Councillor and her allies in the political
opposition groups EDA / SOS are running campaigns which simply do not deal in
the facts, invariably giving half a misinformed story and making no useful or
positive contribution to the debate. This is not the time for political point
scoring; we are some way past that and need to concentrate on putting things
right for all our sakes.
The process we are following at EDDC and DCC is to
benchmark our income and our costs so as to ensure we’re assessing the full picture
in our budget preparations. I’m reasonably confident that by the time the budget
process is completed in February, much of the alarmist nonsence coming from the
Ottery direction will have been shown to have been simplistic and misconceived.
Of course, by then, they’ll have moved on to the next imaginary ‘big thing’ –
we just need to trust to the good sense of the vast majority of those in Devon
who see through it all!’
All Councils have statutory and discretionary
services, the latter being those we and the public like to have but are not
obligatory. We are obliged to deliver statutory services and the Government has
said further cuts will have to be made to pay for the financial mess the
coalition inherited. If we are to move beyond back office cuts and efficiency
savings then the obvious target will be the “nice to do” – I will try and find
a definitive list but the complexities are myriad.
As Andrew and I have warned, the main danger is with
the County Council which has many protected statutory obligations to provide
services such as the care of vulnerable people, education, social services,
etc. Devon’s 8,000 miles of county highways, for example (by far the highest in
Britain) will get less attention while we concentrate on maintaining the A &
B roads. We constantly review and prioritise our services and never more so
than now in order to make best use of resources. There will be very difficult
decisions to be made but as John Hart, Leader of Devon County Council has said,
we have cut away the fat, cut into the flesh but we are on the point of
breaking the bone.
We are lobbying hard at District, County and
Westminster for fairer funding for rural authorities, both in London and next
week on Wednesday and Thursday when I shall be meeting with the Chairman of the
LGA and other SW Leaders, as part of their campaign for “Rewiring Public
Services” which recommends shrinking dramatically the size of Whitehall and
transferring responsibilities to the most efficient part of the public sector,
namely Local Authorities. So you won’t be seeing me on the 9th, so please
accept my apologies.
The Ottery Councillor and her allies in the political
opposition groups EDA / SOS are self-publicists running negative campaigns,
invariably giving half a misinformed story and making no useful or positive
contribution to the debate. This is not the time for political point scoring;
we are some way past that and need to concentrate on putting things right for
all our sakes.
Best wishes
Paul
Paul Diviani Lashes out! | Sidmouth Independent News
Paul Diviani and budgets: the worrying question and the even more worrying answer | Sidmouth Independent News
Claire Wright - Your Independent East Devon District Councillor for Ottery Rural
The East Devon Alliance responded thus:
PRESS RELEASE
East
Devon Alliance rebuts Diviani
allegations
A reasonable request from a local
ratepayer for more information about budget cuts prompted a fierce and totally
unjustified attack on the East Devon Alliance from Cllr. Paul Diviani. In an
email sent to 100 people across East Devon, he claimed that the EDA was “a
self-publicist” “political opposition” group “running negative campaigns,
invariably giving a misinformed story and making no useful or positive
contribution to the debate”. Ironically, he also contended that “this is not
the time for political point scoring”. The EDA contends that these allegations
are monstrous and totally inaccurate.
The EDA suggests that, if the councillor
is keen on “putting things right for all our sakes”, he should start by
avoiding irrelevant and false accusations against those who do not agree with
him or who are merely seeking information and try, instead, to deal with
legitimate comments and questions from local ratepayers in an adult manner.
The first line of the EDA charter states
that the group is a “non-party political group”. EDA has members across East
Devon and, before the recent local elections, candidates from the Conservative,
Labour, Liberal Democrats, UKIP and Green parties all signed the charter, as
did some Independents. Indeed, the first to sign was a Conservative.
The EDA charter emphasises that it wants
councils to be open, democratic and accountable and willing to engage with
local groups such as EDA. Councillor Diviani, as usual, faced with a reasonable
request for information, has reacted in an arrogant and bullying manner. If he
objects to “half a misinformed story”, why have so many ratepayers been denied
access to information and why have most meetings on the possible move away from
the Knowle been held in secret? Does he recall that the decision to move from
the Knowle was based on false calculations and costings?
The EDA aims to conserve the area’s
priceless environmental assets for the benefit of future generations but it
does support appropriate developments for housing and employment, especially
for local people. Above all, the EDA wants to engage in a proper mature debate
which is both democratic and transparent and during which no baseless
allegations are made against the EDA which is a democratic organisation with
every right to challenge the local authorities.
End
8.10.13
East Devon Alliance responds to attack by Paul Diviani | Sidmouth Independent News
East Devon Alliance
The Save Our Sidmouth campaign responded earlier today:
Dear Mr Diviani,
I understand that you recently sent an email to nearly 100 people
regarding budget cuts to DCC and to EDDC finances.. In that email you say
that ;- "The
Ottery Councillor and her allies in the political opposition groups EDA / SOS
are running campaigns which simply do not deal in the facts, invariably giving
half a misinformed story and making no useful or positive contribution to the
debate.
SOS strongly objects to the sense and the implications of this statement.
As you know, but have appeared to have conveniently overlooked, SoS is an
acronym for "Save our Sidmouth". SOS is a totally non political
umbrella grouping of organisations in Sidmouth, namely the Sid Vale
Association, (the oldest Civic Society in England, whose constitution does not
permit activities of a political nature; the Sidmouth Chamber of Commerce,
whose objective is to promote business in the town; the Sidmouth Hospitality
Association, whose aim is to represent the Hospitality industry in the town;
the Futures Forum, whose objective is to examine and promote appropriate
sustainable development in Sidmouth and the Knowle Resident's Association whose
objective is to the examine and comment upon developments in their geographical
area.
None of these has a political view and no actions that we have undertaken
have suggested so. We are against certain proposals contained in the Local Plan
and against proposals for the desecration of the Knowle, but in no sense are
these aimed at one party or another. Any comments and objections we make are to
EDDC as the originating authority for these proposals.
We have never commented on EDDC or DCC budget proposals, nor as SOS do such
aspects lie within our remit..
You have also accused us of not dealing in facts and invariably giving half
a mis informed story, (sic), and no useful or positive contribution to the
debate. Your Local Plan consultation specifically asks for comments s and
objections, as do your proposals for the Knowle. We strongly dispute your
statement; all our comments and objections, (none of them "political"),
are fact based .If you cannot accept adverse criticism of your policies, then
you should not be in the position that you occupy, as "leader" of
EDDC.
In your email you refer to an "Ottery Councillor". I assume
that you mean the Independent Councillor Claire Wright. I have to say
very clearly that Ms Wright is not and has not been a member of any of the
above organisations, neither does she work in concert with us, but we share some
of the concerns that we both have about the opacity of the workings and
decisions of EDDC. I am saddened by the lack of respect that you show to a
Councillor, whatever their political persuasions.
In view of our comments and the disquiet that we feel about the general
derogatory tone of your email towards SOS, I would be grateful to receive an
apology from you and a recantation of your comments regarding SOS.
Yours faithfully
R J Thurlow,
Chair SOS
Chair SVA Conservation and Planning Committee.
SAVE OUR SIDMOUTH GROUP REJECTS DIVIANI ALLEGATIONS | Save Our Sidmouth
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