Mr Burrows said he had farmed at Straitgate all his life and he was very concerned at the proposed loss of agricultural land, which East Devon had had a “bellyful” of recently. Local campaigner, Monica Mortimer also spoke against the quarry, with a particular emphasis on tourism. Many people referred to the potential 200 lorry journeys every day along the B3180, a road that is inadequate for the large number of lorry journeys already being undertaken as a result of quarrying at Venn Ottery. I pointed out that the proposal was contrary to the adopted minerals plan and the plan to [...]
My proposal, which was supported unanimously by the committee, was based on what I (and many north Devon residents) believe is evidence of poorer care, following the controversial closure of Torrington Hospital’s beds by NEW Devon Clinical Commissioning Group. Feelings were running high at last Thursday’s meeting, which was attended by dozens of residents, as well as being filmed by ITV and the BBC. The committee was sent a number of worrying and heartfelt patient letters collected by the Save Torrington hospital campaign group, recounting details of difficult deaths and people struggling [...]
Led by the North Devon Biosphere Service in Barnstaple, Devon County Council officers are poised to submit a bid for around £70,000 to a national charity. The bid is an extension of my wildflower verge pilot in Ottery Rural and is set to help local communities create and maintain their own wildflower highways verges – and to monitor their progress. In 2013, I teamed up with Devon Wildlife Trust and Devon County Council officers to establish a test pilot to turn three highways verges at Ottery St Mary, Tipton St John and West Hill, into attractive wildflower displays, which would help [...]
The decision on whether to close Ottery Hospital’s beds will be taken next month - on 16 July, at the governing body meeting of NEW Devon Clinical Clinical Commissioning Group, which starts at 1pm at Newcourt Community centre. Following the decision to shut all the beds at Torrington Hospital, the NEW Devon Clinical Commissioning Group quickly made a decision to shut around half of North Devon’s community hospital beds - see story here - http://www.northdevonjournal.co.uk/Community-hospital-beds-North-Devon-reduced-40/story-26597927-detail/story.html I don’t see how North [...]
Dear Hugo You may be interested to know that Devon County Council has today pledged to respond to the above consultation, pressing for the retention of these important laws, which protect scarce wildlife and habitats. Many environmental charities believe that this consultation could result in the weakening of nature directives, as a result of pressure from some governments, including senior figures in the UK government and big business, which view these laws as a break on economic growth. High profile campaigns have been launched by the RSPB, Devon Wildlife Trust and others, in a drive to [...]
I urged the council to submit a response to the controversial consultation via a written question at today’s cabinet meeting, which was answered by environment portfolioholder, Cllr Roger Croad. Many Devon landscapes and wildlife, including parts of Dartmoor, the pebblebed heaths in East Devon and the Exe Estuary have benefited from the nature directives, and are now seeing threatened wildlife recovering, as a result of this powerful legal protection. Unfortunately, big business seems to have put pressure on the EU to review these laws, with a view to weakening them. The UK government is[...]
The petition is set to trigger a community governance review, and a formal public consultation.
The CCG’s governing body was set to make the decision, which also affects other community hospitals in East Devon, on Wednesday 3 June. Prior to this the decision was set to be made in January. Last week concerns were raised by members of the stakeholder group, which was set up by the CCG earlier this year to look at the future of local hospitals, after a CCG officer’s board report appeared to diminish the recommendation of the group and failed to highlight it as the preferred option. The stakeholder group, whose membership includes local councillors (me), GPs and leagues of [...]
The office relocation project has been subject to significant controversy over the past few years, and has been heavily criticised, including by a judge who ruled in favour of the Information Commissioner on releasing documentation that was pivotal to the move. The council made most of the decisions relating to the move, including some hefty financial decisions, behind closed doors. Despite much unhappiness about the cost of the relocation, a large amount of borrowing and many other uncertainties, the Tories insisted that the decision was made prior to the elections, and an extraordinary [...]