Plymouth Council leader Tory Vivian Pengelly has jumped to the defence of the BNP after leader of the Labour group on the council Tudor Evans was rude on his Twitter feed about BNP member Adrian Romilly.

For most people you couldn’t use strong enough language to condemn the fascist enemies of society, let alone British ideals, the BNP – but apparently for some in Plymouth Tudor Evan’s “derogotory insult” (as opposed to those glowing, up-beat insults we hear so much about), was too much to take.

According the thisisplymouth site, Vivien ‘had spoken to people who were “appalled” at the language used’ and has asked Plymouth City Council chief executive Barry Keel to launch an inquiry into the matter.

Tudor told the paper: “This was a comment I made on my personal web page.”

Maybe Tudor was getting confused with Rommel, or it could be the fascist policies that gave it way, but the object of the ire, BNP-man Romilly, wasn’t offended.

Read the full story

posted by Cptn

(Image: Viven Pengelly)

• Defending the BNP: naive or misguided? Comments please

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You know how it is when all the cupboards are bare, and you’ve got so many projects you want to pursue but for a little lolly (that’s money to you). We know that feeling only too well. Well, here’s some funding opportunities that have come across our desk

Funding Stuff
Global Music Company supporting music education and encouragement
The aim of this foundation, set up by EMI records, is to support projects that encourage education, in particular for young people, in all aspects of music. Bursary (£5000) and general awards up to £2,500. www.musicsoundfoundation.com

Heritage Lottery funds: Young Roots; Townscape Heritage initiative; Your Heritage. www.hlf.org.uk

Arts Council – Grants for Arts. Activities that benefit people or that help artists and art organisations to carry out their own work. Minimum grant is likely to be £200 and the largest in the region £200,000. www.artscouncil.org.uk

Funding for skate park projects
Gravity Engineering Ltd, a manufacturer of concrete and steel skate parks, is looking to sponsor new skate park projects with donations towards funding of up to £5,000 per project: http://www.gravityparks.co.uk/

Free Website Offer for Your Partnership or Community Group
The Devon Towns Forum is offering all of Devon’s Community Partnerships and Community Groups the chance to apply for a free Website and Training Package worth over £600: info@devontownsforum.org.uk

The Co-operative Community Fund
Community groups, voluntary groups, self-help groups, community charities or local branches of national charities are eligible to apply for grants of between £100 and £2,000. www.co-operative.coop/membership/Community-Fund/

South West Loans Fund
The South West Regional Development Agency (RDA) has announced the launch of a new £10m South West Loans Fund which is now available to help growth-oriented business with viable business plans, as part of the drive for economic recovery. www.businesslink.gov.uk/southwest

Greater Dartmoor LEAF
Greater Dartmoor LEAF is a new publicly funded organisation which has been set up to identify and fund environmental and innovative projects and businesses which will increase the future prosperity of the wider community, within the Greater Dartmoor area of Devon. www.greaterdartmoorLEAF.org.uk

The Future Jobs Fund
The Future Jobs Fund is a new initiative, which will help to generate jobs for those in greatest need, particularly young people, and also in areas of high unemployment. This aims to create 150,000 jobs providing real help for young people and who face significant disadvantages in the labour market. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/futurejobsfund

The Big Lottery Fund and Channel 4s’ The Secret Millionaire have teamed up to give viewers a chance to access funding worth £1 million in grants of between £300 and £10,000. http://secretmillionaire.channel4.com/fund_info.shtml

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Totnes, you know the constituency of everyone’s favourite mansion-owning MP, Anthony Steen, will be the setting a protest against the BNP’s Euro Election gains today (June 13).

There is no rise in the BNP, they have the same share of the bigoted and ignorant vote they have ever had.

Doesn’t mean we should ever be complacent in exposing and opposing the ‘BNP or any organisation which promotes racial, sexual orientation or religious intolerance’, as they say in the letter they want people to sign.

The problem is the rise of antipathy towards politicians – the active opting out and not voting that took place during the elections.

The Totnes MP was a big part of that pre-election atmosphere of political dislocation with his expenses claims, his offer to pay back 10 per cent and his assertion that the way he spent public money was nothing to do with anyone but him, what with us all being jealous of his lifestyle.

Sure, poor old Anthony Steen wasn’t the only MP caught out, and at least he wasn’t ‘flipping’ – the act of switching a nominated second home to maximise financial benefits. Steeny-boy was just chancing his arm when he supposed protecting his trees from rabbits in Totnes was fundamental in his representing the Totnes people in Parliament.

Totnes town councillor and former Totnes mayor David Horsburgh, told thisissouthdevon: “We must take a stand against the BNP and any form of racism.

“If not, we could sleepwalk into a Nazi-style state, as happened in Germany in the 1930s. We must take action, and take it now.”

We would add to ensure people are engaged in the political process, at least the letter they are sending to the ‘local press and media’ and all the councils will urge support of more affordable housing, improvements to schools, employment initiatives, ‘all of which reduce the climate that breeds ugly, divided communities and which give a security instead,’

Let’s wait and see what’s in store from the new Conservative-led county council on June 25 when they officially announce what they’ll be up to.

Meanwhile, the town council has a vacancy.

The protest takes place in the town between 10am and noon.

posted by Cptn

• We’re pulling together some questions for new Totnes Rural County Councillor Paula Black from the Green Party. If you’d like to join in, pop on over the People’s Republic of South Devon crowd sourcing site to offer your views.

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Any changes in energy efficiency and affordable housing levels at a development at Sherford, the planned new community between Plymouth and Brixton, has been condemned by South Hams Friends of the Earth.

South Hams Friends of the Earth (SHFoE) cites a letter from developers Redtree, which says: “It is inevitable that the affordable housing delivery at Sherford, like many other aspects of the planning agreement, will be reduced from the level presented to the committee in April 2008.”

(SHFoE) says the level of affordable housing has not yet been agreed between the developers and the council, but both are agreed that it will be cut from the 36 per cent approved in 2008 (itself a reduction on the 50 per cent contained within the council’s own policy: the Area Action Plan for Sherford)

And the energy efficiency programme has been moved back in time.

Spokesman for SHFoE Steve Melia told the PRSD: “We believe the council should stand firm. A delay would be better than environmentally damaging concessions.

“Any public subsidy for building during the recession should be concentrated on brownfield sites within the cities. Big greenfield developments like Sherford should be shelved until the market improves.”

The deadline for comments on the revised application to South Hams District Council is June 25.
posted by Cptn

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The Teign Reach branch of Plough & Share Credit Union is looking to gain more members and has improved its accessibility with the addition of Teignbridge Council’s Forde House headquarters as place to make payments to savings and loans accounts.

The new service at the council offices was launched this month, but the facility doesn’t include withdrawals.

Teign Reach has been operating for two years, offering people living or working in Teignbridge the opportunity to access low cost savings and loans at local venues, such as libraries, community groups and doctors surgeries, even if they’ve had financial difficulties in the past.

It has a 12 per cent interest rate for loans, and it’s fully regulated, supported by the Teignbridge Council and other local organisations.

Teignbridge Council is planning a £5,000 grant to the credit union, following recommendations made by the council’s independent Credit Crunch Commission last year, and approved during the 2009 budget process.

Teign Reach is now hoping to raise awareness of the credit union and encourage more local people to join.

posted by Cptn

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A Tree Warden scheme is set to be relaunched by Teignbridge District Council and the Tree Council, and they need volunteers. You don’t have to be an expert, but you kinda need to like trees.

Anyone can join the scheme, but the under 16s need to be accompanied by a parent when performing duties.

A a Tree Warden volunteer you’ll get full training in things like surveying woodland and non-woodland trees, summer and winter tree identification, tree planting and aftercare, woodland ecology and management, seed collection and tree law – which apparently isn’t something confined to Lord of the Rings.

Tree wardens are need in: Bickington; Bishopsteignton; Buckfastleigh; Christow; Denbury & Torbryan; Dunsford; Ide; Ilsington; Kenn; Mamhead; Manaton; Moretonhampstead; Newton Abbot; Ogwell; Shaldon; Shillingford St George; Teignmouth; Whitestone and Widdecombe-in-the-Moor.

If you want to take park call Selwyn Sanders on 01626 215853 or email selwyn.sanders@teignbridge.gov.uk

posted by Cptn

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Devon County Council is up to win £30,000 for its Renewable Energy for Devon scheme in the local authority section of the famed Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy 2009, which take place in London on Thursday, June 11.

The RE4D scheme (the catchy little monica for Renewable Energy for Devon) muscled its way into the finalist position with the claims of an impressive 109 renewable energy installations in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and community organisations, and a further 18 in domestic properties.

With the creation of 55 jobs, and a further 16 safeguarded through the scheme, you’d think there’d be more crowing about the scheme, which has provided £0.25m in grants and helped secure £0.81m of other funding.

RE4D was launched in 2006 to create jobs and reduce the county’s carbon footprint, and it aims to stimulate demand and build up capacity. It seems to have gone some way with that – to date the figures show a total of installed capacity of over 2 MW, avoiding around 1,300 tonnes/year of CO2 emissions.

Other finalist in the local authority category is Kirklees Council, Huddersfield, for its free-for-all insulation programme.

posted by Cptn

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Disabled Kevin wonders where the county election fits in the move towards a General Election

In other years the Tories clearing out of the Liberal Democrats from County Hall would be headline news but Gordon Brown has managed to demote the Conservative’s success to an election item in the news. Personally, I was surprised that Devon County Council fell so decisively, I thought the Conservatives would make gains but take control at the next county elections!

Their victory makes me ask a lot of questions, where the Liberal Democrats go now in Devon and come to that, in Cornwall. Are Ben Bradshaw, the new Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Linda Gilroy and Alison Seabeck, Labour MPs wondering what they have to do, if they going to have any chance of retaining their seats at the next General Election? Is Richard Younger Ross reassessing his position?

Are the two councils of Devon and Plymouth City going to cooperate and in effect go back to the old county council model, and will a Conservative Mayor of Torbay complete this process?

As everyone discovers when gaining power, the winning of an election is easy but actually governing and putting your manifesto promises into practice is often the really hard part, so the citizens of the republic of South Devon will be watching!

posted by Disabled Kevin

When I ran for MEP, Plymouth’s Evening Herald referred to me as Disabledkevin! I loved this label; I’m clearly disabled and called Kevin.

Got an opinion? Twitter #devonelection #swelection #euelection, or comment below

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UKIP have been doing their best to make us smile – and now they come up with a song, dance and shouting act to entertain us from one of their candidates at the county council election count in Torridge.

The police were called when UKIP candidate Gabriel Hummerstone, who is reported to have been sporting a bowler hat, made, what some people said, was a nuisance of himself – he was shouting that he wanted his council tax refunded – during the the count at Langtree Village Hall.

But Gabriel was unrepentant, telling The North Devon Journal that he didn’t believe his actions to be inappropriate.

The joker managed to bag 1,088 votes, losing out to Conservative Andy Boyd, who picked up 2,027. And we also doubt he’d have made a dent in Britain’s Got Talent.

There’s no reports on the quality of singing and dancing. But the bowler hat and reference to tax could give it away – Liza Minelli’s Money from Cabaret, perhaps?

posted by Cptn

• Let us know your show tunes for the politicians. Comment below

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UKIP are unhappy – now tell us something we don’t know. Apparently the party has ‘received hundreds of phone calls from confused voters in yesterday’s elections’. No surprise there.

But one of its incumbent MEPs, Trevor Colman, told thisisplymouth: “We’re getting a tremendous number of complaints because the ballot papers are being folded in such a way that UKIP isn’t immediately visible.”

Democracy isn’t a laughing matter, despite UKIP’s best efforts, and they’ve informed the Electoral Commission. We shall await the findings.

The European Election results will be announced on Sunday.

Meanwhile, keep up-to-date with the county council results on the Devon County Council results page, or by following DevonCC on Twitter.

We welcome your assessments.

posted by Cptn

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Things do get pretty heated in the political arena but it’s not often a candidate is described as a ‘greasy-haired twat’. More’s the pity, we reckon.

That’s exactly how a campaign leaflet distributed on behalf of Anna Pascoe, Lib Dem candidate for Cornwall Council elections, described Mebyon Kernow candidate Stuart Cullimore.

Apparently it was not an authorised leaflet, but “some kind of prank that’s back-fired”.

Of course, looking like the singer from a Mud tribute band shouldn’t say anything about your ability to do a job but just remember what happened to Tricky Dicky when he went on telly looking like Fred Flintstone’s sozzled father, eh?

Luckily we’d never accept that kinda mud slinging (and indeed Mud singing) in Devon. Oh, except for Linda Gilroy accusing council leader Vivien Pengelly of ‘completely losing the plot’ the other day.

And, um, Tudor Evans calling the BNP Euro candidate ‘a giant knob’ on Twitter last week.

But, y’know, other than that…

(image: Stuart Cullimore)

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Just two days to go for the European and the county election and we’ve got more election messages that could fit in a Tweet, and some evidence that the Devon election is simmering up nicely.

Sure evidence that the campaign is hotting up is that mover shaker and (Labour PPC for South Devon) Luke Pollard has continued the campaign in Woolwell, Ivybridge: “We’ve delivered 4,000 of these this weekend http://twitpic.com/6ct4k,” he Tweeted.

Only to be followed by: “Boo. Being out numbered by Tory canvassers in Woolwell. Encouragement not to give up!”

And: “Just met lib dem candidate who said labour were doing a great job in ivybridge, with more leaflets than LDs ”

All good stuff.

Now to the election words

East Devon
Stuart Hughes: To ensure your money is spent wisely and protect services in Sidmouth, keep council tax down, support local economy and jobs
Conservative candidate for Sidmouth Sidford

Teignbridge
Sally Morgan: Hard working and effective. Mum and primary school teacher. We change the world by education-just not the way we’re doing it!
Lib Dem candidate for Bovey Tracey Rural

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