Local Plan Update

General Discussion
1

Paul Bicknell (Lib Dems) summarised it as follows

"In summary no new sites needed but a housing shortfall towards the end of the plan in the last few years. This does take One Horton Heath into account. "

https://www.eastleigh.gov.uk/latest-news/local-plan-update-april-2021

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I wonā€™t believe it till itā€™s adopted! :slight_smile:

ā€¦ andā€¦ how many times does this council want to breach purdah and use its power to make local elections unfair for other candidates?

https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/short-guide-publicity-during-pre-election-period

The first question to ask is ā€˜could a reasonable person conclude that you are spending public money to influence the outcome of the election?ā€™ In other words it must pass the ā€˜is it reasonableā€™ test. When making your decision, you should consider the following:

You should not:

  • produce publicity on matters which are politically controversial
  • make references to individual candidates or parties in press releases
  • arrange proactive media or events involving candidates
  • issue photographs which include candidates
  • supply council photographs or other materials to political group staff unless you have verified that they will not be used for campaigning purposes
  • continue hosting third party blogs or e-communications
  • help with national political visits (as this would involve using public money to support a particular candidate or party). These should be organised by political parties with no cost or resource implications for the council.
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Iā€™m wondering why it has taken a year to write that update? The manuscript states ā€œfollowing the Local Plan hearings in November 2019 - January 2020 the Inspector wrote to the Council in April 2020 ā€¦ā€.
Weā€™re now in April 2021, arenā€™t we?
A whole 12 months after the inspector wrote to the local councilā€¦
ā€¦but just about a week before the local electionsā€¦ :thinking:

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The comments on the facey thread that this was scraped from got a bitā€¦ fiery, to say the least.

But donā€™t worry, Mr House didnā€™t break purdah, or did he? @PaulHolmes88 isnā€™t convincedā€¦

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I am almost certain he did. If he didnā€™t, then I donā€™t get what the point of purdah is as it seems pretty much business as usual.

I actually complained to EBC about Lib Demā€™s breaching Purdah recently, but I was essentially told by EBC legal it wasnā€™t.

Iā€™m considering publishing the whole morale question with the evidence here as Iā€™m stuck on where to take it next - but I certainly donā€™t think elections are being run fairly in Eastleigh.

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Spot on! Because itā€™s an election and posting it now from the council will win them more votes than if they posted it as ā€œThe Lib Demā€™sā€. Unfair!

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Itā€™s an election gimmick.

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8

It does seem like a suspiciously timed update at first glance, especially given the topic. Having said that, the guidance does say that you are allowed toā€¦

publish factual information to counteract misleading, controversial or extreme (for example, racist/sexist) information

That doesnā€™t seem completely unreasonable given the recent speculation about Allington. It certainly seems worth asking the question about whether the statement stepped over the line though.

Unfortunately, itā€™s not the only incident which might be in breach of election rules: