Fears Powys planners aren't going out to visit sites
CONCERN over the lack of site visits being conducted by members of Powys County Council's Planning committee ahead of deciding applications, has been flagged up with the Auditor General for Wales.
Earlier today, (Friday – June 5) Montgomeryshire's Conservative MS Russell George met with the Auditor General for Wales Adrian Crompton and a team from Audit Wales to work through a list of concerns about the council's planning service.
In April, Mr Russell wrote to Mr Crompton raising continued and serious concerns regarding the performance of the planning service.
This follows the publication of two reports by Audit Wales on the council's planning service in the last two years.
Following today's meeting Mr George MS said: 'The auditor general took on board my concerns and examples provided and will use what I outlined as part of a wider piece of work Audit Wales are undertaking around the governance and leadership of the council.'
Mr George explained that they worked through a number of points that formed the basis of the meeting agenda and gave examples of planning issues that he has come across.
Mr George said: 'We did spend some time on examples around missing and inaccurate information in reports going to committee.
'I also made the point on the lack of site visits by committee.'
Interest in Mr George's concerns around planning in Powys was shown by members of the council's Governance and Audit committee last month.
The committee chairwoman and lay-member Lynne Hamilton said that she will be expecting an update on the issue following the meeting.
In May 2023 Audit Wales published a damning report into the state of Powys council's planning service and issued a number of recommendations for the council to address.
In response, the council set up an internal board to help steer improvements in the service.
Last November, Audit Wales issued a follow up report which said that 'overall' they had found that Powys planners had 'responded quickly' to improve its arrangements.
Audit Wales said that the planning service has: 'implemented the 2023 recommendations in full.'
Mr George believes that the follow-up review did not provide a 'comprehensive examination' of planning.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Herald Scotland
9 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Home Office plans to spend £2.2bn of foreign aid on asylum support this year
International rules allow countries to count first-year costs of supporting refugees as overseas development assistance (ODA). The figures, first reported by the BBC, were published in recent days on the Home Office website. The Home Office said it is 'urgently taking action to restore order and reduce costs' which will cut the amount spent to support asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. It also said it was expected to have saved £500 million in asylum support costs in the last financial year, and that this had saved £200 million in ODA which had been passed back to the Treasury. A total of 32,345 asylum seekers were being housed temporarily in UK hotels at the end of March this year. This figure is down 15% from the end of December, when the total was 38,079, and 6% lower than the 34,530 at the same point a year earlier. Asylum seekers and their families are housed in temporary accommodation if they are waiting for the outcome of a claim or an appeal and have been assessed as not being able to support themselves independently. They are housed in hotels if there is not enough space in accommodation provided by local authorities or other organisations. Labour has previously said it is 'committed to end the use of asylum hotels over time', adding that under the previous Conservative government at one stage 'more than 400 hotels were in use and almost £9 million per day was being spent'. Jo White, chairwoman of the Red Wall group of Labour MPs, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday: 'We need to be looking at things like ECHR article eight. I don't think anything's off the table … including looking at new options such as processing abroad. 'So, we have to be open to see how we can move move that backlog as quickly as possible. I'm getting impatient. 'I know my colleagues in parliament are getting impatient and we're pressing the Government as hard as we can on this.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We inherited an asylum system under exceptional pressure and are urgently taking action to restore order and reduce costs. 'This will ultimately reduce the amount of official development assistance spent to support asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. 'We are immediately speeding up decisions and increasing returns so that we can end the use of hotels and save the taxpayer £4 billion by 2026. 'The Rwanda scheme also wasted £700 million to remove just four volunteers – instead, we have surged removals to nearly 30,000 since the election, are giving law enforcement new counter-terror style powers, and increasing intelligence sharing through our Border Security Command to tackle the heart of the issue, vile people-smuggling gangs.'
Evening Standard
10 hours ago
- Evening Standard
Home Office plans to spend £2.2bn of foreign aid on asylum support this year
Labour has previously said it is 'committed to end the use of asylum hotels over time', adding that under the previous Conservative government at one stage 'more than 400 hotels were in use and almost £9 million per day was being spent'.
Daily Mirror
11 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Putin's 'secret daughter' works at anti-war art galleries in European capital
The Kremlin has never commented on the alleged links between Elizaveta Krivonogikh, born in 2003, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite others noting their resemblance Vladimir Putin's alleged secret daughter is reportedly working at art galleries in Paris that show exhibitions denouncing her father's war in Ukraine. Elizaveta Krivonogikh, 22, who is also known as Luiza Rozova and now Elizaveta Rudnova, is said to be schmoozing with Ukrainian artists as well as Russia dissidents in the heart of France's capital. She is reportedly working at L Galerie in Belleville and Espace Albatros in Montreuil. News outlet Meduza cites a Russian artist claiming both galleries are known for exhibiting anti-war work. Her gallery manager role also includes making videos that have sparked ire among exiled Russians and Ukrainians. Commenting online, artist Nastya Rodionova - who fled Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 - said: "It's important to say that I believe in the presumption of innocence and that children are not responsible for the crimes of their parents. "But with the war reaching its heights it is inadmissible to allow a person who comes from a family of beneficiaries of [Putin's] regime to come into confrontation with the victims of that regime. We need to know who we are working with and decide whether we are ready for that. My personal answer in this case is no." But Dmitry Dolinsky, the director of L Association that controls Studio Albatros and L Galerie, backed Elizaveta's role and cast doubt over whether she is actually Putin's daughter. Speaking to The Times, he said: "She looks like Putin but so do 100,000 other people. I haven't seen a DNA test." She has also been praised as a "cultured person" and an "excellent worker". However, some like Nastya say victims of the war should not feel forced to share a space with anyone with connections to the regime. Elisaveta's mum, Svetlana Krivonogikh, was sanctioned by the Conservative government in 2023. She is thought to own £73m worth of properties. Elizaveta ditched social media just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine but previously shared snaps of her glitzy lifestyle. Ukrainian TV claimed she lived in Paris with a passport under the name Rudnova. The Kremlin as never spoken about alleged ties between her and Putin, nor has Elizaveta publicly confirmed a link to the Russian despot. Putin has only acknowledged his daughters Maria and Katerina from his marriage to Lyudmila Putina, who he had been married to until 2014. He is rumoured to have more children, including sons with the former gymnast Alina Kabaeva.
