Could sin bin-style approach be used to sanction Senedd Members?

Published

2 months ago

June 11, 2024

AN ACADEMIC urged the Senedd to introduce a sin bin-style approach to sanctioning misbehaving members.

Jonathan Tonge, a professor at the University of Liverpool, gave evidence to a Senedd inquiry on creating a recall system to allow voters to remove members between elections.

Prof Tonge raised concerns about a suspension of ten sitting days or more being used as one of the criteria for triggering a petition under Westminster’s recall system.

He told the standards committee the “blunt, arbitrary” cutoff creates a cliffedge as he called for a “tapered, sin bin” approach with different sanctions for ten to 30-day suspensions.

Prof Tonge contrasted relatively light sanctions, such as the removal of rights and privileges, below ten days with a “drastic and draconian” penalty above the threshold.

The politics professor warned it is “very, very difficult for the miscreant to ‘survive’”, pointing out that only one MP has remained in post following a recall petition.

Vikki Howells, who chairs the committee, asked whether Senedd members who change their political allegiance after an election should be subject to recall.

From 2016 to 2021, more than 10% of members jumped ship at least once – with Mark Reckless representing Ukip, the Tories, Brexit Party and Abolish the Welsh Assembly.

Prof Tonge said defecting should be grounds for recall, particularly under the closed-list electoral system which will see people voting for parties rather than candidates from 2026.

He told the committee: “If you’ve got a party list system and someone’s stood on a party label then switches, the electorate may struggle to understand the legitimacy of that.

“It is in many ways anti-democratic.”

Asked by Plaid Cymru’s Peredur Owen Griffiths how a Senedd recall system could work, Prof Tonge said a straightforward option would be to co-opt a replacement from party lists.

He said holding by-elections risks punishing parties for the wrongdoing of individuals.

But he warned it would be more of a removal petition than a recall one because MSs would not be able to fight a by-election to clear their name as in Westminster.

Prof Tonge told committee members he is “not a massive fan of co-option”, stressing it is possible to hold by-elections under a proportional representation system.

The expert raised the example of Ireland holding 138 by-elections since 1923, with seats changing hands in almost half of those instances.

He made a case for raising the threshold of 10% of voters signing a petition to 15%, if replacements are co-opted under Wales’ new fully proportional system.

Mark Drakeford suggested a simple retain-or-replace ballot, with a 20% threshold to ensure a reasonable proportion of the electorate takes part.

Prof Tonge was wary about raising the threshold too high, warning it might be a struggle to get 20% of the electorate to turn out.

“I wouldn’t start making the threshold insurmountable,” said the academic.

He pointed out that 18.9% signed a petition which triggered a UK Parliament by-election in Brecon and Radnorshire in 2019 after an MP was convicted of claiming false expenses.

Asked by the former first minister about spending limits, Prof Tonge said a £10,000 cap on expenditure by campaigners seems reasonable.

He told Mr Drakeford spending on recall petitions has been modest because campaigners are rightly not allowed to provide running commentary.

He said: “Parties have found themselves fairly hamstrung in what they can do any way and that might explain why they have, thus far, not spent a lot of money campaigning.”

Prof Tonge added that parties know the 10% threshold will likely be reached.

He explained that the threshold has been comfortably passed ever since the 2018 North Antrim petition, which was exceptional due to the particular politics of Northern Ireland.

Prof Tonge described the ad-hoc number of petition stations, for people to sign in person, as a flaw in Westminster’s model, which can be correlated with turnout.

He cautioned that recall petitions can be costly, with the most expensive costing £500,000, but he said: “It’s a balance – you don’t want to cost cut on democracy.”

Asked by the Conservatives’ Natasha Asghar for examples of best practice, he stressed that no institution has got recall 100% right and there will always be anomalies.

But Prof Tonge told the committee meeting on June 10: “It’s not often that these words might cross my lips but I actually think Westminster has got this broadly right.”

He added: “I do think you’ve got a great opportunity here … to correct the details that Westminster got wrong while retaining the 80%-plus that Westminster got right.”

Community asked for views on allocation of new St Davids homes

Published

16 hours ago

July 26, 2024

Tom Sinclair

THE FIRST phase of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Glasfryn housing development in St Davids is progressing well with the second phase also underway.

The development being built by GRD Homes Ltd, began in November 2023, with a first phase completion date of Winter 2024 looking hopeful, ahead of the scheduled plans.

The first phase consists of seven properties, including a mixture of one and two bedroom bungalows

As completion draws closer the properties will be advertised via Pembrokeshire Choice Homes.

Ahead of this, the Council’s housing team will be holding community engagement on the 13th August 2024 at the Ty’r Pererin Centres, Quickwell Hill, St Davids, SA62 6PD, 5pm-7pm.

This will be a chance for officers to liaise with the local community about the allocation process for these properties.

Glasfryn’s second phase is well underway, with the initial groundwork already completed. This phase includes a further 11 two bedroom bungalows, with a completion date in late 2025.

These bungalows will meet the latest Welsh Government’s Development Quality Requirement, and will be energy efficient, built to EPC A specification and include solar panels to help tenants with running costs.

The Glasfryn development is funded in partnership with Welsh Government.

Cabinet Member for Housing Cllr Michelle Bateman said: “We are really keen to work with the community on a local lettings policy for these new properties, as we have done for our developments in other parts of the County.”

If you have any queries please email the Customer Liaison Team on [email protected], phone them on 01437 764551, or visit Housing’s Facebook page.

Business

Legal call to stop £6m expansion of holiday park still ongoing

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

A LEGAL request to overturn a Pembrokeshire County Council-granted approval for a £6m expansion of a south Pembrokeshire holiday park is still ongoing despite a previous announcement it had been turned down, county planners heard.

Back in February, Pembrokeshire planners were informed a legal challenge to a November 2023-granted application for works at Heritage Park, Pleasant Valley/Stepaside had been launched.

The holiday park scheme had previously been backed twice by county planners after a ‘minded to approve’ cooling-off period was invoked as it was against repeated officer recommendations to refuse.

The controversial scheme by Heritage Leisure Development (Wales) Ltd includes the installation of 48 bases for holiday lodges, a spa facility at a former pub, holiday apartments, a café and cycle hire, equestrian stables, a manège and associated office, and associated works.

It is said the scheme, next to the historic remains of the 19th century Stepaside ironworks and colliery, will create 44 jobs.

Officer grounds for refusal, based on the Local Development Plan, included the site being outside a settlement area.

Along with 245 objections to the current scheme, Stepaside & Pleasant Valley Residents’ Group (SPVRG Ltd) – formed to object to an earlier 2019 application which was later withdrawn – also raised a 38-page objection, with a long list of concerns.

A failed legal challenge to try and overturn a council decision to approve three separate planning applications at Heritage Park was launched in 2021 by SPVRG Ltd, which failed in early 2022; the council awarded costs of £10,000 despite external legal fees paid totalled £34,000 plus VAT.

At the June meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s planning committee members were told the recent judicial review call by SPVRG Ltd had been refused by the high court, the grounds put forward “not considered to be reasonably arguable”.

Committee chair Cllr Simon Hancock said a council request for SPVRG Ltd to pay costs incurred by the county council in defending the claim had now been submitted.

Following that, at the July planning meeting, in his chair’s announcement, Dr Hancock gave a clarification on the position.

“I can advise that whilst the application for judicial review was refused by the High Court Judge on May 31, 2024, the appellants have challenged this decision.

“This matter is listed for a renewal hearing, and accordingly the legal challenge is still in progress; I’m hoping that’s a clarification from the announcements I made back in June.”

Responding to the clarification, Trish Cormack of SPVRG Ltd pointed out it was not “an appeal,” adding: “Firstly, we are ‘requesting the decision to be reconsidered at a hearing,’ which is a bit less dramatic than ‘challenging the decision’.

“Secondly, the claim remains open for seven days after the decision on the papers in expectance of you requesting the hearing, and the form 86B comes attached to the decision with the case number already filled in for you. This is just part of the process for a judicial review. If the Judge really thought there were no merits to the case, he was free to issue a ‘without merits refusal’.

“That would have ended the claim there and then. The only way to resurrect it would have been to take it to the appeal court. But he didn’t.

“Thirdly, the announcement makes it sound like our ‘challenge’ had happened after their previous announcement, whereas in fact we only had seven days from May 31 in which to make the request, so they knew the moment we did (June 7) because we had to simultaneously email it to the court, PCC and the developer’s agent. So, they knew full well that there would be a renewal hearing.”

Farming

Farm building scheme near Lawrenny given go-ahead by planners

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

AN APPLICATION for a storage building at a south Pembrokeshire farm, made by a family member of an officer on Pembrokeshire County Council’s planning service, has been given the go-ahead by the authority’s planning committee.

In an application recommended for approval at the July 23 meeting of the authority’s planning committee, Laura Elliot sought permission for the erection of an agricultural storage building at Tedion Farm, a dairy farm near Lawrenny.

The application had been brought to committee, rather than being delegated to planning officers, due to the family connection.

The farm, near to the Pembrokeshire coast National Park border, comprises 270 milking cows and dairy heifer replacements kept on the farm comprising land over 138 hectares. The farm is mainly down to grass and the cows are paddock grazed in order to utilise grass efficiency.

No objections had been received from local community council Martletwy.

A report for members said: “The application seeks consent for the erection of agricultural storage building. The erection of an agricultural building will be used to store stay, hay and farm machinery.

“The building would be located within the existing farm complex, to the north-east of the site, adjacent to the main farm dwelling. The building will measure 18 metres in length by 13.6 metres in width, with a pitched roof height of 5.71 metres.”

Approval was moved by Cllr Alistair Cameron, seconded by Cllr Brian Hall.