Hart Politburo Forced to Publish Shapley Heath Questions

Regular readers will recall that we submitted questions about the Shapley Heath debacle to last week’s Council meeting. The Council decided to censor the questions saying that they “appear to rehearse matters that have already been put to the council within the last 6 months”. That excuse was of course complete nonsense because last week was the first time questions could have been asked about the Shapley Heath Audit Report. When the agenda item came up, they denied that any questions had been asked. This is clearly a lie. Whoever forced the Committee Services official to lie should hang their head in shame.

Points of Order Raised

Councillor Spencer Farmer immediately raised two Points of Order. The first pointed out that the questions asked did not fall foul of the rules and should therefore have been allowed. The second pointed out that according to the Constitution, all questions should be published regardless of whether they were disallowed. The JCX gave a weak defence of the Council’s position. Under pressure, he had to concede that the questions did in fact exist and would be published with the minutes of the meeting.

That’s quite a transition. Within a few minutes they went from claiming no questions had been asked to agreeing the non-existent questions would be published with the minutes. They could even be asked again at the November meeting. It is now over a week since the meeting and the minutes have still not been published.

[Update:] The draft minutes have now been released. They wrongly attribute the Points of Order raised to Councillor Dr Crampton not to Councillor Farmer. They can’t get the minutes right even when they have a video of the whole meeting.[/Update]

Of course, they haven’t actually answered the Shapley Heath questions.

It is obvious the Council is running scared. They are too frightened to even acknowledge the existence of questions that highlighted the lies told misleading statements given at July Council and September Cabinet. For a Cabinet anxious to be seen to be not marking its own homework, this is terrible optics. Joseph Stalin would be proud.

In lieu of the minutes, here is a video of the relevant exchange.

Letter Highlighting Censorship of Shapley Heath Questions

What’s even stranger is that all Councillors and both JCXs knew of the existence of the questions. We sent an email to all Councillors informing them of the censorship of the questions and added an attachment containing the questions. So, this wasn’t some rogue officer making a mistake. It was a deliberate cover-up by senior officers and the Cabinet.

Here is the letter:

I attach the questions I submitted for this week’s Council meeting. They have been rejected because they “appear to rehearse matters that have already been put to the council within the last 6 months”. However, the Shapley Heath Audit Report was only released to the public in July, after the deadline for public questions to the July Council meeting.  Accordingly, this is the first time members of the public have been able to ask questions about the report and the statements made about it by Cabinet members. So, either the Officers have been “got at” or they have an even weaker grasp on reality than previously thought.

It is clear Cabinet members have been trying to denigrate, minimise and cover up the devastating findings of TIAA’s Audit Report. The Council Leader has falsely claimed that the Audit Work took place before it was even commissioned. From his statements, the Leader has no particular expertise in Project Management, yet this did not stop him from declaring arrogantly that he did not accept the findings of TIAA’s comprehensive, fact-checked report.

The Portfolio Holder for Place falsely claimed that the project had met its primary objective even though it had not achieved a single milestone and had certainly not achieved the objectives of establishing “a vision for a Garden Community and evidence whether such a vision is both viable and deliverable”. Moreover, we are no further towards understanding when they found out that the Government had stopped funding the project and how much more public money they squandered after being told. Nor do we know who took the decision to continue spending without recourse to the Opportunity Board.

The portfolio holder for Finance brushed off questions about obvious budgeting and reporting irregularities surrounding the project. At least one of his answers was obviously false at the time. Apparently he took no steps to investigate, despite having prima facie evidence handed to him on a plate.

What we have here is an absolute catastrophe of Project Management, Governance, Risk Management, Financial Control and above all, Leadership. The TIAA report makes that clear. Now the Cabinet are too cowardly to answer questions about it.  If the public are not allowed to hold them to account, you must step up to the plate. We cannot have a situation where over £800K of public money is poured down the drain, nothing of substance is delivered, questions cannot be asked and nobody is accountable.

 

Questions to Expose Shapley Heath “Operation Cover Up”

Hart Council meets again next week on Thursday 29th September. We have tabled a series of questions to expose the Cabinet’s apparent Shapley Heath “Operation Cover Up”. Together they have made a number of false statements to July Council and to September’s Cabinet that seek to minimise the colossal failure of the project. In summary, they have frittered away over £800K of public money and delivered nothing of substance. Instead of spending even more money on a “Facilitated Reflection” they should be accepting responsibility and resigning.

Here are the questions we have tabled to Council Leader, David Neighbour; Chair of the Shapley Heath Opportunity Board, Graham Cockarill and Deputy Leader, James Radley. We will report on their answers to these and the inevitable supplementary questions after the meeting next week.

Questions on Shapley Heath Operation Cover Up to David Neighbour

  • At September Cabinet you insisted the Shapley Heath Audit took place “at a point in time” in November 2021 which is before it was even commissioned. Do you now agree that the Shapley Heath Audit was only agreed by Audit Committee at their meeting in December 2021, the developer studies were published in January 2021, the audit work was carried out afterwards by TIAA in March and April 2022 and the first draft report was delivered in late June 2022 with the final report circulated in early July 2022?

 

  • The deliverables that had to be completed to achieve the first milestone of the Shapley Heath project were: the Communities Survey, Vision and Objectives, Communication and Engagement Strategy, Technical Studies, Strategic Viability Appraisal and Phase One Masterplan (Concept). The Technical Studies comprised 13 Baseline Studies and 14 Strategy Reports. At the September Cabinet meeting you said you disagreed with TIAA’s assessment that no milestones had been achieved. Can you set out which of the planned deliverables were published and how on earth they constitute the achievement of the first milestone?

 

Shapley Heath Deliverables Required for first Milestone

Shapley Heath Deliverables Required for first Milestone

Shapley Heath Baseline Studies and Strategy Reports Planned

Shapley Heath Baseline Studies and Strategy Reports Planned

Questions on Shapley Heath Operation Cover Up to Graham Cockarill

  • At the July Council meeting you stated the Shapley Heath project was stopped because the Government had ceased providing financial support. When was the Council informed that it would not receive any further Government funding, what reason was given for that decision and will you publish that letter as it is a matter of public record?

 

  • You also said that nobody from the Opportunity Board raised any issues with you about the Shapley Heath project as if that somehow absolved you as Chair of any responsibility. Three of your Cabinet colleagues, David Neighbour, James Radley and Stuart Bailey sat on the Opportunity Board with you, does this mean that they are more, or less, responsible than you for the failures of the project?

 

  • At the same meeting, you claimed that the project has “met its primary objective” despite the fact that no milestones have been achieved. The stated objectives were to “establish a vision for a Garden Community and evidence whether such a vision is both viable and deliverable”. Where is the published Vision that has been established and where is the evidence that the vision is both viable and deliverable?
Objective of Shapley Heath Project

Objectives of the Shapley Heath Project

  • On 25th February 2021, along with the rest of the Council, you approved the overall budget including funding for the New Settlement. The New Settlement budget covered staffing for only 2-3 people and £25K for consultants. Did any budgetary alarm bells start to ring when the Thematic Groups were stuffed with unbudgeted Council Officers, advertisements were placed for contracts worth up to £56K, a new website appeared along with an extensive survey and you appeared in professionally produced videos to promote the survey; wasn’t it clear then that the spending was going to massively exceed the budget?

Question to James Radley

  • Back in July 2021, I asked you a number of questions about obvious budgeting and financial reporting irregularities in the Shapley Heath project. The Shapley Heath Audit Report confirmed these concerns, saying there was no evidence that “the project had been accurately and appropriately financially managed”. At the time you brushed off these concerns and actually defended the Council’s financial controls. As Cabinet member for Finance, what steps did you take to investigate the obvious weaknesses that were quite correctly highlighted by my questions?
No evidence the project was financially managed appropriately

No evidence the project was financially managed appropriately

 

Hart Leader Denies Shapley Heath Audit Findings

Regular readers may recall we made a statement at this month’s Cabinet meeting about the Shapley Heath debacle. In the debate on the item Council Leader Dave Neighbour made the extraordinary statement that he did not accept all of the findings of the Audit Report. In particular he disputed the finding that none of the project milestones were met.

A number of other interesting points were made that we shall go through in detail below:

  • Councillor James “It’s Only Rhetoric” Radley claimed that he gave “honest and full” answers that were “full and accurate” reflections of the facts. Yes, really!
  • Remarkably, the “facilitated reflection” they were supposed to be discussing transformed in an “Investigation” and “Independent Inquiry”.
  • Councillor Radley also gave an explanation why they were only discussing “process” questions and it was too painful to discuss the substance of the Shapley Heath Audit.
  • At no point did they agree a cost budget for this work, other than being reassured it would be covered by the JCX’s “legal budget”.

Hart Leader Denies Shapley Heath Audit Report Findings

Here is the video of Lib Dem leader Dave Neighbour denying the findings of the Shapley Heath Audit report.

Councillor Neighbour makes a number of erroneous claims in that video.  The first is that TIAA carried out the report in November 2021. This is simply not true. It was only agreed by Audit Committee on 7 December 2021 that the Audit should take place. The Audit report itself says the work was carried out in March and April 2022.  The first draft was published on 24th June 2022 and the final document was published on 6th July 2022.

He then went on to claim that the report reflected a “point in time” and since then a number of reports had been received by developers. Again, this is untrue. The Baseline Studies to which he refers were all published in January 2022, well before the audit work began.

He went on to say that milestones were met because the studies were received after the date of the audit. Again, this is a false statement. We know from the project documents the deliverables that needed to be completed before the first milestone could be met.

Shapley Heath Deliverables Required for first Milestone

Shapley Heath Deliverables Required for first Milestone

These were the:

  1. Communities Survey
  2. Vision and Objectives
  3. Communication and Engagement Strategy
  4. Technical Studies
  5. Strategic Viability Appraisal
  6. Phase One Masterplan (Concept)

Deliverable Status

Items 1 was delivered and a draft of 3 was produced. Although the results of the survey were devastating in that the vast majority of respondents did not want the project to go ahead. Items 2, 5 and 6 were not delivered. Only some of the Technical Studies were delivered. The Technical Studies were made up of Baseline Studies and Strategy Reports.

Shapley Heath Technical Studies Comprise Baseline Studies and Strategy Reports

Shapley Heath Technical Studies Comprise Baseline Studies and Strategy Reports

There were supposed to be 13 Baseline Studies, of which nine were delivered.

Shapley Heath Baseline Studies and Strategy Reports Planned

Shapley Heath Baseline Studies and Strategy Reports Planned

No Strategy Reports were ever published. Of course, they also stopped the project in September 2021, well before the February 2022 deadline for the first milestone.

Councillor Neighbour is entitled to his own personal opinion, but he isn’t entitled to his own facts. It is a sad indictment of him that he misled his Cabinet colleagues, Councillors and the public in his answer. It is astonishing that he chose to denigrate in public the excellent work of TIAA.

Councillor Radley Insisted he gave “Honest and Full” Answers at All Times

During the discussion, Councillor James “It’s only rhetoric” Radley claimed that he gave “honest and full” answers that were “full and accurate” reflections of the facts.

We have to take issue with this statement. In July 2021 we asked a number of questions about Shapley Heath finances. In particular we asked about £63.7K of spending against a zero budget. We also asked about the apparent lack of financial controls governing transfers from reserves and advertising contracts that exceeded the external consultants budget. He also gave a false answer to the reason why they overspent on staff costs in FY20/21.

Councillor Radley defended the financial controls of the Council yet the Audit Report said there was:

  • No evidence to suggest that the project was financially managed appropriately.
  • Little financial monitoring information presented to members and some of that was inaccurate.

Therefore we have to come to the conclusion that Councillor Radley’s answers were nothing more than rhetoric and his statement at Cabinet was nothing more than getting his excuses in early.

Facilitated Reflection Transforms Into Independent Inquiry

The paper they discussed recommended they approve a proposal to review project governance, financial controls and reporting by holding

“an independently facilitated reflection (perhaps supported by the LGA) that recognise[s] both the positives as well as any short comings in the application of the governance arrangements associated with the project”.

However, during the course of the meeting the “Facilitated Reflection” transformed first into an “Investigation” and then into an “Independent Inquiry”.

We can only interpret this subtle change of terminology as an attempt to kick the can down the road. The Audit Report itself was the independent inquiry. The report has been published. The conclusions were clear and damning. They shouldn’t need new investigations or inquiries. Now is the time for action and for those responsible to fall on their swords.

Why Talk About Process and Not Content?

Councillor Radley tried to explain why the Cabinet was only talking about “Process” matters and spent no time at all talking about the content of the Audit Report (except to deny the findings).

Apparently, there are new investigations under way, one of them the “Facilitated Reflection” instigated by Cabinet. We might hazard our own guess why they refuse to discuss the content of the report. It is obvious that it would be too painful to face up to their own failures and take responsibility. Kicking off new activities allows them to avoid responsibility for now, hoping that we all forget about it and they can carry on as normal.

Failed to Set a Budget for Facilitated Reflection

As if to indicate their desire for things to go back to the old normal, they failed to set an actual budget for the Facilitated Reflection/Investigation/Independent Inquiry, other than to be reassured it would be funded from the legal budget.

Several of the many criticisms made in the Shapley Heath Audit Report related to the lack of financial controls and inadequate reporting. Surely, one of the basic building blocks of financial control is to set a budget at the outset against which performance can be measured.

It is clear they have learned nothing yet from this debacle.

Full Video of Shapley Heath Audit Item on Cabinet Agenda September 2022

Hart have stopped their videos being embedded on other sites. However, you can watch the item in full by following the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biAC7ckg6TE&t=1753s

 

 

 

 

Statement to Cabinet about Shapley Heath Omnishambles

Statement to Cabinet as they Ponder Shapley Heath Omnishambles

Statement to Cabinet about Shapley Heath Omnishambles

As we discussed here, Cabinet meets tonight. On the agenda is how they respond to the Shapley Heath omnishambles. The proposal is that they spend even more public money to hold “an independently facilitated reflection (perhaps supported by the LGA) that recognise[s] both the positives as well as any short comings in the application of the governance arrangements associated with the project”.

We have submitted a statement, that it has been agreed can be presented to Cabinet as part of the Public Participation. The statement is reproduced below.

Statement to Cabinet on Shapley Heath Omnishambles

As you decide whether to throw more good money at a “facilitated reflection” after squandering over £800K of bad money on the Shapley Heath debacle, may I humbly offer some points for you to reflect upon:

  • You might consider whether it was appropriate to even start the project at all after the Inspector had rejected it, and your own bid documents for Government funding said the Garden Village was not necessary to meet our housing needs.
  • You might ponder why you ignored my warnings prior to and during the 21/22 budget meeting that the “bloated cost structure is completely indefensible” and that you were set up to fail because you had not secured enough funding to be successful.
  • You might contemplate why concerns about Governance raised by Hartley Wintney Parish Council and others were ignored by the project sponsor.
  • You might think about why you rebuffed questions about obvious budgeting and spending irregularities in July 2021.
  • You might consider whether your credibility is damaged or enhanced by claiming the project met its core objectives when the fact-checked audit report clearly states you didn’t meet a single milestone.
  • You might also review whether it is entirely appropriate to simply throw the officers under a bus, when it is clear that there were also significant Cabinet member failings.
  • Finally, you might contemplate whether it is appropriate for those involved to remain in office when despite repeated and accurate warnings, they have continued to squander our money on a totally unnecessary project that has delivered nothing of substance.

Let’s see how they respond.

 

Cabinet to Hold Facilitated Reflection on Shapley Heath Debacle

Hart Cabinet next meets on Tuesday 1st September. On the agenda is the response to the Shapley Heath debacle. The Cabinet has been asked by the Audit Committee “to provide a response to the management recommendations contained within the Shapley Heath Audit Review report, and to review the application of project governance, financial controls, and reporting for the Shapley Heath project and to provide a response to Audit Committee on lessons learnt”.

The paper they are discussing recommends that they delegate the the part relating to management recommendations to the interim-S151 officer. Their proposal to review project governance, financial controls and reporting is to hold

“an independently facilitated reflection (perhaps supported by the LGA) that recognise[s] both the positives as well as any short comings in the application of the governance arrangements associated with the project”.

In short, they are going to spend even more money on an independent facilitator to reflect on why they spaffed over £800K up the wall and delivered nothing.

We might suggest that the section on “positives” is kept rather short, because there are none.

The shortcomings were numerous and wide-ranging as we documented here. Four of the Cabinet members were also on the Opportunity Board.

 

Hart Cabinet Denies Responsibility - Cabinet Membership Of Opportunity Board

Hart Cabinet Denies Responsibility – Cabinet Membership Of Opportunity Board

In effect they are going to be reflecting on which of them was the most incompetent. Is it Councillor Cockarill, who was chair of the Opportunity Board? Or is it Councillor Radley, because the project took place as part of his his Corporate Services portfolio? Might it be Councillor Neighbour, who as Leader of the Council should have been keeping a close eye on such a big piece of expenditure? Or should it be Councillor Bailey who seems to have been missing in action for the whole time?

Blame Everyone Else for Shapley Heath Debacle

At the last Council meeting, Councillor Cockarill did his best to blame everyone else for the debacle even though he was chair of the Opportunity Board. This included blaming his Cabinet colleagues who also sat on the Opportunity Board and throwing the officers under a bus. If he continues to insist he did nothing wrong and insist the project met its primary objective, the “reflection” is not going to deliver any value.

There’s another item on the Cabinet meeting agenda, which we think might offer some insight into who the scapegoat is going to be. The paper’s purpose is to recommend to Council that they “should adopt on an interim basis a single CEO model”. In other words, sack one of the CEOs now, before they move to joint CEO arrangements with Rushmoor.

We sat on some of the Thematic Groups for the Project and had significant concerns about the project governance at the time. One of the JCXs was undoubtedly at least partly responsible for this. However, Councillor Cockarill himself rebuffed concerns about this in a letter to Hartley Wintney Parish Council.

We have been calling for a restructuring of the senior management team for some time. However, this call was rebuffed by Councillor Neighbour last November. It seems that now they have a problem with Shapley Heath, they are willing to recommend change because it gives them a scapegoat so they can avoid pinning any responsibility on themselves.

 

Shapley Heath Baseline Studies Fall Short of Cabinet Claims

In their defence of the Shapley Heath project debacle, Hart Cabinet have made a great deal of noise about the Baseline Studies produced by the developers as part of the project. The purpose of this post is to analyse the conclusions of those reports and come to a conclusion about their value.

The first point to note is that those reports have now been removed from Hart’s website. However, we did download them when they were available. Together they take up hundreds of MB of disk space. We have made them available here, on our Google drive for those who may wish to view them.

Summary of Results of the Shapley Heath Baseline Studies

Geo-Enviro Study

Low risk from past use, but calls for more detailed work. Glosses over landfill at Scotland Farm and Beggars Corner.

Transport

Proposes an impractical technocratic nirvana of bicycles, cargo-bikes and e-scooters with convoluted car journeys; Council should only consider “increases in highway capacity as a last resort”. Great way to wriggle out of infrastructure spending.

Landscape

Hundreds of pages of bumph, many simply repeating earlier studies in a massive appendix,  resulting in no conclusions except for a call for further work to “consider landscape value, sensitivity and capacity”.  In effect, totally useless.

Agricultural Land Classification

No specific report produced. One chart in the Landscape report. Was supposed to be extended into a detailed study, but apparently not produced.

Archaeological and Heritage

Concedes there would be harm to heritage assets, but claims “informed masterplanning” would avoid or reduce harm. More detailed work required.

Flooding and Drainage

Study concludes that there is a risk of fluvial (river), surface, reservoir and groundwater flooding across parts of the Area of Search. Recommends further work, particularly groundwater monitoring. Some pieces of evidence contradictory. Recommends areas prone to flood as “dry routes” out of the site.

Water Cycle/Management

No report produced.

Utilities

No report produced. It seems they’re ignoring the high pressure gas main and the high-voltage power lines.

Air Quality

Study admits the M3 is the biggest air quality constraint and that nearby SSSIs could be at risk. Apparently, air quality issues during the 16-year build phase are only temporary, so we don’t need to worry about them. Thankfully, they appear to have dropped the idea of building a tree-burning power plant.

Noise

Flawed study didn’t take account of increased traffic levels arising from the development. Admitted to needing an 80m buffer zone either side of the M3 and 20m from the A30 London Road. Concludes that “there are no planning or technical reasons with regard to noise to refuse the promotion of this site as a residential development”.

Contamination

No specific report produced

Ecology & Biodiversity Net Gain

Fairly useless report that documents the different habitat groups in the Area of Search and attributes biodiversity points to each one. Concludes with a statement of the bleeding obvious that to achieve a biodiversity net gain, there needs to be an increase in biodiversity. However, replacing any of the cropland or grassland with urban areas will automatically reduce biodiversity.

Ancient Woodland, Ancient and Veteran Trees

Useful report detailing all of the areas of ancient woodland and a schedule of 37 veteran trees. The report points out that development that might damage these areas be refused. It recommends buffer zones around the veteran trees of around 5m from the edge of the canopy and 15m from the ancient woodland.

Overall Status of Shapley Heath Baseline Studies

The Opportunity Board that took place in March 2021 promised no less than 14 Baseline Studies and showed the status of each at that time.

Status of Shapley Heath Baseline Studies as of March 2021

Status of Shapley Heath Baseline Studies as of March 2021

Despite claims by Cabinet that 10 studies have been produced, only 9 were published. However, one of them covered both Flood Risk and Drainage, so maybe we can say 10 of the promised subject areas were covered. It remains to be seen what happened to the other four.

Status of Shapley Heath Baseline Studies Falls Short of Expectations

Status of Shapley Heath Baseline Studies Falls Short of Expectations

Interestingly, Community Campaign Hart have gone on record saying the have not read the documents. So, obviously they are total experts on the content of the reports and are well placed to judge their value 😉.

Questions about Shapley Heath Baseline Studies to CCH

Questions about Shapley Heath Baseline Studies to CCH

Answers about Shapley Heath Baseline Studies from CCH

Answers about Shapley Heath Baseline Studies from CCH.

Now let’s go through the details of each report.

Topographical and Ground Survey aka Geo-Enviro Desk Study

This was published as the Geo-Enviro desk study. The document was produced by Wardell Armstrong and is dated January 2021, despite the March status report showing no work had started. Note this is a desk based study; no actual field work has been carried out.

Geo-Enviro Study Objectives Wardell-Armstrong

Geo-Enviro Study Objectives.

They conclude that “site is considered to present an overall low risk from past use” and “the site is suitable for the proposed end use of residential and or commercial development with associated infrastructure”.

Geo-Enviro Study Low Risk from Past Use Wardell-Armstrong

Geo-Enviro Study Low Risk from Past Use

However, they go on to caveat their conclusions by stating that more detailed geotechnical work is required about the appropriate foundation solution for parts of the site.

Geo-Enviro Study Potential contamination Geotechnical Assessment Wardell-Armstrong

Geo-Enviro Study Potential contamination Geotechnical Assessment

In the body of the paper they do note that Beggars Corner and Scotland Farm are former landfill sites, but gloss over the implications of this.

Geo-Enviro Study Potential Historic Landfill Beggars Corner Scotland Farm Wardell-Armstrong

Geo-Enviro Study Potential Historic Landfill Beggars Corner Scotland Farm

They also go on to note in their terms and conditions that they offer no guarantee  or warranty on their findings.

Geo-Enviro Study Potential No Guarantee or Warranty Wardell-Armstrong

Geo-Enviro Study Potential No Guarantee or Warranty

Shapley Heath Baseline Studies – Transport

Summary

The Transport Studies consist on seven “Topic Papers” delivered via email from the Steer Group. They are a triumph of technocratic idealism over common sense.

In their nirvana, everyone will ride bicycles or e-scooters so there’s no need to make a significant investment in roads.  The Council should abandon the philosophy of “Predict and Provide” and in favour of “Decide and Provide”, or rather don’t provide. They elaborate on this saying “user hierarchy putting pedestrians and cyclists first and motor traffic last, and design features including limited and well-placed car parking”.

This means that the Council should:

  • Simply “decide” the “preferred future” and provide for that future instead. SO, they can decide not to provide proper road infrastructure.
  • Actively seek to add “convoluted car journeys”.
  • Not try to predict the future traffic flows arising from 5-10,000 additional houses.
  • Only be “considering increases in highway capacity as a last resort”.
  • Include only limited parking facilities.
  • Assume everyone is going to cycle or take their lives in their hands on an e-scooter, instead of driving to do their big shop at the supermarket.
  • Not bother working out the costs of transport improvements.

In other words, they have decided that they will aim for an impractical technocratic nirvana so there’s no need to cost out a practical solution.

More Walking and Cycling Routes Plus Cargo Cycles

The aims of providing more walking and cycling routes are laudable. The roads around the proposed site notably lack pavements in  most places and there are almost no dedicated cycle paths.  However, there are some completely ridiculous ideas such as “freight to be transported by cargo cycles”. I don’t think any new supermarket would be happy to be restocked by a fleet of “cargo cycles”.

Shapley Heath Transport Study e-cargo bikes

Shapley Heath Transport Study e-cargo bikes

Convoluted Car Journeys

They also propose to “create more convoluted journeys for private vehicles thereby reducing propensity for short distance car trips”. In other words design the environment so it is difficult for cars to get in, through and out of the new development. This is a recipe for more congestion and poor quality of life. It is fundamental to economic efficiency and vibrant social life that it is easy for people to go where they want, when they want. The thing about private cars is that they promote freedom of movement and convenience. They seem to want to “Decide” that new residents should live the lives of Trappist Monks, never leaving the new town and not having visitors.

Shapley Heath Transport Study e-scooters and convoluted car journeys

Shapley Heath Transport Study e-scooters and convoluted car journeys

Better Public Transport

They also call for more busses. However, if the No. 7 bus service that already goes through Hartley Wintney is any guide, there is precious little demand for this mode of transport. By observation, these busses often have no passengers at all, and never more than a handful. It is difficult to see how this will change even with 5-10,000 extra houses.

The papers also call for more train journeys. However, they acknowledge that pre-pandemic the line was operating at maximum capacity. They outline a series of improvements that are planned for the Wessex line. However, it isn’t clear whether any of them will improve capacity or enhance services from Winchfield.

Ignoring EVs Eliminate Tail Pipe Emissions

Part of their rationale for strongly discouraging car use is to cut tail-pipe emissions. They fail to understand that by 2030 all new cars sold will be EVs, with no tailpipe emissions. Even now, hybrids are taking an ever increasing share of the market, so CO2 emissions are already falling in urban areas. It can be seen that their  rationale for reducing car usage  completely falls away.

No Costing

None of the Topic Papers addresses the costs of even providing footpaths and cycle paths. Of course they don’t address the cost of road improvements because they should only be “considering increases in highway capacity as a last resort”. In other words, they have decided that they will aim for an impractical technocratic nirvana so there’s no need to cost out a practical solution.

Landscape Character Assessment

The Environmental Dimension Partnership (EDP) have produced hundreds of pages of bumph resulting in no conclusions. Much of the report is a massive appendix of earlier work carried out for the Council. They conclude by calling for further work to “consider landscape value, sensitivity and capacity”.  In effect, totally useless. The work is nowhere near as good as the work carried out by Michelle Bolger on behalf of Winchfield Parish Council.

Shapley Heath Landscape Study Further work required

Shapley Heath Landscape Study Further work required

Archaeological and Heritage Study

This is an 87-page report produced again by EDP. The report concedes that heritage assets would suffer “harm” as a result of such a significant development. However, they contend that with “informed masterplanning, it may be possible to avoid or reduce harmful effects”. Note the “may”.

Shapley Heath Archaeological and Heritage Study

Shapley Heath Archaeological and Heritage Study – Harm to heritage assets

Of course, they say more work is required, including actually visiting the site! Got to keep those consultancy fees rolling in.

Shapley Heath Baseline Studies – Flooding and Drainage

The Flooding and Drainage studies were produced as one document by Wardell-Armstrong who also produced the ge0-enviro desk study. This is an 68-page document plus three appendices. One plus point is that the various flood events documented on this website are incorporated into the evidence base.

 

The main document shows that there is a risk of fluvial (river), reservoir, surface water and groundwater flooding across large parts of the site. It recommends further work to better quantify the risks and work out the mitigation.

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study Additional Work Programme

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study Additional Work Programme

In particular, a 12-month borehole study is recommended.

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study 12 month borehole study required

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study 12 month borehole study required

Given the project has been cancelled and no budget is currently allocated, it isn’t clear when or if this work will take place.

It is worth noting that significant parts of the evidence base are self-contradictory.

Surface Water Contradictions

The first point to note is that they provide a very low quality image of the parts of the Area of Search that are subject to surface water risk.

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study Figure 10 Surface Water

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study Figure 10 Surface Water

At first glance, it looks like pretty much the whole site is clear of surface water flood risk.

However, if you superimpose the Area of Search on Hart’s own map of surface water flood risk, a very different picture emerges.

Shapley Heath Surface Water Flood Risk from Hart Council Maps

Shapley Heath Surface Water Flood Risk from Hart Council Maps

Large swathes of the Area of Search is subject to surface water flood risk. An addendum to Hart’s own Strategic Flood Risk Assessment states that their various models of surface water flood risk underestimate the extent of flooding.

Models Underestimate Surface Water Flood Risk

Models Underestimate Surface Water Flood Risk

Clearly, more work is required on this subject.

Groundwater Contradictions

They use two different charts to illustrate the risk of groundwater flooding. The first shows high risk to the North East of the site and negligible risk across the central belt.

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study Figure 11 Groundwater Flood Risk

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study Figure 11 Groundwater Flood Risk

The second map shows high risk to the south, medium risk in the north east and low (note not negligible) across most of the rest of the site.

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study Figure 12 Groundwater Flood Risk

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study Figure 12 Groundwater Flood Risk

No wonder they called for the 12 month borehole study to work out what the real risks are.

Exit Route contradictions

As part of their mitigation strategy, they identify a number of “dry routes” out of the site. These include Taplins Farm Lane, Station Road, Bagwell Lane and Totters Lane. The very roads that we have documented flood frequently and often to such an extent that they are impassable. They even reproduced the graphic below in their own document.

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study Allegedly Dry Routes

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study Allegedly Dry Routes

Winchfield, Hook, Crookham Village Floods 3 January 2016

Winchfield, Hook, Crookham Village Floods 3 January 2016

Clearly, they need to think again.

Shapley Heath Baseline Studies – Air Quality

Wardell-Armstrong have produced another 15-page report. However, the report is next to useless because there are no monitoring stations within the boundary of the Area of Search.

They do have a section on potential air quality impacts. They dismiss concerns about any impacts during construction as only “temporary.

Shapley Heath Air Quality Study Temporary Impacts during 16 year construction phase

Shapley Heath Air Quality Study Temporary Impacts during 16 year construction phase

However, the bid documentation suggested a building trajectory of 16 years. This hardly fits most people’s definition of temporary.

Shapley Heath Housing Trajectory Sept 2020

Shapley Heath Housing Trajectory Sept 2020

They then move on to the “operation” phase, by which they mean the impact on air quality having built 5-10,000 extra houses.

They concede that there could be potential damage to nearby SSSI’s, although they do not mention the many SINCs within the Area of Search.

Shapley Heath Air Quality Study Potential Damage to SSSIs during operation

Shapley Heath Air Quality Study Potential Damage to SSSIs during operation

They also admit that the M3 is “the most notable constraint” regarding air quality.

Shapley Heath Air Quality - M3 Is A Significant Constraint

Shapley Heath Air Quality – M3 Is A Significant Constraint

Thankfully, they have given up on the idea of a tree-burning biomass power plant or CHP as they euphemistically call it. In a previous Sustainability Appraisal they used the potential of such a plant to rank Shapley Heath above other options. Heaven knows why, burning wood to produce power generates more CO2 and noxious particulate emissions than burning coal.

Shapley Heath Air Quality - Given up on idea of a Power Plant

Shapley Heath Air Quality – Given up on idea of a Power Plant

Of course they need to do further more detailed work.

Shapley Heath Baseline Studies – Noise

Our friends at Wardell Armstrong have been busy again, this time on a 39-page Noise Assessment report. However, we believe this assessment to contain a very significant flaws:

  1. Study Timing.
  2. No account was taken of the extra traffic generated by the development.
  3. They assumed the development would be residential only.

Study Timing

First, the study was carried out in mid-June 2021. They assumed traffic levels were back to normal levels. However, some Covid restrictions were still in place up to mid-July 2021.

Shapley Heath Noise Study - Study period 9-14 June 2021

Shapley Heath Noise Study – Study period 9-14 June 2021

In addition, the study period was 9-14th June 2021. The 12th of June was a Saturday and the 13th was a Sunday. Weekends generally have lower traffic levels, so some of the readings they took will understate the mid-week noise levels.

Extra Traffic Ignored

The extra traffic that will be generated by the development was not considered in their work. They justify this by saying traffic volumes would have to double to generate a 3dB increase in noise levels.

Shapley Heath Noise Study - Will Not Consider Impact of Proposed Development

Shapley Heath Noise Study – Will Not Consider Impact of Proposed Development

For a road like the M3, that is justifiable. For the A30 London Road, that assumption is at least debatable as it is likely to be one of the major access points should the development go ahead. Therefore, traffic volumes will likely rise significantly. However, for the more minor roads such as the B3016, Station Road, Bagwell Lane and Taplins Farm Lane, this assumption is demonstrably false. There’s currently only a couple of hundred dwellings in Winchfield. Increasing that by 5-10,000 would likely increase traffic on these minor roads by at least an order of magnitude, far more than double. Yet, they have chosen to ignore this obvious fact, despite designing the place to have “convoluted” car journeys adding to congestion and noise.

Assumed Residential Only

Moreover, they also assume that the development would be residential only. However, Hart’s own Project Overview document made it clear that the development would be mixed use, with various employment sites, supermarkets/retail and schools. These types of development will add further to the noise problem.

Shapley Heath Project Overview - Mixed Use Community with Employment and Retail premises

Shapley Heath Project Overview – Mixed Use Community with Employment and Retail premises

Noise Mitigation Strategy

To mitigate the impact they recommend buffer zones around various roads and the railway. These include 80m from the M3, 20m from the A30 and 30m from the railway. We suspect the 10m buffer recommended around the B3016 will prove to be inadequate because traffic levels will rise very significantly.

Shapley Heath Noise Study - Road and Rail Buffer Zones

Shapley Heath Noise Study – Road and Rail Buffer Zones

However, as highlighted above, they have assumed zero extra traffic impact on Station Road, Bagwell Lane and Taplins Farm Lane. Therefore additional buffer zones maybe required. Such a buffer zone would reduce the land available for building, particularly on the parcel of land bounded by the B3016, the M3, Taplins Farm Lane and the railway.

They also recommend various other mitigation strategies such as 2m high fences, special glass in some windows near the major noise sources and “acoustic ventilation” so there’s no need to open windows.

The report concludes that if appropriate mitigation measures are put in place, “there are no planning or technical
reasons with regard to noise to refuse the promotion of this site as a residential development”. Of course, more detailed acoustic design will be required, to generate even more fees.

Shapley Heath Baseline Studies – Ecology and Biodiversity Net Gain

This is a 15-page report plus a 12-page appendix consisting mostly of maps. It was produced by a Ethos Environmental Planning. Overall it’s a chocolate teapot of a report because it concludes that in order to increase biodiversity, the number of biodiversity points need to increase, but it doesn’t say how.

Methodology

It starts by classifying different parts of the Area of Search into Habitat Groups

Shapley Heath Ecology and Biodiversity Habitat Groups

Shapley Heath Ecology and Biodiversity Habitat Groups

It then goes on to award “Biodiversity Units” to each group.

Shapley Heath Ecology and Biodiversity Units

Shapley Heath Ecology and Biodiversity Units

Biodiversity units are calculated using the Biodiversity Metric 2.0. The metric subjects the area of the habitats to a selection of multipliers which determine an areas biodiversity value. The multipliers are the condition of the habitat, its distinctiveness, its connectivity and its strategic significance. However, the report doesn’t explain how they assigned values to the various multipliers. They do caveat their results by making clear that the Biodiversity Metric 2.0 they used is a beta-test trial and the results maybe subject to change.

They go on to say that to enhance or maintain biodiversity, they need to retain high value areas and poorer areas “be targeted for removal”.

Shapley Heath Ecology and Biodiversity target areas for removal

Shapley Heath Ecology and Biodiversity target areas for removal

So, if you already live in the Area of Search, they’re going to target your house for removal.

Conclusions

They conclude with a statement of the obvious. To increase biodiversity points, you have to increase biodiversity points.  However, they offer no advice on how to do that. By combining their tables we have been able to demonstrate that replacing any of the grassland or cropland with urban development, biodiversity will be reduced. This is because the average biodiversity units per hectare are lowest for urban areas.

Shapley Heath Ecology and Biodiversity Points per Hectare

Shapley Heath Ecology and Biodiversity Points per Hectare

This is contrary to the expectations set in the Project Overview:

Shapley Heath Project Overview BioDiversity Net Gain

Shapley Heath Project Overview BioDiversity Net Gain

The Shapley Heath survey last year even suggested that “green spaces within garden communities are also opportunities to enhance biodiversity and the natural environment”. It isn’t clear how they came to that conclusion on the basis of their own survey.

Ancient Woodland, Ancient and Veteran Trees

This is a 39-page report with an 8-page appendix again produced by EDP. Overall, this is a useful report detailing all of the areas of ancient woodland and a schedule of 37 veteran trees. The report points out that the NPPF says that development which might damage these areas be refused, unless there are exceptional circumstances. It recommends buffer zones around the veteran trees of around 5m from the edge of the canopy and 15m from the ancient woodland. Note the results of the survey expire two years after it was conducted. This means that the survey will be useless after December 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hart Cabinet Denies Responsibility for Shapley Heath Debacle

At last week’s Council meeting, the Cabinet was determined to distance itself from the findings of the Shapley Heath Audit Report. Cabinet member for Place, Lib Dem Councillor Graham Cockarill was determined to say, in the words of Shaggy, “It Wasn’t Me”, despite being caught red handed screwing us all over with his mismanagement of the project and its finances.

Cockarill and Leader Dave Neighbour faced a barrage of 10 questions from Tory leader Anne Crampton and Councillor Spencer Farmer. Before we go through the detail of the questions and answers, the main summary points are highlighted below.

Summary of Main Points from Council Questions

Councillor Cockarill Refused to Resign over his Mishandling of the Project

When asked by Councillor Crampton if he would resign over the mishandling of the Shapley Heath project he refused. Councillor Cockarill said he was working on information available to everyone at the time. He said that “none of the information that I saw gave me cause for huge concern”.  He hadn’t been given a budget for the 21/22 year and no detailed project plan. What more would it take for him to notice something awry?

Outright Lies about the Criticisms of the Audit Report

The decision not to use Hart’s standard reporting templates was all Homes England’s fault. Councillor Cockarill lied when he said the Audit Report made no criticism of the project management and reporting processes themselves. In fact they made the following criticisms:

  • No evidence to suggest that the project was financially managed appropriately.
  • Little financial monitoring information presented to members and some of that was inaccurate.
  • The Project Management did not meet the required standards.
  • No formal records of meetings and emails subsequently deleted.
  • Project reporting in terms of frequency and content did not meet expectations.
  • Little oversight by the Oversight Board and none by the Cabinet.
  • Virtually non-existent risk management.

It would be quite remarkable if Homes England mandated that they should run the project in such a lackadaisical manner.

Cockarill Claims Project Met Primary Objective

Councillor Cockarill denied the Audit Report finding that the project had not delivered any of its milestones. He even made the extraordinary claim that the project had met its primary objective. We can think of no other words to describe this statement, other than outright lie. As a reminder, the stated objectives of the project were to “establish a vision for a Garden Community and evidence whether such a vision is both viable and deliverable”. Where’s the Vision? Where is the evidence to support viability or deliverability? They are relying on the 10 reports produced and funded by the developers. None of these are definitive as we shall demonstrate in another post. None of the £820K spent was used to produce those reports.

Cabinet Effectively Going to Mark Its Own Homework

The Audit Committee has asked Cabinet to “review the application of project governance and financial controls and reporting”. Four members of Cabinet, including the Leader and Deputy Leader sat on the Shapley Heath Opportunity Board. In effect, the Cabinet has been asked to investigate its own role in this debacle.  Despite appearances to the contrary, Councillor Neighbour insisted that they weren’t marking their own homework.

False Claim About Covid Impact

They didn’t hold the quarterly meetings of the Opportunity Board after March 2021 because of Covid. This is despite the Covid restrictions being gradually lifted through out this time. It should be noted that Full Council meetings took place in February, April, May and July 2021. Cabinet meetings also took place in February, March, April, June and July 2021. There is no Covid excuse for not scheduling the Opportunity Board meeting in July 2021.

Officers Spent Without Authority and to Blame for Not Supplying Key Documents

Councillor Cockarill blamed Hart Officers who did not circulate the FY2021/22 budget as promised after the March 2021 Opportunity Board Meeting. However, it is clear that he made no attempt to intervene when said documents were not forthcoming. He therefore cancelled the scheduled July 2021 meeting. At no point was the 2021/22 budget and project plan approved by the Opportunity Board. In effect, it looks like the Officers continued spending despite having no formal authority to do so and Cockarill did nothing to stop them.

Opportunity Board Members to Blame for Project Continuing Without Proper Authority

Councillor Cockarill claimed that nobody from the Council or the Opportunity Board raised any issues about the project with him. In effect, he as chair of the Opportunity Board is absolved of responsibility because nobody told him to take action. Three of those Board members were his fellow Cabinet members (as well as three other Councillors, two Tories and one Independent). As a result, all of the 2021/22 expenditure was incurred without authority being granted by the Opportunity Board. We can’t speak for the actions or inaction of Councillors. However, we did warn before and during the Budget Meeting in February 2021 that the “bloated cost structure is completely indefensible” and that the project was set up to fail.

Dodgy Claims About the Level of Spending

Councillor Cockarill claimed that £298K has been transferred back to reserves from the Shapley Heath project, despite the latest financial report for 2021/22 showing that £367K was transferred from the Shapley Heath earmarked reserves. He had no evidence to support his claim and could not produce a report of the time spent on the project by each officer involved, so they still do not have the full picture of the costs incurred by the project. He also claimed the total spend on the project was £752K, not the fact-checked >£820K reported in the Audit Report.

Shapley Heath Project Stopped Because They Ran Out of Other People’s Money

Councillor Cockarill claimed that they stopped the project because the Government had decided not to continue financial support. In other words, they stopped because they ran out of other people’s money. They didn’t stop because the project had spent all of the allocated budget and not delivered anything of substance. They didn’t stop because of the overwhelming opposition to the project expressed in the survey results. The implication is that if they had convinced the Government to continue supporting them, they would have pressed on despite strong opposition and despite not delivering anything.

Details of Hart Cabinet Denies Responsibility for Shapley Heath Debacle

We have to extend our thanks to Joanne Balchin for creating the videos below and the transcripts. The draft minutes have now also been published.

Councillor Crampton Questions 1 and 2

Crampton Q1:

Thank you Madam Chairman, my first question is – The Shapley Heath external audits says the Governance arrangements were appropriate and adequate but these were not actioned throughout the project. Specifically there was lack of any reports to cabinet between March 2020 and November 2021. Meetings were not held at the required frequency, even post pandemic. The lack of annual review of the Opportunity Board’s terms of reference and a lack of a review of objectives and priorities as required by the terms of reference. Who made these decisions and with who’s authority and in the absence of of Governance arrangements, how was it expected that those who had the obligation to scrutinise the project would be able to hold the project to account?

Neighbour:

It’s quite a long answer and I apologise. Err, the Shapley Heath project was curtailed in November of 2021 when Government funding failed to meet the levels that MHCLG had advised Hart to expect. It has however delivered 10 informed baseline reports which will underpin any future local plan view and help advise the council of a viable option to meet future housing need.  This evidence base has a real intrinsic value that will benefit the people of Hart should the Government allocate the area a substantial increased housing target.  The project delivered very real and positive outcomes.

The Audit Report did identify a number of deficiencies in the way the project had been managed.

These did not have a material influence on the outcome of the contract tendering, nor in the quality of material produced. However, the failure to follow Hart’s meticulous internal processes is clearly recognised.  We learn from mistakes made regarding the Governance and procurement of this project..

Interruption..

I welcome the work done by the Audit committee and apologise to the people of Hart for these failings. We will provide appropriate training to ensure such things don’t happen again.

Meanwhile, the projects 10 baseline reports are saved for local plan review and will join the output of other housing options studies we are undertaking.

[Note: At no point did he actually answer the question of who made the decisions to bypass the governance arrangements.]

[Note: He makes a lot of the 10 Baseline Studies. These will be the subject of another post]

Crampton Q1 Supp:

The 10 reports that were produced by the Developers, they weren’t key milestones though were they?

Neighbour:

I have to be honest and say I don’t recall what the key milestones were off the top of my head so, I’m guessing that these reports are part of one of the milestones? Possibly more than one, er, so I can’t honestly either way. Certainly not many of the key milestones of the project.

[Note: The Leader of the Council does not know what they Key Milestones were on the biggest revenue project that has just been eviscerated by Internal Audit]

Crampton Q2:

My second question, the management of the Shapley Heath project did not meet the Council’s required standards and did not follow the council’s standardised project structure. As a result, standard internal reporting processes were not used. How was this allowed to happen and will those responsible be held to account?

Cockarill:

Thank you for the questions, I’ll probably answer most of them but the leader will jump in for one or two.

So the project referred to as Shapley Heath was our bid to the Governments Garden Village Community program. So project management and reporting processes, which were setup, were those prescribed under the rules of the Garden Village Community program which is run by Homes England.

It required the use of standard reporting templates, supplied by Home England. The issue of using Home England supplied reporting templates had no impact on the project outcome. [Note: It’s all Homes England’s fault].

I believe both Cabinet and full Council were aware that this was the case when we agreed to enter the project, as was the Overview and Scrutiny Board who discussed the membership of the Opportunity Board. [Note: Now it’s everyone else’s fault].

The internal audit report made no criticism of the project management and the reporting processes themselves.

[Note: This is an outright lie. The Audit Report made the following criticisms:

    • No evidence to suggest that the project was financially managed appropriately.
    • Little financial monitoring information presented to members and some of that was inaccurate.
    • The Project Management did not meet the required standards.
    • No formal records of meetings and emails subsequently deleted.
    • Project reporting in terms of frequency and content did not meet expectations.
    • Little oversight by the Oversight Board and none by the Cabinet.
    • Virtually non-existent risk management]

Councillor Crampton Question 3

 

Crampton Q3:

The interim head of Corporate Services set out a timetable for improvement of processes going forward, how will what has happened be highlighted in the report being investigated? By whom? And how will it be demonstrated that those responsible for the project do not mark their own homework and dismiss this simply as a project management shortcoming.

Neighbour:

Er, so Audit Committee has asked Cabinet to provide a response to the management recommendations contained in that report. It has also asked cabinet to review the application of project governance and financial controls and reporting and to provide a response. [Note: 4 Cabinet members were on the Opportunity Board, which itself reported to Cabinet. How can Cabinet effectively investigate itself?

Hart Cabinet Denies Responsibility - Cabinet Membership Of Opportunity Board

Hart Cabinet Denies Responsibility – Cabinet Membership Of Opportunity Board

Hart Cabinet Denies Responsibility - Shapley Heath Governance Structure

Hart Cabinet Denies Responsibility – Shapley Heath Governance Structure

End Note]

In addition, Staffing Committee is also asked by Audit Committee to review the exercise of officer management control, financial reporting and oversight of the project.

The outcome of these review will be shared with all members. [Note: What about the public?]

Councillor Crampton Question 3 supp Plus Q4

Crampton Q3 Supp:

Therefore you are saying that Cabinet, members of Cabinet who were responsible for this omnishambles are going to actually investigate their own messes?

Neighbour:

No, that’s not what I am saying. Ah, Cabinet have been asked by Audit Committee to look into the improvement plan and to make sure it takes place.

Any issues to do with the Governance related to Staff will be covered by the Staffing Committee.

To make it quite clear, I do not believe that anyone is marking their own homework.

[Note: This contradicts the minutes of the Audit Committee which say the decision is as follows:

Hart Cabinet Denies Respsonsibility - Decision of Audit Committee

Hart Cabinet Denies s- Decision of Audit Committee

Cabinet is to “provide a response to the management recommendations contained within the Shapley Heath Audit Review report, and to review the application of project governance, financial controls, and reporting for the
Shapley Heath project and to provide a response to Audit Committee on lessons learnt.” Staffing Committee is to look at Officer conduct. [Note: So the answer is “Yes”, the Cabinet is marking its own homework.]

Crampton Q4:

In cancelling the July 2021 Shapley Heath Opportunity Board meeting, what regard did the officers who advised him or the Portfolio holder for Place (Cockarill) himself take of the Board’s obligation to meet a minimum of once a quarter, particularly as there was outstanding business arising from the March meeting.

As the 2021/22 project plan and the costings had not been endorsed and none of the financial information against which to scrutinise the project had been provided.

Cockarill:

Thank you Madam Chairman yes this is definitely a question for me.

So quarterly meetings of the Opportunity Board SHOULD have taken place but unfortunately we were hit by a global pandemic, which caused a nationwide lockdown. [Note: This is nonsense, apart from a small gap, Council, Cabinet and other Committee meetings took place pretty much as normal, albeit virtual throughout the pandemic].

As the Council went into emergency mode the plan schedule of meetings was put aside to allow to deal with the health emergency. The March 2021 Opportunity Boarding meeting did have a briefing on the impact of Covid upon the project. It was my view that the July 2021 meeting of the Opportunity Board would not have had all of the requested information, er, to hand. [Note: The main issue is that the promised documentation had not been provided, surely this was reason enough to call the meeting to hold the officers to account].

Therefore, I considered it better to wait for the next scheduled meeting to provide a full post Covid update. I had requested that the Board a budget by email so that questions could be asked. I do not understand why the Officers did not circulate the updated 2020-21 2022 project plan and costings, with the detailed budget information, as promised to all Board members in the Officer’s email dated 2nd July 2021. [Note: Officers thrown under the bus.]

The project was halted in September which meant that the next scheduled meeting of course didn’t happen. Now in hindsight, I should have sought to intervene AND have the July meeting go ahead to provide the Board with at least limited information that was available. [Note: Finally an admission of some culpability].

It was not my intention to restrict the ability of members to scrutinise the project. Now I apologise to members if I inadvertently gave them that impression.

Councillor Crampton Q4 Supp and Q5

Crampton Q4 Supp:

As the Portfolio holder responsible for this project, would you resign?

Cockarill:

The answer, No.

Er, the slightly lengthier answer for the benefit of Council is that I was working on the information that was available to myself AND Opportunity Board Members at the time.

None of the information that I saw gave me cause for huge concern and I will point out that there were no concerns raised to me directly or indirectly by any of the other Opportunity board members during this time. [Note: In this case, the complete absence of information should have been cause for huge concern, but he didn’t act.]

Had there been so, and I failed to act on those concerns, then the situation might be different!!!

Crampton Q5:

My final question. The Shapley Heath project audit review outlines a series of significant failings by the Council.

Does the leader of the Council agree with me that the issues raised in the review cannot simply be described as project management short comings, but instead represent a far more deeply rooted example of mismanagement, questionable competency and accountability which must be investigated further.

I’ve asked this before, and I don’t like the idea that Cabinet’s doing it but again, who will carry out that investigation? When and how will it be fed back to members?

Neighbour:

Thank you, apologies. I don’t recognise all the points raised in the question, they go well beyond the actual findings of the audit review.

Nevertheless, I am determined to abide by the high standards of Governance, unfortunately in this case, I have to agree the project governance in this case is unacceptable.

As I said earlier, Audit Committee has asked Cabinet to provide a response to the management recommendations contained in the report. That is our process. I must also ask cabinet to review the application of project governance and financial controls and reporting, and to provide a response to them. So it will go to the Audit Committee, it will be them that mark the paper, not Cabinet.

In addition, the Staffing Committee has also been asked by Audit Committee to review the exercise of Officer Management and Financial Controls and oversight over the project. The outcome of both these reviews will be shared ALL members. [Note: What about the public? Are they going to have more secret meetings so we cannot see what is going on?]

Councillor Crampton Q5 Supp

Crampton Q5 Supp:

Could I have a timeline for that please Councillor Neighbour?

Neighbour:

Not tonight, you cannot have a timeline.

Er, we will need to prepare, erh.. various information streams that we will need to put both of these in place.

I certainly can’t speak for Staffing Committee, that’s up to them to determine their own timeline.

But, this meeting took place on Tuesday, today is Thursday, I am answering your question the best I can, at this moment in time. As soon as we have a timetable, it will be publicly made available and will all [inaudible].

Councillor Farmer Q1 and Supp

Farmer Q1:

Thank you Madam Chairman. Ok the first question.

Why was an audited 2020/21 never circulated to the Opportunities Board and because the costings were never supplied how was it expected that the budgeted spend for 2021/22 be scrutinised?

Particularly, as the 2021/22 project plan was never endorsed. Who therefore approved the 2021/22 work stream?

Cockarill:

Thank you Madam Chairman. Er, so I believe I gave the full answer to a similar point earlier. But for clarity, the intention was to bring budgets to the Opportunity Board, initially in July but deferred to September of 2021.

But decisions regarding the future of the project meant that the September meeting was subsequently cancelled.
I had requested that the Board be supplied with the budget by email so that questions could be asked. I did not understand why the Officers did not circulate the updated 2021/22….. 2021/22 er project plan and costings plan with the detailed budget information as promised to ALL board members in the Officers email dated 2nd July 2021. [Note: Officers thrown under the bus again, note also he did not chase for this material to be sent].

That update was never provided and that clearly hampered the ability of the Opportunities Board to properly scrutinise the projects…the projects..finances! Albeit, this was not an issue that was raised to me by any board members at the time. [Note: Not only did Cockarill not chase, but then goes on to blame other members, including his Cabinet colleagues, for not reminding him that he should be chasing. However, in the next statement he mentions that the Board did ask for more detailed Budget/Costings].

However, I believe that the Opportunity board did see a high level project plan in March 2021 and raised no objections to the principle of the program albeit the Board did indeed, ask for a more detailed Budget and Costings to be provided before it received final sign off. [Note: Contradicts himself in this sentence].

So as I said earlier, in hindsight I should have sought to intervene and have the July meeting go ahead and provide the Board with at least limited information, er, available. Thank you very much!

Farmer Q1 Supp:

Yes, I’m not sure I got a full answer as to who approved the 2021/22 work stream, whether high level or not, the full work plan did not come to the Opportunity Board, as I think has been agreed.

Therefore the Opportunity Board were not able to fulfil their obligations, so this supplementary is, where in the agreed Terms of Reference did it permit the 2021/22 work stream project plan or project budget be approved, without referral to the Opportunity Board?

Cockarill:

Very simple answer Councillor Farmer, it didn’t. This is the problem that the project has run into and it is precisely the sought of issue and the sort of question that the work streams that have been outlined this evening will undoubtedly want to know the answer to. I cannot explain the answer because like you, I don’t know where that authority came from. [Note: He was Chairman of the Board and took no action when it was obvious the project was proceeding without any authority].

Councillor Farmer Q2 and Supp

Farmer Q2:

I mean I’ll probably come back to that point but it was noted that since 2018/19 in excess of £650,000 has been spent on the Shapley Heath Project up to March 2022. I quote obviously from the Audit Report, taking into account the latest forecast for 2021/22 this may well lead to a reported number in excess of £820,000 of which £544,000 is Hart District Council money.

Unrecorded Staff Costs, such as Officer Resources used to support all the work streams need to be assessed, therefore, what is the true cost of the project when such factors are taken into account?

Cockarill:

Thank you Madam Chairman, er that will speed things up a little bit.

Yes so Audit Committee has now received the final updated figures for the project expenditure over the last 4 years broken down in appropriate detail. The Actual expenditure incurred is significantly less than that initial audit forecast. More in the region of £725,000, er… sorry £752,000 without account of having been taken a miss coding. [Note: Where is this document, it is not part of the public documentation for the latest Audit Committee?]

It must also be recognised that a substantial portion of the budget was actually used by Officers working on other projects and on the emergency response to Covid. It should be noted that the £500,000 drawn down from reserves £298,000 of this has recently been put back.

[Note:  As we noted here, the latest report on overall finances showed the project overspent for 21/22 and that £367K was transferred from the Shapley Heath Reserve. So, we are left in the dark about where Councillor Cockarill got his information from].

Thank you!

Farmer Q2 Supp:

Yes, I mean talking down the costs I’m not sure is going to be entirely helpful and also the numbers were stated £820,000 and £544,000 in the Audit Report and I would have thought any direct documentary proof of those staff allocations with reported costs would have been provided to Auditors.

There was a period where there was a fact check of information and the report has obviously published the numbers that it has published. Should the actual accounts have been different then presumably they would have been reported differently in the first place outside of the audit.

Also the reasons for asking this question, the second MHCLG Bid document stated as an example that the joint chief executive had spent considerable time on the Shapley Heath project and we know that various Officers had participated and became representatives of some of the forums that were established.

So with this in mind, when will you provide a full list of Officers that have participated in the Shapley Heath project and a detailed breakdown of the reported Staffing costs for the project so that we can clearly see which Officers have been fully accounted for in the Costs?

Cockarill:

Detailed Supplementary questions is what we like Councillor Farmer!

Obviously I am not able to give you that detailed…er…er..detailed answer this evening.

Farmer:

Can you say when Councillor Cockarill, rather than an explanation this evening?

Cockarill:

I noted that you said when, Councillor Farmer. I did notice that. Um, I will go back to our Officers and ask them to supply that information. As soon as they give me some indication of how long it would take to draw up that information together then I will let Council know.

Councillor Farmer Q3 and Supp

Farmer Q3:

Sorry Madam Chairman, slightly longer one but some important facts. A fund of £500,000 was allocated to the Shapley Heath project approved by cabinet and approved by full Council in February 2022. However, there were no details of the expected overall expenditure of the project, no breakdown of expenditure over the 3 year period or any indication of items that would be covered by such expenditure.

80% of the expenditure is attributable to staff costs or recharges and no key milestones have been achieved at the time of concluding the project. Day to day financial monitoring did not follow the standard template documentation, I quote from the Audit Report and was found to be significantly inaccurate in recording actual expenditure.

Particularly Staff Costs, and recharges and calculating available resources and further it did not correlate with the project plan documents such as it was. There was also no evidence to support the project having been accurately and appropriately financially managed. How did this happen and who is responsible?

Cockarill:

Thank you! Madam Chairman.

So as I’ve just said Audit Committee has now received the final updated figures for the project incoming expenditure over the past 4 years, broken down to the appropriate level.

Furthermore, a substantial portion of the Budget was used by Officers working on other projects and on the emergency response to Covid and I repeat that of the £500,000 drawn down from reserves we put £298,000 of those back in.

But it’s the nature of major projects such as Shapley Heath that we often start without budgets as the exact scope of works and timescales needed to achieve the projects aims are themselves forecasts!

Full Council agreed, prudently in my view to allocate a reserve fund of £500,000 over 3 years to provide some certainty over the councils financial liability for the project.

By the end of that 3 year period the aim was to have collated enough information for cabinet to decide whether a garden village was desirable or feasible be it at Shapley Heath or elsewhere.

Because the Governments financial commitment to the project fell substantially below that which was expected Cabinet realised that Hart’s financial liability would increase to an unknown limit. But because of the work undertaken during the project, which has given the council the information it needed to assess the er, new settlement option against other potential housing options in a future review of the local plan, Cabinet agreed to halt the project. [Note: Exactly which information is this then? No comparative information has been produced. Moreover, when and why did the Government pull the funding, is it because they had spent all the money and not delivered anything?]

There are, as I have acknowledged issues over how the finances of the project were managed and reported. These are the issues that both Staffing Committee and Cabinet will need to address and resolve.

Thank you

Farmer Q3 Supp:

Yes, back on Governance I’m afraid. The agreed Governance process for Shapley Heath and project was agreed in principle by the cabinet in November 2019 and then fully approved by Cabinet in February 2020.

In both instances the papers were submitted in the name of the Portfolio holder for Place [Cockarill]. The terms of reference were subsequently agreed by the Shapley Heath Opportunity Board on 17th February 2020, a meeting chaired by the Portfolio for Place.

Given that the Governance was clearly defined, understood and fully agreed by both the Cabinet and the Opportunity Board, why did the Portfolio Holder for Place not ensure that it was followed?

Cockarill:

Thank you Madam Chairman. The failure to make sure that, that er…. that… er…occurred was partly due to the fact that Covid did throw a…And you can use that expression Councillor, er…. and I can see you, you…., you think it’s an excuse. It is a reason not an excuse.

For a number of years, ……a number of months…. we had NO MEETINGS AT THIS COUNCIL in person or virtually. [Note: This is simply not true. Meetings, albeit virtual were held by the Council throughout the pandemic]. During that period work was going on by Officers under emergency protocols.

I was not, during that process approached by any member of the Opportunity Board or any other member of this Council to ask what was happening with regards to the Shapley Heath project.

As I indicated in one of my earlier answers to Councillor Doctor Crampton had such concerns been raised with me, either by Officers or Members and I had deliberately failed to act upon those concerns then I think the Councillors questions might be pertinent. But as that never happened I’m afraid I’m not going to stand here and take er an undeserved hit, as it were.

[Note: – Cockarill is the leader of the project, but not will to take any responsibility. It’s all everyone else’s fault].

Thank you.

Councillor Farmer Q4 and Supp

Farmer Q4:

Meetings were taking place remotely I might point out from the middle of 2020 but I’ll move on.

Despite spending all this tax payers money, not one milestone was achieved. Who will take responsibility for this failure by the administration?

Cockarill:

I must respectively disagree with my colleague, that the project did not achieve any milestones. [Note: The Audit Report clearly states it did not achieve milestones, this is another outright lie].

At the time the project was closed it was on track to deliver it’s program outcomes. [Note: Delusional].

As I explained in an earlier answer a first phase project was simply to evaluate the potential of a Garden Village as an option for housing growth. We have enough information from that evaluation to enable an assessment to be made on the suitability of a new settlement, compared to other housing options. [Note: Where is it?].

When we come to review our local plan. The project has therefore met it’s primary objective. [Note: This is another outright lie. The stated objectives of the project were to “establish a vision for a Garden Community and evidence whether such a vision is both viable and deliverable”. Where is the Vision. Where is the assessment of viability or deliverability?]

Farmer Q4 Supp:

Thank you Madam Chairman. Um, the Audit Report was clear that not one key milestone had been achieved when the project was concluded, despite all the money having been spent, I quoted directly from the Audit Report.

And the Press Release, if I can call it Press Release, the note on the website published yesterday as a background seeks to claim 10 Baseline Reports as an output of this project. The audit was an audit of the Governance, Financial Control and the Management of the project, in particular the Council’s spend. These baseline studies are not a consequence of the £820,000 spend, subject of this audit.

The report also clearly states that the Council did not contribute financially towards the cost of any of these studies, they were funded by the Developers under a collaboration agreement.

Councillor Radley has quoted that residents should expect full transparency in the operation of the Council and it did not happen in this project. Councillor Neighbour, Leader of the Council said that you will learn from your mistakes.

By attempting to claim Developer Funded Studies as an output of this uncontrolled spend, when this Council didn’t contribute one penny towards them, how can residents believe that you are now being transparent and that you are learning from your mistakes?

Cockarill:

Well firstly, Councillor Farmer, I have to take a slight issue with inference in the way you have phrased the question.

It was always clear that the funding from this project came from 3 streams. Government, Council and Developers putting their money where their mouth was, as it were, in terms of helping to decide whether or not their er…. um… ideas were going to to fly.

So it’s quite right for us to be asking the Developers to provide a detailed technical reports that if we had done would have cost a lot more than the £800,000 we’ve spent. [Note: – He now admits they had spent £800K].

So I think, in that respect Councillor Farmer, you will have to accept as a member of the Opportunity Board that was perfectly reasonable. [Note: – that was not Councillor Farmer’s question. No attempt to answer the real question about public trust].

Myself and the Leader have given our explanations as far as we are able to this evening of why we believe the Financial Management of this project was not the standard it should be and I would respectively ask that you wait for further updates that will happen before you make any greater judgement about whether or not we have moved on from this er episode and have improved our procedures. [Note: Attempt to kick this into the long grass and wait for yet another report to tell them how dreadful they have been, or whitewash the complete disaster].

Councillor Farmer Q5 and Supp

Farmer Q5:

My final question Madam Chairman. The Shapley Heath Audit report found that the procurement rules have not been properly followed as prescribed with multiple documents not signed, lack of an audit trail for panel evaluation of contracts, and incorrect sending of contract notification and an approximate 9 month delay in publishing contract award results, why was this allowed to happen and who is responsible?

Cockarill:

Thank you Councillor Farmer. Right so public procurement rules, particularly concerning large and complex projects are necessarily detailed both to protect the public purse and to ensure against impropriety.

There is no excuse for Officers not to have complied with Council’s standing orders, albeit there is no suggestion anywhere in the Audit Report that the failure to follow these rules to the letter amounted to improper decisions being taken. [Note: Officers thrown under the bus again].

The failure to publish the results of the procurement process in the correct timeframe had no material impact upon the process nor indeed to the project.

It is important, however that the procurement rules are followed to the letter and Cabinet will ensure that Officers are reminded of and trained in the proper procurement processes, as necessary.

Farmer Q5 Supp:

It’s my most succinct Madam Chairman, but when you are spending tax payers money, let alone close to £1m pounds. Procurement rules are there for a reason. In the project the rules weren’t followed.

So why does the Portfolio Holder for Place believe that it is essential that mandated rules of procurement should be followed?

Why are those rules important Councillor Cockarill?

Cockarill:

Thank you Councillor Farmer. Well they are important because it is an act, it is one of the first rights of local Government to make sure that we are spending our tax payers money and that is our money as well because we pay taxes in a prudent manner.

And we are spending them properly as I said in my previous answer and the fact that the Procurement processes were not followed as they should have been in this particular instance is not acceptable . Er, ah, you know…As I said in my answer, all Officers will be reminded of the reasons for that and need follow those rules and will be trained where necessary to do so.

 

Shapley Heath Audit Report Reveals Omnishambles

And now we know what was going on behind the Shapley Heath curtain. Nothing good. In fact, it’s an omnishambles of institutional incompetence on an epic scale. The people involved have demonstrated that they would struggle to run a bath and couldn’t even deliver pizza.

The Council have been shamed into publishing the Shapley Heath Audit report. It was discussed on Tuesday night behind closed doors and finally published in a news item yesterday. We have uploaded it to this website here, in case it “goes missing” from the Hart website.  The findings from the audit report are quite devastating:

  • Despite spending ~£820K in total, no project milestones were achieved.
  • Most of the tangible outputs produced were by the developers at their own cost.
  • No evidence to suggest that the project was financially managed appropriately.
  • Little financial monitoring information presented to members and some of that was inaccurate.
  • The Project Management did not meet the required standards.
  • No formal records of meetings and emails subsequently deleted.
  • Project reporting in terms of frequency and content did not meet expectations.
  • Little oversight by the Oversight Board and none by the Cabinet.
  • Virtually non-existent risk management.
  • Procurement rules not fully followed.
  • Contradictory information given to FOI requests. Email trails deleted.

We will cover each of these points in more detail below. However, given the damning summary, let’s look at what the consequences ought to be.

Shapley Heath Audit Report Consequences

First, let us remind ourselves of the background to the project. They commenced the project knowing that Shapley Heath had been removed from the Local Plan at the behest of the Planning Inspector. He had said that the new town was not required to meet our planning needs. The project wasn’t necessary.

Now we find that they have squandered hundreds of thousands of pounds and delivered nothing of substance.  They claim that some baseline studies have been produced, but as the audit report makes clear, these were funded by the developers. The actual public money has delivered nothing other than a now defunct website and a survey. The results of the survey showed overwhelming opposition to the project.

Now let’s move on to who were the key players. The project was managed under “Corporate Services” and covered material that included “Place”. The chair of the Opportunity Board was Councillor Graham Cockarill, portfolio holder for Place. Of course, Deputy Leader James Radley is also the portfolio holder for Corporate Services, including Finance.

Ultimately, elected members should be accountable for the failures in their respective portfolios. It is clear that between them Councillors Cockarill and Radley did not ask the right questions and did not convene the right meetings to keep on top of (the lack of) progress. Accordingly, given the shocking failures in project management and the colossal waste of our money, we believe both these Councillors should resign their positions. The situation is so serious, given the amounts of money involved, that we believe the Leader of the Council, David Neighbour should also consider his position.

The Chair of the Audit Committee, Councillor Axam also resisted the audit of the Shapley Heath project. This shocking lack of curiosity and desire to understand how their biggest project was performing shows he is unfit to lead the Audit Committee and he should resign too.

The relevant officers should also consider their position. Ultimately, JCX, Patricia Hughes was directing the project on a day-to-day basis. It is unthinkable that she be considered for the position of Chief Executive of the joint working between Hart and Rushmoor. The project manager running the project should also consider her position.

We can’t have a situation where nobody takes responsibility for a failure on such a massive scale. Institutional incompetence barely covers the scale of ineptitude.

Project Spending Out of Control

There are a number of points made about the level of spending. Most notably, total spending is expected to be over £820K and no project milestones have been achieved.

Shapley Heath Audit Report: Project Spending £820K

Shapley Heath Audit Report: Project Spending £820K

The auditors could find no evidence that this huge level of spend had been financially managed appropriately.

Shapley Heath Audit Report:No evidence the project was financially managed appropriately

Shapley Heath Audit Report:No evidence the project was financially managed appropriately

All of the baseline studies were procured and funded by the developers. This means that none of the £820K was spent on these reports. Most of it was spent on internal resources and recharges. In summary, they have squandered £820K, delivered nothing and were not properly managing the finances.

Developers to procure and fund baseline surveys

Developers to procure and fund baseline surveys

Little meaningful financial information was presented to members and some of that was inaccurate.

Financial Reporting Inaccurate

Financial Reporting Inaccurate

Inadequate Project Management Standards and Reporting

They did not meet the Council’s own project management standards. No standard documentation of risks, issues or budgeting were used.

Shapley Heath Audit Report: Management Did Not Meet Required Standards

Shapley Heath Audit Report: Management Did Not Meet Required Standards.

No formal records of meetings were kept, including meetings with the developers and Homes England. Emails have been deleted in line with the Council’s retention policy. Perhaps they were hoping they would be exonerated of wrong-doing if all the evidence had been deleted.

Shapley Heath Audit Report: No formal records of meetings

Shapley Heath Audit Report: No formal records of meetings

The standard of reporting was limited in terms of frequency and content. There was very little oversight at the Board level.

No oversight and inadequate reporting in terms of frequency and content

Inadequate oversight and limited reporting in terms of frequency and content

Note also that the board was chaired by Councillor Cockarill and Councillors Radley and Neighbour were in attendance. The senior leadership of the Council were clearly not doing their jobs properly.

Shapley Heath Opportunity Board

Shapley Heath Opportunity Board. Chair Cockarill with Radley and Neighbour in Attendance

There was no internal Project Board reviewing risks or issues. The oversight of risk management by the Corporate Project Board and Opportunity Board was insufficient throughout the project. Nobody took responsibility for managing the risks of spending so much of our money.

Insufficient Risk Management

Insufficient Risk Management

Shapley Heath Audit shows Procurement Rules Were Not Properly Followed

The report showed that the procurement rules were not properly followed. Multiple documents had not been signed. There was a lack of an audit trail for evaluation panel and delays in publishing contract award results.

Did not Follow Procurement Rules

Did not Follow Procurement Rules

FOI Responses Gave Contradictory Information

They gave contradictory responses to FOI requests and email trials have been deleted. Surely, the email retention policy should not mandate the deletion of all emails older than 1 year. The Council will have no record of long running disputes with suppliers and so on, which would limit its evidence base in the event of legal action.

FOI Responses gave Contradictory Information

FOI Responses gave Contradictory Information

It’s time for heads to roll.

Shapley Heath Audit Report Shrouded in Secrecy

Shapley Heath Audit Report Kept Secret

Shapley Heath Audit Report Kept Secret

The long awaited Shapley Heath Audit Report is being kept secret. Apparently, the report is available to members but has not been made public. The discussion about it at next week’s Audit Committee will exclude members of the public.

Shapley Heath Audit Report Kept Secret

Shapley Heath Project Review Report Restricted

We must admit that we don’t really understand why it isn’t been made public. Unless of course it contains some material that is embarrassing for either officers or councillors. We think the public ought to be able to see behind the curtain and the report should be published forthwith.

This latest hiccup comes just after it was revealed that they overspent on the Shapley Heath project yet again last year.

Shapley Heath New Settlement Overspent in FY21-22

Shapley Heath New Settlement Overspent in FY21-22

The £69K overrun comes despite the project being cancelled last September. It’s quite a feat of management to overspend your budget in only half the planned time.

They have also closed the fund they had set aside for Shapley Heath. They have transferred £367K from reserves earmarked for the New Settlement.

New Settlement £367K Transfer from Reserves

New Settlement £367K Transfer from Reserves

 

Shapley Heath Audit Report History

The whole idea of auditing the Shapley Heath project has been controversial for some time. Last August, Tim Southern tried to get the Audit Committee to review the project but was rebuffed.  In a rambling response, Councillor Axam refused and audit, saying:

I can understand that people might want to look at it in terms of in depth, I don’t think anyone should be worried about that but I am not quite sure you can build it into an audit plan in the way you would normally audit most other things. I just don’t think it, at this stage I don’t think at this stage it lends itself so easily to that…

Unless I am being naive here, everybody who is working on Shapley Heath knows that they have a budget and what it is and they are engaging in going through a process.

We asked questions at Council in September. Initially, the Audit Committee chairman “didn’t recognise our numbers”. However, they relented after we emailed the whole Audit Committee with our evidence. Then, in a remarkable U-turn, CCH sponsored the paper calling for the Internal Audit of Shapley Heath.

Now they seem to be blocking publication. Hopefully, we will be able to see the report in its entirety in due course.

 

Proposal for Massive Distribution Centre at Lodge Farm

Proposal for Massive Distribution Centre at Lodge Farm

Proposal for Massive Distribution Centre at Lodge Farm

There is a new proposal for a massive distribution centre at Lodge Farm, North Warnborough.  The backers have submitted a “scoping opinion” for an Environmental Impact Assessment and a separate pre-app to Hart Council. The company promoting the scheme is Obsidian Strategic.

The proposal is enormous in scale. Their cover letter calls for 105,000 square metres (or over 1.1m sq ft) of B2/B8 (storage and distribution) floor space over 5 separate warehouses. They also plan to provide space for 200 EV charging points. The overall site is over 32 hectares or 79 acres. The cover letter says the buildings will be 18-20m tall. However, the “Theoretical Visibility Plan” says 15-35m above existing ground level.

[Update 13 Jan 2024]: A dedicated group has been set up to oppose this development. You can visit their website to see their detailed objections here. [/Update]

Proposal Details

The scoping opinion application (Number: 22/01347/EIA ) can be found here.

The pre-app (Number: 22/01355/PREAPP) can be found here.

The scoping opinion was submitted first and at the time of writing had attracted 333 public comments, mostly opposed. Only 3 comments were in favour. The pre-app appears to have slipped under the radar, attracting only 3 public comments, all opposed.

We think that those who have objected to the scoping opinion should also submit their comments on the pre-app. It is difficult to object to a request for an opinion. Better to object to the actual application. However, Hart seem to only allow comments on the scoping opinion and not on the pre-app. This seems very odd to us, but we have sent in an objection direct to [email protected]. Both applications seem to have been delegated to officers to make a decision without the involvement of councillors, another worrying feature of this proposal.

Below we set out our main reasons for objecting to the proposed distribution centre at Lodge Farm.

  1. Fatally flawed Flood Risk assessment glosses over groundwater flooding.
  2. Incomplete Ecology Assessment misses out Basingstoke Canal impact.
  3. Defective Transport Assessment.
  4. No Analysis of Noise and Pollution
  5. Impact on Key Views from the Canal.
  6. Optimistic Economic Assessment overlooks Pyestock/Hartland Park distribution centre was cancelled.
  7. Impact on Food Production.

Each point is covered in more detail below:

Flood Risk at Proposed Distribution Centre at Lodge Farm

As part of the application, they have produced a Flood Risk Assessment. The document covers fluvial, surface water, reservoir, sewer and groundwater flooding.

The site is adjacent to the River Whitewater and part of the site to the South East is deemed at risk of flooding from the river. They have carefully avoided siting any of the warehouses on that part of the site. Roughly the same part of the site is assessed as being susceptible to surface water flooding. They propose to address this issue using a Sustainable Drainage System or SuDS.

However, their assessment of groundwater flooding is superficial and they do not provide a map. Helpfully, Hart has an online map that shows areas subject to groundwater flooding. We have superimposed the site boundary on to that map and it shows that most of the site is subject to groundwater flooding. See the image below.

Distribution Centre at Lodge Farm - Groundwater Flood Risk

Distribution Centre at Lodge Farm – Groundwater Flood Risk

We can certainly add anecdotal evidence to that map. A few years ago we got stuck axle deep in muddy water while attempting to cycle through the adjacent Bartley Heath woods. We recall the fields that the site covers were also flooded at that time.

Incomplete Ecology Assessment

The promoter have also produced an ecology assessment. However, this is incomplete as it fails to address the proximity of the site to the Basingstoke Canal SSSI and conservation area. About a third of the site is within the 500m buffer zone for the canal and all of it within the 1,500m buffer zone. As can be seen in the image below, the site is adjacent to a large number of SINCs and other SSSIs.

Distribution Centre at Lodge Farm - Ecological Constraint of Basingstoke Canal

Distribution Centre at Lodge Farm – Ecological Constraint of Basingstoke Canal

The report also highlights important species that have been found nearby including dormice, otters, water voles, hedgehogs, harvest mice and rare breeds of bats. Indeed some of the trees on site are assessed as being suitable to support roosting bats. They propose keeping those trees and implementing a “sensitive” lighting scheme. However, we remain to be convinced that the noise and pollution from thousands of daily HGV movements will be conducive to supporting bat or any other habitat.

Defective Transport Assessment

Obsidian Strategic have also produced a transport assessment. Unfortunately it is defective in two key respects:

  1. It omits the additional traffic movements from the 1,500-2,400 employees at the site.
  2. It doesn’t cover the impact on roads and junctions in the wider area.

Employee Traffic Movements Omitted

The assessment covers the additional traffic movements from the vehicles using the new centre. It quotes a range of additional movements dependent upon the eventual end use. The range is somewhere between 4,509 and 12,273 additional movements per day. The highest peak morning would be 581 2-way movements. the evening peak could be as high as 810 2-way movements. The report also says that a “high proportion of the vehicles to/from the site will be HGVs”.

Distribution Centre at Lodge Farm HGV movements

Distribution Centre at Lodge Farm HGV movements

The report also covers the additional movements generated by the 200 EV charging stations. They estimate the 200 charging stations could lead to 2,000 additional 2-way movements per day. This gives a total maximum number of 14,273 additional movements per day. We estimate that could be 700 total additional movements in the morning rush hour and nearly 1,000 in the evening busy period.

The economic assessment suggests that the proposal could deliver 1,500-2,400 jobs at the site. However the transport assessment doesn’t seem to take account of the additional movements from the employees. Of course, not all of the employees will work on the same day. But it is reasonable to expect the additional employee movements will be of the order of 1-2,000 per day.

They also talk of potentially providing service facilities to support the EV charging stations. It is possible that non-EV vehicles may stop at the services too, further increasing traffic.

Overall, this is a massive increase in traffic, mostly of heavy vehicles. We hesitate to think what impact it will have on J5 of the M3 and surrounding roads, especially at already busy peak times.

Wider Impact Ignored

The backers have not run a full Traffic Impact Assessment. They assume that the biggest impacts of the proposed development will be on the A287/B3349/Holt Lane roundabout and the Station Road/B3349 roundabout in Hook.

However, they have not really considered the wider potential impacts. They haven’t looked at the additional traffic likely to be generated on the B3349 from the A33 and M4. It is inconceivable that such a large warehouse would not attract traffic from the M4. Nor have they looked at the potential impacts further along the A287, notably the junction with the B3016 to Winchfield and the single carriageway part of the A287 towards Farnham and through Upper Hale.

Surely, this can’t be allowed to go ahead with such a superficial analysis of the traffic impact.

No Analysis of Noise and Pollution

In addition to the big increase in traffic movements, such a massive development is bound to have an impact on noise and pollution levels for the surrounding area. As far as we can tell, Obsidian have not provided any analysis of noise or pollution. We would have particular concern for the residents of Holt Lane, Derby Fields and Mill Lane

Surely, they can’t be allowed to get away with this?

Impact on Key Views

Hart’s Conservation Appraisal of Basingstoke Canal contains a number of key views. One of them is view number 6 looking northwards across the river Whitewater flood plain.

Basingstoke Canal Key Views

Basingstoke Canal Key View Number 6

We can’t imagine how 5 warehouses, each 20m tall will do anything to enhance this view.

Optimistic Economic Assessment for Proposed Distribution Centre at Lodge Farm

They have produced an economic assessment for the proposed development. They do make some good points about additional jobs, extra business rates and an increase in gross value added for the area.

However, they make extensive use of the 2016 Hart, Rushmoor and Surrey Heath Employment Land Review in their assessment. They make the claim that “only two out of the 24 [employment] sites have ‘distribution’ identified as their core use”.  This may well be true.

What they don’t mention is that Pyestock/Hartland Park was removed from the review.  Outline planning permission had been granted in 2005 for a 125,500 sq m distribution centre. The permission was extended in 2012. Even though the nearby road system has been improved to cope with the extra traffic, no takers could be found for the distribution centre. Later the site was sold and is now being redeveloped for housing.

It is difficult to believe their claims for a shortage of distribution sites, when a site of similar size could not find an investor at a time vacancy rates were even lower than today.

South East Logistics Availability from CBRE report

South East Logistics Availability from CBRE report

Note that the vacancy rate data shown above is taken from the CBRE report included in their own application. We conclude that the economic benefits they promise should be taken with a rather large pinch of salt.

Impact on Food Production

It is widely acknowledged that the world is about to endure a food crisis. The Prime Minister has outlined plans to boost UK food production with his “Grow for Britain” strategy. The site of the proposals is currently used for agriculture and food production.

It seems to us, that we should do all we can to protect the nation’s food security and keep growing food on productive fields, rather than concrete over them.

Conclusion on Proposed Distribution Centre at Lodge Farm

We believe that we should oppose this development because of the flood risk, the risk to local ecology, the additional traffic, noise and pollution, impact on the views from Basingstoke Canal and the apparently illusory economic benefits.