Selling off council-owned properties in Exmouth, Axminster, Exeter, and other areas of Devon, are hoped to earn the county around £7million, it has been revealed.

Local Democracy Reporter eastdevonnews.co.uk 

Property disposals have earned Devon just over £7 million and the hopes are the same amount could be secured this year, writes local democracy reporter Bradley Gerrard.

The biggest ticket item sold by Devon County Council in the year to March 31 was land at Aldens Farm in Alphington, for £4 million, where a large housing application of more than 180 homes has been approved.

Aldens Farm planning documents, for Alphington, Exeter.

Exeter’s Compass House earned the council £900,000, the second biggest sale amount from the 12 sites or buildings it sold.

Councillors at the authority’s cabinet meeting heard this week (Wednesday, May 8) that the council expected to earn a similar amount – around £7 million- in the current financial year.

The authority has slated four sites for possible sale or repurposing, as well as three freeholds on Sowton Industrial Estate in Exeter.

It believes 2-4 Meeting Street in Exmouth, East Devon, which is being vacated by public health nursing and a local ceramics group, both of whom are relocating to another Devon County Council-owned building, the Kennaway Centre, could be marketed for residential or commercial use – pending a change of use application – over the summer.

An East Devon youth centre is also relocating to the Kennaway Centre from The Hive in Exmouth, meaning the latter is surplus to requirements too.

Lea Combe, in Axminster, in East Devon, has also been identified as suitable for residential development of around four to six houses. It was previously being safeguarded for a highways development scheme, but that is no longer required.

The council also wants to repurpose Rosalind House in Tiverton into so-called ‘staying close’ provision; essentially accommodation within the county that could house looked-after children.

However, it noted that the property’s garden “which is considerably bigger than required for staying close” could be marketed as a potential residential site for one or two houses.

And three freeholds in Sowton, which are jointly owned with Exeter City Council, could also be sold if the values achieved for them would be greater than prospective proceeds from ground rent.

Councillor Carol Whitton (Labour, St David’s & Haven Banks) asked what the timescale was for a decision on whether to sell the Matford Offices which are on the County Hall site in Exeter.

These had previously been earmarked for disposal, but are subject to a public consultation given strong opposition in the community to turn them into housing.

At the time their potential disposal was discussed in October, alongside other properties and land totalling an estimated value of £10 million, Julian Brazil (LIberal Democrat, Kingsbridge) called the move a “fire sale”.

Devon county officers suggested potential options for Matford could be put before Councillors in the autumn.

Outgoing leader John Hart (Conservative, Wembury and Bickleigh) said that in the past 12 years, the authority had “raised a considerable amount of money and reduced our property holdings, money which has been put into the capital expenditure pot, by and large”.

The world is on the verge of a climate abyss, the UN has warned, in response to a Guardian survey that found that hundreds of the world’s foremost climate experts expect global heating to soar past the international target of 1.5C.

Damian Carrington www.theguardian.com

A series of leading climate figures have reacted to the findings, saying the deep despair voiced by the scientists must be a renewed wake-up call for urgent and radical action to stop burning fossil fuels and save millions of lives and livelihoods. Some said the 1.5C target was hanging by a thread, but it was not yet inevitable that it would be passed, if an extraordinary change in the pace of climate action could be achieved.

The Guardian got the views of almost 400 senior authors of reports by the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Almost 80% expected a rise of at least 2.5C above preindustrial levels, a catastrophic level of heating, while only 6% thought it would stay within the 1.5C limit. Many expressed their personal anguish at the lack of climate action.

“The goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C is hanging by a thread,” said the official spokesperson for António Guterres, the UN secretary general. “The battle to keep 1.5C alive will be won or lost in the 2020s – under the watch of political and industry leaders today. They need to realise we are on the verge of the abyss. The science is clear and so are the world’s scientists: the stakes for all humanity could not be higher.”

Alok Sharma, the president of the Cop26 climate summit in 2021, said: “The results of the Guardian’s survey should be another wake-up call for governments to stop prevaricating and inject much more urgency into delivering on the climate commitments they have already made.” He said world leaders needed to get on and deliver on the pledge they made to transition away from fossil fuels at Cop28 in December.

Christiana Figueres, the UN climate chief who oversaw the landmark 2015 Paris climate deal where the 1.5C goal was adopted, said: “These climate scientists are doing their job. They are telling us where we are, but now it’s up to the rest of us to decide what this moment requires of us and [to] turn the seemingly impossible into the new normal.”

She said the world was on the edge of positive societal tipping points away from fossil fuels. “It doesn’t mean a utopian future – we know too much climate change is already baked into the system – but enormous positive change is coming. A world in which we pass 1.5C is not set in stone.”

The 1.5C target was initially proposed by the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis). Fatumanava Pa’olelei Luteru, the chair of Aosis, said: “Our islands are quite literally sinking as the temperatures rise. The lack of ambition on climate change from bigger countries is consigning our states to a reality of devastating loss. The [Guardian] report must be a wake-up call to the world.”

Mohamed Adow, from Power Shift Africa, said: “It’s good to see the experts who follow climate most closely sharing their horror at the lack of action from governments. Those of us living in countries facing the worst effects of the climate crisis feel this too. My country of Kenya has faced its worst drought in 40 years and then last week saw hundreds killed in devastating floods. We wish leaders had the same sense of urgency as the climate scientists.”

Youth climate activists from around the world also shared the climate experts’ fears. “Crashing through the guardrail of 1.5C would be a death sentence for millions of people in the global south,” said Vanessa Nakate, at Rise Up Movement Uganda. “Unless we see immediate action no one will be safe.”

Disha Ravi, at Fridays For Future India, cited the dire impacts of India’s recent heatwaves: “The complacency of leaders is killing people. Temperature rises beyond 2.5C are not inevitable, but averting it requires genuine commitment and action from those in power.”

Policy experts, economists and business leaders responded to the Guardian findings with both frustration and calls for urgent change. Rachel Kyte, a professor of practice in climate policy at the University of Oxford, said: “It is desperately frustrating that our political, economic and social systems don’t know what to do with the science. We need … innovations in our democracy to give scientists the politics they deserve.”

Nicholas Stern, an eminent climate economist, said: “The Guardian’s results are a message from scientists that they lack confidence in our world leaders to take the necessary action to avert climate catastrophe. It’s not too late for political leaders to act but the scale and pace of change must be large and rapid.”

Helen Clarkson, the chief executive of the Climate Group, which runs a network of 500 multinational businesses, said: “The Guardian survey is a stark reminder of the gap between climate targets and action.”

The respondents to the Guardian survey identified lack of political will as the single biggest barrier to climate action. Harjeet Singh, at the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, said: “For decades, governments, especially in rich countries, have consistently prioritised the fossil fuel industry’s interests over the wellbeing of their people. We have a narrow window to avert the worst outcomes, but it requires urgent, transformative policies that prioritise the wellbeing of people and the planet over profit.”

Some politicians backed the call for urgent action. Caroline Lucas, a UK Green party MP, said: “The world’s leading scientists are running out of words to describe the gravity of the climate emergency we face. Politicians need to wake up and treat this catastrophic threat with the seriousness and urgency it requires.”

Ed Miliband, the shadow climate change minister in the UK, said: “Every fraction of a degree matters to the survival of our planet for future generations. That’s why we need governments around the world to maximise climate action, rather than rowing back.”

In the US, Representative Chrissy Houlahan said: “[The Guardian report] should give all of us in Congress even more urgency to act swiftly and bipartisanly.” Bas Eickhout, a Green member of the European parliament, said: “I recognise the feelings of despair of the scientists very well. However, we simply do not have the option of giving up.”

Additional reporting by Nina Lakhani, Helena Horton, Oliver Milman and Lisa O’Carroll.

A spend of £30,000 on staffing costs has been agreed for new roles in East Devon aimed at supporting a district council restructure.

A restructure of senior officers at East Devon has been agreed as the authority announces its new chief executive, writes local democracy reporter Bradley Gerrard.

Local Democracy Reporter eastdevonnews.co.uk

Tracy Hendren emerged as the preferred candidate from an initial field of 20, and was recommended as the best person for the job after a two-day long interview process of four finalists.

Ms Hendren’s appointment was unanimously approved by Councillors at an extraordinary council meeting this week (Wednesday, May 8), and straight away a restructure within the senior team of officers was proposed.

The council currently has three directors under the chief executive, but will now create a director of housing and health, and a director of place, meaning four directors under the new boss.

Councillors agreed a budget of up to £30,000 for the recruitment costs involved.

Ms Hendren, who prior to her new role was one of three interim CEOs at the council and its director of housing, health and environment, said the current structure within the senior and officer team was “imbalanced” and needed to be amended.

“We have some challenges with housing financial viability and we want to make sure we have a director focusing on housing and housing stock moving forward,” she said.

In Ms Hendren’s director role, she said she had seven direct reports “covering very different services”.

“What we want to do is recruit a director of place and a director of housing and health which will rebalance some of that structure,” she said.

She said was “confident” the two directors would have similar combined staffing numbers to the size of the team at present, suggesting it was therefore more “direct line management changes rather than a full restructure”.

The aim is to put interim directors into the new posts, providing so-called ‘acting up’ opportunities for internal staff to take on the roles while the recruitment process for permanent staff from a potential pool of internal and external candidates takes place.

She added that all directors had been asked to prepare proposals for the longer-term structures of their teams, including their financial viability.

“We’re not bringing this plan because we want to increase staffing costs,” she said.

“We are going to manage it within existing resources in the same way we did when we made changes to the housing team earlier this year.”

Councillor Mike Goodman (Conservative, Sidmouth Sidford) queried whether the changes could really be made with no impact on the budget.

“I was slightly surprised at that,” he said, adding: “So will the restructure come within the current finances?”

Ms Hendren said “absolutely”, reaffirming the example of the recent housing restructure.

The new interim directors are expected to start on June 1, enabling Ms Hendren to begin her new role on the same day. Permanent recruits could take three or four months to secure, the meeting heard.

Leader Paul Arnott (Liberal Democrat, Coly Valley) said the restructure “makes the most enormous sense” following the departure over the past four years of a deputy chief executive, former director of housing, health and environment John Golding, who retired last year, and the departure of another senior staff member.

“I think this is very welcome and long overdue, and it’s worth restating that the new chief executive won the role from a field of 20 pretty outstanding applicants,” he said.

“And while it wasn’t preordained that she would win, she did, and the advantage of that [to the council]is that we can get on with this restructure immediately rather than in what would have been six months’ time [with an external candidate],” he said.

Councillor Eleanor Rylance (Liberal Democrat, Broadclyst), the chair of the council, also acknowledged the “pretty gruelling” interview process undertaken to select the new chief executive and congratulated Ms Hendren on her new role.

At the same meeting, Melanie Wellman was also reappointed as the council’s returning officer.

Party increases its share of the vote

Jack Major won the Ashburton and Buckfastleigh by-election which was called after the death of Lib Dem councillor Huw Cox in January.

Guy Henderson – Local Democracy Reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

Cllr Major’s win – with a majority of 192 – brings the Lib Dem group back up to 26 out of 47 members of Teignbridge Council.

Council leader Martin Wrigley (Lib Dem, Dawlish NE) said: “It’s great to see Jack win with a 192 majority and an increased vote share, and I know that Jack will be a great councillor for the area.

“Huw would have been delighted to see Jack join the council.”

Cllr Cox was chairman of Buckfastleigh Town Council and the town’s current mayor at the time of his death..

Cllr Wrigley said then: “He was always an outspoken advocate for his community. His contributions to this council were many and varied.

“This council, and I personally, will miss him very much as a councillor and as a friend.”

By-election results were: CLARKE, Sue, South Devon Alliance 523; EDLMANN, Richard, Conservative Party Candidate 325; HUNT, Madeleine, Heritage Party 36; MAJOR, Jack, Liberal Democrats 715; ROBILLARD WEBB, Lisa, Labour Party 303; HEXT, Michael, Independent 136; WYNTER, Pauline, Green Party 295.

eastdevon.gov.uk 

Tracy Hendren’s appointment as East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) new Chief Executive was confirmed by councillors at an extraordinary full council meeting on Wednesday, 8 May.

Tracy Hendren, CEO of East Devon District Council

Following an extensive recruitment process, Tracy emerged as the preferred candidate to lead the council into a new era. With more than two decades of experience in local and national government, and a proven track record of effective leadership. Tracy brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her new role, previously she was the Director of Housing, Health and Environment at EDDC and one of the three interim CEOs. Before this, Tracy was the Assistant Director of Housing, Environmental Health, and Trading Standards at The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead. Her career has spanned across central Government, and District and Unitary Authorities within City and London Borough areas.

Commenting on her appointment, Councillor Paul Arnott, Leader of EDDC and the Democratic Alliance group, said:
“Tracy will be an outstanding chief executive with extensive experience in local and national government and in the private sector. East Devon faces massive legacy challenges from previous administrations around housing and other matters, and a fresh perspective after decades of business as normal is now vital. We could not be more fortunate in appointing someone who already knows the organisation from the inside and who is a superb professional with a work ethic to match.”

Councillor Colin Brown, Leader of the opposition Conservative group, added:
“The Conservative Group is hopeful that the new CEO will bring fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to address the challenges that exist. It is crucial for the new CEO to work closely with all council members, employees, and the community to understand the unique needs and priorities of EDDC. Open communication Is the key to ensuring that the council is able to meet the demands of its residents.”

Councillor Tony McCollum, Leader of the Independent group said:
“On behalf of myself and the Independent Group we congratulate Tracy on her new appointment as CEO and look forward to working together for the benefit of East Devon District Council and our constitutes.”

Tracy’s appointment comes at a pivotal moment for East Devon, after the recent adoption of its council plan and a peer review undertaken by the Local Government Association earlier in the year as the council continues to navigate the challenges and opportunities facing the region and local government. Her leadership will be instrumental in guiding the council forward as it strives to build a brighter future for East Devon and its residents.

Extra funding to help repair Devon’s battered roads has been approved but comes as the county’s backlog of repairs hits an estimated £200 million.

Guy Henderson, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

Thanks to savings accrued during the year and a budget underspend, Devon is now able to put £12 million extra into maintaining the county’s roads, notably repairing its deluge of potholes and improving drainage issues.

But Devon County Council’s cabinet heard that the extra cash comes as the repair bill for outstanding maintenance on the county’s roads is thought to be £200 million.

Councillor Stuart Hughes (Conservative, Sidmouth), cabinet member for highway management, said savings made across the council had contributed £10 million of the £12 million, with the majority of that earmarked for patching up potholes, £2 million to address drainage issues, and £750,000 for remarking pedestrian crossings and roundabouts.

“The additional £10 million brings the budget in line with last year, which was a significant improvement on 2021/22 and 2022/23 settlements, which were below inflation,” he said.

“The condition of highway assets continues to deteriorate, and that is typically felt most on lower categories of the road network that support our rural communities.

“That’s why we’ve seen a dramatic increase in pothole numbers, and it shows the fragility of the network as we put in a growing number of weight restrictions and temporary closures that impact the daily lives of thousands.”

Funding from the Department for Transport for the current financial year is £59.48 million.

Councillor Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat, Dawlish) said he was “delighted” the cabinet had decided to use his party’s suggestions for the budget alteration.

“It’s fantastic to see extra money to fix roads, which can be a blight on hundreds of thousands of people every day,” he said.

“This is what people in Devon really need, as it has got to the state where things are untenable.”

Cllr Wrigley urged the council to ensure more joined up thinking when fixing road issues, and to ensure that drainage problems are prioritised, so that water doesn’t sit on roads for long periods and cause more damage.

“We have a situation near Dawlish Country Park where a horrendously big pothole was fixed, but the drain beside it which causes massive puddles was not cleared at the same time,” he said.

“So, the next day, there’s water all over the repaired pothole, and when you submerge the repair in water and heavy trucks go over it, it instantly gets washed away, making a short-term fix that will quickly fail.”

He added that like adult social care, “we need to fix the problems before they get bigger”.

Labour’s Carol Whitton (St David’s and Haven Banks) said it was “particularly telling” that when additional funding is available, the condition of the county’s roads improved.

“Our residents know that, our officers also know that, and so we just ask whether our cabinet knows it and Government, because there is an ongoing tale here of insufficient resources to maintain our roads in the state residents deserve,” she said.

Councillor Frank Biederman (Independent, Fremington Rural) questioned the timing of the extra cash.

“The cynic in me asks whether this is a one-off effort in an election year,” he said.

“What will happen in future years, I wonder, and if my maths are correct 22 of 27 major schemes are going into Conservative councillor areas and five into non-Conservative ones.

“Sure they are worthy and well thought out schemes but cynic in me wonders about that.”

He added that the council was focused on fixing potholes as quickly as possible, but that it was about the quality of the work that mattered.

“Unless we carry out quality repairs, we are throwing good money after bad,” he said.

Elsewhere, Cllr Hughes added that an already approved £2 million – separate to this extra cash – would be spent on a street light management system aimed at improving energy costs.

The government’s efforts to clean up England’s rivers, lakes and seas have been criticised by a key environmental watchdog as “poor”.

Government plans lack detail, commitment and adequate funding.

By Jonah Fisher www.bbc.co.uk

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), a statutory body, said targets to improve water health were going to be missed by a “large margin”.

It said government plans lack detail, commitment and adequate funding.

A government spokesperson said this government had done “more than any other” to restore waterways.

The OEP was established after Brexit to hold the government and other public bodies to account on environmental issues, given that EU oversight no longer applied.

In this latest report, the OEP looked at whether the laws protecting England’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters from pollution were up to the job, and how they’re being enforced.

“We found the legal framework to be basically sound. But the way that it’s being interpreted and implemented is really being done poorly,” Dame Glenys Stacey, the chair of the OEP, told BBC News.

“That means that government is very unlikely to achieve its ambitions for our waters. In fact, it’s very likely to miss by a large margin,” she said.

At the moment, just 16% of England’s waterways are rated as having Good Ecological Status. The government stated target is for that to rise to 77% by 2027. But the OEP says reaching 21% is seen as more likely.

“Unless things change, it’s a very poor situation,” Dame Glenys said.

The OEP criticised what it called the government’s “generic one size fits all” approach to improving waterways and said that there needed to be more detail, commitment and funding.

The environment secretary now has three months to respond officially to the OEP report.

But a spokesperson provided immediate comment and said that recent years had seen greatly increased monitoring of sewage discharges and plans to invest billions of pounds in wastewater treatment infrastructure.

“This government has done more than any other to protect and restore our rivers, lakes and coastal waters with record levels of investment, monitoring and enforcement,” the spokesperson said.

“We welcome this report’s recommendations to go further and will consider them in detail.”

Most of the campaign groups contacted by BBC News said the report confirmed what they already knew.

“It is no surprise that following years of underinvestment, weak regulation and poor instruction on how to deliver plans, that the government are off track for the majority of their plans to improve the health of England’s waterways,” Louise Reddy from Surfers Against Sewage said.

“The long-term health of our rivers is dependent on what we do now to support them,” Mark Lloyd, CEO of the Rivers Trust, told BBC News.

“This report proves our long-held suspicion that current policy and legislation is not enough – we need to change course to save our rivers.”

The winner of the next general election will have to raise taxes to maintain the current provision for public services, according to new analysis by a leading think tank.

Henry Saker-Clark www.independent.co.uk 

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) added that there is “essentially no fiscal headroom for any further tax cuts” amid slow economic growth and easing inflation.

The UK economy grew by 0.1% in 2023 after pressure from higher interest rates and hikes by ratesetters at the Bank of England to slow rampant inflation.

In its latest economic outlook report, NIESR said it forecasts GDP (gross domestic product) will have grown 0.4% over the first quarter of 2024 and will rise 0.8% for the year as a whole, compared with 2023.

Nevertheless, it said this still represents an “anaemic UK GDP growth trend”.

It comes a week after the UK’s economic growth prospects were downgraded for the next two years by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), adding that it is on track for the weakest growth of the G7 group of countries next year.

Stephen Millard, deputy director for macroeconomic modelling and forecasting at NIESR, said: “Despite the welcome fall in inflation, UK growth remains anaemic.

“This will make it difficult for any incoming government to carry out the much-needed investment in infrastructure and the green transition, as well as increase spending on public services and defence, without either raising taxes or rewriting the fiscal rules.

“This makes clear the need to reform the fiscal framework to enable the government to do what is needed for the economy in a fiscally sustainable way.”

It is currently widely expected that the next UK general election will take place in the second half of 2024, with the Labour Party shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves saying earlier this week that they plan to fight the next election on the state of the economy.

NIESR also said in the report that it predicts there will next be an interest rate cut, from the current level of 5.25%, in August. It has factored in two cuts this year.

The forecasts also indicated that average living standards are due to improve by around 6% in 2024/25 compared with the previous year, but stressed this picture varies significantly between the income distribution.

The poorest tenth of households will experience a 2% decline in disposable income, while households in deciles four to nine will see a 7%-8% improvement.

Adrian Pabst, NIESR deputy director for public policy, said: “While real wages are rising, households in the bottom half of the income distribution continue to feel the impact from the cost-of-living crisis, with housing costs wiping out the benefits from higher real wages.

“Similarly, the freezing of the personal allowance and tax bands is making low and middle-income households worse off despite the cut to National Insurance Contributions.

“Despite some efforts, regional inequalities are persistent and, in some cases, getting worse.”

EDDC needs a clear answer from residents not just landowners. – Owl

Local Plan leaves us steps ahead

Paul Arnott 

On Monday night this week for the first time in years I watched the climax of the world snooker finals on BBC2 when Kyren Wilson prevailed over the dignified Jak Jones.

It took me back to growing up with a quarter-sized snooker table which could be pulled from behind a cupboard and balanced on the table in the dining room.

It bred a very odd technique in me and my teenage friends, like bonsai gardeners who thought they were lumberjacks. When a few years later we could go into pubs with full-size snooker tables, we found that our quarter-size slice shots and rocket powered potting often left us pitifully short of our aim on the seemingly huge baize surface.

We also learned harshly that snooker was more than a parlour game about potting balls; it was about thinking three steps ahead, building a defence in case you missed an ambitious pot and of course, which we simply never managed on our mini-Crucible in the dining room with half-length cues, snookering the other players.

Snooker at the highest level is about mental strength and character, but also about strategy. And so, it was watching the snooker final that I found myself for about half an hour paying minimal attention to where the brilliant players were potting the balls, sometimes from seemingly impossible positions, but focussing instead on only where the white ball went, from the moment it was played to the incredibly intelligent position it ended up, a whole line of tactics ready to flow from that.

I now offer a perhaps torturous analogy with the predicament of the many East Devon residents across the whole district who are worried that in the process of making the Local Plan, which government obliges us to do, the council is looking at Green Wedges and their future status. (A Green Wedge is a portion of land between existing communities which is not favoured as developable land because to build there would encourage coalescence between villages or towns.)

Quite understandably, local people who wish to conserve Green Wedges – and I was at the heart of a campaign to designate land between Colyford and Seaton as such a decade ago – are very worried that even considering their status as we develop the Local Plan risks de-designating some or all of the sites. This perceived threat is also being whipped up further by some seeking electoral gain.

However, from the many meetings I have attended with good councillors from all political backgrounds, none of them want de-designation to happen and are mature enough to realise that just discussing their future does not equate to a desire to abolish. It has now been agreed that the Green Wedges will be put out to public consultation, so that the council may take the current temperature of support for and against Green Wedge designation.

As a good snooker player realises, one simple pot of angry public objection or a publicity campaign will not win the game. The government has set the rules, and, like it or not, the people and councillors of East Devon need to control the white ball. This won’t be about valid and valiant speech-making; it will be about where local people and their elected representatives want to land in the end. By offering the matter out to public consultation, we have ensured the white ball is out there for local communities to play.

We genuinely need all those with an interest to take part. You can be certain that aspiring landowners and developers will.

Developers want to build a £25million hotel complex.

The first steps could be taken next week to protect Brixham’s Breakwater Beach area from over-development.

Guy Henderson – Local Democracy Reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

Members of Torbay Council’s cabinet committee will be recommended to make the council-owned car park beside the beach an ‘asset of community value’, which could mean curtains for recent proposals to redevelop the area.

Listing a place as an asset of community value acknowledges that its main use is ‘to further the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community’. If the car park area is listed, the local community would also get the opportunity to club together and buy it if the council ever decided to sell.

The car park is caught up in plans which were unveiled by developers last summer to ‘transform’ the Breakwater Beach area. Hundreds of local people queued across it to examine the plans when they went on show at the Breakwater Bistro.

Many were furious at what they said was a ‘monstrosity’ which would overshadow the beach and ruin the area.

Earlier this year the designers said they were going back to the drawing board to come up with something more acceptable.

The original £25 million hotel complex would have created a 44-bed hotel, spa and beachside bistro. But the multi-coloured design was compared to the fictional village setting in the children’s TV show Balamory.

Jack Turton, who owns the bistro, said new plans would be drawn up as a result of the feedback he had received. He said his scheme would bring new jobs and more tourists to Brixham.

He said he understood concerns over the beach, and pledged that his proposals would not include any development on the beach. He also warned that the current bistro building had structural issues and would need ‘radical’ redevelopment soon.

“The most important thing is that we get it right,” he said. “We’re not here to just build. We’re trying to do something that suits Brixham.”

Nearly 5,000 people joined an online protest group, and local MP Anthony Mangnall promised to present a petition to parliament. Opponents of the development are planning to be at the cabinet meeting next week.

The Breakwater Beach Community Group has made the application to have the area listed, and council officers are advising the cabinet to say yes.

They say: “We want Torbay and its residents to thrive, and consideration should be given to safeguarding amenities which are of great local significance to the places where people live and work.”

The listing would last for at least five years.

In the application the group says Breakwater Beach is a ‘much-loved local asset’ and the car park area provides important access to it.

The request says: “The beauty of the beach is that it is fairly unspoiled and has an old world charm that draws families back to it time and time again.

“The views from the beach are exceptional. It is, as a result, popular 12 months of the year.”

Justine Greening, education secretary and minister for women and equalities, 2016-18, and Conservative MP for Putney, 2005-19. www.theguardian.com

Last week’s local election results may finally have sunk Rishi Sunak’s Conservative party. It lost all but one of the 11 mayoralty contests, and while Ben Houchen held on in Tees Valley, it was with a diminished majority. Labour were out of sight in winning the Blackpool South byelection with a 26% swing, and more broadly in local elections across England the Tories lost nearly half the council seats they were defending.

These losses are staggering, but so too is the reaction of would-be Tory rebels, the Reform-lite group. They have suggested they will not challenge Sunak now; as Suella Braverman put it, it is Sunak who should “own this and fix it”. It is the height of political self-unawareness – because it is their political gameplan that Sunak’s rudderless No 10 has been attempting to follow. It is as a result of their flawed political judgments that support for the party has plummeted the length and breadth of the country, and across generations of voters – so much so that shockingly, the party only now leads in the over-70s voter age group. The 2024 local election results are their responsibility to “own”, not just the prime minister’s.

Time after time, Sunak has pivoted more sharply towards this group’s uniquely unpopular political agenda, whether in his bizarre conference speech attacking the 30 year failed status quo, raging against the apparently omnipresent “woke” agenda, stoking divisive but headline-grabbing culture wars – or even now threatening to leave the European convention on human rights.

And the more Sunak has danced to the Reform-lite political tune, the worse the party has done in the polls. Far from suggesting that the party should continue with more of the same, Thursday’s election results show that voters are rejecting the very Reform-inspired agenda it has pursued. This direction has so clearly taken the party backwards, to the extent it could barely scrape second place in Blackpool South, the latest byelection disaster for the Conservatives. To suggest, as they now do, that Sunak should try harder with a strategy that has already proved to have failed is self-serving madness.

It’s also bad maths. In places like Blackpool South or London, even combining Conservative and Reform UK voters into a “coalition” of support would be insufficient for winning a general election. In London, after deliberate overnight speculation on Friday that the race would be tight, the Tory mayoral candidate performed even worse than last time. Meanwhile, in Braverman’s own patch of Fareham, the party lost councillors to the Lib Dems. The madness is that when it comes to the national picture, the party finds itself battling for a small pool of voters with the third-placed party, Reform, while abandoning and alienating many more in the centre ground of British politics to Labour, which is first place by a wide margin.

Theirs is a strategy that has tripped up at every hurdle. Today’s Reform-lite Conservatives are losing badly, and more of the same cannot be the solution.

The problem is that they have no positive vision for our country, just a long list of things and people they dislike and oppose as they tilt at any “woke” windmill they can conjure up. These issues are irrelevant and a turn-off for most voters.

Crucially, the promise of levelling up that voters across the country bought into – whether north or south, leave or remain – has been arrogantly ditched by them and Sunak. While continually pointing the finger at “elites”, they nevertheless seem to have little to say on how we fundamentally level up Britain so that everyone can have fair access to opportunities, irrespective of background.

Yet whether you call it levelling up, breaking down barriers, or equality of opportunity, the local election results show that it is the candidate and party that voters believe can practically deliver for them and their families that consistently wins elections in today’s Britain.

In Tees Valley, Houchen managed to hold back the political tide through demonstrably driving greater access to opportunity for local people and giving his own region the chance to be part of Britain’s economic success of the future. In Harlow, where a concerted effort on levelling up has been made by the council, county council and the respected local MP Robert Halfon, the Conservatives held on. Andy Street may have lost the West Midlands mayoralty but he is a politician respected across the party divides as having a track record of delivery. His demand for a moderate, tolerant and inclusive Conservative party is correct and the antithesis to culture-war-driven Reform-lite Conservatives. Unlike them, he should have a role in any future Conservative revival.

By contrast, Reform-lite Conservatives, like Labour’s Corbynites, are far more consumed by making ideological political arguments, theorising about deep-state plots and demonstrating they are disconnected from our day-to-day lives, than setting out proposals on the necessary, ambitious and comprehensive plan Britain needs for driving social mobility.

Stepping back from a Conservative leadership coup they clearly assume would fail suggests they believe they cannot even win the argument within their own party, let alone the wider country. Yet they still plan to wage the equivalent of a coup in public anyway. They may say it’s about forcing Sunak to own the results, but that’s just an excuse. What they really want is for Sunak to continue to carry the can for their own failing political strategy. They are simply getting their excuses in early, unable to see what everyone else in the country can: that they are the people turning off millions of voters from voting Conservative. And the longer this goes on, the more damage they will do to the party, and the harder it will be to regain public trust.

Bluntly, they are the problem the Conservative party now needs to face down if it is ever to electorally prosper again. As long as Reform-lite continues to loudly monopolise the debate, banging on with their futile finger-pointing and vote-losing culture wars, they prevent the wider party from confronting the hard truths about where it goes next.

Conservationists in the Thames Valley have warned they cannot carry out river restoration works because constant sewage discharges are making the water too “unsafe” to enter.

Lucie Heath inews.co.uk

Rivers in the Colne Valley, which sits to the west of London, are being taken over by invasive species that choke aquatic life because volunteers have been left unable to enter the water to clear them, campaigners say.

Lara Clements, a rivers officer working with the Colne Catchment Action Network, told i she has been forced to cancel eight restoration events in the past six months. This accounts for around a third of the events she had organised.

The meetings are cancelled at the last minute when Thames Water’s online map shows that raw sewage has been discharged in the area.

“It’s incredibly unsafe to send volunteers into a river of sewage,” Ms Clements said.

She co-ordinates the removal of floating pennywort, a non-native weed, from rivers in the area. Introduced to the UK from the Americas in the 1980s, the plant is incredibly invasive to the point that it is banned from sale and is illegal to cause it to grow in the wild.

“Floating pennywort outcompetes native aquatic vegetation, so you lose native biodiversity and native wildlife,” Ms Clements said.

“In situations when it gets really bad, it can literally cover the whole river so you can’t see the river… you can end up in a situation where it blocks the light and deoxygenates the entire river so you basically get dead zones.”

Ms Clements said there are certain areas in the region that volunteers have been unable to enter for months due to constant sewage spills from Thames Water.

Thames Water said it was committed to minimising its impact on the environment and that increased investment was needed to meet ageing infrastructure and demand.

Water companies are permitted to release untreated sewage from points in their network known as “storm overflows” during periods of exception rainfall to prevent their systems from becoming overwhelmed and sewage backing up into people’s homes.

But public anger is rising over how often water companies are doing this, and the impact these discharges are having on rivers.

Latest official data show water companies across England spilled sewage 464,056 times in 2023.

Ms Clements said the River Misbourne, a chalk stream that runs through Buckinghamshire, has been particularly affected by sewage spills. In February, i reported that the river had become so polluted from sewage that the local drinking water company, Affinity Water, was forced to temporarily stop extracting water.

An image taken of the river just downstream from Gerrards Cross Sewage treatment works in December last year shows the water completely covered in floating pennywort. Ms Clements said it has still not been cleared as it has been too unsafe to enter the water.

“The environmental incident declared on the River Misbourne has basically meant that carrying out any pennywort removal there is impossible. I have the capacity and the funding to go and do this work, I just can’t do it. The condition of the river is completely unsafe for me to be in it and volunteers to be working around it,” Ms Clements said.

“It’s just really disappointing,” she added. “You can’t predict it… We don’t know what the situation is going to be. We don’t know when a sewage discharge might stop so it’s really hard to work out and strategise what to do and there isn’t a lot of advice available.”

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “While all discharges are unacceptable, the sewage system was historically designed in this way, to relieve pressure and prevent overflow into people’s homes.

“We appreciate how much waterways are loved and enjoyed by everyone, and we are committed to minimising our impact on the environment, but we can’t do it alone. Farming, industry, livestock and more extreme weather also play a role in river health.

“We have published plans to upgrade over 250 of our sites across our region, including Gerrards Cross sewage treatment works. At the vast majority of our sites this will increase capacity and reduce the number of necessary discharges.

“More investment is needed across the entire sector, as infrastructure ages and demand on it increases. That’s why we’ve asked for increased investment in the next regulatory cycle between 2025-30.

“We were the first company to publish an online map providing close to real-time information about storm discharges from all our permitted locations, putting transparency at the heart of what we do.”

Two workers at Ottery St Mary’s Silver Otter Café have earned food hygiene qualifications, thanks to a grant from the town council.

Philippa Davies http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk 

The council gave £2,278 to the Able2Achieve scheme operating at the café, which supports people with learning difficulties and promotes independence. The money has paid for two laptops and online courses. The first two learners to benefit were Josh and Kerry, who have completed a level 2 food hygiene course and passed the exam.

Helen Holmes, Enterprise Coordinator, said:  “Together we are looking at further courses they can take, plus investigating roles they are now qualified for. We expect our other learners to qualify soon.

“The grant has been a real boost to how much training can be completed and also pays for a number of learners to complete upcoming courses.”

The laptops have also been used to help create CVs for learners with Able2Achieve, and search for jobs and work placements that match the qualifications they are about to acquire.

A spokesperson for Ottery St Mary Town Council said: “We are delighted to be able to support the amazing work of Helen and her team at Able2Achieve.”

(Or, if you prefer another set of headlines: “It’s for the Birds”: pollster mocks Rishi Sunak HuffPost)

“These results suggest we are heading for a hung parliament with Labour as the largest party. Keir Starmer propped up in Downing Street by the SNP, Liberal Democrats and the Greens would be a disaster for Britain.” – Rishi Sunak 

The disaster for Britain is the likelihood of the Conservatives lurching to the right if they are re-elected, indeed the possibility of lurching to the right as they cling on until the election.

Remember Liz Truss! – Owl

Conservative ministers are adamant that the upcoming general election is not yet a lost cause – claiming last week’s local elections show Labour is not on course for a Commons majority.

Hugo Gye inews.co.uk

But polling experts have hit back at the argument made by Rishi Sunak and his allies, pointing out it is based on only a partial reading of the results.

The Prime Minister told The Times: “These results suggest we are heading for a hung parliament with Labour as the largest party. Keir Starmer propped up in Downing Street by the SNP, Liberal Democrats and the Greens would be a disaster for Britain.”

The claim is a repeat of the campaign run successfully in 2015 against a co-called “coalition of chaos”, which Tories said would see Ed Miliband propped up in power by the Scottish National Party.

It is based on an assessment by academics Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, who used the local election results to forecast the outcome of a general election in which all voters acted in the same way as they did at the locals – concluding that Labour would fall 32 seats short of a majority in Parliament.

But elections expert Sir John Curtice cautioned: “The way that people vote in local elections doesn’t necessarily exactly mirror the way that they would vote in a general election, at least in terms of levels of support. Particularly, the Liberal Democrats have long since done better. And it tends to be Labour that suffer more as a result.”

Both the Lib Dems and the Greens outperformed their showing in opinion polls – suggesting there may be a large pool of people who will back the smaller parties at a local level but vote Labour when it comes to the general election, in order to get the Tories out of power.

Health minister Maria Caulfield claimed the Conservatives could take heart from the difference between local elections and national ones, telling Sky News: “It’s always difficult when you’ve been in Government and voters can send a message to a party in Government that they’re unhappy about certain things with the safe knowledge that they still have a Conservative Government in control. It’s very different come a general election where they really do have to make a choice.”

That has long been at the heart of the Tory election message: that in a straight fight between Mr Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer, voters will end up rejecting the Labour leader.

But Ben Page of polling firm Ipsos told Times Radio: “Keir Starmer isn’t particularly popular, but it’s always compared to what? If you look at how people rate Keir Starmer as best possible candidate for being Prime Minister with Rishi Sunak, he’s got double the score of Rishi Sunak.”

He said that Sir Keir’s mediocre ratings were a “silver lining” for the Tories because “people aren’t particularly enamoured with Labour”, but added: “Next to that is a cup of cold sick, which is basically that people are utterly fed up with the Conservatives.”

Other problems with the Ralling and Thrasher analysis include that the fact that it takes no account of potential changes in Scotland, where opinion polls currently suggest Labour could take well over 20 seats off the SNP.

And any projection based on the local elections faces the problem that Reform UK stood in only a minority of council seats, making it hard to know how much they would damage the Tories in a general election.

Sir John told the BBC: “We know from the opinion polls that Reform are now taking more votes off the Conservatives than Labour is. Reform only appeared in one in six of the wards – so therefore their impact was probably diminished.”

Mr Sunak will continue to argue that the general election hangs in the balance. But unless the polls start to narrow soon, maintaining that message will get harder and harder.

People in East Devon will be asked their views on whether to protect land designed to stop sprawling urban development.

William Bradley www.devonlive.com

A public consultation on so-called green wedges will be issued shortly by the district council to gauge view about areas that include potential for new houses, because of the pressures the district is under to provide homes for people.

Across the 12 parcels of land, including between Beer and Seaton, Budleigh Salterton and Knowle, Colyford and Colyton, and Exmouth and Lympstone, a total of 1,100 potential new homes could fall on what are currently green wedges.

Any development would ideally be small-scale, and not unduly impact the purpose of the wedge. Ed Freeman, assistant director of planning strategy and development for East Devon, noted the potential jeopardy of the consultation because of the lack of obvious support for green wedges by the government.

“I do have some concerns about the approach given the lack of government guidance, as fundamentally there isn’t any,” he said.

“They are a historical thing that we have had, and other local authorities, and some have maintained them in their plans.

“While one can see the merit in retaining them, we will be challenged on them in a way we haven’t previously.”

Mr Freeman noted that property developers, in particular, would “challenge our position” and that the council would “need to respond and defend our decision”.

Indeed, the council’s strategic development committee heard that some development had already taken place within the green wedge boundaries as they were previously drawn, and that it was proposed that new boundaries exclude these recently built homes.

Mr Freeman also highlighted the challenge the council would face if councillors decided that development shouldn’t take place in a green wedge.

“Representations from developers reflect the pressure to release land within a green wedge for development, and the pressures in trying to meet housing needs will be quite challenging,” he said.

“There are 1,100 homes proposed in first or second choice sites for allocation in green wedges, and if those are removed, then that would cause us significant challenges in terms of where to build those properties, and developers are picking up on that and putting pressure on us to release green wedge land.”

Cllr Ben Ingham (Conservative, Woodbury and Lympstone) said the council should not have found itself in this position.

“This is why ages ago we should have been debating green wedges, so we don’t have this ridiculous compromise where there are potential allocations [of houses] and we’re wondering how we can draw green wedges around them,” he said.

“We started this process a few years ago in the wrong place as we never had an overview of what we were trying to achieve or any strategic thinking.

“We should have put the green wedges in place before housing allocations, and so this is so unfortunate, so please could officers take note not to do this again in 10 years’ time.”

However, Cllr Mike Howe (Independent, Clyst Valley) said the approach the council had taken with the consultation was correct.

“Previously, we showed the green wedges without the housing allocations in, then we allocated [the houses] and then removed the green wedge boundary around them,” he said.

“This way is honest, as we are saying these are the green wedges, and there are pressures on them which might mean we have to allocate houses on some or all of them, or possibly none.

“In the previous way, we showed these lovely green wedges with no threats to them and I think the only way we can do this is to be honest and upfront, by saying there are allocations in them, and that might change, but either way the allocations are not determined and can be debated at a later date.”

The consultation is set to start this month and last for six weeks.

Not everyone did, according to the Telegraph:

• T1, Oak : Crown reduce by no more than 2m as per the accompanying photographs. Maximum diameter of cuts (MDC)75mm; crown lift to achieve clearance of no more than 4.5m above ground level. MDC 100mm. 25 Chestnut Crescent Stoke Canon Devon EX5 4AHRef. No: 24/0872/TRE | Validated: Fri 26 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of existing lawful development for the construction of a rear, ground floor extension Barley Barn Shermoor Farm Station Road Broadclyst Exeter EX5 3AZRef. No: 24/0868/CPE | Validated: Thu 25 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Discharge of condition for 23/1481/FUL: Condition 3 (materials) Acorns Higher Metcombe Ottery St Mary EX11 1SLRef. No: 24/0859/DOC | Validated: Wed 24 Apr 2024 | Status: Unknown
• T1, Ash: Fell Saddlers Mead Sid Road Sidmouth Devon EX10 9AQRef. No: 24/0860/TCA | Validated: Wed 24 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Discharge of condition for 23/0962/MFUL: Condition 9 (Archaeological Trench Evaluation) Land At Saundercroft Farm WhimpleRef. No: 24/0858/DOC | Validated: Thu 25 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of office building to two apartments, 3no new windows on west elevation Barnfield Office Kerslakes Court Honiton Devon EX14 1FLRef. No: 24/0855/FUL | Validated: Wed 24 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Discharge of condition for 23/2761/FUL: Condition 3 (materials ), Condition 4 (soft landscaping scheme) Forge Cottage Cowley Exeter EX5 5ELRef. No: 24/0861/DOC | Validated: Thu 25 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• G1. Holly and Bay Suggested Works: Reduce eastern crown aspect by 1 metre T1, Sycamore : Suggested works: Reduce eastern crown aspect by 2 metres T2, Beech : suggested works: Reduce north eastern crown aspect by 3 metres T3, Sycamore : suggested works: Reduce eastern crown aspect by 3 metres T4, Oak : Suggested Works: Reduce eastern crown aspect by 2 metres T5, Yew (NB not specified on arboricultural assessment) : Suggested Works: Crown reduce eastern and western spread by up to 2 metres, reduce northern aspect by up to 1 metres, crown lift southern aspect to shape by up to 3 metres T425, Ash : Suggested Works: Crown reduce height and lateral spread of canopy by 1.5 metres, targeting hyper extended branches, prune branches away from floodlight to achieve a minimum of 2 metres of clearance Rationale: Following an arboricultural inspection, these works have been proposed both as part of the reasonable maintenance of the trees and to improve and maintain the amenity and accessibility of the gardens for residents. Fortfield Lawn Manor Road Sidmouth Devon EX10 8PHRef. No: 24/0846/TCA | Validated: Tue 23 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Discharge of condition for 24/0305/FUL: Condition 4 (Programme of Archaeological Work) Orchard View Payhembury Devon EX14 3JARef. No: 24/0847/DOC | Validated: Wed 24 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Discharge of condition for 23/2591/LBC: Condition 3 (Details of roofing materials, windows and doors) Wayside Causeway Beer Seaton EX12 3JURef. No: 24/0850/DOC | Validated: Tue 23 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Discharge of condition application for 21/0479/FUL: Condition 3 (Sound Insulation) Talbot Arms Hotel Lyme Road Uplyme Devon DT7 3TFRef. No: 24/0843/DOC | Validated: Tue 23 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Detailed planning application for the change of use of land to football pitches, erection of clubhouse, new access and parking, landscaping, engineering and ancillary works. Land West Of Tower Road And East Of Cuckoo Down Lane HonitonRef. No: 24/0841/MFUL | Validated: Thu 25 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Discharge of condition for 22/2801/FUL: Condition 3 (materials) 1 Cowley Barton Cottages Cowley Devon EX5 5ELRef. No: 24/0837/DOC | Validated: Mon 22 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Discharge of conditions on 20/0191/FUL : Condition 3 (landscaping), Condition 4 (noise mitigation) Home Farm Buildings Clyst Honiton Exeter EX5 2LXRef. No: 24/0836/DOC | Validated: Wed 24 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• The erection of a two storey side extension and single storey rear extension (resubmission of of 23/2211/FUL) 1 Millwey Avenue Axminster EX13 5EHRef. No: 24/0828/FUL | Validated: Thu 25 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Extension and alterations to existing lifeboat station. Sidmouth Lifeboat The Lifeboat Station The Esplanade Sidmouth EX10 8BERef. No: 24/0823/FUL | Validated: Wed 24 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• The erection of a shed to cover an existing silage pit. K H May And Partners Netherexe Barton Netherexe Exeter EX5 4DZRef. No: 24/0818/AGR | Validated: Tue 23 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition of existing storage buildings, construction of extension on south and west elevations Vanier Ltd Holyford Lane Colyford Devon EX24 6HWRef. No: 24/0803/FUL | Validated: Thu 25 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of annexe, new access and parking deck, and construction of new retaining structure to enlarge patio to rear of main dwelling Maycoes Branscombe Devon EX12 3DNRef. No: 24/0767/FUL | Validated: Mon 22 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Create shower room in bedroom at first floor; install 2no. rooflights on south elevation and remove chimney on south elevation Spring Cottage Cotmaton Road Sidmouth EX10 8EYRef. No: 24/0765/LBC | Validated: Fri 26 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replace 1no. window (W1) on east elevation; replace 4no. windows (W2, W3, W7 & W8) on east elevation; replace 6no. windows (W4, W5, W6, W9, W10 & W11) on south elevation; replace mechanical ventilation in gents, ladies and kitchen and install 4no. through wall vents beneath windows to below floor void on east and south elevation Mill Street Hall Mill Street Sidmouth Devon EX10 8DFRef. No: 24/0715/LBC | Validated: Mon 22 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replace mono pitched roof on east elevation and rake out mortar and repoint mono pitch extension and whole of gable (east) elevation Raleigh House Mill Street Ottery St Mary EX11 1AFRef. No: 24/0720/LBC | Validated: Fri 26 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolish rear garden brick wall and replace with wooden panel fencing Claremont Cottage Mirey Lane Woodbury EX5 1DXRef. No: 24/0683/FUL | Validated: Tue 23 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition of existing garage and conservatory. Erection of single storey side extension and new entrance porch 28 Harcombe Lane Sidford EX10 9QNRef. No: 24/0664/FUL | Validated: Wed 24 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of raised decking area and trellis fencing (retrospective). 6 Rowan Drive Seaton EX12 2UHRef. No: 24/0621/FUL | Validated: Mon 22 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replace existing porch with enlarged lead flat roof porch on south elevation; replace existing extension on north elevation to create bedroom and bathroom and glazed canopy over rear door. 2 Riverside Cottages Gittisham Devon EX14 3AERef. No: 24/0539/LBC | Validated: Tue 23 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed conversion of an existing workshop/garage to an annexe; new first floor space to be constructed with independent access via an external timber stair on the rear, north elevation Tipton Barton Cottage Hayne Hill Tipton St John EX10 0ALRef. No: 24/0527/LBC | Validated: Mon 22 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed conversion of an existing workshop/garage to an annexe; new first floor space to be constructed with independent access via an external timber stair on the rear, north elevation Tipton Barton Cottage Hayne Hill Tipton St John EX10 0ALRef. No: 24/0526/FUL | Validated: Mon 22 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• New home office/study outbuilding. Briar Patch St Johns Road Exmouth EX8 5EGRef. No: 24/0504/FUL | Validated: Mon 22 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Use of the land for the stationing of a non-static caravan for use as a rest facility in association with the agricultural use of the land. Land At Broad Down SouthleighRef. No: 24/0432/CPE | Validated: Mon 22 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replace 7no. windows: 1no. dormer window on rear elevation; 2no. first floor and 2no. ground floor on front elevation; 2no. ground floor side elevation Penny Thatch Northmostown Sidmouth EX10 0NLRef. No: 24/0412/LBC | Validated: Tue 23 Apr 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision

From – www.express.co.uk /news/uk/1895897/beach-cliff-Ladram-Bay-Bank-Holiday

Ladram Bay beach has been shut after a significant cliff fall (Image: Suzie Nixon/Devon Live)

Owl recalls retrospective application 20/0297/FUL for the partial retention at Ladram Bay of a raised viewing platform including balustrade and storage areas, validated 17 February. It appears to have been made in response to an enforcement notice issued in 2018. Owl has found it difficult to conduct a full audit trail of this application. This structure is in the World Heritage Site.

Ladram Bay showing extent of the deck 2020

Can it ever be a good and safe idea to construct a viewing platform under cliffs? – Owl

Olivier Vergnault www.devonlive.com (Web contains video)

A popular beach has had to be shut down this Bank Holiday Weekend following a cliff fall. Ladram Bay beach near Sidmouth on the Devon south coast, was closed as a precaution by owners Ladram Bay Holiday Park following the incident in the early hours of this morning (Sunday, May 5).

The cliff fall, in which thankfully no-one was hurt, is understood to have happened at around 7am. A large area of rocks collapsed onto boats and stand-up paddle boards moored up onto the beach below. Barriers have since been put up along all access roads to the beach to stop anyone from going on it.

Pictures and videos of the cliff fall sent in to DevonLive show the extent of the cliff fall including larges rocks hanging precariously above and likely to come down too in the near future. A spokesperson for the holiday park said the beach would remain closed to its guests and members of the public until the safety of the iconic cliffs and Jurassic coastline had been assessed.

Ladram Bay Holiday Park has also put out a warning message to its customers on social media. The message reads: “Beach closure notice. As you may be aware for several months we have been monitoring the cliff. Early this morning we sadly experienced a significant cliff fall where thankfully no-one was hurt.

“The beach will now remain closed until further notice. We await guidance from our geological experts and reopen the beach when they say it is safe to do so. We will update you on their findings.”

Ladram Bay beach has been shut after a significant cliff fall

Exmouth RNLI Lifeboat station said it had been made aware of the cliff fall in the early hours of this morning but had not been called out to any incident on the beach. A spokesperson said: “A customer came into our shop this morning and told us about it. They saw it happen at around 7am this morning which was fortunate as there was no-one about on the beach. Some of the rocks fells on top of boats below the cliff and this customer said he was lucky not to have parked theirs just there and it was lucky no-one was underneath it when it came down.”

The Ladram Bay Holiday Park spokesperson said: “We are aware of the cliff fall on our and beach. We have shut the beach and access to it is now restricted until we have sought advice from our geology consultant which we are hoping to do as quickly as we can.”

With the bank holiday weekend, the park said its cliff fall specialist would likely be on site on Tuesday.

Bay beach has been shut after a significant cliff fall

It is not the first time cliff falls have happened in the area. The Jurassic coast in East Devon is notorious for them. In March a large cliff fall took place in Sidmouth with eyewitnesses describing rocks the size of cars coming down onto the beach below. At the time, Exmouth coastal scientist Vicky Walkley had been sitting on a bench enjoying the view of the coast when she heard a loud rumbling noise. She looked at the famous red cliff below and saw it collapse onto the beach at the Jacob’s Ladder end of the beach.

Vicky explained at the time that cliff falls are very difficult to predict and can happen at any time – not just in stormy weather with big waves, but also on calm sunny days. She warned then: “All the heavy rainfall we’ve had this winter acts to lubricate the joints in the rock and increase the likelihood of cliff falls. Warm sunshine can also heat the rock, causing it to expand – this can trigger cliff falls too.

“The effects of climate change, including rising sea levels and wetter winters, are likely to accelerate the rates of cliff erosion in future, so it’s important that everyone is aware of these risks when visiting the coast.”

The Lib Dems have added more council seats than any other party over the last parliament, gaining more than 750 in the last five years, largely in the south-west and south of England.

Rowena Mason www.theguardian.com 

As Ed Davey’s party won more seats than the Conservatives in the local elections last week, the Lib Dems said Tories would be “looking over their shoulder terrified” as the general election approached.

Data analysis by the party shows that the Lib Dems have gained 768 seats, Labour 545 and the Greens 480, while the Conservatives have lost 1,783.

The scale of the Conservative losses, with many councils falling to no overall control or Labour and Lib Dem coalitions since 2019, is likely to add to nerves among Tory MPs worried about keeping their seats at the general election.

The Lib Dems have taken control of councils in Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Somerset and Surrey.

The party could be responsible for toppling some of the biggest Conservative names at the general election, such as the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, and the housing secretary, Michael Gove, in Surrey, the justice secretary, Alex Chalk, in Cheltenham and Jacob Rees-Mogg in Somerset.

The Lib Dems have not improved their polling much nationally in recent months, remaining on about 10%, while the Reform party is on about 12%. Its national share of the vote in the local elections was about 17%, three percentage points down on 2023, but it appears to be building up support in pockets rather than across the country.

The party’s strong gains in local elections suggests its strategy of focusing on building up votes in key strongholds could help deliver seats at the election.

Visiting Dorset, where the Lib Dems took control of the council by taking 13 seats off the Tories, Davey said Conservative MPs in the region would be worried.

“This victory in Dorset is an historic and stunning result for the Liberal Democrats,” he said. “People here in Dorset and right across the country are fed up with this chaotic and out-of-touch Conservative government and they’re voting for change with the Liberal Democrats.

“From tackling issues with the NHS and the local environment to supporting people with the cost of living crisis, I know the new Liberal Democrat team on Dorset council will do everything they can to give people here a fair deal.

“After our victory in Somerset two years ago and our stunning successes in Devon last year, this win in Dorset confirms that the Liberal Democrats are back in the West Country and will be the main challengers to Conservative MPs here whenever the general election is called.”

The Green party also performed well at the local elections, adding about 74 seats, and becoming the largest party on Hastings borough council. It also became the largest party in Bristol, just short of an overall majority on the city council.

It also won its first seats on councils including Newcastle upon Tyne, Sefton in Merseyside, Redditch in Worcestershire and South Norfolk.

The party will also be targeting seats such as North Herefordshire and Waveney Valley in East Anglia at the general election.