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Martin Shaw announces progress in campaign to save Seaton Hospital

On behalf of the Seaton Hospital Steering Committee, I am pleased to issue the following press release:

The Seaton Hospital Steering Committee, comprising representatives of the local community elected at a public meeting, has been working hard to develop a business plan for a community hub which would take over the wing of the Hospital which Devon NHS no longer requires for its services. 

In developing our plan, we have met with a range of groups and organisations which are interested in using space in the building. The aim is to bring different sectors of the community together, so that the new space serves local people of all ages and offers facilities which local groups can use to improve their health and wellbeing.

Since early this year, monthly meetings have been held with the NHS’s Integrated Care Board and NHS Property Services, which owns the Hospital building, in order to clarify the terms on which community use would take place. The present aim is to present a plan to our partners by the end of June. 

Following the successful application to list Seaton Hospital as an Asset of Community Value, the Committee has also submitted a funding application to the government’s Community Ownership Fund, which accepted our initial expression of interest, and Richard Foord MP (a member of the Committee) has sought support in Parliament for the community to make full use of the empty wing at the hospital to assist with health and wellbeing issues.

Contacts:

General enquiries about the Committee’s work: Martin Shaw, saveseatonhospital@gmail.com 07972 760254

Enquiries about using space in the Hospital wing: Ben Tucker, ben@restoreseaton.co.uk

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Cryptosporidium confirmed in water supply in two Brixham areas 

Yesterday SWW stated that all its current water supply tests had come back clear and that customers should continue to use their water as normal………….

Anita Merritt www.devonlive.com

South West Water (SWW) has confirmed that further testing has found the presence of cryptosporidium in two areas of Brixham. Yesterday, May 14, the UK Health Security Agency confirmed 16 cases of the infection and around 70 reported cases of diarrhoea and vomiting in Brixham, with more cases reported by victims on social media.

Yesterday SWW stated that all its current water supply tests had come back clear and that customers should continue to use their water as normal. Today, May 15, it has announced it has detected ‘small traces’ of the organism in Alston and the Hillhead area of Brixham.

Residents living in those areas are being advised to boil their drinking water before drinking it and bottled water stations have been set up for them. Cryptosporidium is a parasite which can cause sickness and diarrhoea if consumed. Drinking water can become contaminated for various reasons and SWW says it is fully investigating the cause.

It added that data from its tests over the last several weeks showed that the treated water leaving its treatment works was not contaminated. However, in the Hillhead section of its network, further tests taken overnight and working with the advice of UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), it has found ‘small traces’ of cryptosporidium.

A South West Water spokesperson said: “Customers in Alston and the Hillhead area of Brixham are advised to boil their drinking water before consuming following new test results for cryptosporidium. We are issuing this notice following small traces of the organism identified overnight and this morning.

“We are working with the UK Health Security Agency and other public health partners to urgently investigate and eliminate the source. We apologise for the inconvenience caused and will continue to keep customers and businesses updated. Bottled water stations will be set up in the affected areas as soon as possible.”

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Brixham: Cryptosporidium confirmed as illness sweeps town

The UK Health Security Agency has confirmed 16 cases of cryptosporidium and around 70 reported cases of diarrhoea and vomiting in Brixham – with more cases reported by victims on social media

Anita Merritt www.devonlive.com

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has confirmed there has been an outbreak of infection cryptosporidium in Brixham, but it has not yet been able to establish the cause of it. So far it says there have been 16 confirmed cases of the illness, with more expected, and around 70 reported cases of diarrhoea and vomiting in residents in the seaside town.

Earlier today, DevonLive reported it was believed hundreds of people in Brixham had become unwell according to comments on social media. Residents have shared how they have been poorly for days and the detrimental impact it is having on their lives.

Cryptosporidiosis is predominantly a waterborne disease and infections can be caused by drinking contaminated water or swallowing contaminated water in swimming pools or streams. It can also be acquired by animal and human contact.

South West Water (SWW) assured earlier today that the tests it has carried out on the quality of drinking water in Brixham have currently all come back clear. It has since stated it is advising residents to continue to use their water as normal and that it is continuing to review water supplies.

UKHSA says its investigation into the source is ongoing and those who have reported symptoms are being contacted for further information as part of investigations into a source. It has issued advice to help halt the spread of the infection.

Sarah Bird, consultant in health protection at UKHSA South West said: “We would like to reassure the public that we are working closely with partners to investigate the possible source of infection and put control measures in place. Further possible cases are under investigation and more cases are anticipated.

“At this stage, a source has not been identified, and more information will be shared as soon as it is available. For most people, cryptosporidium symptoms can be managed at home without medical advice.

“Symptoms include watery diarrhoea, stomach pains, dehydration, weight loss and fever, which can last for two to three weeks. Anyone can get cryptosporidiosis, but it is most common in young children aged between one and five years and most healthy people will recover fully.

“Anyone with a diarrhoeal illness should drink plenty of water to prevent dehydration and if they have severe symptoms like bloody diarrhoea, they should contact NHS 111 or their GP surgery. Please stay off school and work for 48 hours since the last episode of illness and away from swimming pools for 14 days after the last episode of illness.”

The UK Health Security Agency South West is working with Torbay Council, South West Water, NHS Devon and the Environment Agency to investigate the cause.

A South West Water spokesperson said: “We are working with UKHSA and other partners supporting their investigation into a number of cases of cryptosporidium in the Brixham area. As part of this, we have reviewed the operation of our water treatment works and the water quality data from those sites which show us there have been no issues with the treated water.

“As agreed today with public health partners, we are carrying out further monitoring of the local supply area and we’ll continue working closely with them on their investigation. We are advising customers to continue to use their water as normal. We will keep this under review.”

It is believed that many of the cases are affecting people who live in Higher Brixham. Tanya Matthews, who lives within that area in Ocean View, claims every home in her street has come down with the same symptoms.

Tanya, who has been suffering from stomach cramps and diarrhoea for the past nine days and is awaiting a cryptosporidium test, said: “I started having stomach cramps and explosive diarrhoea nine days ago and it has been the same every day since. I started to feel a little bit better yesterday then today [May 14] it hit me again.

“I rang SWW yesterday [May 13] and I was told there had been 15 confirmed cases of cryptosporidium and that UKHSA are looking into it as they don’t believe it’s to do with the water.

“They wouldn’t expect this many cases over a whole year for all of Devon and Cornwall so something is amiss. SWW asked if I had been in the sea or a river but I have not. I also think the water tastes funny and it has been leaving a horrid taste in my mouth.”

Yesterday, May 13, Tanya put a post on Brixham Fish Town Facebook to see how many other people had also been affected. It is had more than 1,000 comments with many reporting they are also unwell.

A resident who lives in Hillhead, Brixham and asked not to be named, has told how she has been bed-bound for over a week and has tested positive for cryptosporidium by her doctor.

She said: “I’ve been bed-bound for eight days with sickness and diarrhoea and have been signed off work for two weeks and lost over a stone in weight. It’s the worst illness I’ve ever experienced.”

Further health advice has been issued by Torbay Council. Dr Lincoln Sargeant, director of Public Health at Torbay Council said: “We are working with partners to investigate the source of this outbreak. We advise that people wash their hands thoroughly when handling food and after using the toilet to help prevent the spread of further infection.

“Please follow the advice to stay away from nursery, school and work for 48 hours since the last episode of illness and do not swim for two weeks after being unwell.”

Advice about cryptosporidium can be found by clicking here.

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By the smallest of margins – Monday

The Commons defeated a government-led motion and voted to ban MPs from the parliamentary estate if they have been arrested on suspicion of violent or sexual offences.

Richard Foord voted on the side of the angels but no vote was recorded for Simon Jupp.  

LAST NIGHT [MONDAY] IN THE COMMONS www.politico.eu

ALL PART OF THE PLAN: After facing days of attacks from her new Labour colleagues, Natalie Elphicke may just have found a route to redemption. Elphicke’s vote (arguably) made all the difference on Monday night as the Commons defeated a government-led motion and voted to ban MPs from the parliamentary estate if they have been arrested on suspicion of violent or sexual offences. The free vote could not have been closer, finishing 170-169. Labour and Lib Dem MPs cheered it to the rafters.

What happened? The House of Commons Commission had — twice — recommended a panel should be set up to consider banning MPs from parliament if they had been arrested for a violent or sexual offence. Opposition MPs were deeply unhappy when the government instead proposed a much higher bar — the point an MP is actually charged with such an offence. But it was still assumed in SW1 that the motion, led by Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt, would sail through the Commons with the government’s tacit support, even though it was a free vote in parliament and there was no whipping operation in force.

Not so fast: But more than 150 Tory MPs took advantage of the non-whipped vote to simply not show up. And an amendment by Lib Dem MP Wendy Chamberlain and Labour MP Jess Phillips to bring in a ban from the point of arrest attracted the support of the vast majority of Labour, Lib Dem and SNP MPs, along with a group of eight Conservatives — including Theresa May. 

Sliding doors: You can make a strong argument that Elphicke’s vote won the day, given the knife-edge margin of victory. Even Conservative aides admitted on Monday night that Elphicke would have been very unlikely to vote for a Lib Dem-Labour tie-up on parliamentary standards a week ago, back when she was still a right-wing Tory. All this, of course, comes days after Elphicke faced allegations (which she denies) of trying to get the ex-attorney general to intervene in her ex-husband’s court case for sexual assault.

The big picture: Much more importantly, of course, the result is a big win for parliamentary campaigners who have long decried the lack of safeguards against accused sex offenders. In an impassioned speech during the debate, Phillips said that just prior to the vote she had met with two women who had been raped by MPs. “That’s a fairly standard day for me,” she said.

Successful collab: Chamberlain said the vote was “an important step towards making parliament a safe and modern place to work.” She added: “It is not about the guilt or innocence of any individual MP, but about safeguarding.” Phillips posted her shock on X after the vote, writing: “Shit! We won the vote by 1.”

Full list of MPs who voted:

Risked-based exclusion: amendment (o): Recent Votes www.theyworkforyou.com

Aye 169 No 168

Aye: A-Z by last name

Tellers

No: A-Z by last name

Tellers

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‘The spectacle in the sky on Saturday and a new start for EDDC’

 Paul Arnott.

Did all you readers of the Herald and Journal publications enjoy the aurora borealis over East Devon? Yes, neither did I.

Like thousands of others on Saturday morning, I put the kettle on, and checked my phone only to see local Facebook pages bursting with images of the kind of night sky displays you’d normally have to cruise to Norway to see. The more I swiped up, the more I realised that my decision not to pass out on the sofa at the end of a busy week but to tuck up in bed at a respectable time instead, had caused me to miss a spectcle we may never see again this far south in my lifetime.

It’s a classic little boy called wolf story. How many dozens of times had we stayed up for a predicted solar eclipse or a meteor shower only to witness a cloudy night with nothing whatsoever to see? It was in this cynical spirit that I lay my head on my pillow last Friday, only to miss a spectacle which three thousand years ago would have had ancient peoples cartwheeling around Stonehenge.

Back then ancient folk might have ascribed immense meaning to the spectacle, optimists predicting the beginning of a new era, pessimists predicting some great doom yet to come. Modern science has denied us all these mumbo-jumbo interpretations but for me, having now absorbed glorious images of multiple church towers in East Devon set against a pallet of pinks and mauves, it will always help me remember a propitious week at work.

I was extremely honoured last week to be re-elected by the majority of councillors at East Devon District Council to be its Leader for a fifth year. In June, the council will celebrate 50 years since it was set up and until I became Leader in 2020, the role had always been filled by a Conservative.

I do realise that for many readers this will not be gripping current affairs news up there with a hard right Tory MP defecting to Labour, but it is worth noting. I have always believed in my more than a quarter century living in East Devon and Exeter that it is a moderate place, centrist, more liberal-minded than patronising metropolitan stereotypes portray. In district elections in 2019 and in 2023, that’s how the majority voted, and in 2022 in a national parliamentary election too when Richard Foord was elected.

To be frank, however, much more important than my taking on the leadership for year five, on the same evening we appointed a new Chief Executive, Tracy Hendren. The excellent Tracy had won the job against an impressive 20 applicants in an exhausting and rigorous process. This really is a moment to celebrate.

It is the first time this crucial role for the people of East Devon has changed hands in more than two decades. That was a time when the way senior officers dealt with looking into both a planning scandal eleven years ago, and an enquiry into a failure to safeguard in 2016 after ex-councillor John Humphreys had been arrested on sex crime charges against young persons, concerned thousands of local people, not least me!

Those officers no longer work at East Devon. We now have a fresh and reinvigorated new management, and we begin again. I fully expect some very challenging matters to emerge from hidden recesses, but we have the leadership at both councillor and officer level to deal with it. I may have missed the aurora borealis, but for me the sky over East Devon looks a look clearer now.

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United Utilities ordered to publish secret sewage spill data

Five more refusenik water companies could also be forced to reveal details on the discharge of raw sewage after a ruling by the information watchdog including South West Water.

Adam Vaughan www.thetimes.co.uk

The data watchdog has ordered a water company to release secret figures that could reveal illegal sewage spills, paving the way for five other firms to be forced to do the same.

In a victory for The Times’s Clean it Up campaign, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) ruled that United Utilities must share data showing the start and stop times of raw sewage discharges in 2022.

Cross-referenced with weather data, the information could reveal evidence of “dry spills”, the illegal practice of releasing raw sewage into rivers and seas when there has been no heavy rainfall.

Dry spilling is more environmentally damaging because there is no rain water to dilute the pollution and river levels might be lower on dry days. It could put swimmers at risk too, since they are more likely to go in on dry days, which are usually considered safer.

A lawyer at one of the six firms refusing to share the data — Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, Severn Trent Water, South West Water, United Utilities and Yorkshire Water — had argued that it was so complex that “it is the regulators and not the press or the public” that should see it.

Several of the companies argued that their secrecy was justified because releasing the information would prejudice a joint investigation by the Environment Agency and Ofwat, the water industry regulator.

However, the ICO has ruled against United Utilities. Given that the times and locations of sewage spills was “purely factual information”, the data watchdog said it was “struggling” to see how its publication could obstruct the investigation.

David Black, the chief executive of Ofwat, had publicly said his investigation was not a reason to keep the figures secret, the ICO noted. Moreover, it said there was no evidence the water firm had asked the regulators if sharing the information would prejudice their investigation.

Another reason for ordering the data be made public was a recent appeal tribunal ruling in favour of Steve Lavelle, a campaigner who sought data from Northumbrian Water on sewage dumping in the sea at Whitburn, South Tyneside.

In light of that case and the failure of United Utilities to explain how the regulators’ investigation would be affected, the watchdog demanded it publish the data within 35 days. “It’s not in dispute that dry spillages have occurred,” the watchdog said. “The start and stop times won’t give any indication of how these dry spills will be considered by either regulator or what action might be taken as a result of the investigations.”

United Utilities, which serves the northwest of England including Liverpool, Manchester and the Lake District, claimed that releasing the data would amount to “inappropriate sharing of information”. It also warned it could lead to “misinterpretation” and was “disproportionate” to share the figures for its 2,000-plus sewage outfalls.

James Wallace, head of the charity River Action, said: “When someone deliberately withholds information, it is usually because they have something to hide. Bearing in mind the risk to rivers of ecological collapse and spread of infectious diseases to humans by the release of untreated sewage, the ICO ruling on water companies sharing raw sewage discharge data is essential.”

The data watchdog has issued a decision against only United Utilities, which twice refused to release the figures to The Times. However, because it dismantled the same argument used by the five other water companies, similar decisions are expected against them imminently, forcing them to release the data.

The companies could choose to appeal in a final attempt to keep the information secret.

A United Utilities spokeswoman said: “We note the ICO’s decision notice and we are considering our next steps.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “As a regulator, we aim to be transparent and evidence-based; we expect the water industry to do the same.”

The Times is demanding faster action to improve the country’s waterways. Find out more about the Clean It Up campaign.

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Holiday homes could close primary school – Kingswear

The closure of a Devon village school that eventually had no pupils attending has been blamed on the large number of holiday homes.

Bradley Gerrard, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

Kingswear Primary School is now facing closure due to the substantial drop in pupil numbers, and a key reason behind this has been laid at the door of the significant number of holiday lets and second homes in the community.

The school had 66 pupils on roll in 2017, and discussions were taking place around that time to try to find space for an extra classroom.

However, in the 2022/23 academic year, there were just 13 children on roll, five of whom were in their final year of primary school and set to move to secondary school.

By last September, there were no children on roll, the council said, and no preferences for admission to reception for this September had been made.

Councillor Jonathan Hawkins (Conservative, Dartmouth & Marldon) said it was a “very sad day for my community”.

“This closure is due, I believe, to the village being a very beautiful place to live, an expensive place to live, and as such we have a lot of second homes and holiday lets, and I believe that is why this school is closing,” he said.

“We have terraces of houses, as does Dartmouth across the river, where only one or two residents live in them full time.

“This is a problem for all towns and villages, communities like ours, and hopefully we can find a way to prevent holiday lets and second homes for small communities, as we need families to live in our village.”

Cllr Hawkins added that Kingswear was particularly constrained in terms of sites which could be developed for housing and therefore boost the population.

The biggest development at Noss on Dart Marina will accommodate 126 homes, but is over 1.5 miles from the village and the application does not propose any affordable housing.

Cllr Hawkins said he felt he and the community had “done all we possibly can” to keep the school open, but there was simply not the attendance to keep it going.

Councillor Andrew Leadbetter (Conservative, Wearside and Topsham), the cabinet member for children’s services and schools, said it was “always sad when you have to discuss closing a school”.

“But there is no point in keeping it open if there are no children there,” he said.

“We have worked hard, ably assisted by Cllr Hawkins, to find a workable solution, but we are left in the unenviable position with a school with no children, and parents seeking not to send their children there due to a lack of numbers.”

Because the school is overseen by Education South West multi-academy trust, the decision to close the school actually lies with the Secretary of State for Education.

Devon County Council, as the education authority, is consulted as part of the process, but does not have the power to prevent its closure because ity does not oversee the school. It has been asked in this instance to agree the closure, though, as Kingswear is classified as a rural academy school, prior to the Secretary of State making a final decision.

However, in Kingswear’s case Devon would probably have been unlikely to lobby to keep it open given that a rebound in pupil numbers does not look likely any time soon.

A report prepared for councillors revealed that “very few children” live in Kingswear itself, and that local health data showed “low future cohorts of pre-school aged children” living in the village too.

Just five children would be due for admission in September (albeit no applications had been made to attend), while four children would be expected to join in September next year, just three in 2026 and five in September 2027.

The report noted that there had been objections to the closure from members of the community, though, with uncertainty over the school’s future and communications from the trust “leading to parents withdrawing their children from school” cited as issues.

It added that objectors felt the academy’s decision to close the pre-school also affected pupil numbers, and that local parents had now started a playgroup with good attendance.

As part of the consultation, the trust said it had “invested heavily in marketing efforts beyond the Kingswear catchment area”, but with little success.

Devon said it would provide primary-age children living in the Kingswear Primary School area with free school transport to Dartmouth Academy, which involves a ferry crossing across the River Dart. It estimated this could cost “in the region” of £250 per day for a 16-seater minibus to cross the river.

The minister and churchwardens of Kingswear are understood to hold the freehold for the school site, meaning Devon County Council does not have a say in its future use.

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Council funding is a numbers game in which everybody is losing

The problem for local democracy is that there is now little relationship between the council tax rates in a local area and what the relevant authorities are able to deliver. That’s because the way in which the central grants are allocated has become essentially arbitrary.

Paul Johnson www.thetimes.co.uk

Less than two weeks ago, some us in England went to the polls for this year’s local elections. Reflecting the absurdly centralised and Westminster-focused nature of our political system, most of the commentary since then has obsessed about what these elections mean for the standing of the parties nationally and whether we have gleaned anything more about the likely shape of the next parliament.

The short answer to that question is no. Broadly speaking, the election results were in line with what we should have expected, given the opinion polls, which makes it even more depressing that we have heard so much about that subject and so little about local democracy and the challenges facing the councils themselves.

One reason is likely to be the utterly baffling complexity and illogicality of English local government. If you think you’re clear about what your local district/shire/unitary/borough council or metro mayor is responsible for, then you are in a small minority. Or more likely wrong. Our hodge-podge of different structures almost defies description, let alone rational explanation. Anand Menon, professor of European politics and director of UK in a Changing Europe at Kings College London, put this point rather nicely in the weekly Expert Factor podcast that he and I host along with Hannah White, of the Institute for Government. “It’s hard to avoid the impression that our arrangements for local government were written, while slightly inebriated, on the back of an envelope.”

You could say the same for the way in which we fund our local government. We are all familiar with council tax. I have written here before about its many absurdities. It is out of date and regressive. The tax payable on Buckingham Palace is similar to that on the average band C property across the country. It now funds about half of what local authorities spend, although that fraction varies a lot in different places. The rest is allocated to councils from a combination of local business rates and central government grants. The problem for local democracy is that there is now little relationship between the council tax rates in a local area and what the relevant authorities are able to deliver. That’s because the way in which the central grants are allocated has become essentially arbitrary.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, central government made a real effort to calculate what it thought each council would need, such that each could deliver broadly the same array and quality of services. A complex formula would take account of local tax-raising powers. Homes in Wokingham and Westminster are worth a lot more on average than those in Wolverhampton and Walsall, so the former two could raise more council tax per head of population than the latter two and hence should need less subsidy. The formula also would take account of numbers of people, numbers in poverty, the age structure of the population, the length of roads for which the council was responsible and so on. Not perfect, but a proper attempt at a rational system.

This system became increasingly, and deliberately, opaque under the last Labour government and has pretty much broken down entirely over the past 15 years. Cuts to local government funding in the 2010s effectively took no account of differing needs and hence fell more heavily on poorer and metropolitan areas. Moreover, the basis for allocating funding hasn’t been updated in years. Even the population figures used are more than a decade out of date and much of the data on which the allocations are based are considerably older than that. Hence what your council receives is probably more closely related to its needs 20 years ago than its present situation. The allocations are, in other words, increasingly random.

The government promised to put a new, up-to-date “fair” funding formula in place by 2019. That, though, has been kicked beyond the next election. Since there is no money to smooth any transition, I wouldn’t hold my breath. With each passing year, a return to rationality becomes ever harder. If you are reallocating within a fixed budget, you make some worse off. A return to rationality might require a return to spending growth.

Under those circumstances, it is hard for voters to have a real sense of how effective their local council is. Add to that the fact that getting on for two thirds of council spending goes on services that most of us, most of the time, don’t even see and the problem for local democracy gets bigger. This is close to the fraction of their budgets that many councils now find themselves spending on a combination of adult social care and children’s social services, a number that has been rising sharply. These are statutory responsibilities and are so necessary for the most vulnerable. Demand and costs have been going up fast.

At first blush, after the funding cuts of the 2010s it looks as though councils have done rather well recently. Core funding of English local councils will be about 11 per cent higher in real terms this year than it was three years ago. The trouble is it looks like their costs have grown faster still.

A little help may be at hand. In a completely unprecedented move, the government felt obliged to respond with a £600 million top-up earlier in 2024. A new and unheralded Office for Local Government has been set up with a remit to support councils and to share data and best practice.

One thing is for sure. All those new councillors elected a fortnight ago, from whichever party or none, will need all the help they can get. They have my gratitude for volunteering to serve and my very best wishes for success in the face of a tremendous shared challenge.

Paul Johnson is director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies. Follow him on @PJTheEconomist

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Budleigh, Massive Oak tree falls from cliff onto LORP path, no reported injuries

(Just missing the newly erected Clinton Estate and Environment Agency seat marking the opening of this wildlife site)

From a correspondent:

Today we lost a magnificent oak tree which sat on the cliff  at the end of a granary lane garden,  on the western LORP path.

It is only pure luck that no one was killed…(if it had gone yesterday when the path was crowded it would have been a different story) as you will see from the photos it has taken a huge chunk out of the bank and has fallen over  the  path and a fair  way into the estuary.

The granary lane residents  in nearby properties  have on numerous recent occasions   asked Clinton Devon Estates to check the safety of the trees . Concerns have been raised regarding recent slippages and tree movement ,  however  not  on this scale.

The bottom of the cliff where this tree has fallen has been saturated with vile stagnant water for months …it doesn’t  drain  away and concerns were raised  with LORP about damage  to the cliff. The original planning permission  was to raise the path by a metre to protect the cliff, but this was amended  without consultation with  local residents and the path remained the same level.   Hence the sea just rolls in and gets trapped.  Has this affected the trees?   Who knows but it certainly won’t have helped.

Is the path safe to walk?  I would say not…the trees are precariously hanging on, some almost horizontal…anything  which was beneath them has been cleared for LORP and personally I think the path should be closed until CDE has carried out a full inspection of all the trees and published the findings, and deemed the path safe.

Those trees have received little or no maintenance for many years…most probably in the  too difficult or too expensive box for Clinton to deal with…but a proper survey should always have been carried out before opening a busy footpath!

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Planning applications validated by EDDC for week beginning 29 April

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England gets 27 new bathing sites – but no guarantee they’ll be safe for swimming!

Twenty-seven new bathing sites will be designated in England ahead of this summer’s swimming season, the government has announced.

Helena Horton www.theguardian.com 

Giving waterways bathing status means the Environment Agency has to test them for pollution during the summer months, putting pressure on water companies to stop dumping sewage in them.

Twelve rivers are among the new sites. There are three river areas in England designated for swimming, far fewer than in many other European countries. In France, for example, there are more than 570 river bathing sites.

Bathing status is no guarantee the waters are safe to swim in, however. Last year, testing by the Environment Agency found that England’s three river swimming areas all had “poor” status due to pollution. This means people should not swim in them and risk getting sick if they do. Sewage spills and agricultural runoff mean swimming sites can carry E coli and intestinal enterococci, which could make swimmers ill.

The water campaigner and former Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey told the Guardian: “Every single stretch of river in England currently tested carries a ‘do not swim’ advisory. This lot will simply join that ignoble, floundering list of failure.

“It’s clearly not a strategy to deal with the decaying state of our rivers, it’s simply panic from a decaying government, it’s making excuses all before exiting stage left in the run-up to a general election.”

Water companies were criticised for record sewage discharges into England’s waterways last year. Recent data showed raw sewage was discharged into rivers and seas for more than 3.6 million hours, more than double that in the previous 12 months.

Bathing sites are only tested in the summer months but the government has promised a consultation later this year on proposals that would include extending monitoring outside the bathing season, as some people use the rivers recreationally all year.

The water minister, Robbie Moore, said: “The value our bathing waters bring to local communities is incredibly valuable – providing social, physical and positive health and wellbeing benefits to people around the country – and I am pleased to have approved a further 27 new bathing water sites for this year.

“These popular swimming spots will now undergo regular monitoring to ensure bathers have up-to-date information on the quality of the water and enable action to be taken if minimum standards aren’t being met.”

The chair of the Environment Agency, Alan Lovell, said: “The importance of England’s bathing waters for residents and visitors alike cannot be overstated, which is why the Environment Agency provides rigorous testing to ensure that bathers can make informed decisions before swimming in one of our 451 sites.

“Overall bathing water quality has improved massively over the last decade due to targeted and robust regulation from the Environment Agency, and the good work carried out by partners and local groups. Last year, 96% of sites met minimum standards, up from just 76% in 2010 – and despite stricter standards being introduced in 2015. We know that improvements can take time and investment from the water industry, farmers and local communities, but where the investment is made, standards can improve.”

The new bathing sites

  • Church Cliff beach, Lyme Regis, Dorset
  • Coastguards beach, River Erme, Devon
  • Coniston boating centre, Coniston Water, Cumbria
  • Coniston Brown Howe, Coniston Water, Cumbria
  • Derwent Water at Crow Park, Keswick, Cumbria
  • Goring beach, Worthing, West Sussex
  • Littlehaven beach, Tyne and Wear
  • Manningtree beach, Essex
  • Monk Coniston, Coniston Water, Cumbria
  • River Avon at Fordingbridge, Hampshire
  • River Cam at Sheep’s Green, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
  • River Dart estuary at Dittisham, Devon
  • River Dart estuary at Steamer Quay, Totnes, Devon
  • River Dart estuary at Stoke Gabriel, Devon
  • River Dart estuary at Warfleet, Dartmouth, Devon
  • River Frome at Farleigh Hungerford, Somerset
  • River Nidd at the Lido leisure park in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire
  • River Ribble at Edisford Bridge, Lancashire
  • River Severn at Ironbridge, Shropshire
  • River Severn at Shrewsbury, Shropshire
  • River Stour at Sudbury, Suffolk
  • River Teme at Ludlow, Shropshire
  • River Tone in French Weir Park, Taunton, Somerset
  • River Wharfe at Wetherby Riverside, High St, Wetherby, West Yorkshire
  • Rottingdean beach, Rottingdean, East Sussex
  • Wallingford beach, River Thames, Berkshire
  • Worthing Beach House, Worthing, West Sussex
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East Devon: District Council votes in Cllr Eileen Wragg as its new vice chair

Years of serving the community across East Devon and the county has propelled a former Exmouth mayor into the position of vice chair of the district council.

Local Democracy Reporter eastdevonnews.co.uk

Long-serving public servant Eileen Wragg, from Exmouth, has been voted in as vice chair of East Devon, writes local democracy reporter Bradley Gerrard.

Councillor Wragg (Liberal Democrat, Exmouth Town) has been a Councillor in some form for 28 years, and will now sit alongside Councillor Eleanor Rylance (Liberal Democrat, Broadclyst), who has been re-elected as chair for another term.

The Exmouth-born Councillor who was educated at Exmouth Grammar School, and later studied at the University of Plymouth, graduating with a BA Combined Honours degree in 1995, replaces Councillor Sam Hawkins (Independent, Cranbrook) as vice chair.

[Cllr Sam Hawkins now holds the finance portfolio – see below]

Cllr Wragg joined Exmouth Town Council in 1996, serving until 2015, during which time she held the role as mayor for two years between 2005-2007.

She was first elected to Devon County Council in 2005, losing her seat in the 2017 election, but is in her third term at East Devon, having been elected in 2015, 2019 and last year.

Cllr Wragg was nominated for the role by Councillor Sarah Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat, Broadclyst).

“Cllr Wragg has taught me a huge amount about being a councillor since I started in 2019, and she has been a councillor for many years and so has a wealth of experience and skills within all areas, and I think she would be perfectly suited to the role,” she said.

Exmouth peer Councillor Olly Davey (Green Party, Exmouth Town) seconded the nomination, commenting on Ms Wragg’s superb knowledge of local issues.

“Some of you will be aware that Cllr Wragg has had a few health problems recently, but having given her a lift here today, her mind is as sharp as ever, and she’s as feisty as ever, and I’m sure she’ll keep us all in our place if required,” he said.

Cllr Wragg thanked her colleagues for the nomination, quipping that she would “be back and fully operational as soon as the spare parts arrive that are being made now”.

EDDC cabinet members and portfolio holders, following annual meeting

Held byPosition at the council
Councillor Eleanor RylanceChair of the Council
Councillor Eileen WraggVice Chair of the Council

Cabinet members

Each member of the Cabinet takes responsibility for a Portfolio.

Cabinet membersRole / Portfolio
Councillor Paul ArnottLeader
Councillor Paul HaywardDeputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Economy and Assets
Councillor Geoff JungPortfolio Holder Coast, Country and Environment
Councillor Marianne RixsonPortfolio Holder Climate Action
Councillor Sarah JacksonPortfolio Holder Communications and Democracy
Councillor John LoudounPortfolio Holder Council and Corporate Co-ordination
Councillor Nick HookwayPortfolio Holder Culture, Leisure, Sport and Tourism
Councillor Sam HawkinsPortfolio Holder Finance
Councillor Todd OlivePortfolio Holder Strategic Planning
Councillor Dan LedgerPortfolio Holder Sustainable Homes and Communities

Assistant Portfolio Holders

Post holderPortfolio
Councillor Paula FernleyCouncillor Charlotte FitzgeraldAssistant Portfolio Holders Coast, Country and Environment
Councillor Richard JefferiesAssistant Portfolio Holder Culture, Leisure, Sport and Tourism
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East Devon: Council leader slams ‘slag off’ critics and rejects past bullying claims inside the authority as ‘red herrings’

Preface by Owl

Last July EDDC passed a motion to initiate six actions to reset the council and reinforce best practice including asking the Local Government Association to undertake a Corporate Peer Challenge. 

(See “angry outburst mars attempt to reset council”)

This Corporate Peer Challenge has been concluded this year and commented (see article below); ‘there have been media reports about bullying at EDDC but the peer team did not find this to be the culture and staff said positively that they didn’t recognise this portrayal of EDDC’,” 

Mark Williams resigned as Chief Executive in October 2023.

BBC Spotlight presented his resignation alongside unconfirmed reports that he was facing a formal complaint about his conduct. Allegations had been made in a formal complaint that he had “intimidated and browbeaten” the conduct of an independent investigation into child sex abuse allegations.

As Paul Arnott said last week in the context of the appointment of Tracy Hendren as the new CEO: “It is very obviously the beginning of a new era, with a very new management team here, which is very talented, and I look forward, and you can all look forward, to us working together as one council moving forward.”

East Devon: Council leader slams ‘slag off’ critics and rejects past bullying claims inside the authority as ‘red herrings’

Local Democracy Reporter eastdevonnews.co.uk 

The East Devon authority leader has hit out at critics of the district council, saying he was ‘slightly tired of being slagged off’ in some towns and villages amid past bully claims, which he rejected.

Paul Arnott has hit back at critics within some East Devon parish councils in relation to historic “red herring” allegations about bullying at the authority, writes local democracy reporter Bradley Gerrard.

Councillor Arnott (Liberal Democrat, Coly Valley), who was voted in for his fifth successive year as leader of East Devon District Council this week (Wednesday, May 8), said he was getting “slightly tired of being slagged off at some parish councils”.

“In the Corporate Peer Challenge [carried out by the Local Government Association this year it said ‘there have been media reports about bullying at EDDC but the peer team did not find this to be the culture and staff said positively that they didn’t recognise this portrayal of EDDC’,” Cllr Arnott said.

“I hope and pray that all of us can move on from what was a complete set of red herrings flown in the interests of people no longer involved in the organisation.”

The Corporate Peer Challenge came after comments in a Grant Thornton audit report of East Devon surrounding governance at the council.

The audit report, released in December last year, covered the 2021/22 financial year but did include some analysis from the 2022/23 year too.

“Whilst it appears that relationships between most officers and portfolio holders were generally effective, it is clear that the relationships between some other senior officers and members were poor,” the Grant Thornton audit said.

“There were allegations of bullying by both officers and members. We saw evidence of some officers leaving the organisation, as well as suggestions that members did not stand for re-election as a result of the behaviours and culture that was reported within the council.

“Whilst different respondents had differing views and perspectives of the reasons for the behaviour and the various allegations, it is clear to us that relationships within the council had resulted in an unacceptable culture.”

It did, however, flag “many excellent examples” of officers and members working “effectively together in a cohesive manner to the benefit of the district, and responding to the challenges in very difficult and unprecedented circumstances”.

Addressing this week’s annual meeting, Cllr Arnott added that he appreciated all Councillors working together for the betterment of residents.

“I wanted to thank all councillors for their input into processes which some were opposed to in the first place but were then very creative with,” he said.

“That is, in particular, the LGA peer challenge, the involvement with the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny, the Planning Advisory Service, our own work across personnel committee and elsewhere looking at the challenges we’ve had, so I’d like to thank everyone for their involvement and it’s very much appreciated.

“It is very obviously the beginning of a new era, with a very new management team here, which is very talented, and I look forward, and you can all look forward, to us working together as one council moving forward.”

Just before the annual meeting, Councillors had approved the appointment of Tracy Hendren as its new chief executive.

Ms Hendren is currently one of the three interim co-CEOs and a director at the council. She is expected to begin her new role on June 1.

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Flogging off the family silver but County will have to repeat the exercise 30 times just to fix the potholes!

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”.

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‘The stakes could not be higher’: world is on edge of climate abyss, UN warns

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.

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Appointment of new CEO at EDDC followed by restructuring to place more emphasis on housing

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.

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Lib Dems hold Ashburton and Buckfastleigh seat – Teignbridge

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.

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Tracy Hendren Confirmed as Chief Executive of East Devon District Council

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.

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Extra roads cash as repair backlog hits £200m

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.

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OEP watchdog criticises government’s water clean-up plans for England

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.”