EA doing inspections – that’s a start Owl

www.bbc.co.uk

The findings come after the EA completed a record 10,000 inspections nationally in the last 12 months.

Helen Wakeham, EA’s director for water said: “Inspections are a vital preventative measure, with our teams nationally issuing over 3,000 actions to water companies, including repairing sewage works and upgrading their infrastructure.

“Together, this will drive meaningful improvements in performance, hold persistent offenders to account and ultimately create a cleaner water environment.”

The authority added that “although many breaches in permit conditions were relatively minor, in terms of potential for pollution to occur” they were “indicative of a water company’s approach to managing and maintaining their operations to protect the environment”.

Other issues identified at SWW found chopped sewage was at risk of flowing into water during storms, the discovery of seeping liquids, missing emergency pumps and generators, faulty monitoring equipment and general poor maintenance in places, resulting in blocked channels, overgrown vegetation and sludge.

‘Drive meaningful improvements’

The findings come after the EA completed a record 10,000 inspections nationally in the last 12 months.

Helen Wakeham, EA’s director for water said: “Inspections are a vital preventative measure, with our teams nationally issuing over 3,000 actions to water companies, including repairing sewage works and upgrading their infrastructure.

“Together, this will drive meaningful improvements in performance, hold persistent offenders to account and ultimately create a cleaner water environment.”

The authority added that “although many breaches in permit conditions were relatively minor, in terms of potential for pollution to occur” they were “indicative of a water company’s approach to managing and maintaining their operations to protect the environment”.

Other issues identified at SWW found chopped sewage was at risk of flowing into water during storms, the discovery of seeping liquids, missing emergency pumps and generators, faulty monitoring equipment and general poor maintenance in places, resulting in blocked channels, overgrown vegetation and sludge.

Labour’s mistaken belief that wicked nimby councils are holding back development lies at the root of Angela Rayner’s Local Government Reorganisation plan to reduce the power of local councils.

You do have to wonder why the July 2024 in-coming Labour Government wasn’t savvy enough to know that developers have always held the cards in controlling house build-out rates. Where were they coming from?

These “new data” spell it out yet again.- Owl

William Eichler www.localgov.co.uk

New data from the Local Councils Network (LCN) reveals a significant ‘build-out’ gap, with only 52% of homes granted planning permission since 2012-13 actually being completed.

Despite 62 surveyed councils approving over 633,000 units, only 331,300 have been delivered. Currently, more than 200,000 homes hold valid planning consent but have yet to see construction begin.

The LCN identifies four primary barriers to completion:

• Viability: Concerns over profitability and land values.

• Market Demand: Fluctuating buyer interest.

• Developer Behaviour: Strategic delays by landowners.

• Infrastructure Constraints: Lack of essential utilities like water and electricity.

Cllr Richard Wright, chair of the LCN, argued the findings prove the planning system isn’t the bottleneck. ‘Councils are approving twice as many homes as are built,’ he stated, calling for a focus on construction delivery rather than just increasing applications.

‘With construction never starting on hundreds of thousands of approved homes, even a modest improvement in build-out rates would make a significant contribution towards meeting national and local housing targets.’

He added: ‘Asking councils to approve even more housing applications, when we already approve about nine in every 10, is missing the point to a complex problem.’

Responding to the LCN’s figures, a spokesperson for the Home Builders Federation said: ‘Having spent years and significant amounts to get an implementable planning permission, developers would not sit on it and delay their only return on investment without very good reason.

‘The majority of these permissions will not yet be at the stage when builders are allowed to start work and will be stuck in the treacle of agreeing final details around planning conditions or highways with understaffed local authority departments.’

Angie Sinclair retires.

“The government’s policy now is that it wants to refocus funding on urban areas with high levels of deprivation, but if there are winners then there have to be losers too.

“We have pockets of deprivation here but they don’t rate in the way urban ones do.”

She recalls the “shock” when Devon lost a £10 million rural services grant in December 2024, money aimed at supporting rural counties due to the extra expense of delivering services compared to their urban peers.

[Having met Angie Sinclair, Owl would commend paying attention not only to her understanding of local government finance but of Devon’s economy. more generally. It is much deeper than the various “guru” groups such as “Heart of the South West” who have pontificated on how to double our growth over the years]

Bradley Gerrard www.devonlive.com

Managing money can test the most prudent of households, but the stakes are much higher when you’re helping oversee spending decisions that could impact hundreds of thousands of people.

Angie Sinclair has spent her entire career involved in council finances, but as her retirement at the end of March nears, the job hasn’t got any less tumultuous.

“It’s definitely chaotic,” she says, remarking on the up-against-the-wire approacld comh the government has increasingly taken to announce how much money it would be giving councils like Devon.

Local authorities have been begging ministers to declare grant levels much earlier in the budget-setting process to give them more time to work out how much they can spend and where.

The government did grant one wish this time by outlining its council funding plans for the next three years rather than just for the next 12 months, but it only confirmed the figures at the very last minute.

“The initial settlement was just a few days before Christmas,” the director of finance recalls, “with the final settlement later in the year than ever.”

Councils are bound by a statutory deadline of February 28 to ratify their budgets, so with Whitehall only confirming figures this year on the 9th of that month, it made Ms Sinclair’s penultimate month of work more frantic than she’d hoped.

While she remembers that those on the receiving end of Westminster’s council funding decisions have nearly always said there is “not enough”, she believes the pressures now are much greater.

Indeed, government funding for the forthcoming financial year will be broadly flat when council tax is excluded, but cuts of nearly £7 million are expected in each of the following two years.

“Looking back, we didn’t know we were born,” she says.

“When I started here 18 years ago and we were pulling the budget together, the conversations were all about bidding into a pot of money to expand services, not about savings.”

That drastically changed shortly after Ms Sinclair joined the county council in 2007, with austerity kicking in soon after the 2008/09 global financial crisis.

“Wow that was tough,” Ms Sinclair remarks.

“In some of those years we were having to find £40 million to £50 million in savings every year.”

Ongoing cuts from central government mean the amount of money councils have has “significantly reduced” during Ms Sinclair’s career, even as demand has continued to rise.

And for a rural county like Devon, there have been more recent blows too.

“We’re definitely misunderstood,” Ms Sinclair states.

“The government’s policy now is that it wants to refocus funding on urban areas with high levels of deprivation, but if there are winners then there have to be losers too.

“We have pockets of deprivation here but they don’t rate in the way urban ones do.”

She recalls the “shock” when Devon lost a £10 million rural services grant in December 2024, money aimed at supporting rural counties due to the extra expense of delivering services compared to their urban peers.

“Something like that is normally trailed but it wasn’t and it disappeared overnight,” she adds.

“We managed, but it was tough.”

Ms Sinclair, a born and raised Devonian, says the government has “not recognised the additional cost of running rural services”.

“That’s a biggie,” she says.

“Devon spends £50 million a year transporting children to school. Other councils don’t have that expense and that’s just one example,” she states, adding that there are plenty more instances where Devon has to pay more to provide services than more urban peers would need to pay.

And that isn’t down to inefficiency, Ms Sinclair stresses, but simple geography. Essentially, for example, a social worker in Devon is likely to have to travel far more miles to visit their clients than one of their city peers.

Given she entered the local government finance sphere straight out of Bideford College by entering into an apprenticeship in 1983 with Torridge District Council, Ms Sinclair has seen the proverbial booms and busts of council funding.

Margaret Thatcher provided a seminal moment for council finances when she introduced compulsory competitive tendering, where councils had to open up in-house manual services – such as maintenance and refuse collections – to private suppliers in a bid to cut costs and improve value for money.

Ms Sinclair, who at that time was employed by North Devon Council, acknowledges local government “didn’t have a great reputation”, and that Thatcher’s policies were aimed at “trying to make it more efficient”.

“Looking back, it was needed and the time was right, but it had a limited life, and that was probably also right,” she said.

“It did drive savings, without a shadow of a doubt, and made the management of those services more performance-orientated and value-for-money focused.”

She says while offering contracts out to the private sector isn’t compulsory in the way it was under Thatcher, the focus on best value remains.

A common refrain nowadays in the corridors of councils up and down the land is ‘efficiencies’, a slightly nebulous phrase that some politicians tend to read as cuts to services.

But Ms Sinclair, who is an employee rather than an elected member stays well away from politics, states that isn’t the case.

“We’ve entered into a partnership with [consultancy] Newton, and that’s about getting better outcomes for adult social care services at low cost,” she says.

“It’s not about taking services away, but about being more efficient and finding better outcomes at lower cost.”

Given adults’ and children’s services make up around 80 per cent of Devon County Council’s revenue budget, making the money work better here is vital.

She points to other initiatives, such as the council’s desire to build its own children’s homes, something that would reduce the reliance on expensive private placements.

Much of Ms Sinclair’s final year in her post has been dominated by the government’s desired shake-up of local councils, known as local government reorganisation (LGR).

If achieved, it will mean Devon’s two-tier system whereby the county council has responsibility for some services and district councils oversight of others – all within the same administrative area – will be replaced with a unitary system.

This will mean Devon’s current 11 councils could be replaced by just three or four larger, unitary-style councils.

That could mean there are fewer roles available in the council sector, particularly at a more senior level.

But Ms Sinclair says that LGR “did not expedite my decision to retire”.

“I was always going to go now,” she says.

Based purely on the numbers, she believes, with the calm confidence she routinely exudes, that Devon County Council ’s proposal makes the most sense.

County Hall believes the county council’s footprint should remain, but just one council should oversee all the services compared to the situation now where responsibilities are split between the county authority and eight districts.

The main competing proposal – 4-5-1 – would merge four existing councils into one council, five of them into another, and leave Plymouth as a unitary.

But Ms Sinclair believes the rival suggestion has overrelied on average costs.

“For instance, the bid has taken the average cost of adult social care and extrapolated it as being the same cost per head of population, but cost drivers don’t work like that,” she says.

“Our modelling is based on where assets and people are.”

Essentially, she states, an area such as the South Hams has more people who self-fund their social care than Torridge does, meaning a strategy that believes those two areas rely equally on council-funded social care would be erroneous.

“We know where the costs fall and we have been able to model that,” she adds.

As she takes stock of her frenetic final year, Ms Sinclair’s thoughts turn to her retirement.

“Some people retire from this type of role and become consultants, but I’m properly retiring,” the 59-year-old beams.

“I’ve got a brand new great niece, Edith, so I’ll be looking after her and, of course, visiting great-grandson Luca.

“And I’ll be spending time with family and friends, and I love crafting, walking, and, of course, holidays.”

While she’ll be “living the life Devon has to offer”, she has a “big holiday” planned soon which will see her embarking on an enviable adventure in North America, including taking in Canada and Alaska, then ending in the Caribbean.

“I think that’s when it will hit me that I’ve retired,” she says.

The Leader of Devon County Council has slammed Exeter’s Labour MP Steve Race over comments he made in the House of Commons today [Thursday] around the provision of children’s service in the county.

Labour desperately pushing its Exeter takeover bid to annex 15 parishes from within Teignbridge District Council, 28 parishes from East Devon District Council and 6 parishes from Mid-Devon District Council to create a “Greater Exeter” Unitary Authority.

Remember Labour has now lost all its seats on Devon County Council and may lose control of Exeter City in May. – Owl

www.devon.gov.uk

In a question to Government minister Alison McGovern on proposals for local government reorganisation, the Exeter MP claimed “children’s services in Devon have been failing for many, many years” and “should reorganisation happen in Devon, as I hope it does, it will be up to those authorities to make sure that services are safely and effectively moved to new structures.”

Councillor Julian Brazil, Leader of Devon County Council, responded: “Steve Race is living in the past, and is clearly not aware of the Government’s latest independent review of children’s services in the county, which praised improvements made in recent years.

“Indeed, the same report warned against the breaking up of children’s services as part of the local government reorganisation as it would hold back further improvement.

“While we are focused on taking care of Devon’s children, Mr Race is attempting to score party political points and wants to drive through proposals that would result in a catastrophe for Devon’s children and many other critical services. Quite clearly, he has not read the report from the Minister’s own commissioner that shows the one thing that is certain to damage children’s service in Devon is the very proposal for the county that he is supporting.

“The people of Devon should not take advice from an MP who is acting in the interest of this failing Government and not in the interest of his own constituents.”

In December last year, Devon’s Children’s commissioner acknowledged significant improvement at the County Council and warned against the risk of breaking up the service as part of local government reorganisation. 

The report from the Department for Education’s Commissioner, Nigel Richardson CBE, recognises significant progress in improving services for children and families, while acknowledging that further work is needed. 

The Commissioner concluded that Devon now has the capacity and capability to improve itself, and recommended that operational control of services should remain with the Council rather than be transferred to a trust. 

The county’s local government reorganisation proposal to the Government is the only one that keeps children’s services together.

The Commissioner’s report concluded: “Anything that breaks that model would risk stopping the existing work in its tracks with an even bigger risk that things would quickly slip backwards.”

Devon County Council also received glowing feedback from Ofsted inspectors last December. The Council was praised for significant progress in services for care leavers following their latest inspection.

In a letter to the Council, Ofsted inspectors highlighted “greater clarity,” “greater effort,” and “a more consistent service.”

It found that the Council’s political, corporate and operational leaders are “overseeing a much-needed programme of improvements across children’s services.”

Is his question to the minister in Parliament, Mr Race added: “I welcome the Government’s move to reorganisation, which will benefit cities such as Exeter.

“Should reorganisation happen in Devon – I hope that it will – will it not be up to authorities to ensure that services are safely and effectively moved to new structures?”

However, another Devon MP also criticised the government process.

Rebecca Smith, the MP for South West Devon, said: “The local government reorganisation consultation for Devon closes today. It has had many responses that have all been completed in good faith.

“Can the Minister reassure Devonians that responses to the consultation will be digested and taken fully into account, especially in the light of the strength of feeling against the plans put forward by the Labour-controlled cities in Devon to expand into Devon’s beautiful green belt, which is surely a land grab to deliver the Labour Government’s housing targets?”

Yesterday, Local Government Minister Steve Reed announced council reorganisation plans affecting Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Essex County Council has already stated it is considering legal action against the proposals.

The proposals will see county-wide social care services currently run by nine councils split between 16 new unitary authorities.  

The Government’s decision on local government reorganisation affecting Devon, Torbay and Plymouth is expected this summer. 

Devon County Council is proposing a county-wide authority, with Torbay and Plymouth unitary councils remaining in place. It would be swift to implement, resilient to financial shocks and have the scale to improve vital front-line services. 

Other options being considered are proposals which would see smaller, less resilient councils created across the county, which would not be financially viable.  

Mr Brazil said he feared yesterday decisions indicates that the Government is not putting the futures of the country’s most vulnerable communities as its first priority. 

A consultation into the proposed changes to local government in Devon ends at 11.59 pm tonight (March 26). For information on all proposals and to submit a response visit Devon LGR. 

The latest tranche of local government reorganisation decisions have been announced in a written statement (or see below). These cover what were traditionally known as Essex (population c 2m) Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (pop.c  2m), Norfolk (Pop c. 1m) and Suffolk (Pop c. 0.75m). These “counties” have been variously divided into five or three unitary authorities and their distict councils abolished.

The 500,000 population guidelines for gaining unitary authority status goes out the window and along with it any prospect of savings. 

“For the other 14 areas going through local government reorganisation, I would like to emphasise that the decisions taken here, and previously in Surrey, do not set any precedent. Decisions will be taken individually, based on the published criteria referred to above, the merits of each proposal we receive, and the local context.” The Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP  Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

[I.e. Steve Reed is cuffing it, a decision making technique much in vogue at the moment.]

Whatever happens, one certain consequence will be a dilution of elected representation. A diminished number of councillors will have a much larger number of constituents to represent over a wider range of services. Adding a strategic mayoral authority on top of all this will not bring local decision making closer to people. A strange thing to do in the name of preparing the way to devolution. Unless you see them as “nimbys”, blocking development. – Owl

Dozens of local authorities face abolition under proposals to merge areas and widen cities, but critics warn savings may be outweighed by social care costs

Max Kendix, Political Correspondent www.thetimes.com

Labour will establish 15 new councils and cut 800 councillors as part of the biggest reorganisation of local government in half a century, in a move the Conservatives accused of being “outright gerrymandering”.

The boundaries of Southampton, Portsmouth, Norwich and Ipswich will be expanded in an effort to boost housebuilding in the suburbs and prevent “nimby” district councils from blocking development.

Forty-three councils across Hampshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk will be scrapped by 2028, ending the system of two-tier local government in these areas. 

The announcement is a retreat from the government’s previous commitment for new councils to have at least 500,000 residents, in favour of smaller councils.

Labour is likely to benefit electorally from the approach, which expands the boundaries of cities, where they are more likely to control the council.

Sir James Cleverly, the shadow local government secretary, said this was “outright gerrymandering from a Labour government desperate to shore up its collapsing support”. 

He accused Labour of “engineering council sizes to fit their own partisan political interests, sidestepping the proper process and dodging accountability.”

At present, county councils preside over transport and social care, while smaller district councils are responsible for rubbish collection and day-to-day planning permission.

In Essex, five unitary councils will replace the county council and all 12 district councils.

Norfolk and Suffolk’s county and district councils will be replaced by three unitary councils in each area. Hampshire will have four unitary councils. Elections for the new councils will take place in 2027, and those councillors will start in 2028.

Ministers say these structures are inefficient, and that getting rid of senior, highly paid posts such as chief executives and finance directors will save about £6 million a year across the four areas.

They hope to replicate the arrangement across England, leading to up to 60 new unitary authorities by the end of the parliament. Transferring the responsibility for managing adult social care to these new councils could come with significant extra costs.

The announcement is a retreat from the government’s previous commitment for new councils to have at least 500,000 residents.

The County Councils Network has previously published evidence that opting for smaller councils of about 300,000 people would increase social care costs by between £180 million and £270 million, by reducing purchasing power and economies of scale.

About 500 to 1,100 extra senior managers would be hired to run social care and children’s services if functions carried out at county level were split between smaller councils, the report estimated.

Government sources have pointed to evidence provided from other sources that suggest that councils of 200,000 to 250,000 people can still end up being a cost-effective approach.

Rachel Reeves argued last week that the government’s approach to land use had “priced young people out of the housing market and hemmed in our most dynamic cities”.

Ministers will point to Portsmouth as being the second-most densely populated local authority outside London, and argue that it needs “space to grow”. In Ipswich, the town boundaries have remained largely unchanged since the middle of the 19th century, even as the population has grown.

Steve Reed, the local government secretary, said the reorganisation “presents a once-in-a-generation chance to make sure our councils match the modern realities of our places, making sure outdated boundaries are not constraining growth, particularly in our towns and cities.” He added that “in too many places, council boundaries are misaligned with the needs of their local communities and how those communities live their lives.”

Statement: The Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

questions-statements.parliament.uk

This Government is undertaking the biggest reform of local government in a generation, ending the two-tier system and replacing it with new single-tier unitary councils. This agenda is key to this government’s vision of local councils that deliver good services for residents and are equipped to drive economic growth, but can empower their communities.

As a government, our number one ambition is growing the economy and putting more money in the pockets of working people. Driving economic growth means acknowledging that cities, towns, and villages don’t all perform the same roles in the national economy – they specialise in what they’re best at. Public service demand also isn’t the same across the country. Some areas have high levels of homelessness and temporary accommodation, others have high need for adult social care due to an older population. Local leaders, both in councils and mayoralties, need to be able to focus on the specific needs of their area.

Reorganisation presents a once-in-a-generation chance to make sure our councils match the modern realities of our places, making sure outdated boundaries are not constraining growth, particularly in our towns and cities. In too many places, council boundaries are misaligned with the needs of their local communities and how those communities live their lives. In Ipswich, for example, the boundaries have remained largely unchanged since the middle of the 19th century, even as population has grown. These outdated and misaligned structures slow down decisions, stifle housing growth, and fragment public service delivery.

This is particularly important for key government priorities on housebuilding, like our target of building 1.5 million homes in England this Parliament. The housing needs of local communities are best met by councils who are closely connected to their communities and understand a place’s local identity. This connection is crucial in ensuring that local government can boost economic growth and design public services that respond to local residents.

Reorganisation must also respect local identity, and the distinctive nature of the rural, urban and coastal communities across our country. We want to see councils that are connected to their local residents and communities; councils that mean something to the people they serve.

DECISIONS

I am pleased to announce today the next step in our vital reforms to reorganise local government. On 5 February 2025, councils in the 21 areas of England that still have two-tier local government and neighbouring small unitary authorities were invited to submit proposals for unitarisation.

We invited six areas to put forward proposals by 26 September 2025 – East Sussex and Brighton and Hove; Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock; Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton; Norfolk; Suffolk; and West Sussex.

My department received 17 proposals in total across the areas. I would like to thank councillors and officers in these areas for their hard work. As the House was informed on 19 November, all the proposals received were taken to consultation, which closed on 11 January 2026. We have now considered each proposal carefully against the criteria set out in the invitation letter of 5 February 2025, alongside the responses to the consultation, all representations and all other relevant information to assess the proposals. In summary, these criteria are:

• whether each proposal achieves for the whole of the area concerned the establishment of a single tier of local government;
• whether the councils are the right size to achieve efficiencies, improve capacity and withstand financial shocks;
• whether the unitary structures prioritise the delivery of high quality and sustainable public services to citizens;
• whether councils in the area have sought to work together to come to a view that meets local needs and is informed by local views;
• whether new unitary structures support devolution arrangements;
• whether new unitary structures enable stronger community engagement and deliver genuine opportunity for neighbourhood empowerment.

Decisions on each area have been made on a case-by-case basis, on its own merits, respecting the differences of local circumstances and local people’s views. In two areas, I have not yet made a decision, and will make a decision as soon as practicable, so reorganisation can be completed on the planned timeline.

Today, I have written to the Leaders of councils setting out decisions and/or next steps for all six areas. I have decided to implement the following proposals, subject to Parliamentary approval, in these areas:

Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock: 5 unitary proposal, creating the councils referred to in the proposals as:

• West Essex Council (current local government areas of Epping Forest, Harlow and Uttlesford)
• North East Essex Council (current local government areas of Braintree, Colchester and Tendring)
• Mid Essex Council (current local government areas of Brentwood, Chelmsford and Maldon)
• South West Essex Council (current local government areas of Basildon and Thurrock)
• South East Essex Council (current local government areas of Castle Point, Rochford and Southend-on-Sea).

Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton: 5 unitary proposal (option 1A) submitted by Eastleigh, Fareham, Hart, Havant, Portsmouth, Rushmoor and Southampton councils, creating the councils referred to in the proposals as:

• North Hampshire Council (current local government areas of Basingstoke and Deane, Hart and Rushmoor)
• Mid Hampshire Council (current local government areas of East Hampshire, New Forest, Test Valley and Winchester, less 11 parishes from all 4 areas)
• South East Hampshire Council (current local government areas from East Hampshire, Fareham, Gosport, Havant, Portsmouth, 3 parishes from East Hampshire and 1 parish from Winchester)
• South West Hampshire Council (current local government areas of Eastleigh, 4 parishes from New Forest, Southampton and 3 parishes from Test Valley)
• Isle of Wight Council will remain as a separate unitary authority.

Norfolk: 3 unitary proposal, creating the councils referred to in the proposals as:

• West Norfolk Council (current local government areas of Breckland, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, and 9 parishes from South Norfolk).
• Greater Norwich Council (current local government areas of Norwich, 19 parishes from Broadland, and 16 parishes from South Norfolk).
• East Norfolk Council (current local government areas of Broadland (less 19 parishes), Great Yarmouth, North Norfolk, and South Norfolk (less 25 parishes)).

Suffolk: 3 unitary proposal, creating the councils referred to in the proposals as:

• Central and Eastern Suffolk Council (current local government areas of West Suffolk, 21 parishes from Mid Suffolk, and Babergh (less 31 parishes)).
• Western Suffolk Council (current local government areas of Mid Suffolk (less 29 parishes), and East Suffolk (less 25 parishes).
• Ipswich and South Suffolk Council (current local government areas of Ipswich, 31 parishes from Babergh, 8 parishes from Mid Suffolk, and 25 parishes from East Suffolk).

In implementing the above proposals for reorganisation in Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight; Norfolk; and Suffolk, I will exercise my power to modify the base proposals received from councils, in order to make the boundary changes that the councils requested.

Further information on the decisions taken in these areas can be found in the letters to council leaders in the areas, which will be published on gov.uk later today. A summary of the responses to the consultations for proposals in these areas will also be published today.

In East Sussex and Brighton and Hove and West Sussex, after carefully considering the four proposals received across the areas, I have not yet made a decision, due to concerns regarding all four of the proposals I received. But I would like to reassure the House that I am still fully committed to delivering reorganisation in these areas with elections in May 2027 and changes coming into effect from April 2028.

I am considering modifications that could address my concerns, including an option for potential modification of the proposals for further consultation. I have set out further details in a letter to council leaders this morning

I would also like to confirm our commitment to repay in-principle £200m of Thurrock Council’s debt in 2026-27. This is a significant and unprecedented commitment which reflects an assessment of value for money for national and local taxpayers, given the significant unsupported debt at the Council linked to historic capital practices. This follows the recent announcement in October 2025 as part of reorganisation in Surrey to repay in-principle £500m of Woking Borough Council’s debt in 2026-27.

We have not taken these decisions lightly and they have not been made simply because debt is high at these councils. The decision for Thurrock Council reflects an assessment of value for money and acknowledgement that, even after significant local action to reduce debt, the Council still holds significant unsupported debt that cannot be managed locally in its entirety. I would like to thank the Council’s current leadership for its grip of the financial situation and to recognise the progress that has been made to reduce debt.

Further detail on this can be found in the letter to Essex council leaders, which will be published on gov.uk.

To prevent failures like those seen in Thurrock and Woking from happening again, we will now bring into operation the statutory powers enacted in 2023 – but never used by the previous government – which allow direct intervention where authorities take excessive risks in their borrowing and investment practices. These powers will ensure that essential capital investment in services, housing and growth can continue, but within a much stronger framework of safeguards to protect taxpayers from costly and avoidable failure. We will soon launch a consultation to engage with the sector and stakeholders in developing and implementing these powers.

I am pleased to be able to confirm how the £63m in transition funding announced in February will be allocated – making this the first government to provide funding for the reorganisation process. We will provide at least £900,000 for each new unitary authority to help establish effective services and governance arrangements, ensuring funding is provided fairly, consistently, and as quickly as possible. This will mean the Essex invitation area receives £4.5m for five new unitary councils; the Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton invitation area receives £3.6m for four new unitary councils; the Norfolk invitation area receives £2.7m for three new unitary councils; and the Suffolk invitation area receives £2.7m for three new unitary councils. We will also provide the Surrey invitation area with £1.8m for two new unitary councils. This approach reflects the differing levels of complexity involved across areas and allows for a small central reserve to be used later for targeted support if needed. Funding will be issued through established, flexible grant mechanisms and my officials will be in touch with councils to confirm next steps.

NEXT STEPS

Delivering reorganisation for the benefit of all residents is a shared endeavour, and ongoing collaboration will be vital to ensure that these reforms are implemented with the interests of residents at their heart.

We remain committed to the timetable we have set out previously, with elections to the new unitary councils taking place in May 2027, ahead of them going live and delivering services in April 2028.

For the other 14 areas going through local government reorganisation, I would like to emphasise that the decisions taken here, and previously in Surrey, do not set any precedent. Decisions will be taken individually, based on the published criteria referred to above, the merits of each proposal we receive, and the local context.

I will deposit in the House library copies of the letter and documents I have referred to, which are also being published on gov.uk today.

Background

Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly received over €1 billion in EU funding from 2000 to 2020, including Objective One status, because its GDP was below 75% of the EU average, making it one of the poorest regions in Northern Europe.

Following Brexit, they were allocated £186 million to spend on local investment through the Shared Prosperity Fund. This funding runs out at the end of March. Cornwall got nothing in the recent “Pride in Place” handouts that mostly went to urban areas.

Cornish identity plays a big role – but is it backed up by science?

In 2014 “The Cornish” were recognised as a national minority under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the same status as other Celtic communities the Scots, Welsh and Irish.

On the question of “Cornish Identity” Owl’s scientific correspondent has some interesting observations to make. The science doesn’t fit comfortably with this idea.

A paper published in “Nature” in 2015 examined the fine-scale genetic structure of the British population. What this examination showed was that those of deep Cornish heritage did form a distinct genetic subgroup in Britain. But it also showed that those with deep Devonian heritage also formed their own distinctive subgroup. Furthermore, only these two counties, Devon and Cornwall, in England had distinctive populations that mapped the county boundaries. Other genetic groupings were more widely distributed with some significant overlapping as well. 

The genetic differences between Cornwall and Devon are comparable to those between islands in Orkney. 

The ancestry profile of Cornwall is quite different from that of the Welsh clusters and is much closer to that of Devon and Central/Southern England. ​

The authors argue more generally that in non-Saxon parts of the United Kingdom, there exist genetically differentiated subgroups rather than a general ‘Celtic’ population. 

Now throw into the mix the strict hierarchical rules that Labour is sticking to in its local government reorganisation plan such as: full devolution powers only go to strategic mayoral authorities (SMA); and SMA must preside over two or more unitary authorities. 

Owl has sympathy with the Cornish cousins. We aren’t really that different.

Is Cornwall about to lose its independence bid?

The long-running campaign for Cornish devolution has been brought sharply into focus by the Labour government’s plans to decentralise power from Westminster. But Cornwall wants devolution without being forced into a marriage with Devon.

Martyn Oates www.bbc.co.uk South West political editor

Cornwall celebrated St Piran’s Day earlier this month. At Westminster, it was marked by a debate led by Camborne and Redruth Labour MP Perran Moon.

Events to mark St Piran’s Day are not unusual in parliament. Neither was a call Moon made for the devolution of “bold, flexible and meaningful powers” to Cornwall.

However, his call also fired a shot across the government’s bows just weeks before the Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill is expected to become law.

The campaign for Cornish devolution has been ongoing for decades. The actual process began just over 10 years ago when it was the first rural area in the country to be granted a “devolution deal” in 2015.

In 2023, Cornwall Council negotiated an upgrade to a “Level 2” deal, external with Rishi Sunak’s government, later ratified under Labour.

Cornwall’s established enthusiasm for devolution seems, at first sight, a perfect fit with this government’s determination to roll out “devolution by default” nationally.

But conditions minsters are imposing are problematic for many.

So, what are the problems?

One is the government’s insistence the basic unit for devolution should be two or more unitary authorities (all councils are soon expected to be unitary under government plans) grouped together, becoming a strategic authority.

Cornwall being forced to form a larger unit with Plymouth, Devon or anywhere else is anathema to the majority of Cornwall’s elected politicians, whose red line is devolved powers should be exercised by Cornwall alone.

Ministers also insist the highest level of devolved powers over things, such as planning, will only be granted to areas which accept a directly-elected mayor, who leads the strategic authority.

Cornwall unquestionably wants those top-flight powers.

For one thing, its early adoption of devolution means it has already climbed the lower rungs.

‘National minority’

Last year, Cornwall Council passed a motion calling on the government to formally recognise the county as the fifth nation of the UK, alongside England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The government already accepts the Cornish have a special status in law and in 2014 they were recognised as a national minority under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, much like the Scots, Welsh and Irish.

The idea of a mayor is also firmly opposed by Moon and others – although some opponents of a combined authority say they might reluctantly accept a mayor if it were the price of a good deal for Cornwall alone.

Cornwall, by the by, has form when it comes to possible mayors.

Before it accepted its Level 2 deal under the Conservatives, Cornwall Council’s leadership had sought and been offered a Level 3 deal with a mayor.

Following the realisation that proposal would not command a majority in the council chamber, the plan was abandoned in favour of the less ambitious Level 2 deal.

So linking high-level devolution mayors is not a Labour novelty.

The Conservatives took the same view – but with the crucial difference that they were prepared to offer a mayor to Cornwall alone.

In his St Piran’s Day speech, Moon argued – not for the first time: “Cornwall is a mature, stable unitary authority with deep experience of strategic planning, economic development and cultural engagement.

“It must be treated as a single strategic authority with the same powers available to a mayoral combined authority.”

Cornwall’s devolution must, he says, be “bespoke” because “the Cornish are the only people in the UK with national minority status who do not yet have access to the highest levels of devolution”.

Cornish MPs Noah Law, Andrew George and Ben Maguire have made similar arguments in the Commons.

Maguire once lambasted any attempt to force Cornwall into a mayoral union with Devon as “insulting, unlawful and dangerous”.

But the government has so far stuck to its devolution rulebook. As the legislative process nears its end, nothing has really changed.

Replying to Moon in the Commons, Devolution Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh was perhaps deliberately vague.

“I look forward to continuing to work closely with our Cornwall MPs as we deliver this government’s agenda, secure the devolution deal and work together to ensure that we unlock the huge economic and local potential of this amazing part of the country,” she said.

One ministerial intervention over the course of this saga stands out.

Last November, Local Government Secretary Steve Reed sent a brief note to Cornwall Council.

“In recognition of Cornwall’s distinct local identity and history of programme delivery across the Cornwall footprint, the government is minded on an exceptional basis, to work with you to explore designating the council as a Single Foundation Strategic Authority,” he wrote.

A ‘bespoke deal’?

Were this to happen, he said it would lead to “unlocking the powers and functions available at that level of the Devolution Framework and start Cornwall on its journey to deeper and wider devolution”.

Could this be the “bespoke” deal or, at least, the first step towards it?

Some think so – but it is worth paying close attention to the language used.

A foundation authority is the basic entry-level tier of devolution in the new structure. The guidance attached to the bill is clear that that this attracts only “limited devolution”.

Essentially that is where Cornwall is now – indeed the government already describes the Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority – another Level 2 deal inherited from the Sunak era and rubber-stamped under Labour – as a foundation authority, external.

And the possibility of single authority foundation status is not as exceptional as it might sound.

In 2024, the Devolution White Paper was clear that “in exceptional circumstances the Secretary of State will have the power to designate an individual local authority as a Foundation Strategic Authority only”.

The bill guidance suggests “in rare cases, a single council which previously reached an agreement with government to access non-mayoral devolution” or “where it proved challenging for a combined authority or combined county to be established across a particular area at this stage of its devolution journey”.

Cornwall was one of a handful of councils that had negotiated single-authority devolution deals by the change of government in July 2024 and it always seemed plausible that it would be rolled over into single foundation status.

One other point about these “exceptional” single authority deals comes across loud and clear – they are not supposed to be permanent.

Going it alone

The White Paper says they will be granted “only as a stepping-stone towards forming a Mayoral Combined Authority or Mayoral Combined County Authority”, while the bill guidance describes them as an “interim” arrangement.

The only new thing here really is the indication that the government does not plan to force Cornwall into a union with Devon – though the legislation does explicitly give the secretary of state powers to impose strategic authorities and mayors “without the consent of local areas”.

But going it alone – as the legislation stands – would see Cornwall denied substantial new powers, plus the apparent expectation that it would upgrade to a mayoral combined authority at some point in the future.

Across the country as a whole, the devolution map is now largely coloured in – in principle a least.

The legislative process enshrining it all in law is also down to its last few weeks, with no indication that ministers plan to make a last-minute exception for Cornwall.

But attempts are under way to change their minds.

This week sees further debate in the House of Lords before it comes back to the Commons for the final sign-off.

Cornish Liberal Democrat peer Robin Teverson will be leading the final push for a Cornish carve-out in the Lords.

Amendments in his name would prevent areas with national minority status being forced into a combined authority or being denied top-level devolved powers, even if they refuse to accept a mayor.

‘Right direction’

However, opposition to a combined authority with Devon is not quite unanimous.

One dissenter is South East Cornwall Labour MP Anna Gelderd, whose constituency borders Devon and has economic ties.

“A Cornwall-only deal risks being left on the starting blocks as other areas race towards improvements, as we remain on the foundation-level settlement,” she said.

“On the other hand, a combined authority deal could unlock transformative funding and powers that Cornwall might not secure on its own.

“To succeed, this approach would need to ensure that Cornwall’s voice isn’t drowned out, or that resources are unfairly distributed.

“With the right safeguards, working with Devon could deliver real benefits while respecting Cornwall’s identity, history, and ensure better outcomes for residents.”

Fifteen months into this process, we should know soon whether ministers are prepared to budge.

The final word goes to Perran Moon, who claims “we’re right at the sharp end of this process now”.

He said: “We met the minister last week to go through some of the key asks… She is speaking to Cornwall Council before the end of this month and we know there are amendments coming up in the Lords.

“So I’m hopeful, I’m optimistic, but I’m not going to promise anything until there’s blood on the paper, so to speak”.

Is this the real reason that Exeter City Council leader Phil “Turkey” Bialyk has made a takeover bid to annex 15 parishes from within Teignbridge District Council, 28 parishes from East Devon District Council and 6 parishes from Mid-Devon District Council to create a “Greater Exeter” Unitary Authority? – Owl

Centre for Cities finds Exeter economic growth and living standards performance among worst in country’s 63 largest places 

Exeter Observer exeterobserver.org

Independent think-tank Centre for Cities has found that Exeter’s economic growth and living standards performance is among the worst in the country’s 63 largest cities and towns.

Its 2026 outlook report focussed on the relationship between economic performance and living standards in the primary built-up areas which it assesses in its annual comparison studies. It also considered data on housing, skills, employment, innovation and productivity in each area.

It found that Exeter saw declining living standards alongside below-average economic growth in the ten years to 2023, placing it among the worst performers in the country alongside Aberdeen, Birkenhead, Burnley, Dundee, Ipswich, Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Wigan.

Disposable income per resident fell in all nine areas. Centre for Cities said that had these places improved living standards on a par with the best-performing areas, their residents “would have had an extra £9,400 in their pockets over that decade”.

Best and worst performers on economic growth and living standards since 2013. Source: Centre for Cities.

Its 2026 report also placed Exeter fourth from bottom on the city’s ratio of private to public sector jobs, one place above Cambridge, and fifth from bottom for average weekly workplace earnings at £628.10.

Earnings in Cambridge, however, were second only to London, and nearly 150% higher than Exeter at an average of £924.50 per week.

As a result, Exeter has the seventh most unaffordable housing in the country even though average house prices here are the lowest among the top ten least affordable cities.

The report also found that Exeter had the highest population growth rate among the 63 places in the study – 15.5% – as the number of people living here increased from just under 120,000 in 2014 to more than 138,000 in 2024 – a rise of 18,610.

Exeter City Council leader Phil Bialyk seized on this finding to lead his budget speech at the council’s meeting a fortnight ago, but failed to mention any of the report’s other insights into the city’s misfortunes.

He also ignored the impact of student numbers on Exeter’s population. During the 2013-14 academic year there were just over 26,500 students registered at the Streatham and St Luke’s campuses, rising to just under 32,500 by 2023-24 – an increase amounting to one third of the whole city rise.

Newtown & St Leonard’s councillor Matt Vizard followed Phil Bialyk at the meeting. He said: “Isn’t it great that Exeter is the fastest growing city in UK? Reflect on that for a moment. That’s incredible, that’s not by accident”.

He added, referring to the last fourteen years during which Labour has been in control of the council: “I think the leadership of the council here over the past decade and more has been absolutely critical to that, as has the work of our previous MP and our current MP for the city.”

Remember that Exeter City Council leader Phil “Turkey” Bialyk prioritised making a bid for this over holding elections and claimed he didn’t have the resources for both.

He has now been forced into organising the elections rather late in the day. It could end up being a double whammy for him.

Doesn’t look like sound judgement to Owl.

UK City of Culture 2029 longlist revealed

Department for Culture, Media and Sport www.gov.uk

• Each place will now receive £60,000 to develop a full application
• The announcement comes as over 230 towns register interest in the inaugural UK Town of Culture competition

Nine places across the UK have been longlisted to be the next UK City of Culture in 2029 and will each benefit from a funding boost to support their bid for the title.

The nine longlisted locations are: Blackpool, Inverness-Highland, Ipswich, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Portsmouth, Sheffield, Swindon and Wrexham.

Winning this title will have enormous benefits for local communities, with previous hosts attracting millions of pounds in additional investment and thousands of visitors to their area, as well as generating new jobs.

Today’s announcement comes as over 230 towns have thrown their hat into the ring to become the UK’s first-ever Town of Culture by registering their interest in bidding for that title. Many towns have also declared that they will be submitting a bid, to highlight their unique story and the elements of their local culture and heritage that they would celebrate should they be successful.

The competition is open to applications from small, medium and large towns for just under two more weeks, with the winner then tasked with delivering a vibrant cultural programme in 2028.

Both of these competitions are part of the Prime Minister’s ambition to restore pride in every part of Britain. Throughout this year, both competitions will continue to shine a light on local visions and voices from across the UK, which will encourage local investment, create a lasting sense of pride, and open doors to the arts for everyone.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said:

For far too long, opportunity has not been shared equally across the country. The UK City of Culture and new UK Town of Culture competitions recognise the enormous contributions made by communities all over the UK who are all part of the story of who we are as a nation.

I look forward to seeing what the nine longlisted places have in store as they progress in the competition. I also urge any towns thinking about entering the UK Town of Culture competition to seize this opportunity and get involved. It’s a chance to show the country what makes them unique and shine a spotlight on their cultural offer, enriching the lives of local people.

The UK City of Culture longlist was recommended by an independent expert advisory panel, chaired by Sir Phil Redmond and supported by Deputy Chair, Claire McColgan. Panel members have been selected based on their wide range of expertise from across the UK.

The longlisted places will now work to finalise their bids, which will explain how they would use culture to create transformational opportunities and better lives for people living in their local area.

All nine longlisted places will receive £60,000 each to help them to develop their full bids for the competition – up from £40,000 since the last competition.

For the first time ever, there will be a confirmed cash prize of £10 million for the UK City of Culture winner to help them deliver a show-stopping year of rich cultural activity rooted in their unique identities and drawing on local strengths and stories. The three most impressive bids from places that reach the shortlist but are not selected as the winner will receive £125,000 each to help them to take forward elements of their bid.

Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat MP for Honiton & Sidmouth, said: “South West Water is a disgrace. I wrote to the chief executive about spills at Salcombe Regis last October, and received the cliched reply about ‘we take the issues raised seriously’. Rubbish!”

[Meanwhile David Reed MP for Exmouth and Exeter East is presumably still striving to stay “on the same page” as everyone except his constituents while his predecessor Simon Jupp continues reaping the benefits of being Director of Corporate Affairs to the Pennon Group (parent company of SWW) – Owl]

A Times investigation shows there were nearly 15,000 dry-day sewage spills last year. Water companies could face prosecution as swimmers fall ill

Adam Vaughan, George Willoughby www.thetimes.com

Scores of illegal sewage spills into rivers and the sea took place across England on average every day last year, a Times investigation has found.

Documents, data, residents’ accounts, video and analysis show a widespread picture of companies illegally breaching permits regulating sewage spills from about 2,500 outfalls. The findings led regulators to warn that water companies face prosecution if they do not act.

Hundreds of thousands of raw sewage discharges from outfalls each year are legally permitted due to heavy rainfall. However, spills after a dry period of more than 24 hours are defined as illegal by the Environment Agency. 

The Times can reveal the true annual extent of those criminal incidents for the first time. 

There were almost 15,000 dry-day spills last year. South West Water had more than 4,300 discharges, making it the most serious offender. It was also responsible for the two worst sites in the country, both near beautiful beaches in Devon.

Debt-laden Thames Water, which is at risk of collapsing into temporary nationalisation, caused nearly 2,000. Even Severn Trent, the poster child of best practice in the water sector and the only company to be awarded the top environmental rating by regulators, was responsible for about 1,600.

The spills by ten companies are not just illegal but pernicious. Wild swimmers have come to expect discharges after heavy rain but not after a dry day, putting them at greater risk of falling ill. The pollution is also more concentrated, making it more harmful for fish and other aquatic life.

Feargal Sharkey, the Undertones star and water campaigner, said the figures showed an “absolute exploitation and abuse of both environment and customers”. The angler turned activist, 67, noted the spills only related to those at sewage treatment works, so “god knows” what was happening in the rest of the sewer network.

He said: “Clearly government is now complicit in presiding over one of the greatest acts of criminality and lawbreaking that we’ve witnessed in the modern world in this country. The truth is, government needs to start bringing criminal charges against the executives and boards of those water companies that were knowingly, wilfully disregarding the law.”

Water companies have previously tried to cast doubt when campaigners accuse them of illegal spills, because so many are legally permitted when rain overwhelms capacity. But the dry-day figures are self-reported by the companies and not in dispute.

Since January the sector has been privately submitting the incidents to the Environment Agency, which believes they are overwhelmingly illegal. The numbers were released to The Times under transparency laws.

Detail for South West Water

The figures were then further analysed by Surfers Against Sewage, a campaigning charity, which found that raw sewage had been dumped in 142 official swimming spots around England. Four fifths of those bathing waters were usually “good” or “excellent” quality, the two best possible ratings.

Portreath in Cornwall, Fell Foot at Windermere, Cumbria, and Totland Bay on the Isle of Wight were among the worst-affected bathing waters, the campaigners found. During the May-to-September bathing season, when most people swim, 43 of the 142 were hit by a total of 838 hours of sewage spills on dry days.

The charity linked dry spills to 20 people falling sick, based on swimmers submitting reports to its app last year. Reports were logged across 14 locations, and Sidmouth, Gyllyngvase and Westward Ho! had numerous cases. One person, who was forced to take eight days off work, had their sickness attributed by a doctor to poor water quality. One of the 20 reports was for a child under the age of five.

The group counted cases where people swam within 3km of a spill location, covering the duration of the discharge and 24 hours afterwards. Giles Bristow, chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage, said: “Water companies’ brazen disregard for the law is creating a public health emergency right under our noses.”

The Times can disclose that the Environment Agency is ordering water companies to draw up action plans by the end of the year for any sites in 2026 where numerous dry-day spills took place. Phil Duffy, chief executive of the Environment Agency, said: “If we don’t see the progress needed from the industry, we will take further robust action including prosecutions.” He called the agency a “changed regulator”.

The worst site in England was a sewage treatment works run by South West Water at Salcombe Regis. Just south of the village in south Devon, it discharges into a stream that runs to the sea, where it emerges at Salcombe Mouth beach. It discharged raw sewage into the stream 117 times on dry days last year. They took place despite the company claiming last month it had “drastically” reduced spills at the works, which it had blamed on pipes connected to the wrong drains.

South West Water wastewater treatment works at Salcombe Regis, Devon – Mark Passmore for The TimesSalcombe Regis

Susan Davy, who had been chief executive of South West Water until she retired in December, is understood to live nearby. The company is investigating the sewage treatment works, Environment Agency emails seen by The Times show.

Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat MP for Honiton & Sidmouth, said the pebble beach was a picturesque spot. He said: “South West Water is a disgrace. I wrote to the chief executive about spills at Salcombe Regis last October, and received the cliched reply about ‘we take the issues raised seriously’. Rubbish!”

An outlet pipe near the South West Water Salcombe Regis treatment Works – Mark Passmore for The TimesSalcombe Regis

The second-worst site was a sewage works at Croyde in north Devon owned by the same company. It discharged 113 times right next to Croyde beach, a popular surfing spot and holiday destination. The coastline is designated a national landscape, a protected area formerly known as an area of outstanding natural beauty. South West Water also had the joint-fourth-poorest site, Abbotsham in north Devon, which had 86 spills into Kenwith stream.

Southern Water’s Lavant sewage treatment works was third, releasing raw sewage 96 times into the River Lavant, one of England’s globally rare chalk streams. Passing through Chichester, the waterway runs to Chichester Harbour. The harbour has several environmental designations recognising its importance for wildlife.

Photos and videos of the Lavant downstream of the Southern outfall, shared by the resident Rob Bailey, show clear signs of “sewage fungus” in the past three years. The fungus is formally known as a biofilm that is harmful to freshwater life.

Nick Backhouse, chairman of the Chichester Harbour Trust, said the state of the Lavant was now “dire” and Southern’s investment programme was a “small drop in the ocean”.

He said: “Chichester Harbour is one of Britain’s most important coastal landscapes, with rare saltmarsh, mudflats and internationally significant birdlife meeting the freshwater of the South Downs’ chalk streams.”

In joint fourth was Thames Water’s Stewkley sewage treatment works. Last year it caused 86 dry-day spills into a tiny stream, Hardwick Brook, in the Rushy Common Nature Reserve near Witney.

The Times recorded underwater video of the stream near the outfall. Upstream, the stones and plants of the riverbed can clearly be seen. Downstream, the water is extremely murky and aquatic flora is barely visible. Like Salcombe Regis and Lavant, the works have a long track record of high raw sewage spills.

Across England as a whole the total duration of dry-day spills last year was 157,803 hours.

The figures come during The Times’s Clean It Up campaign, which calls for better regulation, and after Channel 4’s Dirty Business drama.

Barbara Evans, a professor of public health engineering at the University of Leeds, said sewer blockages and a lack of capacity at sewage treatment works were two immediate reasons for the illegal spills. She added: “But the underlying reasons are climate change-related intensification of rainfall and long-term underinvestment in maintenance and upgrading in the system as a whole.”

Official figures at the end of this month are expected to show a significant fall in total legally permitted sewage spills last year because it was so dry last year. The decrease will be from a record high of 3.61 million hours in 2024.

Water UK, the industry body, said: “No spill is ever acceptable. Water companies are working to end them as fast as possible by tripling investment. Companies are investing £12 billion to halve spills from storm overflows by 2030 including relining and sealing sewers to prevent groundwater infiltration — one of the main causes of dry day spills.”

South West Water said: “Our customers want to see immediate action to reduce the use of storm overflows and this is our absolute priority — we have a record, multibillion-pound investment programme in place and while change on this scale takes time, we are already seeing results and we have committed to complete this work a decade ahead of government targets.”

Thames Water said: “Heavy rainfall can have an instant, adverse impact on our sewer infrastructure. However, over wider catchment areas rainwater and groundwater moves much more slowly, filtering through different geological formations at different rates. As a result, there can be a delay between a period of heavy rain and the increased flow reaching an overflow point, sometimes even occurring during dry weather.”

Steph Pullan, director of asset management at Yorkshire Water, said: “We know our historic performance hasn’t been as good as it should have been and we are focused on delivering improvements for our customers and the environment.”

Southern Water said groundwater levels in Lavant had been exceptionally high. Nick Mills, the director for environment and innovation, said: We’re tankering and pumping around the clock, and when that’s not enough we use storm overflows under Environment Agency oversight to keep communities safe.”

South West Water says: “Remuneration is conditional on delivery of key objectives…”

I.e. Read the small print! – Owl

Tens of thousands have signed a petition amid the sewage scandal

(45,800 signatures this morning – add yours today on link below).

Lauren Beavis SWNS, Abigail Neep www.devonlive.com

A Devon family forced to cut swimming trips to their local beach over sewage fears is calling for a ban on bonuses for water bosses.

The Astleys live 20 minutes from Sidmouth beach in Devon, and they would visit often, saying they ‘lived and breathed’ by the water.

Marc, 61, his wife, Laura, 47, and four children, Sofia, 13, Sam, 14, Thomas, 17 and Molly, 19, are used to taking their swimmers, kayaks and paddleboards to the sea and local rivers all year.

Thomas even swam in the sea every month for a year in fancy dress to raise money for marine conservation.

Thomas Astley swam in the sea every month for a year in fancy dress to raise money for marine conservation

But as the years have gone by, the family’s “beloved” trips to the beach have become increasingly less frequent due to sewage spills revealed to them via the Surfers Against Sewage app.

The “heartbroken” family have also been left unable to swim in their local waterway, the River Otter, which has been revealed as one of the most polluted rivers in the country.

They have been forced to cut their swimming trips due to sewage fears and are now demanding change.

The “grim reality” has inspired Marc and his children to become dedicated ocean activists and campaigners.

Marc said that watching his son’s determination made him realise he needed to do more, and the family have now set up a petition to call for water company bosses to receive no more bonuses unless environmental regulations are met.

The Change.org petition, ‘Sewage should not = bonuses for bosses!’ has amassed 42,500 signatures in just under two weeks.

The petition comes at a charged moment as water bills are set to rise by an average of 5.4%, roughly £33, from April 2026, taking a typical annual bill to around £639.

Meanwhile, South West Water, the sector’s worst performer for pollution incidents in 2024, discharged an estimated 544,429 hours of untreated sewage into Devon and Cornwall’s seas and rivers.

Data from the Environment Agency Event Duration Monitoring system showed SWW pumped sewage into more than 1,100 different overflow locations, equating to approximately 153 sewage spills per day across the network of South West Water.

Marc, of Ottery St Mary, Devon, said: “We all love being at the beach, swimming at the sea even in December, taking the kayaks and paddle boards out.

“We even have to drag our kids out of the water sometimes when they are blue in the face!

“But when we first started swimming years ago, compared to now, the number of times we have had to knock the beach visit on the head and abandon mission because of a spill is completely outrageous.

“It really is heartbreaking seeing the kids itching to get into the water and having to tell them no because it’s serious and it could damage their health.

“For many people in Devon, the sea isn’t just scenery, it’s somewhere they swim, surf and spend time with their families.

“The response to the petition shows how deeply people care about the health of our rivers and seas.

“Enough is enough!”

Marc said the family created their petition, which is calling for stronger legislation surrounding the extra payments that water company executives receive, after watching Channel 4’s new documentary ‘Dirty Business’ – which explores an investigation into the UK’s sewage scandal.

Marc added: “This is about accountability!

“We were left so outraged and angry after watching the documentary that we were discussing as a family what we could do about it.

“So we created our petition with a simple principle: if environmental standards aren’t being met, executives shouldn’t be receiving bonuses.

“The government has introduced new powers intended to block pay-outs when environmental performance fails.

“But loopholes remain, rewards can still be restructured as retention payments or routed through parent companies.

“To the public, that looks like bonuses by another name.

“Meanwhile, families across the country are still checking sewage alerts before going for a swim!

“It is outrageous.”

Marc added that what particularly “enraged” his family and their community is “the sheer arrogance” of the water companies, who continue to increase their sewage spills.

He said: “These water companies are constantly pumping out PR.

“Even days after ‘Dirty Business’ was released they put out press releases chastising water users for putting items down the loo that they shouldn’t.

“We obviously don’t condone that, but it is just so tone deaf whilst they are the ones being exposed.”

Environmental activists have said the country’s sewage scandal is now a mainstream issue for communities, families and business owners that rely on clean rivers and coastal waters.

Marc says the amount of signatures that the petition has amassed over a short space of time highlights the “strength of feeling” from the country about the issue.

Marc said: “I just cannot understand why, with the level of anger, the strength of feeling there is now and how upset people are, politicians aren’t getting together and saying let’s do something about it.

“How they are still allowed to fudge bonuses is beyond me because water companies have a complete and utter disregard for their clients and customers.”

When the petition reaches 50k signatures, the family are going to contact their local MPs and bring their call to action to all water companies and parliament’s Number 10.

He added: “If you have the power, and can make such a big decision as to allow American planes to land in this country with the view to get them to bomb another country – why can’t you clamp down on water companies?”

Marc now runs Ocean Activist, a community initiative based in Ottery St Mary, which aims to raise awareness of ocean pollution and encourage communities to speak up for cleaner seas.

You can follow the family’s petition here:

https://www.change.org/p/sewage-should-not-bonuses-for-bosses

A spokesperson for South West Water said: “Remuneration is conditional on delivery of key objectives and is overseen and awarded independently. We recognise our customers’ concerns and are tackling the issues that matter to them most.

“We have cut spills at bathing beaches by 20% as part of our long-term plan – a 15-year journey backed by major investment and innovation to reduce the use of storm overflows. Change on this scale takes time, but the results are starting to show.”

Water companies have been in the public eye for the wrong reasons again recently. South West Water was in the dock pleading guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption, while the regulator fined South East Water £22.5m for repeated supply failures that affected more than 280,000 people over three years.

Sandra Laville www.theguardian.com

As the full scale of the sewage pollution scandal has been revealed to the public over the past six years, key figures working for the regulators and the privatised companies have been heavily criticised. Channel 4’s drama Dirty Business has focused attention on individuals at the heart of the scandal.

The Guardian examined what some of the main characters are doing today.

1. 
   James Bevan
   Sir Bevan, a former Foreign Office mandarin, was chief executive of the Environment Agency from 2015 until March 2023. He has been criticised from inside and outside the agency for failing to police the behaviour of water companies, stifling frontline fieldwork, reducing monitoring, failing to protect rivers, gagging staff, and when faced with growing public outcry about the state of English rivers, trying to weaken the tough regulations which repeatedly show how waterways are being choked by a cocktail of sewage and agricultural pollution.
   
   Bevan said he liked the system of operator self-monitoring, in which water companies were given the powers to report their own pollution – described by critics as marking their own homework. The Labour government is ending the practice. Bevan told MPs: “We have some quite sophisticated ways to check that data.”
   He was appointed a non-executive director of Dwr Cymru, or Welsh Water, a not-for-profit water company with no shareholders, in February 2025. The company said: “His extensive experience of environmental regulation and public policy … have been constructive and valuable during a period of significant activity including regulatory reform and investment in the sector.”
2. 
   David Black
   Black was chief executive of Ofwat from April 2022 to 2025. He joined the regulator in 2012 as director of economics, and was later promoted to chief regulation officer.
   
   In his time at the regulator water companies hugely extended their debt burden, above the Ofwat benchmark of 60%, created complicated offshore structures to minimise tax bills and paid high dividends while neglecting infrastructure. The economist Dieter Helm has described the way private companies have run the water industry as “great financial engineering”.
   Black left Ofwat in August 2025 after the government’s decision to replace the regulator. He is scheduled to appear at the Weekend of Mistakes Festival 2026 at Hay-on-Wye this month. He will talk about what went wrong with the UK’s water industry – and how to fix it – at the £150-a-ticket event.
3. 
   Richard Aylard
   Aylard, a retired Royal Navy officer, joined Thames Water in 2002 as corporate responsibility director and then became its external affairs and sustainability director.
   He was at the forefront of public anger over sewage pollution and water outages across south-east England. He is still at Thames Water as a director and special adviser to the chief executive. He has acted as a primary spokesperson for the company on environmental performance, such as discussing investment plans for sewage infrastructure.
4. 
   Matthew Wright
   Wright was chief executive of Southern Water between 2011 and 2016, when the company illegally discharged billions of litres of raw sewage into protected waters across Hampshire and Kent.
   A judge fined Southern a record £90m in 2020 for dumping between 16bn and 21bn litres of raw sewage into some of the most delicate environments in the country and falsifying data by “very significant under-reporting” of its number of illegal pollution spills. Ofwat had imposed a record £126m penalty on Southern in 2019 for the same offences.
   Wright, who was paid more than £5m during his time at the helm when the failings occurred left the company in December 2016 and became UK director of the Danish renewable energy firm Ørsted until 2020. He later worked at National Grid ESO and served as chief operating officer of Exagen Group until February 2024 as it shifted towards renewable energy. He admitted that the offences at Southern Water had happened “partly on my watch”.
5. 
   Susan Davy
   Davy was chief executive of South West Water for five years and was its chief financial officer from 2015 until her retirement in December last year. She ran the company while it was responsible for repeated sewage pollution and was given a two-star rating for environmental performance.
   She was also in charge when it supplied water unfit for human consumption to 2,500 households in 2024, for which it pleaded guilty on 4 March.
   Davy received an £803,000 pay package in the last financial year in her role after receiving £191,000 in long-term bonuses.
   On leaving she said: “Running a water company is always interesting, often challenging, but totally fulfilling. I have enjoyed taking responsibility for the provision of a sustainable service to millions of homes.”
   Ofwat imposed a £24m enforcement package on South West Water last summer after a three-year investigation into its failures in managing wastewater treatment works and sewer networks.
   The regulator said the company had failed to upgrade its treatment works to prevent sewage discharges into the environment, failed to properly deal with the content of its sewers and failed to put in the resources to monitor its treatment works properly.
6. 
   Nicola Shaw
   Shaw, the chief executive of Yorkshire Water, had her bonus banned last year under a law Labour brought in in 2025 to stop bonuses being paid to the heads of companies found to be the worst for sewage dumping.
   Yorkshire Water was given a £47m fine in 2024 for excessive spills from storm overflows as a result of poor maintenance. Ofwat said the company routinely released sewage, failing to ensure that discharges from storm overflows occurred only in exceptional circumstances, which had “resulted in harm to the environment and their customers”.
   Shaw still received extra payments totalling £660,000 from Yorkshire Water’s Jersey-registered parent company, Kelda Holdings, in the 2023-24 and the 2024-25 financial years.
7. 
   Sarah Bentley
   Bentley was the chief executive of Thames Water from September 2020 to June 2023. She joined from Severn Trent and promised an eight-year turnaround for the company, but left with immediate effect after three years following a public outcry over the discharge of raw sewage into rivers and missing targets on pollution and sewer flooding.
   
   Bentley said in 2023 that she would forgo her bonus for the 2022-23 financial year, but the company was accused of a flimsy PR stunt after it was revealed she had been given nearly double her annual salary with a £1.5m pay package. Bentley did little to stem the huge debts Thames Water took on, which stand at almost £20bn, or reduce record sewage pollution into the environment.
   She left during a major Ofwat investigation into illegal sewage discharges from almost three-quarters of Thames Water’s treatment plants. The regulator imposed a £104m penalty on the company in June 2024 for routinely discharging raw sewage into the environment. It said almost 70% of Thames’s treatment plants had operational problems, and that the company had failed to manage its wastewater networks effectively.
8. 
   David Henderson
   Henderson was the chief executive of Water UK, the trade association for the industry, when water companies were negotiating with Ofwat seeking reductions in pollution fines and higher returns on investment.
   Henderson is a former Downing Street official who was a longtime adviser to first Gordon Brown and then David Cameron.
9. 
   David Miliband
   Miliband was environment secretary in October 2006 at the time when the deal for Macquarie to take over Thames Water was agreed. Miliband has been president and chief executive of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a global humanitarian aid organisation, since 2013.
10. 
    Regina Finn
    Finn was chair of Ofwat when it approved the Macquarie deal.
    Macquarie initiated a period of heavy financial leverage, debt accumulation and dividend extraction. It loaded Thames Water with significant debt while extracting about £1.1bn in dividends and interest payments, leaving it with a legacy of high debt. Thames Water has since admitted that the company sweated assets for decades.
    Finn now works as a director at the consultancy firm Lucerna Partners. One of her major clients is Thames Water.

---

A week ago it was Exeter.

Another week, another court, another slapped wrist?

Why do we have to tolerate this? – Owl

South West Water admits illegal pollution in Devon and Cornwall

Jonathan Morris www.bbc.co.uk

Investigators found 336 illegal spills in the seven years to March 2020 at the firm’s Bodmin sewage works. Sewage reached the River Camel, a protected conservation area known for Atlantic salmon, otters and bullhead fish.

Untreated sewage was released 231 times between 2016 and 2021 at Harlyn beach in Cornwall, which is popular with families and tourists.

South West Water pleaded guilty to six illegal spills at nearby Holywell sewage pumping station.

Sewage flowed into Hooe Lake in Plymouth for 88 hours over a bank holiday weekend from 28 August to 1 September 2020 after a failure at the pumping station there.

Clarissa Newell, the Environment Agency’s environment manager for Devon and Cornwall, said: “Getting to this point and securing these guilty pleas was only possible thanks to years of thorough investigation and hard work by Environment Agency officers.”

The Environment Agency continued to do everything in its power to ensure “polluters must pay”, she said.

South West Water said the charges related to “historic matters between 2015 and 2021” and it had invested significantly since then, preventing more than 8,300 spills and cutting storm overflow use by 17% in the past year, with spill duration down by 25%.

It said upgrades had been made at the sites involved and it had worked to remove surface water and illegal connections from the network.

A spokesperson apologised “for what happened in the past” and said the firm remained focused on delivering cleaner rivers and seas.

South West Water was fined £2.15m in 2023 for similar pollution offences.

‘Broken privatised model’

Campaign group Surfers Against Sewage said while it was “all well and good” EA had prosecuted South West Water, it was not hopeful there would be much change.

Jo Morley, Surfers Against Sewage’s head of campaigns and advocacy, said: “In 2023, the same company was prosecuted for 13 charges and fined £2.15m, and here we are again, still swimming and surfing in sewage whilst polluters profit.

“These fines are simply the cost of doing business for water companies who pour sewage into our waters, making us sick whilst they cash in.

“The government must stop pandering to the polluters – the entire broken, privatised model needs to be torn up and replaced to end this scandal.”

Leader of EDDC gets a cameo quote in Leigh Day’s South West Water sewage pollution claim, latest Update 23.02.26:

Claim expands across Devon and Cornwall – Letter Before Action issued to South West Water and parent company Pennon Group PLC. Lead partner Oliver Holland describes this as “an important step in the claim”.

Which towns have been impacted by sewage pollution? 

As sewage pollution continues to affect the lives and livelihoods of coastal and river-based communities throughout the UK, residents and businesses in the South West are taking action. They are bringing a group legal claim against South West Water Limited (South West Water) and Pennon Group Plc in relation to allegations that these companies are responsible for sewage pollution affecting their coastal communities.   

The claim was initially brought on behalf of residents and businesses in Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton. It has since expanded to include other towns and beaches across South West Water’s area of appointment that are among the worst affected in the region. These include:  

• Dawlish Warren and Dawlish (Devon) 
• Sidmouth and Salcombe Regis (Devon) 
• Teignmouth and Holcombe (Devon) 
• Fistral Beach (Newquay, Cornwall) 
• Longrock Beach (near Penzance, Cornwall) 

As highlighted in the recent Channel 4 docudrama, Dirty Business, sewage pollution is a widespread and severe issue across the country. The communities identified in this claim are among those most severely affected across the South West. 

Local beaches play a vital role in these communities, with local economies heavily dependent  on tourism. They are also culturally and socially significant, providing opportunities for sea swimming, water sports and access to the coastline. However, according to local reports, South West Water repeatedly discharges large volume of untreated sewage, with detrimental consequences for the condition and usability of these beaches.

The effects of these discharges have been acknowledged by both the Environment Agency and South West Water. In recent years, the Environment Agency has issued numerous ‘Advice Against Bathing’ notices in recent years, and South West Water has regularly stated on its website that discharges may affect bathing water quality.

More broadly, beaches across the South West have faced repeated disruption as a result of sewage pollution. The leader of East Devon District Council, Paul Arnott, has described the situation as an “ongoing civil emergency” following repeated closures from Seaton to Sidmouth. 

In 2022, Surfers Against Sewage identified Longrock beach as “joint worst” in England for sewage alerts. More recently, during the August 2024 Bank Holiday weekend, red flag warnings were raised on Exmouth Beach to prevent people from entering the water. Fistral beach has also been affected, with sewage alerts leading to the cancellation of surf events.

Go to the Leigh Day website to find out how to join.

Following last week’s Channel 4 docudrama on sewage pollution and the attitudes of the privatised water industry and regulators ” Dirty Business”; many National Newspapers wrote follow on pieces at the weekend.

The Guardian article started by describing Sarah Lambert’s experience and quoted Andy Tyerman of Exmouth’s anti-sewage pollution campaign Escape: “The situation is not getting better, things are getting tangibly worse.”

Dirty water, death and decline: the inside story of a privatisation scandal

www.theguardian.com (extract)

Sarah Lambert took her usual morning swim for 40 minutes off Exmouth town beach before her volunteer shift helping disabled people get access to the water.

A wheelchair user herself, Lambert’s regular sea swims twice a week between the lifeboat station and HeyDays restaurant were the perfect form of exercise for her disability.

It was August 2024, and a dry summer’s day on England’s south-west coast.

At 4.15pm, lifeguards shut the beach, erected red flags and asked people to leave the water after East Devon district council was alerted to a catastrophic burst of the main pipe pumping sewage to the town’s Maer Lane treatment works.

But it was too late for Lambert. She started vomiting later that day and was admitted to hospital suffering life-threatening sepsis after being infected by E coli and Citrobacter bacteria, both of which are commonly found in sewage.

Anger about the state of the privatised water industry in England intensified this week after the screening of Channel 4’s docudrama Dirty Business. It weaves the human tragedy of the death from E coli O157 poisoning of eight-year-old Heather Preen in 1999, who had paddled just the other side of the Exe estuary from Lambert’s swimming spot, with the unfolding of an environmental and public health crisis. It explores three decades of underinvestment by water companies, uncovered in part by amateur sleuths Peter Hammond and Ash Smith, as well as the cosy relationship between the water companies and those meant to be holding them to account.

Lambert is now frightened and anxious about sea swimming, the form of exercise she used to love. “I was seriously ill, I spent a week in hospital before I had to have 10 more days of intravenous antibiotics at home,” said Lambert, 47, who is part of a group environmental legal claim against the local water company, South West Water.

“It took me a long time to recover. I am disabled, so I am quite vulnerable, and I moved to Exmouth to be coastal. The sea is just on my doorstep, but I don’t swim there any more. None of this is right, none of this is acceptable.”

England remains an anomaly across the world, as the only country apart from Chile where water, a natural resource, is owned by private companies for profit. The then Conservative prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, promised in 1989 that privatisation would deliver higher investment.

But as far back as 2002, ministers were warned in a report, which has remained secret, that privatisation would allow large external private equity shareholders to load companies with debt, and the financial regulator Ofwat inevitably would lose any regulatory control.

Now, Prof Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the UN special rapporteur on the human right to clean water, has singled out the English system for criticism, saying water should be managed as a publicly owned service, rather than run by private companies set up to benefit shareholders.

Lambert, like others across the country who closely monitor the performance of their water companies, agrees with the UN rapporteur.

“The situation is not getting better, things are getting tangibly worse,” said Andy Tyerman, of Exmouth’s anti-sewage pollution campaign Escape. “South West Water set its own target for 2025 to be a four-star performer. But they have never been anything higher than two-star for more than 10 years. They set a target of no more than 20 sewage spills on average; last year there were 40 spills on average. We seem to be going backwards to the 1990s.”………

The water company whistleblowers exposing shocking practices

The Times (Extract)

(Feargal Sharkey) says he has been contacted by a huge number of people in recent days who were infuriated by Dirty Business. “It portrayed in the starkest way possible the brutal reality of what’s been going on in the background: that even behind all of these sensational headlines and the Times campaign and the work that everybody’s done, you see the lengths the water companies, the Environment Agency and indeed the government, were going to to wilfully look the other way. Everybody in the country should be outraged. Peter and Ashley are just the beginning of an absolute tidal wave of anger that’s heading in the government’s direction.”

SWW pleaded guilty at Exeter magistrates’ court yesterday.

Mr Joseph Millington, acting on behalf of the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) , called for the sentencing to take place at the crown court, where larger fines can be issued.

He said: “Given the high-profile nature of this case, and to ensure that the message is heard loud and clear by local residents that the criminal justice system will treat offences of this nature with the utmost seriousness, we respectfully submit that the crown court would be the most appropriate venue to deal with this case,”

But Mr Dominic Kay KC, representing South West Water, argued that sentencing should take place at the magistrates’ court. He said the company’s view was that the incident was at the “medium” level of culpability in sentencing guidelines.

Read on to find out who won this particular argument: the DWI or SWW? – Owl

Alex Ross www.independent.co.uk

A total of 143 people were confirmed to have caught the waterborne disease, which causes sickness and diarrhoea, after it entered the water network in Brixham almost two years ago, due to a damaged valve in the network.

The company, which initially said the water was safe to drink as cases first emerged, issued a “boil water” notice to thousands of households and businesses, instructing them not to drink tap water without boiling it first.

South West Water has admitted supplying water unfit for human consumption after an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in a Devon seaside town that left dozens of people ill.

At Exeter Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, the firm pleaded guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption within the Littlehempston Water Supply Zone between 31 March and 1 June 2024.

Inside the courtroom were several residents from Brixham, some of whom claimed to have suffered medical conditions since the outbreak, including irritable bowel syndrome. They said the town had suffered “untold damage” as a result of the outbreak.

Water minister Emma Hardy also reacted to the guilty plea, describing it as a “crucial step toward accountability”. She said: “Contamination of drinking water is rare – but it is utterly unacceptable. The communities affected by this abhorrent incident in Brixham deserve answers.”

The prosecution was brought by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), which investigated the incident along with the UK Health Security Agency. The court heard that it was the DWI’s view that the offence was at the “higher end of culpability”.

Mr Joseph Millington, acting on behalf of the DWI, said: “Not only was this a high-profile case, but this incident impacted a significant number of people across a broad geographical area.

“It resulted in an adverse impact in the public confidence in water supply in the area.”

“Its effects were, some of the complaints say, long felt after the lifting of the boil water notices [which lasted eight weeks]. There was, of course, local inconvenience, economic impact, and impact on education throughout this incident.”

Mr Millington called for the sentencing to take place at the crown court, where larger fines can be issued.

He said: “Given the high-profile nature of this case, and to ensure that the message is heard loud and clear by local residents that the criminal justice system will treat offences of this nature with the utmost seriousness, we respectfully submit that the crown court would be the most appropriate venue to deal with this case,”

But Mr Dominic Kay KC, representing South West Water, argued that sentencing should take place at the magistrates’ court. He said the company’s view was that the incident was at the “medium” level of culpability in sentencing guidelines. District Judge Stuart Smith decided to keep the case in the magistrates’ court for sentencing, which will take place in June.

Among those in the public gallery was resident Tanya Matthews, who was one of the first people to report feeling unwell on social media, triggering a wave of similar complaints. After falling ill, the 42-year-old said she went to hospital with continued stomach complaints, and now suffers from irritable bowel syndrome.

She told The Independent: “I’m just glad we’ve got this far and someone will take accountability for what happened. The town and its people have suffered untold damage from the outbreak, and now we are being heard.”

Following the outbreak, locals had complained about a lack of communication from the company and the knock-on impact of the incident on tourism for the town.

There was also anger after South West Water initially said the water was safe to drink on 14 May, after the first confirmation of cases of cryptosporidiosis, before issuing the “boil water” notices a day later.

Following the outbreak, South West Water chief executive Susan Davy, who stepped down last year, said she was “truly sorry”.

Ms Davy said: “To those in the affected area and our customers across the southwest, I am truly sorry for the disruption and wider anxiety this has caused. While incidents like these are thankfully very rare, our customers expect a safe, clean, and reliable source of drinking water.”

Also speaking after Wednesday’s hearing, residents Lisa and Kris Horswill said they still do not drink tap water as a result of the outbreak. “Now they will get fined, but who will that hit? Those paying the bill, of course,” said Mrs Horswill, 54.

Caroline Voaden, MP for South Devon, said the admission was a “long time coming”.

She said: “I am glad that SWW have owned up to their serious failures. This awful event should never have happened.”

Marcus Rink, chief inspector of the DWI, said: “While such incidents are very rare, this incident had a significant impact on the public and the wider community. The court will now decide what the outcome of the failing should be.”

The case was adjourned for sentencing at Exeter Magistrates’ Court in June.

Water firms pleads guilty to Brixham bug outbreak

SWW admitted the offence, contrary to the Water Industry Act 1991, at Exeter Magistrates’ Court. It will be sentenced at a later hearing.

Brixham MP, Caroline Voadon, said: 

“Last summer, the government finally started to overhaul our water industry by promising to abolish Ofwat. But progress has been glacially slow. They must go much further and faster – this industry must be properly regulated and held to account.”

http://www.radioexe.co.uk

Devon’s main water supplier has admitted to providing water unfit for human consumption following a parasite outbreak in Brixham. 

In a hearing at Exeter magistrates’ court today (March 4), the firm admitted a charge brought by the Drinking Water Inspectorate.

In May 2024, the microscopic parasite Cryptosporidium entered the local water network through a damaged valve, leading to four hospitalisations and 143 cases of people falling ill with symptoms such as fever, stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhoea. 

The waterborne disease parasite is found in animals and human faeces, according to the UK Health Security Agency.

For nearly eight weeks, the town was under strict boil water notices. Up to 16,000 homes and businesses were affected and relied on bottled water stations distributed throughout the area. 

The notice remained in effect until July 2024, causing significant disruption to daily life and the local economy.

Over the eight weeks, more than 1,000 technicians, engineers, and scientists worked 24/7 to sanitise the network, with just over 20 miles of pipes flushed 27 times at high velocity. 

The company reported a total cost of £16.3 million in the dedicated tourism recovery fund, as well as a three-year commitment to help the region bounce back from the negative publicity. 

In total, the outbreak cost South West Water £16.3 million in compensation it had to pay to affected customers.

MP Caroline Voadon serves the area, says 

“This admission of guilt has been a long time coming. I am glad that SWW have owned up to their serious failures. This awful event should never have happened.

“But the mismatch between rhetoric and action plagues our broken water industry. Whether it is protecting customers or the environment, too many water firms say one thing, then do another.

“I want to thank the Drinking Water Inspectorate for bringing the case and the many campaigners who worked tirelessly to ensure the anguish they felt during the cryptosporidium outbreak was not forgotten.

“Last summer, the government finally started to overhaul our water industry by promising to abolish Ofwat. But progress has been glacially slow. They must go much further and faster – this industry must be properly regulated and held to account.”

Councillor Denise Bickley, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), has welcomed the publication of the government’s education and SEND white paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving.

Denise Bickley www.devon.gov.uk

“The publication of this white paper is a positive step. It clearly recognises the pressures facing the SEND system and the need to improve outcomes for children and young people.

“The focus on earlier intervention is welcome. Supporting children sooner can make a real difference to their lives and reduce the need for more intensive support later on.

“Clearer national standards and stronger joint working between education, health and care services are also important. Families need greater consistency and confidence, wherever they live.

“The white paper’s commitment to inclusion and workforce growth, including recruiting more teachers, is encouraging. These are essential foundations for a stronger system.

“Teachers need to be allowed to teach – and be respected for the knowledge and experience they bring to their role. Teaching assistants need to be recognised for the vital role they play in schools. We will see how the white paper, as it moves through consultation, addresses this.

“There is an obvious desire from schools and families for smaller class sizes and parents will want reassurance that funding will be sufficient to allow this – although if schools are given the tools to pool funding and work collaboratively, as laid out in the plans, this may well free up funding for complete reorganisation and innovative planning.

“I agree that all children should be stretched, as long as that is a comfortable, encouraging stretch and not pressured – but I am concerned about the suggestion of more statutory testing, now at Year 8.

“In general I like the tone of the paper; that it is a long term ambition with early help and collaboration at its heart. This is shared by Devon County Council.

“We are committed to working constructively with ministers, partners and families as these proposals are taken forward. With the right funding and long‑term planning, this reform has the potential to deliver a more stable and sustainable education system that works better for all children, families and schools.”

A new chapter begins

Devon’s libraries have seen a plot twist in their funding story after a move with “real intent” to secure them more cash.

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

All of Devon’s 50 libraries are undergoing a consultation that could see hours cut and residents asked to travel to a library elsewhere when the one in their home town or village is closed.

But a late finance re-write for libraries was revealed in Devon County Council’s budget, that was backed by its councillors at the full council meeting this week (Tuesday 24 Feb).

Going into the meeting to confirm the council’s £839 million budget, libraries had been expected to find £650,000 in efficiency savings, but that has now been reversed.

The council said £225,000 would go to restoring the book fund back to its £500,000 level, and that an extra £425,000 had been found to support library delivery during any potential changes that could come about after the consultation on how they operate in the future.

The budget for libraries was due to fall from £7 million to nearly £6.5 million, but will now be kept over the higher figure.

Furthermore, the budget revealed that the council had identified £1 million to create a reserve for libraries and rural hubs that it said would “support genuine transformation and community-led improvement”.

Councillor Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin (Liberal Democrat, Torrington Rural) whose cabinet portfolio includes libraries, thanked her colleague Councillor James Buczkowski (Liberal Democrat, Cullompton) for his “hard work and commitment to libraries”.

“Libraries matter deeply and they are not an optional extra or luxury, but a lifeline for many,” she said.

“They are places of opportunity, learning, connection and safety, and for many residents they are the only warm, welcoming and free community space available to them.”

Cllr Cottle-Hunkin, who campaigned to save the council’s fleet of mobile libraries when the council was Conservative-controlled, said the scale of responses to the consultation on libraries had been “incredible”.

“We’ve had 22,000 responses, which is one of the biggest to a Devon County Council consultation and four times more than the library consultation in 2006,” she said.

“It speaks volumes about how much people value their libraries,” she added.

Cllr Cottle-Hunkin added that the £425,000 to support library delivery showed the administration was “serious about listening and responding to what communities tell us”, and that it meant the council would have the “flexibility to act responsibly and meaningfully to the consultation”.

“If we are serious about aspiration, literacy and opportunity, then investing in literacy resources is the right thing to do, and the creation of a £1 million reserve to support library transformation and rural hubs is not a small change but a real investment in doing things differently,” she said.

“It gives us the ability to be creative, to explore new income streams, build resilience, and gives us the flexibility to pilot new ideas to ensure rural and remote areas are not left behind.”

The consultation has stated that none of the county’s 50 libraries will close, but could be grouped into areas where at least one library would be open Monday to Saturday.

This so-called network model has angered some campaigners, though, because they feel that many residents won’t be able to travel to a neighbouring library, especially if they are elderly or vulnerable and rely on public transport.

However, the council has said it is also seeking views on the use of volunteers and community managed libraries, where local organisations could take on day-to-day running with support from the council and Libraries Unlimited.

And there are even potential proposals to use technology to allow registered users to enter libraries outside staffed times.

The consultation closed on 22 February, and the council will now analyse the responses.

Cllr. Paul Arnott has set the record straight on the twists and turns in Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) negotiations that have taken place in Devon in the last year and a half. This has been revealed in papers released for the 25 February EDDC council meeting in response to a question from Tory group leader Cllr. Mike Goodman. 

Backstory Paul Arnott’s ring side seat started in 2024 when East Devon held the chair of the Devon Districts’ Forum as Leader EDDC. Despite denying rumours as late as October 2024 that LGR would be attempted (it was not in Labour’s Manifesto), councils were instructed in December to prepare plans by the following March. Tory controlled Devon County Council (DCC) immediately proposed cancelling the May elections so as not to distract from their “fast track devolution” plan. This was turned down by the government as Owl reported in February (2025) “First Devon county loses bid to cancel elections and join fast track to devolution now its bottom of the league for funding”. The Tories lost control of DCC in the subsequent elections and newly elected county councillor Paul Arnott became Deputy Leader DCC whilst remaining Leader EDDC.

Cllr Mike Goodwin’s question follows up a critical press article he wrote in October last year (referenced) below.

Cllr. Paul Arnott’s reply reads:

As leader of the Council I am very glad to take the opportunity provided by Cllr Goodman to address the matter of LGR, which sits in the wider context of his role as Chair of the Devon Area Conservatives. Cllr Goodman has offered implied criticism of my conduct which he has been aware I have been unable to answer until after submission. [See Devon authority changes need to be clear and coherent, Sidmouth Herald last October]. It is worth noting that at no time has he attempted to discuss this with me.

1. The context in which Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) sits is worth recalling. Although Devolution and Strategic Mayoral Authorities were in the July 2024 Labour manifesto, LGR was not. As late as the Local Government Association Conference in Harrogate in October 2024, ministers were denying rumours that LGR would be attempted. 

2. In December 2024, all councils were written to be MHCLG to say they would be required to prepare outline plans for LGR by March. 

3. Cllr Goodman’s Conservative County administration (he has been Devon chair since January), instead of doing substantial preparatory work, at first attempted in February to cancel the May 2025 County elections which they feared they would lose. (They went on to do so, down from over 40/60 members to 7.) They wanted to turn Devon & Torbay into a single megaunitary, even though this had explicit dissent from Torbay, which would give cover to their “cancelling” democracy. 

4. This outrageous attempt to rob the people of Devon of the right to vote and to earn themselves a further year, perhaps two, of unelected power was denied them by the government. The legacy problem they had thus created is that they had not worked up any credible proposal from Devon CC for the end of March. 

5. For the calendar year of 2024, East Devon held the chair of the Devon Districts’ Forum. I was able to have many discussions which made a number of risk factors in devising a response from EDDC obvious to me.

• The likely attempt, soon proven, that the Conservatives at DCC would attempt to cancel elections 
• on the basis of conversations and common understanding, that Labour Exeter were likely to come up with a Unitary plan which would hugely disadvantage the people of both East Devon and wider Devon, and that they had the ear of the Labour government 
• that Conservative Torbay’s wish was always primarily to stay as a Unitary.

This was a febrile set of circumstances in which politically the two traditional parties of power were likely to favour self-interest.

6. This was unacceptable. The chair of the DDF passed to West Devon in January 2025, and I was happy to work with Districts’ Leaders and CEOs in the context of the above to devise a plan based not on self-interest but in the public interest. The idea emerged of:

• respecting Plymouth’s current status 
• of 4 councils combining into a new unitary, being South Hams, Teignbridge, Torbay and West Devon 
• of 5 councils combining into a second new unitary, being East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon, North Devon and Torridge

7. This was devised in good faith, meeting the population numbers seemingly required and having many other strengths. The obvious concern in the 4:5:1 was that Torbay were not very committed to the 4 (ultimately, they did not support it) and that Exeter were wholly uncommitted to the 5 (ultimately, they too did not support the 4:5:1)

8. In April 2025, the government responded to the various draft submissions, stating that they required full and final ideas by the end of November 2025 

9. In May 2025, County elections were held. The Conservatives lost control (now 7/60) and Reform are 16/60 with no prospect of an administration. In a scenario very nearly mirroring the Democratic Alliance at East Devon, the Liberal Democrats took control of County with NOC but with good relations with the Greens and Independents. 

10.Given my own experience in LGR matters in Devon and as a leader for half a decade, the County Leader asked me to step into the void of the LGR PH at County. This provided me with no conflict of interest, although of course care must be taken. It was known that EDDC would continue to develop the Council instruction to explore 4:5:1. 

11.On being re-elected Leader at EDDC for a sixth term in May 2025, I announced that a new Deputy Leader John Loudoun would lead in internal and external discussions around developing 4:5:1. This has been immaculately observed and I give personal thanks to John and our officers for their excellent work.

12.Unfortunately, on taking up my role in late May, just six months ago with submission looming, it soon became apparent that County had been left without any political direction of travel at all by the outgoing Conservatives. My ask of their officers was to look at 4:5:1 as an option, and also to look at a single Unitary respecting the existing Unitaries of Plymouth and Torbay. This ask arose from evidence presented at County of a sincerely perceived risk of disaggregating children’s and adults’ services into two.

13.While the evidence was being assessed at both the Districts and at County, I am proud that I worked very hard to try and make up for the dreadful democratic deficit looming through the abolition of the Districts by developing the structural and policy concepts for Neighbourhood Area Committees. My intention was and remains that these should be put in place under any future option chosen by the government. 

14.By September 2025, it was becoming clear that in all good faith the Districts, under advice from KPMG and others continued to favour 4:5:1. Meanwhile, the County, itself using sound internal and external advice, favoured 9:1:1. The most fundamental difference in opinions was around interpretation of shared data re social services. There is nothing wrong with such a difference of view which may have arisen from each idea engaging with the data stressing alternative fundamentals. There is nothing awry in this, and it has been common in LGR across England.

15.We then entered the period where submission decisions would need to be made across all Devon authorities. Cllr Goodman errs when he said I “proposed” the idea of 9:1:1 from the County perspective. That was the Leader seconded by another member of Cabinet. I abstained at both councils. I was content to explain the idea of 9:1:1, however, and the people of East Devon and Devon had every right to hear and consider its merits and demerits. Anyone paying attention would have seen my repeated public statements that ONLY 4:5:1 and 9:1:1 observed the key exam question which was that any proposal was required to consider and offer proof that it could work for ALL the authority areas across Devon. I spoke in praise of both proposals only last Friday at DCC Full Council, and have done so consistently including in meetings with DALC and others.

16.The suspected proposals from Labour authorities duly came to pass – for a hugely expanded Plymouth (which is at least an experienced unitary), a hugely expanded Exeter (a city council whose proposed boundary expansions make little sense) and in Labour’s joint submission, an expanded Torbay – which Torbay doesn’t want. The rest of us in Labour’s vision are put in the obviously non-viable “Rural & Coastal” 

17.To answer Cllr Goodman’s question. Despite his attempts to personalise this in council and in the press, I am proud that the two councils I have been elected to have acted impeccably in the last six months to devise proposals which consider the common good of all Devonians, and that we have done so in a situation where both the Conservatives and Labour have pursued “I’m alright, Jack” policies and proposals. 

18.As he knows, the Secretary of State will now consider which proposals will go to stakeholder consultation in the new year. In my view, it is to be hoped that the SoS has the independence of mind to include both 4:5:1 and 9:1:1 as options. I am pleased that both have been put forward.

A group legal claim against South West Water alleging sewage pollution into coastal waters is harming businesses and individuals has been expanded across Devon and Cornwall.

Sandra Laville www.theguardian.com

Thousands more individuals could now join the first environmental community group legal action against a water company over the impact of sewage pollution.

Until now 1,400 people from Exmouth had joined the legal action but Leigh Day said on Wednesday it was being expanded to residents and businesses across Dawlish, Sidmouth, Teignmouth in Devon and Newquay and Penzance in Cornwall.

The claim argues failings by South West Water are wide and entrenched in many coastal towns across the Devon and Cornwall region, rather than just the Exmouth area.

Tina Naldrett, 62, a nurse from Dawlish, has joined the claim, after years in which she has seen the pollution at her beach get worse.

“When the sea is clear, and you can see your feet, the sun is on your back and you hear the gulls, it is free magic,” she said. “But more often I take friends into the water and we see sanitary products floating past, the plastic from tampons, actual effluent and the foam from effluent. It is getting worse.

“Water companies don’t own the sea. We are an island nation, the sea belongs to us all and for water companies to use the sea in this way feels immoral and ethically bankrupt.”

In 2024 South West Water discharged 544,429 hours of raw sewage into seas and coastal waters, including an overflow at Salcombe Regis that discharged for almost the whole year – making it the longest sewage release duration across all the storm overflow sites in England and Wales.

Last July Ofwat issued a £24m enforcement penalty against South West Water identifying systemic failings in the way it maintained and operated its wastewater treatment works and sewer networks dating back to at least 2017.

Spills of raw sewage via combined storm overflows are only allowed, and considered legal, if they take place after exceptional circumstances, such as extreme rainfall, when the system is at risk of being overwhelmed. But more than half of South West Water’s treatment plants were spilling regularly into the environment, Ofwat said.

The legal claim launched in 2024 has attracted more than 1,400 people from the Exmouth, Lympstone and Budleigh Salterton areas. They object to the repeated use of storm overflows to discharge raw sewage into the sea, triggering bathing alerts and beach closures and preventing people from using the coast.

Oliver Holland, who leads the claim, said the expansion of the legal action across Devon and Cornwall was an important step.

“South West Water has a track record of very poor environmental performance, and my clients allege this has badly impacted their lives and livelihoods. By outlining my clients’ claims and expanding in this way, we are ensuring anyone who feels they have been impacted by sewage pollution in Dawlish, Sidmouth, Teignmouth, or at Longrock beach or Fistral beach in Cornwall, has the opportunity to take action.”

South West Water has been contacted for comment.