Monthly Archives: August 2019

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21 Aug 2019

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Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Austerity cuts, Developers/ Development, Local Government Finance

Bodies left to rot for months at sheltered housing after warden cuts

“The bodies of two dead people were allegedly left to rot for months at a retirement home because of ‘callous’ care cuts, residents have claimed.

The latest corpse was found on August 8 at Mussidan Place in Woodbridge, Suffolk, after a neighbour noticed the man’s kitchen was infested with flies.

Residents at the home, which previously used to be sheltered housing before it turned into retirement accommodation, believe the body had been there since June, when they first complained about a bad smell. They said they were shocked by the death but it was not the first.

Another body was found in February and neighbours claim the dead man’s relative told them it had been there since November last year. They said the bodies would have been found sooner if budget cuts hadn’t stripped away wardens who used to check up on residents.

Valerie Kersey, 74, who has lived at Mussidan Place, owned by Flagship Housing, for four years, said: “There’s been a lot of reaction since the latest death.

“You feel guilty, thinking you should have noticed, and you feel angry. It shouldn’t happen. We’ve been through it twice now.”

Residents are urging Suffolk County Council to bring back funding for wardens. The cuts to sheltered housing support sparked complaints from tenants across the region when they came into force in 2018.

Flagship said there is a pull-alarm system in all communal areas connected to a call centre and people could buy individual alarms, but residents say these are unreliable.

Clive Field, 78, said it could take 20 minutes to get through to one the call centres, as there’s “never anyone on the phone.” Trevor Rose, 70, said Flagship failed to respond to complaints about the buildings and had not reassured people after the deaths.

Woodbridge mayor Eamonn O’Nolan, who attended as a first responder when the latest body was discovered, has since held a meeting with residents. He said: “I’m quite frankly horrified that their essential support services have been reduced to zero, in a cold and callous way”. “Two elderly residents have died and their bodies lay undiscovered for weeks and months while their neighbours and the authorities were in complete ignorance of their deaths.

“There is no doubt that had Mussidan Place still had a warden, then at least the bodies would have been discovered immediately.” He said the deaths were tragic and ‘should come as a serious wake-up call for us all’. He added: “It is clear to me that the county council’s social services department is not doing its job.”

Sylvia Keeble, who was a warden for 35 years, said there were 17 sheltered schemes locally when she started, all with live-in staff and then gradually over the years, they got ‘rid’ of them. “We had cutback after cutback until there were just four staff managing 15 shelter schemes”, she said.

Flagship, which made record profits of £33.1m last year, stopped providing sheltered support in 2016. Orwell Housing stepped in with a reduced service, which saw wardens phone round residents each morning and visit if needed. The services stopped completely in April 2018.

Coun Helen Armitage, Labour’s adult care spokesman at the county council, was ‘saddened and appalled by the failings in social care’. She said: “Residents move into sheltered accommodation because they need additional support and security – support and security that regular warden visits used to provide. “Since the Conservatives at SCC have cut their funding, housing associations been unable to plug the gap and have been forced to reduce their services.”

The council said sheltered housing providers had been informed of the proposals to remove funding two years before they came into force.

A spokesman said Flagship and Orwell Housing were both told about the budget changes in 2016.

“This was to provide an opportunity for the providers to develop options on how they may choose to provide support when the grant expired at the end of the 2017/18 financial year.

“Suffolk County Council publishes its proposed budget and any changes to funding are in the public domain. The council is committed to working alongside providers of care and support to deliver quality services to residents across Suffolk.”

The council allocated £234m for adult and community services in 2019/20,
almost half its total £500m budget for the year. It has cut £260m from its overall budget since 2011.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bodies-two-people-left-rot-18977024

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21 Aug 2019

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Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, Greater Exeter, Housing (local), Inequality

“Building more new homes WON’T solve Britain’s housing crisis”

“Britain’s soaring house prices and ‘broken housing market’ have long been put down to a chronic shortage of homes, but new evidence has emerged that building more homes is unlikely to bring prices down.

A paper written by Tony Blair Institute chief economist Ian Mulheirn argues that building 300,000 homes a year wouldn’t make homes in the UK more affordable. Nor, he says, would more homes mean that more people manage to get onto the housing ladder.

The paper, published today by the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence, suggests that 160 per cent of the growth in house prices since the late 1990s has had nothing to do with a shortage in housing supply. Instead, Mulheirn claims that rock bottom interest rates for more than a decade have made borrowing so cheap that those able to buy have ratcheted up their borrowing, causing prices to soar.

‘Building 300,000 houses per year will do very little to bring down house prices in Britain, and next to nothing to raise home ownership,’ he wrote.
‘The real culprit for sky-high house prices is low global interest rates that have made it easy for homeowners and investors to take on large amounts of mortgage debt and pay ever more for houses.’

The figure of 300,000 new homes needed a year has been largely undisputed for the past decade.

In 2004, Kate Barker wrote a landmark review on housing supply for the then Labour government, concluding that 245,000 new private-sector homes a year were needed, plus another 17,000 social housing units, to keep house price inflation down to 1.1 per cent annually. She later revised that number up to 300,000 homes a year.

But Mulheirn disagrees. He points to official data showing that since the 1996 nadir of house prices, the English housing stock has grown by 168,000 units per year on average, while growth in the number of households has averaged 147,000 per year. Even in London and the South East, the number of houses has grown faster than the household count.

As a result, while there were 660,000 more dwellings than households in England in 1996, this ‘surplus’ has since grown to over 1.1 million by 2018. Similar trends are also apparent in Scotland and Wales, suggested Mulheirn.
Nevertheless, UK house prices have spiralled from around 4.5 times median household income in 1996 to a multiple of around 8 today.

The most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics showed across Britain, prices rose 0.7 per cent in June to an average of £230,292 – up 0.9 per cent compared to June 2018.

Mulheirn argued cheap mortgage finance is to blame.

‘Since the late 1990s, mortgage rates have tumbled, with inflation-adjusted interest rates on five-year fixed-rate mortgages, for example, falling from 8 per cent to around 2 per cent today,’ he said. ‘Since mortgage interest rates tend to be the dominant element of the cost of capital for home owners, this change can be expected to precipitate a substantial increase in house prices of a similar magnitude to the 160 per cent increase seen since 1996.’

Meanwhile, he said, a shrinking social rented sector, cuts to housing benefit and slow wage growth among young people are making rented housing less affordable for many even as though private sector rents are stable.
He added: ‘Neither our ownership or rental affordability problems will be solved by hitting the 300,000 target.’

According to the paper a 1 per cent increase in the stock of houses tends to lead to a decline in rents and prices of between 1.5 per cent and 2 per cent, all else equal. This implies that even building 300,000 houses per year in England would only cut house prices by something in the order of 10 per cent over the course of 20 years. ‘This is an order of magnitude smaller than the price rises of recent decades,’ said Mulheirn.

‘If we are to create more affordable houses to buy and rent, the solutions lie elsewhere.’ …”

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-7378649/Building-new-homes-WONT-solve-Britains-housing-crisis.html?ito=rss-flipboard

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21 Aug 2019

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Accountability, East Devon Tories, EDDC, EDDC Governance

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EDDC Tory councillors get called out on pointless (and possibly illegal) criminal checks

Tory councillors Ian Hall and Tom Wright get their knickers in a real twist about Hall’s call for councillors to submit to Disclosure and Barring checks.

Swiftly demolished by Tim Todd in this exchange on Hall’s Facebook page!

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21 Aug 2019

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Accountability, DCC, EDDC, Local Government Finance

“Budget uncertainty forcing councils into further cuts, say MPs”

“Government neglect of deteriorating local authority finances leaves councils with no choice but to prepare for deeper cuts to already depleted services such as libraries, roads and Sure Start centres, a cross-party committee has said.

The housing, communities and local government select committee said continuing uncertainty over budgets meant councils in England would have to “prepare for the worst” and make further service cuts and redundancies over the next few months.

Ministers’ continuing failure to tackle the council funding crisis meant there would be no let-up on a nine-year squeeze on town hall budgets, which had forced spending reductions of more than 40% in areas such as highways, housing, transport and culture, the MPs said.

“This constant stress on local government is now compounded by a failure to even set out how much money they will be allocated in the next financial year,” said the committee chair, Labour’s Clive Betts.

“The time has come for the government to get real with local government funding. They must make clear exactly what services they expect to be provided and dedicate sufficient funding for this to be achieved. People expect well-maintained roads, regular refuse collections and cultural services, yet funding rarely stretches beyond meeting the urgent needs of social care services.”

This month, the Treasury announced that because of delays caused by Brexit, local government would get a stop-gap one-year funding agreement in place of the planned three-year review.

The committee said this uncertainty was causing problems for councils, who were hamstrung by the ministerial failure to deliver on promises to reform social care funding or make clear how plans to fund councils primarily through business rates would work.

“Without clarity about funding in 2020, some local authorities will need to prepare for the worst, making decisions which may unnecessarily reduce spending and represent poor value for money in the longer term,” it said.

Although Boris Johnson has promised to tackle the adult social care funding crisis, there is little sign this could happen soon and councils fear the one-year settlement will in effect lock austerity into town hall budgets for a tenth successive year.

The Local Government Association said last month that deteriorating council finances meant one in five councils in England may be forced to impose drastic spending controls to stave off bankruptcy over the next few months.

Northamptonshire county council, which effectively collapsed into insolvency last year, recently announced that despite drastic measures designed to make it financially stable it faced a £35m budget gap from next April, almost half of which reflected increased demand for statutory services and inflation costs.

The committee called for an injection of £4bn to restore council funding levels to 2001 levels, although it noted that rising demand for adult and children’s social care meant that even this sum would not be sufficient to cover a predicted £5bn gap between town hall funding and needs in 2020-21.

“If HM Treasury wants local government to continue providing the services it currently does, it needs to provide local government with a significant real-terms increase in its spending power,” the MPs said.

Over the longer term they urged a broader overhaul of local authority finance, including the creation of new council tax bands, unchanged since 1991, to reflect rises in housing values, as well as a review of the complex and risky plans to fund councils through business rates.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “We’re providing local authorities with access to £46.4bn this year – a real-terms increase. Ultimately, councils are responsible for managing their own resources and we are working with local government to develop a funding system for the future.”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/aug/21/budget-uncertainty-forcing-councils-into-further-cuts-say-mps?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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21 Aug 2019

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Accountability, Claire Wright, DCC, General Election, Health and Safety, Phil Twiss, Sarah Randall Johnson

Breathtaking hypocrisy of DCC Tories on Adult Health Scrutiny Committee

Below is a story about Sara Randall, Chair of the Adult Health Scrutiny Committee and a County Councillor for Broadclyst, Richard Scott, a committee member and Exmouth County Councillor and Phil Twiss, a committee member and Honiton County Councillor meeting with carers. Sue Younger-Ross and a DCC Officer Timothy Ridgeway were also attendance.

These are Tory councillors who have continuously and viciously thwarted the Herculean efforts of Independent Councillor Claire Wright to get a fair deal for carers, to investigate the county’s provision for health and social care and refused to discuss any aspect of Devon’s Clinical Commissioning Group’s massive funding cuts. A group which also refused to fight the closure of community hospitals in Axminster, Honiton, Seaton and Ottery St Mary, (though Twiss did make a very mild stand, knowing full well he would be outvoted by his pals).

It is a sure sign there is an election brewing and a breathtaking exercise in hypocrisy.

The article is here:

https://honiton.nub.news/n/honiton-carers-meet-the-county-councils-scrutiny-committee

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21 Aug 2019

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Environment (local), Fracking, Utilities

Fracking: shale gas reserves vastly over-estimated

Owl says: But just enough to desecreate the countryside and line a few pockets.

“The UK’s underground shale gas reserves may deliver only a fraction of the gas promised by fracking firms and government ministers, according to a study.

Research by the University of Nottingham found that early estimates may have exaggerated the UK’s shale reserves up to sixfold.

Last week government officials hinted that a review could be launched looking into loosening UK limits on fracking because shale “could be an important new domestic energy source”.

The University of Nottingham said it had used a new technique to measure the shale gas trapped in the Bowland shale basin in central England and found significantly lower levels than was suggested by a widely quoted study six years ago.

In 2013 the British Geological Survey (BGS) found there were likely to be 1,300tn cubic feet of gas. The latest study found there may be 200tn cubic feet, enough to meet the UK’s gas demand for around a decade.

Prof Colin Snape, of the University of Nottingham, said the BGS’s study had involved desk-based research based on the findings of shale developers in the US rather than actual reserves. The new research was based on studies of actual UK shales, using gas absorption data and field data, he said.

“We have made great strides in developing a laboratory test procedure to determine shale gas potential,” Snape said. “This can only serve to improve people’s understanding and government decisions around the future of what role shale gas can make to the UK’s energy demand as we move to being carbon neutral by 2050.”

It is the second major study in recent years to cast doubt on economic claims made by the shale gas industry. Researchers at Heriot-Watt University said the UK’s most promising shale gas reservoirs had been warped by tectonic shifts that could thwart efforts to tap them. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/aug/20/uk-shale-gas-reserves-may-be-six-times-less-than-claimed-study?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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20 Aug 2019

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Accountability, DCC, East Devon Alliance, Fire Service (local), Martin Shaw

Senior Fire officers refuse to appear at DCC Scrutiny Committee -EDA DCC Councillor Shaw suggests alternative meeting

“PRESS RELEASE

The Devon and Somerset Fire & Rescue Service is currently consulting on proposals to close 8 rural fire stations. The County Council’s Corporate Infrastructure and Regulatory Services Scrutiny Committee decided on 25th June to place the station closures on the agenda for its meeting on 26th September, and to invite the Fire Service to attend and present their case.

I learnt today that the Service has refused the invitation to attend the Scrutiny Committee, which is held in public, webcast and offers an opportunity for public participation. Instead they are offering a ‘masterclass’ on the proposals for county councillors, in private, which is scheduled for 4th September.

As a member of the Committee and County Councillor for Seaton and Colyton, representing the town of Colyton where one of the threatened stations is located – together with surrounding densely rural parishes which rely on the prompt response of its firefighters – I am outraged by the refusal of the Fire Authority to face public scrutiny of its proposals and answer the objections of local communities and their elected representatives.

I have therefore asked Cllr Alistair Dewhirst, Chair of the Committee, to invite other interested parties (representatives of the threatened Devon fire stations and the Fire Brigades Union – Devon and Somerset) to present to the Committee instead, and for County officers to prepare a report to the committee on the proposals.

The Scrutiny Committee’s discussion of the proposals is the only opportunity which elected representatives will have to scrutinise them before the Fire Authority’s final decision which will be made on Bonfire Night, 5th November. (The Authority’s own meetings offer members of the public, including councillors, only the possibility to ask questions or present petitions, not to give their views directly.)

Martin Shaw
Independent East Devon Alliance County Councillor for Seaton & Colyton”

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20 Aug 2019

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Environment (local)

“What’s in our water? Report warns of growing ‘invisible’ crisis of pollution”

“… We find that water pollution is a problem that affects both rich and poor countries, however the cocktail of chemicals changes as countries develop. In poor countries it is faecal bacteria and as GDP increases then nitrogen [from fertilisers] becomes the issue.”

“Clean water is a key factor for economic growth,” added the World Bank Group president, David Malpass.

“Deteriorating water quality is stalling economic growth, worsening health conditions, reducing food production, and exacerbating poverty in many countries.

“Their governments must take urgent actions to help tackle water pollution so that countries can grow faster in equitable and environmentally sustainable ways.”

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/aug/20/whats-in-our-water-report-warns-of-growing-invisible-crisis-of-pollution?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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20 Aug 2019

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Accountability, Air pollution, EDDC, Fords of Sidmouth, Health and Social Care (local), Sidford Business Park, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

“Growing up in air-polluted areas linked to mental health issues”

Welcome Sidford Business Park:

“People who spend their childhood in areas with high levels of air pollution may be more likely to later develop mental disorders, research suggests.

Air pollution has become a matter of growing concern as an increasing number of studies have found links to conditions ranging from asthma to dementia and various types of cancer.

There are also signs it may take a toll on mental health. Research published in January found that children growing up in the more polluted areas of London were more likely to have depression by the age of 18 than those growing up in areas with cleaner air.

But a study by researchers in the US and Denmark has suggested a link between air pollution and an increased risk of mental health problems, including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and personality disorders. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/aug/20/growing-up-in-air-polluted-areas-linked-to-mental-health-issues?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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20 Aug 2019

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Accountability, Air pollution, EDDC, Fords of Sidmouth, Sidford Business Park

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Sidford Business Park gets approval

“The Planning Inspector has today published his decision regarding the appeal by Tim and Mike Ford, in the name of OG Holdings Retirement Benefits Scheme, for planning permission to build a Business Park in Sidford.
We are disappointed to inform you that the Planning Inspector has upheld the Fords’ application and therefore the Business Park will now be able to be built. This will be a shock and a huge disappointment to you. Attached is the full decision issued by the Planning Inspector.

However, this matter is not yet fully finished as there will still need to publish planning consultations on the detail of the site. Once these are known we will make sure that we draw these to your attention with the anticipation that you will want to comment upon them.

It’s a shame that residents were let down right at the beginning when the County and District Councils didn’t originally challenge or challenge sufficiently to ensure that the site was not included as employment land in the Local Plan. Once that happened it made our fight all the more difficult.
We must thank everyone who in their own way has sought to object to what we are all agreed is still the wrong thing in the wrong place.
Best wishes
Campaign Team”

More information here:
https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/inspector-allows-appeal-controversial-sidford-3231263

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20 Aug 2019

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Accountability, Environment (local), Health and Safety, Tories

“Health and safety at risk as watchdog budgets halve”

“Rules to protect air quality, food safety, the workplace and animal welfare are at risk because watchdog budgets have halved over the past decade, whistleblowers have warned.

Since 2009-10 the number of air pollution inspections by councils fell by 37 per cent, there were 32 per cent fewer meat inspections by the Food Standards Agency, the number of prosecutions of fly-tippers by local authorities dropped by 36 per cent and inspections by the Gangmaster and the Labour Abuse Authority fell by 43 per cent.

Prosecutions for wildlife crime were down by 57 per cent and almost half of sites of special scientific interest have not been checked by Natural England in the past six years. …”

Source Times (pay wall)

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19 Aug 2019

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Accountability, Education (local), Inequality, Post-Brexit Adjustments, Poverty

School meals – a no-deal Brexit casualty?

“Legal school meal nutrition standards may need to be amended, or discarded, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, according to internal local council planning documents seen by the BBC.

The standards are designed to make sure school children are fed healthy food.

Many councils say school meal costs will rise and funding for free school meals increase if there is no-deal.

The government said the food industry was “well versed at dealing with scenarios that can affect food supply.”

“We have a highly-resilient food supply chain and consumers in the UK have access to a range of sources of food. This will continue to be the case when we leave the EU.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted earlier on Monday that no-deal Brexit preparations are on track.

Some councils are anticipating they will not meet nutrition standards because of a rise in food prices and restriction of choice anticipated after a no-deal Brexit, particularly on fresh imports from Europe.

For example, North Ayrshire Council says it “might need to amend school nutrition standards”, in its internal Brexit planning document.

Local councils are legally obliged to provide high standard food to vulnerable users of public services and to manage the food supply challenges of leaving the EU without a deal.

Other councils, such as North Tyneside, report that “special dietary requirements may be difficult to meet” and that “if fresh produce is difficult to come by” schools should “increase use of tins and frozen goods”.

Many councils say that prices for school meals will rise, and central government funding for free school meals will have to increase.
Some also mention the possible use of food banks. Slough has contacted food banks in its area to check contingency plans for food shortages, and some Scottish councils have already increased funding for extra provision from food banks.

Bedford Council’s planning document from its internal Brexit planning team says care homes are “advised to hold four to six weeks supply of non-perishable foodstuffs”.

Hastings Council’s internal Brexit risk document even goes as far as saying: “There might be the need for rationing. The severity would depend on what was available and particularly the duration of any shortages.”

Insiders suggest this is a reference to the prevention of stockpiling, more than a return to wartime ration books.

The documents seen by the BBC date from the end of last year – up until last month – but predate the appointment of Boris Johnson as prime minister.
Most take at face value the government’s national assessment for March that there will be no impact of a no-deal Brexit on overall food supply, but there could be an impact on price and choice.

An October no-deal Brexit would come, however, at a time when the UK is particularly dependent on European imports for its fresh food, and when there is little to no excess warehousing space, unlike in March.

One catering industry veteran, Andy Jones, the chair of the Public Sector 100 Group of caterers, backed the councils: “Given a no-deal Brexit, they’re being very sensible. They’re being very cautious, and rightly so, we’re going into something that we don’t know about, we’re going to the unknown.
“If a no-deal Brexit happens, I feel that the supply chain long term will absolutely be under pressure. And that will affect the most vulnerable in society. …”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49397728

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19 Aug 2019

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Accountability, NHS (local), Tories

PM sees state of NHS in Cornwall

REMEMBER THIS IS NOT NEW MONEY – IT IS MONEY THE HOSPITAL HAD TO SAVE WHICH HAS NOW BEEN GIVEN PERMISSION TO BE USED:

“Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been visiting the Royal Cornwall Hospital near Truro, confirming that the site is in line to receive £99.9m for a new women’s and children’s unit.

Mr Johnson said the money would be available “as soon as the hospital wants it”.

However, despite the visit, there was still a reminder of the pressure the system is under, with six ambulances queuing outside the emergency department at about 13:00 on Monday – around the time Mr Johnson was on site (it is not suggested the two matters are connected).

The trust’s website said there was a two-hour wait for urgent care at 14:45 with 24 patients waiting to be seen.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-devon-49333012

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18 Aug 2019

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Accountability, Privatisation, Tories

“How Home Office makes millions a week from outsourcing visas to Dubai-based firm accused of exploitation”

No UK jobs, no UK tax, no UK profits … just exploited workers in the Middle East.

“The Home Office has increased its profit on UK visas by millions of pounds a week since outsourcing visa operations to a Dubai-based firm that has been deluged with complaints and accused of exploiting vulnerable applicants for profit, The Independent can reveal.

VFS, which has its headquarters in the UAE but is owned through holding companies in Jersey, the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg, faces claims of “gross maladministration” and “aggressive” selling of optional services since taking the UK government contract in 2014.

During that time, the Home Office has made £1.6bn from applicants looking to visit, study or be reunited with their families – a nine-fold increase on the five years prior to the start of the contract.

A joint investigation by The Independent and Finance Uncovered found the amount the department makes on average per visa application has increased from £28.73 to £122.56.

VFS, which is contracted to process visas from all countries outside Europe and Africa, handles applications to work, study and live in the UK, as well as visit.

People applying through VFS – the majority of whom are from lower-income countries, with a quarter from south Asia – have said they missed flights and were wrongly denied visas due to delays and administrative errors, including apparent failure to scan vital documents.

Others said they had faced a barrage of “optional” services on the VFS website, ranging from document checking for around £5, to a “super priority” visa service costing as much as £1,000, which some said failed to deliver on the fast-tracked service promised. Lawyers said these additional services could exploit vulnerable migrants who may feel pressured to spend more to secure visas.

Meanwhile, VFS has increased its average revenue per applicant by 38 per cent between 2016 and 2018 by selling more premium services, according to an analysis of group accounts filed in Luxembourg.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/home-office-vfs-visas-profit-subcontracted-contract-outsourcing-premium-services-exploited-a9056446.html

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18 Aug 2019

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Accountability, Inequality, Poverty, Tories

Workhouse Britain

Record number of patients admitted to hospital with malnutrition:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/17/record-number-patients-admitted-ae-malnutrition-amid-growing/

UK poverty of elderly worst in western Europe:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/aug/18/elderly-poverty-risen-fivefold-since-80s-pensions?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Children so poor they eat toilet paper:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1166986/children-starving-free-school-meals-cut-eating-loo-paper-rubbish

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17 Aug 2019

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Accountability, Climate crisis, Environment (local), Tories

“TOOTHLESS ENVIRONMENT AGENCY LETS FARMERS POLLUTE RIVERS”

“The Environment Agency is “falling alarmingly short” in its efforts to protect rivers from agricultural pollution, the Worldwide Fund for Nature has said, after freedom of information requests revealed that new laws are barely being enforced.

The FOI data shows that the agency has no specific budget to enforce legislation introduced in April last year to protect waterways from fertiliser and manure pollution, which is one of the main reasons that more than 80 per cent of England’s rivers fail to meet the European Union’s minimum ecological standards.

The legislation enshrined into law official codes of practice that had existed for nearly 30 years.

However, the agency is yet to issue any farm with an enforcement notice, the step taken before any sanction is imposed. This is despite it being aware of at least 16 breaches of the new laws, five of which were reported by members of the public. It has written seven less serious warning letters to farmers in the past 17 months.

Justin Neal, of Fish Legal, a non-profit group that fights river pollution, said: “The farming lobby is clearly influential. I don’t know any other sector where regulations are brought in but not enforced for a full year or more.”

Guy Linley-Adams, who filed the FOI request for the WWF, said that the agency’s officers had confided that they lack sufficient resources. “They are absolutely threadbare,” he said.

Only 14 per cent of rivers in England met the minimum “good status” standards set by the EU last year, down from almost 25 per cent in 2009. Phosphorus pollution from fertilisers and manure, which causes algal blooms that choke river ecosystems, is one of the main reasons.

The Times revealed two weeks ago that no river in the country is now certified as safe for swimmers.

Under the new legislation, farmers must take measures to prevent manure, fertiliser and soil getting into watercourses, known as diffuse pollution. The Environment Agency says that it planned from the outset not to enforce the law during the first year and to instead issue advice to farmers.
Arlin Rickard, chief executive of the Rivers Trust, said: “Without robust sanctions in place, it will be difficult to motivate those less engaged farmers to reduce their diffuse pollution.”

The WWF has said that the approach “falls short of providing any credible threat of enforcement”.

The FOI data also shows that the agency only has the equivalent of eight full-time staff to inspect England’s 212,000 farms. That means that each staff member would have to visit ten farms a day if all were to be visited within five years.

The Environment Agency said: “Clear, specific regulations were introduced to tackle the issue of water pollution caused by farms, strengthening already robust legislation . . . We work with farmers to make sure they are doing just this but will not hesitate to take enforcement action, including prosecution, where necessary.”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/toothless-green-watchdog-lets-farmers-pollute-rivers-b9xzpbkms

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17 Aug 2019

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Budleigh Salterton, Coastal communities, Environment (local), Ladram Bay Holiday Park

Surfers Against Sewage warn about Budleigh Salterton and Ladram beaches

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/surfers-against-sewage-issues-pollution-3221430

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16 Aug 2019

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Cranbrook, Developers/ Development, EDDC

Cranbrook population to grow to 18,000 (with a town centre?)

“The new town of Cranbrook near Exeter will grow to have a population of around 18,000 people under a plan submitted to central government.

East Devon District Council has submitted the local plan for Cranbrook to the Secretary of State for examination.

Local plans are drawn up to shape the future development of towns and villages.

East Devon District Council said the plan envisaged the town growing to 7,750 homes.

When building first started in 2011 Cranbrook there were 2,900 homes planned as well as schools, shops, a library and energy plant.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/england/devon

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16 Aug 2019

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Accountability, Democracy, Sleaze, Tories

Johnson interferes with neutrality of civil servants

“Leaked Doc Reveals Civil Servants Told To Report ‘Unhelpful Narratives’ On Brexit To No.10:

Boris Johnson has been warned to “tread carefully” amid claims Number 10 aides are asking civil servants to operate an “overtly political” Brexit media strategy.

A Cabinet Office document leaked to HuffPost UK has revealed all government communications staff must report “unhelpful narratives” in the press and online to Downing Street.

While civil servants work for the government and are expected to ensure ministers can deliver on policy, they also have a duty to be impartial.

The document is further evidence suggesting Johnson’s most senior adviser Dominic Cummings – the ex-boss of Vote Leave once described by David Cameron as a “career psychopath” – is prepared to introduce sweeping change in order to deliver Brexit by October 31.

The controversial advisor is reported to have already had a huge impact on Number 10 since arriving last month, embarking on a so-called “jihad on spads [special advisers]” by cancelling annual leave and sacking aides from the Theresa May era.

According to the document, staff have been instructed to update Downing Street from 6am each morning with “all rebuttal lines to be approved by Number 10”.

The unit must also “counter emerging narratives” and ensure all departments push the Downing Street line, adding “if action not completed, escalate as needed”.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett said Boris Johnson was “playing with fire”, adding: “Political neutrality is a central principle which has endured in relation to civil servants for more than 150 years.

“It is essential that the present government does not breach this basic part of the constitution. To do so would further imperil faith in politics, which is already at a low ebb.”

Alastair Campbell, who acted as former PM Tony Blair’s communications chief, called on civil servants to keep a record of “overtly political” requests.

Dave Penman of the FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, has also warned Johnson he risks “politicising” the work of his members.

Downing Street said it would not comment on leaked documents.

A source, however, stressed that the guidance was issued by the Cabinet Office and the Department for Exiting the EU, not Number 10, and was part of a standard cross-government communications plan.

But Campbell said: “There is a clear division between the legitimate work civil servants must do in support of ministers implementing government policy and this overtly political work which they are being asked to do.

“Clearly Johnson and his team wish to see that division straddled.”

He added that the cabinet secretary should issue clear guidelines on “the limits of what is permissible for a civil servant and assure civil servants they will not be punished for refusing to do political work.”

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/civil-servants-unhelpful-narratives-on-brexit_uk_5d5664a1e4b0d8840ff12a87?guccounter=1