Villagers caught up in a coronavirus outbreak say that they are going “stir crazy” in isolation.

Harry Shukman, Countryside Correspondent The Times 11 March 2020

Churston Ferrers in south Devon is the unlikely location of two confirmed cases of the virus; one at the local grammar school and another in the church.

The county has been identified as a coronavirus hotspot, with 13 people testing positive for the virus even though it is ranked among the ten least populous in the country. It is matched with Kensington and Chelsea in London for cases, according to Public Health England (PHE), which said that the worst affected region was Hertfordshire, with 16 cases.

St Mary the Virgin church closed when a member of its 50-strong congregation tested positive on March 1. It is due to reopen on March 22 after a deep clean. Kim, a parishioner who declined to give her surname, said that she had attended a service with an infected worshipper, whom she said she did not know although they were believed to have recently returned from a holiday abroad. Kim is in self-isolation at home in the village but has not shown any symptoms.

Churston Ferrers Grammar School closed for a week when one of its pupils who returned from a holiday in northern Italy tested positive for the virus. It reopened on Monday. A “relatively small number” of pupils are in self-isolation and participating in classes via video link, David Lewis, the deputy head, said. He added that anxiety about the reopening was “understandable” but that it had been deep-cleaned according to PHE guidelines.

Villagers said they felt like they had lost a game of “Russian roulette” in having two cases of coronavirus.

Norman Sharan, 88, a novelist who lives opposite the church, said: “I am very worried. A lot of us are elderly here. We are being very careful. My wife and I have bought proper masks and hand gel and when we go to the shops we wear surgical gloves. We were a bit horrified that the school had a case.”

Maggie Miller, 66, who lives with her husband Bill, 70, said: “My husband is diabetic so we cannot risk going out. It’s like a nightmare.”

It is believed that people with diabetes have an increased risk of infection.

“We are not going out or seeing friends. We are just cycling around for exercise. It’s quite depressing,” Mrs Miller said. “We are all going stir crazy. At least we have each other. I have been ringing my friends who live alone to make sure they have some company.”

Owl has been sent the latest Update from the Dorset National Park Team. Had EDDC not been so besotted by the development lobby and thought strategically this would have been headed the East Devon and Dorset JOINT Team. Owl hopes that readers will be aware that the government is seriously considering following the Glover Landscape Review recommendation to create a new National Park combining the East Devon and Dorset AONB’s.

Last October the Ingham regime showed their lack of enthusiasm for breaking from the Tory past when the cabinet decided to do nothing to seize the initiative:

“Resolve to await the Governments response to the recommendations; and note that the Chilterns, the Cotswolds and the Dorset and East Devon AONBs are potential candidates for future designation as National Parks.”

History repeats itself. EDDC is in danger of missing the boat again by sticking its head in the sand as it did with the creation of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. Dorset runs away with the prize.

Owl notes that the East Devon Alliance has a priority to Initiate discussions about new National Park with Dorset (inc AONBs).

EDDC’s reluctance to engage is odd considering its love of taking part in JOINT committees on pretty much any excuse.

Update on Dorset National Park

The Glover Review of Landscapes recommended that Dorset along with the Cotswolds and Chilterns be seriously evaluated as future National Parks by Natural England and the Government. The Government in its election manifesto said it would create new National Parks. We await the Government’s response to the Glover Review and news on how they intend to take forward their manifesto commitment.

Economic and Industrial strategies for rural areas. 

Dorset is an example of an area that has two complementary parts: the largely rural Dorset “county” and the adjacent BCP conurbation. Its Local Industrial Strategy can reflect and respect this complementarity. Rural areas can capitalise on their unique strengths. They can, for example, draw on their high quality natural environment and heritage to attract businesses and investment, develop expertise in high productivity and specialised manufacturing, farming and foods, creative and digital industries, and stimulate business interest and growth more generally in the green economy.

Communities and businesses would benefit from a National Park which would invest in and grow Dorset’s natural capital and ecosystem services (including high quality foods, clean water systems, and carbon capture in healthy soils and woodlands) and work with the Dorset Council and others to develop policies for sustainable development, transport, energy and tourism, while better conserving and enhancing our unique environment. A National Park would enable Dorset to capitalise on, without compromising, its environment while partnering with the Dorset LEP and the Dorset Council to deliver a thriving economic future.

Read a briefing on how Dorset’s environmental strengths should inform its economic and industrial strategy.

A blow for Ben Ingham’s buddies: the district council’s scrutiny committee unanimously agreed the panel was not properly balanced saying it should have one councillor from each of the five Exmouth wards and officers should not have a voting right.

Cllr Paul Arnott, leader of the East Devon Alliance, who had called the decision in, said: ‘The number of elected members taking part in the selection panel is too few and it has insufficient Exmouth democratic representatives.’

A victory for proper scrutiny.

Daniel Clark  www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

The regeneration of Exmouth seafront is set to be delayed after the district council’s scrutiny committee objected to the composition of a panel tasked with deciding the site’s future.

East Devon District Council’s cabinet had agreed to launch a formal marketing exercise to identify a developer or operator for a potential 80-room hotel and a waterfront restaurant as part of phase three of the Queen’s Drive project.

The cabinet agreed that the selection panel for identifying the selection criteria for the development should be made up from EDDC leader Ben Ingham, portfolio holders for asset management, finance and economy, relevant officers and one Exmouth councillor.

The district council’s scrutiny committee unanimously agreed the panel was not properly balanced saying it should have one councillor from each of the five Exmouth wards and officers should not have a voting right. It had been hoped that bids for the development could be received and reviewed by May, with a report on the preferred developer/operator in July, but that looks set to be delayed.

The next full council meeting will not take place until Wednesday, April 22, with the council then making a recommendation back to the cabinet at their meeting on Wednesday, May 6.

Cllr Paul Arnott, leader of the East Devon Alliance, who had called the decision in, said: ‘The number of elected members taking part in the selection panel is too few and it has insufficient Exmouth democratic representatives.’

Exmouth councillor Nick Hookway said that the theme seemed to be people meddling in Exmouth who have no link or understanding about what is going on.

Cllr Chris Wright, who ran the former Fun Park on the seafront, said that in the past there was a selection panel of four people and ‘the council ended up with a bankrupt developer’. He added: ‘This panel should be widened to find a clear and robust process to move the development forward.’

Cllr Maddy Chapman added: ‘This is not what the public signed up to. There needs to be more involvement with the local people. We don’t want a developer – we want what we were told we would get, and it is about time people pulled their socks up.’

Owl says the real story lying behind these headlines is a comparison between Teignbridge’s and EDDC ‘s progress in formulating and taking action on climate change.

Teignbridge had been Conservative from 2011 until the LibDem took control in 2019. Their progress in formulating and implementing a climate change policy makes Ben Ingham’s progress look tame. Ben Ingham’s fragile coalition with Conservatives has had to look over its shoulder as Conservatives such as councillor Mike Allen tried to switch the climate change budget to fund more planning officers. As a result EDDC has a climate change budget and strategy which says: we will draw up 5 year Action Plans to address these key priorities, and progress towards them will be measured annually. 

Compare this with:

Daniel Clark  www.devonlive.com

New policies will require new development in Teignbridge to meet much higher standards of climate change mitigation and adaptation and have requirements for biodiversity net gain.

Councillors on Tuesday agreed to go out to consultation on the Draft Local Plan (Part 1) 2020-2040, which refreshes the existing climate change policies contained in the adopted Local Plan 2013-2033.

It includes a requirement that all new developments which propose the construction of new homes or non-residential floorspace are carbon neutral, while other draft policies also support the development of low carbon and renewable energy schemes, promote sustainable transport and require the provision of Electric Vehicle Charging points within new developments.

The Local Plan Part 2: Creating Quality Places which outline where development will take place, is expected to come forward in 2021.

Cllr Gary Taylor, portfolio holder for planning, said: “This has tougher policies to fight climate change and stronger policies for nature and it tasks developers to bring forward genuinely affordable homes. This will encourage a buoyant local economy and higher standards of design.”

Leader of the council, Cllr Gordon Hook, added: “I have every confidence in the document. It is a first class piece of work that I hope is favourably received. It is a fine piece of work and the foundation for a much better and sustainable program of development going forward.”

Michelle Luscombe, Principal Policy Planner, in her report the meeting, added that the policy wordings proposed are considered to be a significant update to the existing Local Plan policies, with improved climate change and design policies.

She added that the council’s new Climate Change Officer, William Elliott, would be feeding in additional technical information into the Plan.

William is initially focusing his efforts on assisting Teignbridge District Council (TDC) to identify the most eco-friendly gas and electricity contract renewal and to quantify and reduce its own in-house carbon emissions.

Based within Teignbridge’s Environmental Health team, William will work with managers and staff across the council and will also engage with climate taskforce groups, local authorities, the University of Exeter and Devon County Council. Part of his remit will be assessing the carbon impact of planning applications”.

Cllr Jackie Hook, TDC’s Climate Change Champion, said: “Doing our bit to reduce our impact on the environment is a matter for all of us as individuals, businesses and organisations.

“This appointment sets down a marker that Teignbridge means business when it comes to tackling Climate Change. Much of the early work will be internal, but William will also be looking at areas where carbon reduction targets can be raised and also working with colleagues at County Hall to support the Devon Climate Emergency programme.”

The consultation period will run for an eight-week period from Monday, March 23, 2020 until Monday, May 18, 2020, with consultation events will include, Drop-in community events, Planning Cafés, Online videos, Static displays and document viewing, Posters/leaflets.

But the meeting heard that given the current issues around the coronavirus, it may end up not being possible to do as many face-to-face consultations as planned but that the council would make sure the information does get out into the public domain via other methods.

Cllr Gordon Hook added: “I am very keen that the public should participate. Coronavirus is presenting a potential problem but we must overcome that. I really urge the public to engage with the document and very much hope that we will adopt the presentation as necessary if the coronavirus outbreak continues to unfold.”

The meeting also heard that as a result of council officers in the environmental health having to spend more of their time dealing with contingency plans for any coronavirus outbreak, it was having an impact on their workload and as a result some reports, including a review of policies and procedures around fly-tipping would be delayed.

Cllr Hook added: “It is a huge and growing problem and I wish to assure people there is no reason to panic. I am confident that the officers are doing all in their power to continue the smooth operation of the council and that will be our ongoing intent.”

Phil Shears, the council’s managing director added that the council taking advice from Public Health England and Devon County Council and it was up to individual councillors on the actions they take, but they should be guided by PHE.