This statement is issued on behalf of County Councillors and sent to all Devon MP’s

Hilary Ackland (Exeter, Pinhoe and Mincinglake)

Marina Asvachin (Exeter, Wonford and St. Loyes)

Martin Shaw (Seaton and Colyton)

Claire Wright (Otter Valley) 

We are all  members of the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee, but this statement is issued in our personal capacities. 

We are gravely concerned that the people of Devon are being excessively exposed to the threat of death through the coronavirus, because the Government is failing to introduce the social distancing measures needed to contain the epidemic.

The UK has fewer hospital beds, fewer Intensive Care Unit beds and fewer specialist respiratory beds than other European countries. In Devon we have more than our fair share of the elderly population who will be especially vulnerable to the epidemic.

A Government adviser, Dr David Halpern, has suggested that we can ‘cocoon’ the vulnerable while the epidemic runs through the rest of the population. This is false, because if there is a high level of contagion, the elderly will inevitably catch the virus too, and it is NOT true that the young and fit people are safe. In Italy, people of 20, 30 and 40 are also suffering life-threatening pneumonias, and hospitals are are leaving people over 60 to die because there is not enough specialist equipment (such as ventilators) to save all the victims.

It is estimated that we have four weeks before we are in the extreme situation currently faced in Italy. As Jeremy Hunt, chair of the Health Select Committee and former Health Secretary, has suggested, we should be using this time to introduce radical social distancing measures to protect our population. These have been shown to slow down and contain the epidemic in China and South Korea and they should be used here while we have the chance. 

If we can slow down the epidemic even for a few months, we have a better chance of restricting the severe cases to the numbers which the NHS can treat. Meanwhile, 

medical researchers may identify drugs which can help treat the worst cases, and a vaccine to protect against the virus.

Boris Johnson has said that many more families will lose loved ones. But his policy is unnecessarily condemning many people to die when the NHS becomes unable to cope. We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. Until we can vaccinate against this virus, we need to accept radical restrictions to our lives, in order to save lives. We call on our Devon MPs and Councils to press the Government to immediately change direction.

Martin Shaw

Independent East Devon Alliance County Councillor for Seaton & Colyton

Website: www.seatonmatters.org 

(Or at least what was written in his script). Owl was struck at the time by the reference to a truly national ambition to improve strategic highways in the South West – particularly the A417. 

Owl has found out that the A417 runs between Gloucester, Cirencester and Swindon and is used by many motorists travelling between London and the West Midlands as a shortcut between the M4 and the M5.

Technically, the Chancellor is correct.  Gloucester and Wiltshire are in the region of the South West but Owl thinks their “regional inequality” doesn’t compare to ours. The worry is he, and all his Whitehall chums, no doubt thinks they really have got inequality “done”. 

A mis-perception the Great South West could usefully work on?  

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/budget-speech-2020

And there’s more money for our roads too.

Today, I’m announcing the biggest ever investment in strategic roads and motorway – over £27bn of tarmac.

That will pay for work on over 20 connections to ports and airports, over 100 junctions, 4,000 miles of road.

I’m announcing new investment in local roads, alongside a new £2.5bn pothole fund – that’s £500m every single year; enough to fill, by the end of the Parliament, 50 million potholes.

The details of all the road schemes I’m funding will be published later today – and I thank my RHF the Transport Secretary for his efforts.

Our ambition is truly national.

The A417 in the South West.

The A428 in the East.

The A46 in the Midlands.

Unclogging Manchester’s arteries.

Freeing the traffic north of Newcastle.

And, something my North and Mid Wales colleagues will be particularly pleased to hear…

…we’re protecting beautiful villages in the Welsh Borders, as we finally build the Pant-Llanymynech bypass.

We promised to get Britain moving – and we’re getting it done.

And there’s one more road I want to mention.

It’s one of our most important regional arteries.

It is one of those totemic projects symbolising delay and obstruction.

Governments have been trying to fix it since the 1980s.

Every year, millions of cars crawl along it in traffic.

Ruining the backdrop to one of our most important historic landmarks.

To the many H & RHMs who have campaigned for this moment – I say this:

The A303 – this government’s going to get it done.

Owl wonders if there are any lessons here for EDDC.

Climate change, food production, energy and the built environment are among the issues that will be explored in a project looking at ways to make the Sid Vale more sustainable over the next 10 years.

Philippa Davies  www.sidmouthherald.co.uk

The Vision Group for Sidmouth is launching a project called Sidmouth 2020, focusing on positive actions that will benefit the local community in the coming years.

It will look at whether people need to reduce travel and imports, and become more resilient and self-sufficient.

Various public events are planned later in the year, including an evening in June focusing on biodiversity in gardens, parks and the countryside.

There will be an event in August, linked to the food festival at Kennaway House, celebrating local produce.

Later in the year there will be a session looking at the built environment, covering self-build, retrofitting and getting a good deal on renewable energy for the home.

Anyone interested in the project can find out more by visiting the Vision Group for Sidmouth website.

The housing secretary has announced a raft of new planning reforms to boost housebuilding. Lucie Heath explains the key policies

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/jenricks-planning-reforms-the-key-changes-at-a-glance-65419

Planning reforms

• Introduce new permitted development rights for building upwards on existing buildings by summer 2020
• Consult on potential permitted development rights to allow vacant buildings to be demolished and replaced with new homes
• New support for community and self-build housing schemes, including support finding plots of land
• Support the Oxford-Cambridge arc by setting up a new spatial framework for the area, setting out where housing will be delivered up to 2050, and create four development corporations across the region

Housing Delivery Test

• Review the formula for calculating local housing need to encourage more building in urban areas
• Require all local authorities to have an up-to-date local plan by 2023 or government will intervene
• Continue with plans to raise the Housing Delivery Test threshold to 75% in November 2020
• Reform the New Homes Bonus to ensure local authorities that build more homes have access to greater funding

Planning departments

• Implement new planning fee structure to better resource planning authorities and link funding to improved performance
• Provide automatic rebates of fees when planning applications are successful at appeal
• Expand the use of zoning tools to support development that is aimed at simplifying the process of granting planning permission for residential and commercial property
• Make it clearer who owns land by requiring greater transparency on land options
• Support local authorities to use compulsory purchase orders by introducing statutory timescales for decisions and ending the automatic right to public inquiry

Homeownership

• Continue with the proposed First Homes scheme, which offers eligible first-time buyers new homes at prices discounted by a third
• Form partnerships with developers and local authorities to be the frontrunners for delivering the first wave of new homes

Design

• Revise National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to encourage good design and placemaking throughout the planning process
• Respond to the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission and take forward recommendations calling for urban tree-planting and giving communities more influence over design
• Implement a new National Design Code to allow residents of communities to have more influence over design. Allow local areas to produce their own design codes for new development.

Climate and sustainability

• Review policy for building in areas at flood risk by assessing whether current NPPF protections are enough and whether further reform is needed
• Introduce Future Homes Standard in 2025, which will require up to 80% lower carbon emissions for new homes
• Create a new net zero carbon housing development in Toton in the East Midlands through a development corporation

DevelopmentGovt agency/department/organisationPlanningPolicy

Rishi Sunak’s first budget is not as generous as it seems and many Whitehall departments will still be worse off than they were before the spending squeeze began in 2010, according to Britain’s foremost economics thinktank. 

Owl also thinks that the measures relating to our region – A303 at Stonehenge and Plymouth centre make-over – may be re-announcements or confirmation of expectations.

Phillip Inman  www.theguardian.com

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the chancellor made the budget sound more substantial than it was, while relying on previously announced spending plans.

Paul Johnson, director of the IFS, said Sunak delivered a timely and well-targeted government response to the coronavirus but warned voter “expectations may be disappointed” from the promised increase in public spending.

In an assessment published a day after the coordinated response to the coronavirus outbreak from the Treasury and the Bank of England, the IFS said much of the longer-term spending rise designed to level up Britain was from previously announced measures for the NHS, schools, defence and overseas aid. “There is relatively little here for other departments,” Johnson added.

In an indication that a decade of austerity has had lasting effects, the IFS said spending per person for most public services will remain well below 2010 levels, despite Sunak’s expansionary budget.

Outside of the Department of Health and Social Care, which has had a protected budget, spending per head will still be about 14% lower than it was before the past decade of cuts began.

The thinktank said the loss of EU funds spent in Britain would mean spending per person of about 19% lower. With health and social care included, spending per head returns to 2010 levels in 2025.

Johnson said austerity was over in some respects, but that a decade of cuts to Whitehall departments had taken its toll. “If austerity is a process and a direction, then it’s over. If it’s spending above where we were in 2010, it’s with us for a very long time. But my sense is austerity is a direction rather than a level,” he added.

Although broadly praising the chancellor’s response to Covid-19, the head of the IFS said many self-employed workers would not get the support they might need and groups who may not be entitled to benefits could quickly face hardship.

“Sunak will certainly want to monitor the effectiveness of the package and be ready to come back with more if necessary,” he added.

The IFS said the government’s plans for a spending spree on transport projects and other public works was “genuinely very big”, although cautioned that the scale of the increase meant it would be a significant challenge to ensure the money was well spent.

The thinktank said Britain was more vulnerable to changes in interest rates, inflation and growth as the government pumps up borrowing levels and adds to the national debt. Sunak said at the budget he would balance day-to-day public spending with tax receipts by 2023, under rules set by his predecessor, Sajid Javid, with £12bn of headroom to spare.

However, the forecasts were drawn up by the Office for Budget Responsibility, the government’s independent tax and spending watchdog, before it could take full account of the coronavirus outbreak. The IFS warned that a downgrade in UK growth of just 0.3% a year over three years would eliminate all of Sunak’s headroom.

Johnson said: “This doesn’t look consistent with George Osborne’s mantra that the government should fix the roof while the sun is shining.”

Analysis of the budget by the Resolution Foundation thinktank said the economic hit from weaker growth over the next five years, despite extra spending by the government, will be about £300 per household this year, rising to £575 per year by the middle of the parliament.

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“The budget does almost nothing to offset the considerable welfare cuts put in place by George Osborne in 2015,” said the thinktank.

Households with incomes just above the bottom 10th “will eventually be £2,900 a year worse off, on average, thanks to benefit and tax changes announced since 2015. With £900 of that yet to come as a result of welfare policies still being rolled out.”

It added: “These cuts mean the incomes of the poorest families have actually fallen over the past two years, and there is a risk that child poverty will reach record highs by the time of the 2024 election.”

Flights from Exeter to Manchester – feared lost after the collapse of Flybe – have been revived by airline Blue Islands.

eastdevonnews.co.uk 

The Channel Islands-based carrier says it has stepped in to provide multiple daily services for the popular route ‘to maintain essential regional connectivity’.

CEO Rob Veron said: “With 120,000 passengers flying between Exeter and Manchester in 2019, we have reacted quickly to maintain these vital connections which are essential for the economic and social wellbeing of the South West, following the sad closure of Flybe.

“We are pleased to complement Saturday’s announcement of the continuation of flights between Exeter and Jersey with our Exeter – Manchester services.

“We look forward to providing key UK regional infrastructure in this first phase of activity from Exeter Airport as we continue to sustainably develop our route network in key markets.”

Matt Roach, managing director at Exeter Airport, added: “With routes already secured to Jersey and now with the addition of multiple daily services from Exeter to Manchester, we are delighted that Blue Islands has been able to provide this key infrastructure to the South West, and so quickly after the disruptions which followed Flybe’s collapse last week.”

Blue Islands says it will establish a base – including engineering support – in Exeter for its ATR aircraft and crew to serve the route, which will operate multiple flights throughout the day from mid-April.

Blue Islands announced last week it will also maintain the connection between Exeter and Jersey with up to seven flights per week.

The former Flybe franchise partner has continued uninterrupted services as normal, including operating free flights to Birmingham and Exeter last week.

Simon Jupp, MP for East Devon, said: “Keeping Devon’s quickest connection with Manchester is great news for the South West.

“I’d like to thank Blue Islands for stepping in and providing this popular route to protect jobs and connectivity.”