While the coronavirus bill, which came into law this week, relaxes the requirement for councils to have to meet in person and councillors to physically be present in the room to vote, it has meant that to comply with social distancing guidelines and to protect the health of members, almost all meetings in Devon have been cancelled.

Use for Zoom – Owl?

Daniel Clark www.devonlive.com 

The coronavirus outbreak has put life on hold for a lot of people with them confined to their homes unless they have a good reason to be out.

Members of the public are only allowed to leave their homes for shopping for “basic necessities”, as infrequently as possible, one form of exercise a day such as a run, walk or cycle, medical reasons, to provide care, or to help a vulnerable person or travelling to and from work, but only if it is “absolutely necessary” and cannot be done from home.

And while people have been able to work from home, the existing legislation for local councils has meant that they have had to put their routine decision making and committee functions on hold.

While the coronavirus bill, which came into law this week, relaxes the requirement for councils to have to meet in person and councillors to physically be present in the room to vote, it has meant that to comply with social distancing guidelines and to protect the health of members, almost all meetings in Devon have been cancelled.

Here, the Local Democracy Reporting Service takes a look at 11 discussions that were due to take place this week by councils across the region that saw the meetings where they were on the agenda cancelled.

Owl, however, is only copying below the section relating to EDDC. You can go to the web link above to see the rest

HOUSING RESPONSE TO CLIMATE EMERGENCY

East Devon District Council’s Housing Review Board on Thursday afternoon were due to discuss a report summarising the work undertaken by the Housing Service in response to the Council’s commitment to carbon reduction and increased energy efficiency.

They were to be recommended to endorse the cultural shift required to move to a carbon neutral Housing Service within 20 years.

The report said that EDDC has over 4,200 properties in their portfolio and they will be carrying out a stock condition survey of all the properties over the next 18 months to enable the council to have a more concrete picture of the energy efficiency of each property, as well as identifying any other issues that need to be addressed.

This survey will inform a 15-20 year plan of improvement works to reduce the carbon footprint and increase the energy efficiency of our housing stock, the report added.

The concept of ground source heat pump systems as a potential alternative approach to heating suitable properties is being explored, with work seeking to understand the costs involved as well as identifying council properties that are in an appropriate area for the installation of the system, given the extensive groundworks require.

AIR SOURCE HEAT PUMPS

East Devon District Council’s Housing Review Board on Thursday afternoon were due to approve a starter programme of air source heat pump installation and use £150,000 from the boiler replacement programme in the Housing Revenue Account for this purpose.

The report said it would be work towards the Councils ambition to reduce its carbon footprint and ultimately attain a carbon neutral position and would begin to end to boilers, radiators and cooking hobs in new homes, with super-efficient houses and flats using low-carbon heating such as heat pumps and induction hobs to help meet carbon emissions targets.

The council’s annual boiler replacement programme is typically £500,000, and the Housing Review Board were due to set aside £150,000 of this to initiate a programme of mainstreaming the installation of Air Source Heat Pumps in our stock, delivering 15 installations.

Some of our MP’s did and some of ours didn’t. Owl has heard nothing about Neil Parish ‘s  views on this issue. Certainly EDDC didn’t take the firm lead shown by North Devon and North Norfolk District Council. More interested in business than in people? – Owl

Stuart Anderson  www.edp24.co.uk

It is a relief to see people obeying government guidelines and staying at home, say North Norfolk’s MP Duncan Baker.

It follows new guidance issued late last week that cottages and rentals such as AirBnBs had to close to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, following similar rules set for hotels and other holiday venues a few days earlier.

Mr Baker told Radio Norfolk: “We lobbied really hard to get the caravan parks, the campsites, the holiday rentals and the B&Bs to no longer open to try to stem the flow to our area.

“In this constituency we have the oldest demographic in the country and it’s absolutely vital that we protect our most vulnerable right now.”

Data issued in March by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that 24.3pc of North Norfolk residents are aged 70 and over – higher than anywhere else in the country – followed by Rother, 24pc; East Devon, 22.6pc; Tendring, 22.0pc; and New Forest, 21.7.

But not everyone seems to be sticking to the rules.

North Norfolk District Council leader Sarah Butikofer said she had heard reports of people still checking in to holiday cottages in Weybourne as late as Friday (March 27).

There are some exemptions to the rules, for example, key workers and non-UK residents who are unable to travel to their country of residence can continue to stay in hotels or similar accommodation where required.

A number of issues exposed in this article. Care home managers are refusing to accept elderly people discharged from NHS hospitals because testing for coronavirus is not a requirement under discharge guidance issued by the government last week.

Raises the matter of  our government’s unpreparedness with regard to testing, testing, testing.

Owl also wonders whether this applies to Abbeyfield who don’t seem deterred from shuffling vulnerable residents around the County in order to meet their self-imposed administrative deadlines to close care homes that should be in lockdown.

Then, of course, we need to remember all those who supported the closure of our local community hospitals. Especially those who actively criticised Claire Wright and others campaigning to keep them open. “It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who has been swimming naked” (Warren Buffett) – hold that thought – Owl.

Amelia Hill  www.theguardian.com 

Care home managers are refusing to accept elderly people discharged from NHS hospitals owing to coronavirus fears, and one has said government-issued protective equipment for residents and staff is “completely useless”.

David Steedman, the manager of Arlington House care home in Sussex, said he had five empty rooms but he was not taking in people discharged from hospital as it would be “madness” to expose residents and staff to the risk of infection.

On Friday it was announced that every social care provider in the country would receive deliveries of personal protective equipment including masks. Social care workers will start being tested for coronavirus along with NHS staff from next week.

“The personal protective equipment issued for staff is laughable,” Steedman said. “These masks, as well as having an expiry date of 2016, are the sort of flimsy, paper thing that dentists wear with gaps all round the edges. The instructions say they should be used if a resident has symptoms of the virus or actually has it. But these masks are completely useless in those situations.”

He added: “The government needs to take a reality check if they genuinely think otherwise. The hospitals are desperately trying to empty beds so they can take new people in, who have the virus, but we can’t help them because they don’t have the equipment to test those they’re discharging.”

NHS trusts have been trying to discharge patients to free up capacity. Testing for the virus is not a requirement under discharge guidance issued by the government last week.

“I’d be mad to let anyone into my home without a test showing they’re free of the virus,” Steedman said. “It’s my responsibility to keep safe the hugely vulnerable residents who are in my care already. It would be dangerous foolishness on my part to accept any hospital discharges who might bring the virus into our home.”

Peter Kyle, the Labour MP for Hove, said Steedman and other care home managers he knew of who were also refusing to accept NHS discharges should be praised for their stance. “Care homes simply can’t afford to let anyone in unless they’re confirmed not to be carrying the virus. The consequences of doing otherwise are just too awful to consider,” he said.

“Care homes are going into crisis mode because the second there’s a symptom of the virus in the home, there are layers upon layers of failure from the state to support them. The state is failing to test residents or staff quickly enough and they’re failing to issue suitable equipment.”

He added: “The failures are particularly shameful because not only are these people who have spent their lives paying into the system and deserve dignity, but the equipment is simple and straightforward and the state should be able to supply it.”

A senior director at a London acute trust, who asked not to be named, told the Health Service Journal: “There’s a real problem with private care homes refusing to take patients back unless they’ve been tested for Covid-19. But [testing] is not the national guidance currently and there just aren’t enough testing kits to do it.

“I’m now on calls with commissioners about getting more people out of hospital and into the community, and they’re saying: ‘Yes, that’ll be done in the next week,’ and I’m on the verge of screaming at them.”

Another acute sector director in north-west England said: “We need care homes to be really robust. We’ve been hearing from colleagues that nursing homes won’t accept their residents back after they’ve been discharged from hospital, unless they’ve been fully swabbed for coronavirus. This is not the national guidance, and we aren’t able to do that right now. This could cause a huge issue.”

On Saturday the health secretary, Matt Hancock, wrote an open letter of thanks to social care workers. Hancock, who is in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19, said the government was committed to doing “whatever is needed” for social care and the NHS, including allowing workers from both sectors free parking in council-owned spaces.

“Whilst many people are now staying at home, I know that is not an option for most of you as your work caring for others cannot be done from home,” he wrote. “We will do all we can to make your lives easier during this period, including, for example, making parking on council-owned on-street spaces and car parks free for those who work in social care.

“We are committed to doing whatever is needed; that promise applies just as much to social care as it does for the NHS.”

What is the exit route from the Coronavirus paralysis? Normal life is much closer in countries that have embraced the advice of World Health Organisation Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom to “test test test”.

Jeremy Hunt,  former Health Secretary   www.telegraph.co.uk 

What is the exit route from the Coronavirus paralysis? We are told the peak will be in about three weeks. But we are also told that until we have a vaccine, thought to be over a year away, the virus will come back in wave after wave. Normal life seems a long way off. But normal life is much closer in countries that have embraced the advice of World Health Organisation Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom to “test test test”.

The restaurants are open in South Korea. You can go shopping in Taiwan. Offices are open in Singapore. These countries learned the hard way how to deal with a pandemic after the deadly SARS virus. They now show us how we can emerge from lockdown.

Testing provides clarity. Where you find it, you can isolate and contain it. And where you don’t, vital services continue to function. In most of those countries restaurants, malls and office blocks require you to walk through a temperature checker before you enter. They all check international visitors the same way and are astonished we don’t do the same at Heathrow.

The immediate priority is to protect the NHS and ramp up its capacity. Beds, equipment, and ventilators  are all vital, but as every health secretary learns fairly quickly, the true capacity of the NHS lies in its staff.

They are the heroes we need to protect – and make sure they can get back to work as quickly as possible if a member of their household has symptoms. Around 10 per cent of the population have a cough or fever at this time of year, taking thousands of NHS workers off the frontline. The government’s commitment to accelerate testing for NHS staff is therefore absolutely right.

But as new tests come on stream we need to go further. Professor Yvonne Doyle, Medical Director of Public Health England, told the Select Committee which I chair on Thursday that the virus can incubate for three to five days before any symptoms. Those are days when doctors and nurses could be infecting their own patients. We need weekly tests for all NHS and care home staff to remove that worry.

As we tool up to do this, you begin to see how mass testing can also show us the way out of this crisis. Social distancing works because it drastically reduces the opportunity for transmission. What was previously an exponential growth in transmission becomes much slower as the curve is flattened. But this only works for as long as it’s in place, and it can’t remain in place forever. But with mass testing, accompanied by rigorous tracing of every person a Covid-19 patient has been in touch with, you can break the chain of transmission.

Of course, with many other countries thinking the same way, there is no magic wand that will suddenly overcome shortages in testing supply chains. The solution is to look to British scientists and manufacturers to put in place tests and the infrastructure we need to process them. Just as we are rising to the challenge with ventilators, we need urgently to do the same for testing.

If we do so, the opportunities are clear. South Korea has tested five times more people per head of population than us – and are reaping the rewards with their new cases now on a downward trend – despite being nearer to China. They are reporting fewer than ten deaths every day.

Closer to home, Germany is leading the way. Two weeks ago they had carried out 167,000 tests, four times more than us. As a result they have identified three times more cases than us – but with fewer than half the number of deaths we have had. There may be differences in reporting, but fundamentally, finding Covid-19 patients earlier means you can get the most vulnerable ones hospital care more quickly. In Germany they are even taking in patients from France and Italy.

We should be under no illusion that the contact tracing that goes alongside testing is resource intensive. Every time somebody tests positive, they need a dedicated contact tracer who works through all their previous interactions to make sure every single one is isolated until they are tested as Covid-free. Why not allocate all the local government officials in planning departments and the civil servants on non-Covid duties to this task?

And as Europe’s tech hub, we should use our skills there, too. In Singapore everyone has been asked to use the TraceTogether App. When you come near someone else with the app it swaps anonymous ID data which is stored in your phone. If you contract the virus, everyone you have been near can be contacted.

Singapore has had just two deaths. It is encrypted and all data destroyed after 21 days. Those worried about the civil liberties implications might reflect that Singaporeans have had their liberties curtailed far less than countries which have had to go into full lockdown.

Mass social distancing should protect the NHS through the peak over the next few weeks, but it’s a blunt instrument with massive economic impact. For the next wave we must use the precision scalpel of mass testing.

A host of bus routes in East Devon and Exeter are set to be improved thanks to £1million of extra funding poised to be splashed around the county.

Daniel Clark   eastdevonnews.co.uk 

Routes serving Exmouth, Sidmouth, Honiton, Ottery St Mary, Budleigh Salterton, Seaton, Axminster and Cranbrook  are among those in line for a boost.

Devon County Council (DCC) has spending plans for 18 routes in this financial year, subject to the Department for Transport (DfT) approval.

East Devon bus services in line for improvements are: 

157 Sidmouth – Newton Poppleford – Colaton Raleigh – Otterton – East Budleigh – Budleigh Salterton – Littleham – Exmouth.

There is currently a bus for the full route between Exmouth and Sidmouth every two hours in the summer only on Sundays. The proposal would make this an all-year round service. It comes from a public request and as a response to the level of passenger demand.

4 Exeter – Cranbrook – Ottery St. Mary – Honiton – Axminster.

An additional peak-hour bus from Axminster and Honiton via Cranbrook to Exeter is proposed in response to passenger demand, especially on peak worktime buses to and from Exeter, where there is currently overcrowding.  This particular service improvement will benefit the most people in the shortest time and the successful use of support funds towards bus services has generated in this area the highest proportion of sustainable travel in Devon.

885 Seaton – Colyford – Colyton – Whitford – Musbury – Axminster.

The service runs from Monday to Saturday every hour and the proposal would keep this going as the frequency is currently funded by developer contributions that run out in October 2020. Assessment of passenger growth and potential for commercial viability means that the service should continue.

B Pinhoe – Exeter City Centre – Marsh Barton – Exminster.

The proposal is to maintain the current Sunday service along the entire route as the Exeter – Exminster section would otherwise have been withdrawn due to expiry of Section 106 developer funding in October 2021. This is in response to levels of passenger usage.

H Digby – Broadfields – RD&E Hospital – Exeter City Centre – Exeter St David’s Station.

An additional hourly service between City Centre – Exeter St David’s – Cowley Bridge is proposed.

694 Honiton – Awliscombe – Dulford – Kentisbeare – Cullompton – Plymtree – Payhembury – Feniton – Honiton

&

682 Marsh – Yarcombe – Upottery – Rawridge – Monkton – Otter Valley Caravan Park – Honiton.

Currently there is one bus each way on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays (694), and Tuesdays only (682), but the proposal would see the 694 increase to being daily, Mondays to Saturdays, and 682 to Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The 694 is, in terms of daily passenger usage, Devon’s strongest less-than-daily service.

DCC says that, while the cash it has to spend is a significant amount, it will not transform the whole bus network.

The proposals would see some routes that were withdrawn in 2015 return, while others would see a more frequent service provided or services extended to run on Sundays.

A spokesperson said: “Our proposed approach is therefore to use the funding to strengthen or restore services which demonstrate the strongest likelihood of being sustainable, either commercially, or within ongoing support budgets and criteria.

“The best and most realistic prospect is therefore to mostly build on existing services rather than start entirely new ones where the risk is greater.

“In support of this approach, the DfT guidance states that consideration should be given to how the funding can be used to benefit the most people most quickly, including extending the existing hours or frequencies of current services.

“At the same time, a rural County such as Devon will reasonably expect the benefit to show a geographical spread and not be concentrated purely on the most viable urban and inter-urban routes.

“We believe the best way of addressing this is to ensure that the service proposals bring a consequential benefit for those rural areas along the route.”

Anyone wishing to respond to the consultation can do so here.

The closing date for receipt of comments is Friday, April 24, to allow time for further due consideration by the Devon County Council cabinet prior to meeting the Government’s deadline for submission of spending plans.

The implementation of these plans could be severely affected by the COVID-19 crisis, but, at the time of writing, the DfT has confirmed that the submission deadline still stands.

A man driving a motorhome was stopped at the Devon border by police and sent back to Birmingham because of the new coronavirus Covid-19.

“Not in the spirit of fighting the virus”.

[Neither is shuffling vulnerable people around care homes to meet management targets, even if you do use “existing protocols” – Owl]

Neil Shaw  www.devonlive.com

Police said the driver’s actions were ‘not in the spirit of fighting the virus’ and sent them back to the West Midlands.

Officers from the North Devon Roads Policing team were patrolling the major routes in the county when they stopped the mobile holiday home.

Tough new rules were brought in across the UK by Prime Minister Boris Johnson last Monday stating you should only leave your home for absolutely essential work if you can’t work from home, essential shopping for food or medical supplies, local exercise once a day or a genuine medical reason.

On Thursday a new law came into force allowing police to enforce those rules with on-the-spot fines or arrest and they can use reasonable force to ensure you comply with an order to disperse and go home.

A Sergeant with the North Devon RPU tweeted: “Birmingham to North Devon is not in the spirit of fighting the Virus. The North Devon Roads Policing team are patrolling and will stop and ask why you are on the roads. This gentleman is now on his way back to the midlands! #Covid19#Police”

Other officers said: “Words fail”

Others took to social media to express their shock at the tourist’s bold move to get away from Birmingham – one of the areas in the Uk with the highest number of Covid-19 infections.

One wrote: “Must come from a different planet or something, cloud cuckoo land.”

In order to provide information to the people of Sidmouth, we have created this community lifeline to find sources of help in the area.

www.sidmouthherald.co.uk 

Local Volunteer Networks

Sid Valley HELP has more than 40 local volunteers to help with various services from dog walking, shopping, collecting medication and befriending on the phone.

Anyone who would like some help, should call Di Fuller on 07786 816890, to be connected to a volunteer.

Sidmouth Voluntary Services will support all members of the community in self-isolation. The group is providing a meal delivery service, assistance with shopping and will help elderly and vulnerable residents in Sidmouth, in any way it can. Its medical car service is still in operation for people without coronavirus symptoms, who still have medical appointments. Email sidmouthvs@gmail.com or call 01395 515063.

Devon Freewheelers is offering a medication delivery service and a phone service to support those feeling anxious. Call 0300 8000109.

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Pubs/Restaurants

All pubs, restaurants and cafés in Sidmouth are now closed, following guidelines issued by the Government to help control the spread of coronavirus.

Yet several food establishments in the town are offering takeaway and delivery services.

The Courtyard Café will be running a delivery service of hot and cold food. A small delivery charge applies. To place an order call 01395 577553

The Balfour Arms will be delivering hot and cold meals. It will also offer a telephone befriending service and shopping for those in need. Email Deborah Bennett at info@balfourarmssidmouth.co.uk or call 07900 200327.

Royal York and Faulkner Hotel/Blinis Meal Home Delivery Service will be offering free delivery of freshly prepared meals throughout the Sid-Valley area. Call the freephone number 0800 220714.

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Schools

Sidmouth College has confirmed that it will be closed to all pupils except ‘children of key workers and the most vulnerable’ from Monday, March 23. Sarah Parsons, principal of Sidmouth College said: “We are also doing everything possible to prepare all our students for home learning.

“We await further guidance from the Government on how we will be able to ensure our students have the right qualifications to pursue the next stages of their educational and professional careers.”

Sidmouth Primary School has now closed and is recommending parents to visit the Home Learning section on its website – http://www.sidmouth-primary.devon.sch.uk/home-learning.

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Transport Links

Since Monday March 23, bus services run by Stagecoach have been running on school holiday timetables.

Check the colour or text codes on the timetable. Look for journeys marked with SH for ‘school holiday’.

On timetables without this code, the buses will run as normal. Concessionary passes can now be used before 9.30am, to allow the elderly and vulnerable to use the bus to take advantage of the supermarkets exclusive shopping times. See http://www.stagecoachbus.com

South West Railway has reduced the number of services since Monday, March 23. For the amended timetable visit: http://www.southwesternrailway.com

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Churches

All public acts of worship at the Catholic Church of the Most Precious Blood have been suspended temporarily since Friday, March 20.

The church will remain open during daylight hours every day for solitary prayer. Anyone requiring assistance with shopping or would like a chat can call the parish office on 01395 513340.

Sidmouth Parish Church, St Giles and St Nicholas has cancelled all services, concerts and social events until June 15. During the period with no services, a weekly ‘virtual’ service will be provided via http://www.sidvalley.org.uk/sundayservice.htm. The church will remain open as usual for private prayer. For more information call 01395 578566.

Due to the latest coronavirus measures, Sidmouth Methodist Church is closed for the foreseeable future. A weekly service sheet is available on the website: http://www.sidmouth-methodist.org. For information call 01395 513384.

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Online Support

Sid Valley Help has a useful website filled with information on health and social care support services in the Sid Valley.

The webpages will be updated regularly to help people during the current situation. See http://www.sidvalleyhelp.co.uk

Rethink Mental Illness has created an online hub filled with practical information for people living with or supporting people with mental illness during the coronavirus pandemic. Go to http://www.rethink.org/advice-and-information/covid-19-support/

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Local People’s Views

Mark Williams, chief executive of East Devon District Council said: “We will need to be resilient, resourceful and courageous to make it through the difficult months ahead. We need to work together, to help each other wherever possible and, above all, to ‘keep calm and carry on’.”

Dawn Stabb, Devon County Council’s head of education, said: “Devon schools have already been doing a brilliant job ensuring that children of key workers continue to be educated as a priority even if they have had to partially close as a result of staff shortages.”

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Local Shops

The Spar in Temple Street, Sidmouth, will be delivering groceries every day between the hours of 9am and 4pm.

To place an order call Sue Mearns on 01395 513008

Woolbrook News will deliver any item from their shop. In addition, they will deliver on behalf of Vinnicombes bakery, and fruit and vegetables from Winchester’s. Place a call before 11am for same day delivery. There is a nominal £1.25 charge for each delivery drop. Call 01395 512224.

The Dairy Shop is offering free delivery on orders over £10. Sidmouth town centre deliveries only. Call 01395 513018.

Kings Garden and Leisure has a free local delivery service of plants and household items. To place an order call 01395 262278.

Essential Contacts

NHS: 111

Sid Valley HELP 01395 892011; email sidvalleyhelp@gmail.com

Beacon Medical Centre or Blackmore Health Centre: 01395 512601

Citizens Advice Bureau: 03444 111 444

Salvation Army Sidmouth: 07889 755777, angela.carney@salvationarmy.org.uk

Sidmouth Living with Cancer: jklfilm@aol.com

Sidmouth Town Council: http://www.sidmouth.gov.uk

In order to provide information to the people of Honiton, we have created this community lifeline to find sources of help in the area.

www.midweekherald.co.uk

Local Volunteer Networks

Honiton Health Matters has a team of volunteers to give support where it is needed during the coronavirus crisis. A dedicated phone line has been set up by Beehive volunteers. Call 01404 384050, from Monday to Friday, from 10am to 4pm.

Devon Freewheelers is offering a medication delivery service and a phone service to support those feeling anxious. Call 0300 800 0109.

The Honiton 55 Centre will take telephone orders for meals to be delivered to the doors of the elderly and vulnerable, every Monday, Thursday and Friday. If demand is high this service will be extended to include Tuesdays and possibly Wednesdays as well. Call 01404 43545

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Pubs/Restaurants

All pubs, restaurants and cafes in Honiton are now closed, following guidelines issued by the Government to help control the spread of coronavirus. Yet several food establishments in the town are offering takeaway and delivery services.

The Bird’s Nest restaurant in Honiton, selling Cantonese food, is continuing to offer a takeaway service. To place an order, ready for collection, call 01404 43131

Bella Pizza in Honiton has a well-established delivery service in place. It delivers to properties in Honiton and the surrounding three-mile radius of the town. A delivery menu can be found on the website – http://www.bellapizzahoniton.co.uk

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Schools

Glenn Smith, head of Honiton Community College said the school has a three-phase action plan to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus.

The first phase, which is in effect now, has seen the college organise work for stay-at-home students. The second phase, for the duration throughout Easter, will see the college try and continue to keep provision for young people.

For the third phase, beyond Easter, Mr Smith is hoping to launch a project consisting of a more joined-up form of provision between schools in Honiton and surrounding parishes.

Honiton Primary School is going to be re-purposed to provide support for children of the key workers listed by the Government. From Monday March 23, the school will open for children of key workers from 8am to 5pm. This format will run for the week and then merge into the HPS Hippos Holiday Club. Key workers are asked to call the office on 01404 548700.

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Transport Links

From Monday March 23, Stagecoach buses’ services will run on school holiday timetables.

Check the colour or text codes on the timetable. Look for journeys marked with SH for ‘school holiday’. On timetables without this code, the buses will run as normal. Concessionary passes can now be used before 9.30am, to allow the elderly and vulnerable to take advantage of the supermarkets exclusive shopping times. See http://www.stagecoachbus.com

South West Railway will reduce its number of services from Monday March 23. For the amended timetable visit http://www.southwesternrailway.com

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Churches

Services are cancelled at St Paul’s CofE Church, Honiton until further notice. Visit http://www.honitoncofe.org for information about weddings, baptisms and funerals. Or call the parish office on 01404 44035. The office will not be open to visitors during the crisis. Anyone in urgent need can call 07565 740894.

Honiton Evangelical Congregational Church will be suspending all services during the pandemic. Instead, each Sunday, a fresh sermon will be posted on the website to access and play. To be added to the church’s circulation list to receive regular news updates during this difficult time, email mike.plant427@btinternet.com. For more information see: http://www.honitonecc.org

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Online Support

Trip, the Honiton-based charity that provides transport to those in isolation in East Devon, has set up a special online webpage for people to either request support or volunteer their help. Go to http://www.tripcta.org/help-us

To help with any mental health issues that people may be facing at this time, the Honiton Health Matters group has an extensive list of various groups and organisations that may be able to help. See https://drive.google.com/…/1rQbIidzGT8vCmXx14h0a0MCDc…/view…

The Debt Advice Service Honiton (DASH) Honiton is still running its service. For any queries email office@thecommunitychurch.co.uk

Local People’s Views

Mark Williams, chief executive of East Devon District Council said: “We will need to be resilient, resourceful and courageous to make it through the difficult months ahead. We need to work together, to help each other wherever possible and, above all, to ‘keep calm and carry on’.”

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Local Shops

The Co-op in Honiton has a dedicated shopping hour for the elderly and the vulnerable. Exclusive use of the shop for people in this group will be from 8am to 9am from Monday to Saturday, and from 10am to 11am on Sundays. Certain items are being limited to two products per person, to ensure there is enough for everyone in the community.

Tesco in Honiton has an exclusive shopping hour for the elderly and vulnerable. The shop will open for this group only, from 9am to 10am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. NHS Staff will be given exclusive use of the shop to browse for essential items every Sunday, for one hour before the checkouts open.

Essential Contacts

NHS: 111

TRIP: 01404 46529

Honiton Surgery: 01404 548544

Honiton Dental Centre: 01404 42023

Brookvale Dental Practice: 01404 44800

Honiton Health Matters: http://www.honitonhealthmatters.org.uk/

Honiton Carers Support Group: facebook.com/Honiton Carers Support group

In order to provide information to the people of Exmouth, we have created this community lifeline to find sources of help in the area.

Terry Ife  www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

Local Volunteer Networks

The home support service run by Age Concern in Exmouth is still operational.

Anyone who is self-isolating and needs supplies dropped off on the doorstep should call 01395 271242.

A new Facebook group, Exmouth Mutual Aid Covid-19, has launched to bring volunteers together to help those self-isolating from coronavirus. It is currently seeking volunteers from all areas of Exmouth. Currently, there is a small group of coordinators dealing with the requests for help, but the plan is to develop this into several neighbourhood teams. The services on offer include grocery pick-ups, dog walking and phone support. Go to Facebook and search for Exmouth Mutual Aid Covid-19,

Devon Freewheelers is offering a medication delivery service and a phone service to support those feeling anxious. Call 0300 800 0109.

Exmouth Community Larder will be open from 1.30pm to 3pm on Mondays and Fridays for people in food emergency. Recognising the vital importance of social distancing, the hall will be laid out in a way to keep individuals well separated. Referrals should be made by email to help@exmouthlarder.co.uk. Referrals for people in self-isolation will be accepted. Deliveries will be dropped off by volunteers and left on the recipient’s doorstep. For more, call 07749 322291 or see http://www.exmouthlarder.co.uk

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Pubs/Restaurants

All pubs, restaurants and cafes in Exmouth are now closed, following guidelines issued by the Government to help control the spread of coronavirus. Yet several food establishments in the town are offering meals on wheels and delivery services.

Lunchies Exmouth offers doorstep delivery of healthy homemade, hot meals to customers in Exmouth and Woodbury, Budleigh Salterton and Lympstone. To place an order call 01395 272877

Moores Pasties will deliver its freshly made pasties, pies and sausage rolls to residents in Exmouth and the surrounding area. The food is made fresh in the kitchen every day. To place an order call 01395 265448

The Heavitree in Exmouth will deliver freshly prepared meals to people in Exmouth. This is on a temporary basis whilst the main pub is closed. To take a look at the menu visit http://www.theheavitreeexmouth.co.uk or call 01395 227643

Schools

Exmouth Community College closed on Friday.

It is running classes for the children of key workers and vulnerable students which include pupils with Education and Health Care Plans and those who are engaging with Social Services.

Children currently in receipt of free school meals will receive packed lunches from the catering van or onsite for students attending college. The school is looking at the possibility of working with either Tesco and/or Lidl to provide vouchers for these vulnerable families, should the school close completely. For updates see http://www.exmouthcollege.devon.sch.uk

Brixington Primary Academy, Marpool Primary School, Bassetts Farm Primary School, Exeter Road Community Primary School, St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School and Littleham C of E Primary School are now closed until further notice. These primary schools will only run skeleton classes for vulnerable children and children of key workers.

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Transport Links

Since Monday March 23, bus services run by Stagecoach have been running on school holiday timetables.

Check the colour or text codes on the timetable.

Look for journeys marked with SH for ‘school holiday’. On timetables without this code, the buses will run as normal. Concessionary passes can now be used before 9.30am, to allow the elderly and vulnerable to use the bus to take advantage of the supermarkets exclusive shopping times. See http://www.stagecoachbus.com

South West Railway has reduced its number of services since Monday, March 23. For the amended timetable visit: http://www.southwesternrailway.com

—–

Churches

All events and services at Brixington Community Church have been suspended until further notice.

It will be live streaming its Sunday worship from 10.30am. For details call the church on 01395 268720. Check the Facebook page for all the latest updates.

The Mission Community of Littleham, Exmouth and Lympstone have suspended public worship until further notice. For live streaming of services see http://www.exmouthcoastalchurches.org.uk/latest-news

—–

Online Support

Open Door Exmouth will help anyone struggling or in crisis.

It is already collecting the details of vulnerable people and those in self-isolation and will arrange a ‘no contact’ delivery of meals and/or food parcels and place welfare calls. See http://www.opendoorexmouth.org.uk

Rethink Mental Illness has created an online hub filled with practical information for people living with or supporting people with mental illness during the coronavirus pandemic. Go to http://www.rethink.org/advice-and-information/covid-19-support/

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Local People’s Views 
Mark Williams, chief executive of East Devon District Council said: “We will need to be resilient, resourceful and courageous to make it through the difficult months ahead. We need to work together, to help each other wherever possible and, above all, to ‘keep calm and carry on’.”

Councillor Steve Gazzard, Exmouth Town Mayor, said: “I would like to request that we are all mindful of elderly and vulnerable relatives and neighbours and that we do what we can to help them through this uncertain time”.

—–

Local Shops

The family run shop, Callands Budgens in Exmouth, has been providing free home delivery for over 10 years.

It has access to plenty of produce from local independent traders and replenishes its stock levels on a daily basis. It will continue to deliver daily, especially to those who are elderly, vulnerable or self-isolating. Orders can be made over the phone on 01395 275042, by email exmouthbudgens@gmail.com or via its Facebook page.

Greendale Farm Shop offers a local delivery service for customers living in Exmouth and the surrounding areas. Order fresh produce from the farm and fishing fleet. Delivery costs £4.95 or it is free for orders of £50 or more. Call 01395 232836 or go to http://www.greendale.com/customer-support/home-delivery/

Pet supplies are delivered free of charge by Garden Pets at Littleham Cross, Exmouth. To talk through an order call 01395 266230

Essential Contacts

NHS: 111

Exmouth Friends in Need: 07581 375855

Exmouth Town Council: http://www.exmouth.gov.uk or call 01395 276167

East Devon District Council Recycling: 01395 571515

Exmouth Citizens Advice Bureau: 0344 411 1444

Exmouth Community Larder: http://www.exmouthlarder.co.uk

Abbeyfield appear intent on moving two frail residents from Shandford on Monday to other care homes, despite the country being in lockdown.  

Owl has been deluged by local comment since this story appeared on-line a couple of days ago. This is Owl’s attempt at putting these in context.

The country is in a form of lockdown described as: stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives, allowing limited movement outside the home for essential purposes.

This week the most vulnerable were sent a letter instructing them to stay at home and not to move outside for any reason. These would have included the sort of vulnerable centenarians, resident in the Abbeyfield “Shandford” care home.

Yesterday, the national restrictions were further tightened when healthy people contracted to move house, even as soon as this weekend, were advised not to.

Despite this national emergency, Owl understands, Abbeyfield are intent in moving the frail and vulnerable out of Shandford to meet their self imposed deadline to close the home. Apparently, at least two are scheduled to leave on Monday. When the safety of this has been questioned the reply given by Devon County Council is that this is in accordance with “existing protocols” .

Owl finds this incomprehensible. Unfortunately, Covid-19 has breezed through “existing protocols” which is why we are facing an uncontrolled epidemic with infections doubling every three days. Covid-19 is spread by person to person contact. Shuffling people around is recklessly irresponsible, “existing protocols” must be torn up and common sense applied or our collective attempts at achieving control will fail.

To date Covid-19 restrictions appear to have kept Shandford open for longer than Abbeyfield intended. Owl understands that Shandford could have been saved. Amica Care Trust had made approaches to take over the home. Simon Jupp MP had tried to facilitate this.with no success. A local “Save our Shandford” organisation could have formed the nucleus of providing a local source of fundraising. An attempt at creating a Community Interest Company to take Shandford back into local control has been frustrated by Abbeyfield’s refusal to disclose details of the 2012 deed of transfer, when local control was ceded to Abbeyfield. 

Owl has been told all monies will be returned to the Town when the site is sold. So Owl is puzzled by why Abbeyfield appears intent on “realising the assets” at the start of an economic crash, rather than transfer it to Amica or back to local control as a going concern.

To Owl this appears a scorched earth policy.

Daniel Wilkins  www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

A bid to rescue a much-loved Budleigh care home has come ‘too late’ to halt its closure.

Amica Care Trust, which runs a care home and an independent living facility in Exmouth, has confirmed it made a bid to take over the Shandford home which is set to close at the end of the month.

However, the Abbeyfield Society, which has run Shandford since 2012, said an offer from a third party was rejected as it came too close to their intended closure date.

The society also said halting the process would require Shandford to run with only a third of the beds filled.

The Station Road care home is set to close on Tuesday, March 31.

Keran Wilkinson, chief executive of Amica Care Trust, said: “We did reach out to Shandford with the view that we could offer a rescue plan but having met with the Abbeyfield Society it was not something they wanted to consider as they felt they were too far down the closure route.”

A spokesman for the Abbeyfield Society said: “Despite the lateness of this approach, the suggestions presented were carefully considered by the Abbeyfield senior leadership team but were unfortunately deemed unsuitable.

“This was largely due to the approach being made only two weeks before the home was due to complete its close and, as a result, two thirds of the residents had been found more suitable care placements elsewhere.”

The Abbeyfield Society said the few remaining residents were in the process of being found new homes so they came to the ‘difficult decision’ that it would be ‘inappropriate’ to halt the closure.

The spokesman continued: “Doing so would disrupt the process that was well under way with no guarantee of a different outcome, causing greater disruption and confusion to residents.

“Any halt in the process would also mean that Shandford would be required to run with only one third of the beds filled for a potentially lengthy time period, further reducing the financial stability of the home and causing significant financial pressure.”

The Department of Health rejected high-level medical advice about providing NHS staff with certain protective equipment during an influenza pandemic because stockpiling it would be too expensive, the Guardian can reveal.

Evidence based decisions, economic assessment, reconsider, rewrite. It’s all in the words. Questions here for Jeremy Hunt to answer – Owl

Harry Davies  www.theguardian.com 

Documents show that officials working under former health secretary Jeremy Hunt told medical advisers three years ago to “reconsider” a formal recommendation that eye protection should be provided to all healthcare professionals who have close contact with pandemic influenza patients.

The expert advice was watered down after an “economic assessment” found a medical recommendation about providing visors or safety glasses to all hospital, ambulance and social care staff who have close contact with pandemic influenza patients would “substantially increase” the costs of stockpiling.

The documents may help explain a devastating shortage of protective gear in the NHS that is hampering efforts by medical staff to manage the Covid-19 virus pandemic.

Doctors are threatening to quit the profession unless they are properly equipped, and NHS trusts across England have been asking schools to donate science goggles due to the shortages, the Guardian revealed on Wednesday. The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has acknowledged “challenges” with the supply of protective material to NHS staff and has drafted in the army to get supplies to frontline workers.

In recent days, his department says, more than 15m face masks have been delivered to the frontline, including 24.6m gloves and 1.9m sets of eye protection delivered on Wednesday.

However documents seen by the Guardian suggest officials working under his predecessor resisted advice about stockpiling supplies of eye protection in case of a pandemic of this kind.

In 2015, what is now the Department of Health and Social Care tasked one of its independent advisory committees, the new and emerging respiratory virus threat advisory group (Nervtag), to review the UK’s approach to stockpiling personal protective equipment (PPE) for use in an influenza pandemic “to help inform future stockpile and purchasing decisions”.

Nervtag had been created the previous year to advise the government on pandemic influenza and new virus threats to the UK. The advisory group made a series of “formal recommendations” to the department in March 2016, which had been compiled by a subgroup of senior NHS clinicians and scientists, and agreed by the wider committee.

Asked what items of PPE would be required in a pandemic, the government’s advisers recommended “providing eye protection for all hospital, community, ambulance and social care staff who have close contact with pandemic influenza patients.”

They said the protection could be either visors or safety glasses, adding such equipment was necessary because there was some evidence of risk of infection via the eyes when in close contact with pandemic influenza patients.

However, according to minutes of a Nervtag meeting in June 2017, a health department official told the advisers to reconsider their advice as information had emerged about “the very large incremental cost of adding in eye protection.”

A minute from the meeting stated that “a subsequent internal DH health economic assessment has revealed that following these recommendations would substantially increase the cost of the PPE component of the pandemic stockpile four-to six-fold, with a very low likelihood of cost-benefit based on standard thresholds.”

The department asked Nervtag “to clarify the detail of their advice in light of the costings, and reconsider its recommendations against the strength of the scientific evidence of the ocular route as a source of infection, and the likely incremental cost-recommendations”.

The advisory committee then changed its official advice. The recommendation over protective eyewear was rewritten so that it instead told the department to buy enough eye protection for “exceptional usage” in higher-risk circumstances and when used with respirator masks during aerosol generating procedures.

According to a January 2018 minute, the update was made “in light of emerging evidence around cost-effectiveness, and the evidence around the incremental benefits of wearing eye protection.”

It is not clear at what level of seniority in the health department the Nervtag recommendations were considered back in 2016 and 2017. In a statement to the Guardian, DHSC said it would be incorrect to say ministers “intervened in this decision making”.

“As the public rightly expects, decisions of this nature are evidence-based and take into account a number of factors, including expert clinical guidance, cost effectiveness and practical consideration, such as shelf life and storage,” a DHSC spokesperson said.

“The government has prepared and stockpiled for an influenza pandemic. The documents clearly state that the scientific evidence did not support a vast increase in procurement expenditure on face masks with integrated eye protection for pandemic influenza.”

The DHSC is now scrambling to find ways to better supply hospital staff as it faces Covid-19, a highly infectious respiratory disease, with reports of doctors and nurses frantically trying to buy their own PPE and a particularly acute need for eye protection.

At prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, highlighted that the Healthcare Supplies Association had appealed to DIY shops to donate PPE. On Twitter, the association said it needed visors and protective glasses, tweeting: “Do we have to commandeer the stocks of DIY stores?????”

Hunt, who ran the department between 2012 and 2018 and now chairs the House of Commons health select committee, has in recent days led calls to better equip frontline staff battling the coronavirus. Last week, he told the BBC: “We must sort this out. We are asking people to put their own lives at risk on the NHS frontline…It is absolutely heartbreaking when NHS frontline professionals don’t have the equipment that they need.”

His spokeswoman told the Guardian: “Jeremy does not believe he was personally involved in decisions about PPE for NHS staff, but was acutely aware of the shortage of funds in the NHS budget which was why that year he fought for and secured an £8bn rise in the NHS annual budget followed by a £20bn rise two years later.”

However, the documents suggest the efforts by Hunt’s department to water down the advice on PPE impacted a round of procurement that was due to take place in 2017 to stockpile for a possible pandemic.

In addition to the discussions over eye protection, the documents also raise questions about the UK government’s policy regarding face masks for doctors, nurses and other health professionals dealing with Covid-19 patients.

In 2016, Nervtag advisers told the government that intensive care units (ICUs) should be designated “hot spots” carrying out aerosol generating procedures. Therefore, they said, a particular kind of mask known as an FFP3 respirator “should be recommended for all staff at all times in these areas when a patient with pandemic influenza is present”, except for some circumstances.

One intensive care nurse at a hospital in Yorkshire told the Guardian earlier this week she had had to spend £100 of her own money to buy a full FFP3 respirator mask online. In her unit on Monday, there were no masks or surgical gowns, another vital piece of PPE kit which has also been in short supply.

There have been other reports in recent days of NHS improvising in the face of insufficient PPE, with nurses in the Royal Free hospital in north London affixing clinical waste bags around their legs, while at North Middlesex hospital they have been tying plastic aprons around their heads.

Back in 2016, Nervtag advisers also recommended the government commission an update to its infection control guidance, which by then was seven years old. The guidance, they said, needed to recommend PPE usage “in line with the current evidence base and guidelines”.

In June that year, the department responded to Nervtag’s initial recommendations about pandemic stockpiling, saying work to reflect the advice was being prioritised and progressed. However, with regard to updating the control guidance to bring it in line with current evidence, officials replied: “This work is not considered a priority at this time and will be deferred for consideration at a future time.”

Frontline doctors and nurses have said recent changes to official advice in the UK have meant many NHS staff have been wearing less protective gear than the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends when caring for Covid-19 patients. The WHO’s advice recommends different standards of PPE to the UK advice in certain clinical situations.

As mentioned in a comment posted earlier today, work on Exmouth’s new seafront watersports centre has been temporarily paused as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. 

Another set-back to the ill fated plans to “regenerate” Exmouth. (Owl recently catalogued  these  going back to 2002. )

Another costly road to nowhere.

LINO (Leader in name only) Ben Ingham is well and truly floundering in the Exmouth surf. He’s drowning, not waving. 

Daniel Clark  www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

Developer Grenadier and building contractors Devon Contractors Ltd have confirmed they have temporarily stopped work at the Sideshore watersports centre development in Queen’s Drive.

They said while Government advice would enable them to continue work, they strongly feel the health and safety of the staff should be put first.

Grenadier’s plans for Exmouth seafront, which include the watersports centre, were due to be finished in time for the summer of 2020.

As well as the watersports centre, the Sideshore development will be home to dining facilities run by renowned award-winning celebrity chef, Michael Caines.

Exmouth-based company Edge Watersports are set to run the sea-based activity side of the centre.

Aiden Johnson-Hugill, director of Grenadier, said: “The creation of Sideshore may have been temporarily put on hold, but we are committed to creating something rather extraordinary.

“We are confident that once open, Sideshore, Exmouth’s new community focused watersports centre will offer visitors and residents of Exmouth unrivalled access to two miles of waterfront, alongside space to eat, meet and enjoy the beach.

“In the meantime, we are adhering to Government advice to protect the health and safety of our workforce.

“We look forward to unveiling Sideshore to the public as soon as possible, and we are confident it will not only operate as a sustainable business, but create a lasting legacy for the local community.”

A spokesman for Devon Contractors added: “We have been following Public Health England guidance to ensure we protect our people, our subcontractors, and our suppliers’ health and safety.

“We will continue to monitor the impact and provide an update in due course.”

The watersports centre marks the second phase of a three step plan to regenerate Exmouth seafront. [Not by Owl’s reckoning – Don’t forget the Bowling Alley/Ocean, and Elizabeth Hall redevelopment ].

The first part was the realignment of the Queen’s Drive road and car park, completed in 2019.

Plans for an 80-bedroom hotel and luxury restaurant as part of phase three are on hold as East Devon District Council’s scrutiny committee raised concerns over the make-up of a select committee tasked with overseeing the plans.

Shares in housebuilding companies plunged when the market opened on Friday after the government put the brakes on the housing market, telling people to delay their home moves if possible and to stop new viewings.

Mark Sweney  www.theguardian.com 

Shares in housebuilding companies plunged when the market opened on Friday after the government put the brakes on the housing market, telling people to delay their home moves if possible and to stop new viewings.

The government, which announced the new guidance on Thursday night, urged buyers and sellers to put plans on hold until the coronavirus restrictions are no longer in place.

The move prompted a sell-off of shares in some of the UK’s largest housebuilding firms. Persimmon, Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey were among the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 on Friday morning, all down 7%.

Redrow shares fell 6% after the housebuilder issued a Covid-19 update to investors. The company said it had stopped building new homes, wasputting a significant number of employees on temporary leave and was in talks with banks to shore up its finances as the coronavirus hammers the construction industry.

The company, which has already moved most office-based staff to homeworking and shut sales centres, had been operating with reduced construction staff to try to finish projects that are close to completion. The housebuilder said it will shut down all work immediately.

“It has become increasingly impracticable as our supply chain has been significantly impacted in recent days,” the company said. “As a result, the board has now decided to go further and commence, with immediate effect, an orderly and safe closure of all of our sites and offices.”

The north Wales-based company said that as a result it has put a “significant number” of employees on furlough – unpaid leave, save for the £2,500 a month available as part of the government’s bailout.

Redrow said it had a strong balance sheet with assets of £1.6bn but, given the company was facing a “prolonged period of inactivity”, it had started talks with its six banks.

The company is seeking to increase its £250m revolving credit facility and double an additional facility to £100m. The company has also applied to the government’s Covid-19 corporate financing facility.

“These are unprecedented times,” said John Tutte, the executive chairman of Redrow. “The actions we have announced today will give us the flexibility to manage the business through this turbulent period to ensure we are ready to resume production when it is safe to do so.”

The company said it has an order book of projects worth £1.4bn, with £900m of that already contracted to complete.

Rightmove said it was cancelling its final dividend for 2019, which was due to give £38m to shareholders, because of the uncertainties arising from the coronavirus crisis.

The property website also scrapped its financial guidance for 2020 but added that the board was confident the company had the “financial capacity to withstand this challenging period”.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52060791

In a video on Twitter, Boris Johnson says he is self-isolating and will continue to work from home.

Media captionIn a video on Twitter, Boris Johnson says he is self-isolating and will continue to work from home.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus.

Mr Johnson said he developed mild symptoms over the past 24 hours, including a temperature and cough.

He is self-isolating in Downing Street but said he will “continue to lead the government’s response via video-conference as we fight this virus”.

Mr Johnson was last seen on Thursday night, clapping outside No 10 as part of a nationwide gesture to thank NHS staff.

In a video on his Twitter account, Mr Johnson, 55, said: “I’m working from home and self-isolating and that’s entirely the right thing to do.

“But, be in no doubt that I can continue thanks to the wizardry of modern technology to communicate with all my top team to lead the national fightback against coronavirus.
“I want to thank everybody involved and, of course, our amazing NHS staff.”

“So thank you to everybody who’s doing what I’m doing, working from home to stop the spread of the virus from household to household,” he added.
“That’s the way we’re going to win.”

Mr Johnson was tested at No 10 by NHS staff, on the personal advice of England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, Downing Street said.

He will still be in charge of the government’s handling of the crisis, the statement added. Earlier this week, the prime minister’s spokesman said if Mr Johnson was unwell and unable to work, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, as the first secretary of state, was the selected minister to stand in.

It is not known whether Mr Johnson will still be living with his fiancee Carrie Symonds, who is several months pregnant…

Mr Johnson has been seen at several of the government’s televised daily briefings in the past week, where he has appeared alongside senior medical officials to update the country on the virus.

Neither the PM’s senior adviser Dominic Cummings nor Chancellor Rishi Sunak – who Mr Johnson has recently appeared alongside, while following social distancing advice – have symptoms or have been tested.

As supermarkets struggle to keep shelves stocked during the Covid-19 pandemic, the team at Clinton Dairy in East Devon is continuing to work around the clock to ensure organic milk supplies are maintained.

It also runs a 24/7 fresh milk vending machine at the nearby Otterton Mill visitor centre and has seen sales double since the crisis began. The machine was set up in an effort to reduce food miles, waste, and connect the farm with the local community, something that is hugely important for the Farms Partnership at this time.

By  www.southwestfarmer.co.uk 

The Clinton Devon Farms Partnership, a Clinton Devon Estates farming business, manages two organic dairy farms, Otter farm and Dalditch farm, where a herd of 750 cows graze locally. The dairy supplies milk to the firm Muller, producing 5.4million litres of milk each year.

It also runs a 24/7 fresh milk vending machine at the nearby Otterton Mill visitor centre and has seen sales double since the crisis began. The machine was set up in an effort to reduce food miles, waste, and connect the farm with the local community, something that is hugely important for the Farms Partnership at this time.

Farms manager Sam Briant-Evans, said: “It’s pretty much business as usual at the dairy. Even at an immensely difficult time like this, the animals still need to be fed and milked, so the work doesn’t stop and we will continue to meet demand. Additionally, our vending machine usually sells 10 to 12 litres a day, whereas we are currently seeing sales of 25 to 30 litres a day, and we expect that to continue to rise.

“We are taking all the correct precautions and following daily government advice to ensure our teams are safe and protected at all times. We are observing all social distancing guidelines and following strict hygiene and sanitisation protocols.”

The refrigerated vending machine at Otterton Mill holds 100 litres of whole milk and is fitted with a cash and card payment facility. Customers can purchase a re-useable, recyclable glass bottle, or bring their own.

A heightened sense of disgust to dirt and germs during outbreaks of disease could have set off the panic-buying of lavatory paper, according to the author of a book on how pandemics affect the mind.

[Owl advises to shop locally for a variety of good reasons – you may also find your loo rolls as well, but please only buy what you need]

Andrew Ellson  www.thetimes.co.uk

Professor Steven Taylor, of the University of British Columbia, says that when people are threatened with infection, their sensitivity to disgust increases and are more motivated to avoid it. He concedes that the problem can also snowball due to a more prosaic reason — the simple desire not to run out when others are buying so much.

The professor, who published Psychology of Pandemics only a month before the pandemic struck, said: “People have a built-in alarm system that keeps us away from danger. So when people become frightened their sensitivity to disgust increases. In a pandemic, people are more likely to experience the emotion of disgust and are more motivated to avoid it.

“In that sense, the purchase of toilet paper makes sense because it is linked to our ability to avoid disgusting things. It’s not that surprising. It has also become a symbol.

“In psychology research, it is called a conditioned safety signal. It’s almost like a good luck charm or a way of keeping safe. This type of behaviour is very instinctive and prominent in pandemics.”

He added that panic-buying can also amplify itself, especially in the internet age. “Graphic images of people buying and fighting over toilet paper have gone viral. This creates a sense of urgency and the fear of scarcity snowballs and creates real scarcity. This is the first pandemic in the era of social media and it is having an effect.”

Professor Taylor said governments needed to be thoughtful and positive in their communications and instructions if they want people to stop panic-buying.

“Just telling people to stop is not going to stop them. People are panic buying because of the need to feel they are in control. They need to be told or given something positive to do, such as helping out their elderly neighbours in isolation or donating to food banks, so they feel they are doing something to help their communities. Then people stop thinking so much about themselves.”

Strictly speaking, the recession we are entering is a choice, taken on the advice of public health experts. To limit the contagion, we must pause normal life as we know it, which means pausing the economy. When we know more about the disease we will be able to judge whether this was the right call or a miscalculation that inflicted needless economic pain. For the time being, the more pressing question is how to do it without causing an economic meltdown.

Ed Conway, economics editor of Sky News  www.thetimes.co.uk

Some machines you can turn off with the flick of a switch. Others are nearly impossible to shut off. Nuclear reactors fall into the latter category. Decommissioning them takes years. Turning them off temporarily is a risky exercise; indeed, the most famous nuclear accidents — Chernobyl, Fukushima, Three Mile Island — all involved attempts to pause their reactors.

A sophisticated economy is not designed to be shut down either. While we know what should happen when you switch off a nuclear reactor, we have no idea what happens when you do the same to an economy, because until now no one has tried. But one consequence of Covid-19 is that across the world we are about to find out.

Strictly speaking, the recession we are entering is a choice, taken on the advice of public health experts. To limit the contagion, we must pause normal life as we know it, which means pausing the economy. When we know more about the disease we will be able to judge whether this was the right call or a miscalculation that inflicted needless economic pain. For the time being, the more pressing question is how to do it without causing an economic meltdown.

The good news is that since this is no normal recession — a deliberate one rather than one caused by economic malfunction — life should get back to normal once the machine is up and running again. The bad news is that we are flying blind.

There are a few important principles. We know that when people lose their jobs in recessions they often never work again. We know that when the financial system clogs up and businesses can’t borrow, some promising productive companies go belly up. If you want to put your economy into hibernation you need to avoid both of these “scarring” effects.

These principles are what lie behind the extraordinary measures introduced by the chancellor over the past fortnight. Businesses are to get cheap loans while employees and, as of yesterday, many self-employed workers, will be paid by the state to be “furloughed”: stay at home on a slightly reduced salary. While that unfamiliar word comes from America, in reality the job retention scheme has a decidedly continental flavour. Indeed, it is based on a German system called kurzarbeit.

Kurzarbeit, where the Federal Labour Office pays temporarily laid-off workers a chunk of their salaries, has been around for decades but came to prominence during the 2008 financial crisis when it helped to cut German unemployment rates, even as they were soaring elsewhere. The Treasury was considering imposing kurzarbeit as an emergency measure here in the event of a no-deal Brexit last year. In the end, they adapted those Brexit blueprints to create the Covid-19 job retention scheme over a few all-nighters last week.

The challenge is that nothing like this has ever been imposed in Britain — and for good reason. Labour markets in many continental economies, including France, Germany and much of Scandinavia, are comparatively static. Workers are more likely to be employed and to stay in their jobs longer, so there is logic to a scheme like kurzarbeit, since you can generally assume that if someone does a given job one year they are likely to be doing it the next.

But Britain’s labour market is much more fluid. People move between jobs more frequently, and there is more hiring and firing. This fluidity and churn is, economists believe, one of the UK’s strong suits. Yet it has also tended to mean that our unemployment level is higher than that of comparable EU nations during a recession. To see what would happen here without a kurzarbeit, you need only look at the vertiginous increase in universal credit applications before the job retention scheme was unveiled. Or indeed the terrifying jump in US jobless claims yesterday: not just the worst in history, the worst in history by a factor of five.

Statistics like that explain why the Treasury is ploughing on with such a radical programme. But how effective will Britain’s version of kurzarbeit be? Can a continental model, in which millions of workers are effectively paid by the state to stay at home, succeed in our country? Nobody, including the Treasury, knows.

Britain’s financial system is also being asked to stifle its normal behaviour thanks to the other leg of Rishi Sunak’s rescue package. For better or worse, Britain’s banks are less inclined to lend to small and medium sized businessses than, for instance, in Germany, where local savings banks, Sparkassen, offer generous loans to such firms. But the Treasury is now encouraging banks to lend to businesses despite the economic uncertainty. Can banks kick the habit of a lifetime and suspend the stringent checks they normally carry out before lending? The early signs are not encouraging.

Britain’s open, dynamic economy serves the country well in normal times. But these are not normal times. And putting this economy into hibernation will mean confronting all sorts of habits and attitudes many of our companies and businesses took for granted. Not firing staff to protect the balance sheet. Not withholding credit from struggling companies.

If these unfamiliar, continental measures do not succeed, Britain faces a deeper recession than many other nations. If they do, we may spend the following decades working out whether we can ever uproot them.

There has been criticism in the past that MPs have vested interests in the boundaries of their constituency, as any redrawing of the map can place into their patch new council wards that might typically vote for other parties, making the constituency more or less safe for their own party.  

Kate Proctor  www.theguardian.com 

The government had planned to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600 but announced a U-turn on Wednesday, the last day before parliamentary recess, citing the increased workload expected because of Brexit.

However, it has also emerged that among the many changes planned by the government is that any future decisions from the Boundary Commission would be implemented automatically.

The Cabinet Office minister Chloe Smith said this would stop any “interference” in the process. A set of boundary plans were voted down by opposition MPs in 2013.

There has been criticism in the past that MPs have vested interests in the boundaries of their constituency, as any redrawing of the map can place into their patch new council wards that might typically vote for other parties, making the constituency more or less safe for their own party.

In her written statement to the Commons, Smith said: “This change would provide certainty that the recommendations of the independent boundary commissions – developed through a robust and impartial process that is open to extensive consultation – would then be implemented without interference.”

The government has now changed the rules so that the new map would be implemented automatically by bringing it to parliament through a mechanism called an order in council.

The latest boundary review process, the sixth one to take place since the 1940s, recommended in 2011 that the number of MPs should be reduced from 650 to 600, but the process has been beset with delays. Proposals laid out in 2013 that were backed by the Tories were defeated in parliament.

The Boundary Commission released new proposals in 2018 recommending scrapping 32 seats in England, six in Scotland, 11 in Wales and one in Northern Ireland.

The boundaries would have scrapped Jeremy Corbyn’s Islington North seat and made Boris Johnson’s Uxbridge less safe by bringing in typically Labour-voting wards in Ealing.

A controversial “Devonwall” seat that crossed the counties of Devon and Cornwall was another unpopular proposal in the now-axed 2018 plan.

Smith said the decision to abandon plans to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600 was sensible in light of changed circumstances.

“Since that policy was established in the coalition agreement, the United Kingdom has now left the European Union,” she said. “The UK parliament will have a greater workload now we are taking back control and regaining our political and economic independence. It is therefore sensible for the number of parliamentary constituencies to remain at 650.”

A selection of much-loved National Theatre live productions is to be made available to watch on YouTube for free over the next two months.

Chris Carson  www.midweekherald.co.uk 

The National Theatre Collection – an online resource for schools, universities, libraries and the wider education sector – is now available to access at home during school closure period

A spokesman said: “During this unprecedented time which has seen the closure of theatres, cinemas and schools, the National Theatre is providing access to content online to serve audiences in their homes.

“Audiences around the world can stream NT Live productions for free via YouTube, and students and teachers have access to the National Theatre Collection at home, delivered in partnership with Bloomsbury Publishing.

From Thursday, April 2, a number of productions previously screened in cinemas globally as a part of National Theatre Live will be made available to watch via the YouTube channel.

The first production to be broadcast will be Richard Bean’s One Man Two Guvnors featuring a Tony Award-winning performance from James Corden.

Each production will be free and screened live every Thursday at 7pm. It will then be available on demand for seven days.

Alongside the streamed productions, there will also be accompanying interactive content such as Q&As with cast and creative teams and post-stream talks.

Lisa Burger, NT executive director and joint chief executive said: “Our ambition is to create work which is challenging, entertaining and inspiring and we’re committed to continuing that through these difficult times.

“Following the UK schools’ closures, pupils now studying at home will be able to access the National Theatre collection remotely.

“It includes high-quality recordings of 24 world-class productions, drawing from 10 years of NT Live broadcasts and never-before-released productions from the NT archive.

“It’s available now for free to pupils and teachers at state schools and state-funded further education colleges, through remote access provided in partnership with Bloomsbury Publishing.

“Schools will be able to share log-in details with pupils to access the National Theatre Collection at home during this period.”

For more on National Theatre at Home go to https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/at-home

Neatly observing a 2m social distancing.