The number of new coronavirus cases confirmed in the last seven days has risen across Devon and Cornwall – with a sharp rise recorded in East Devon.

Daniel Clark – Local Democracy Reporter honiton.nub.news 

Below are a list of ‘clusters’ – referring to three or more cases – in Honiton and the surrounding area.

Figures are as of October 23 covering October 13-19:

Dunkesewell, Upottery and Stockland: 4

Honiton North and East: 4

Honiton South and West: 0-2

Feniton and Whimple: 0-2

Axminster: 7

Ottery St Mary and West Hill: 3

A large rise has been recorded across East Devon, with 15 clusters currently registered in the region.

In Exeter, cases are down by a third on last week, mainly driven by a reduction in cases linked to the University.

A sharp fall in cases in Exeter has outweighed the rises elsewhere in the region, which has seen 13 fewer cases confirmed in the Devon County Council area compared with last week.

Of the 1,395 new cases, 116 were in East Devon. The region has seen a sharp rise by specimen date.

This compares to the 1,113 new cases from last week, of which 69 were in East Devon.

The number of people in hospital in the South West has risen to 248 from 151 as of last week and there are currently 21 people on a mechanical ventilator.

In total, East Devon has had 582 positive cases.

It comes as Steve Brown, the Deputy Director for Public Health Devon has confirmed that Exeter case numbers are now back to ‘broadly’ the national average.

He described the reduction in cases in Exeter as great news and testament to all the work that the university and colleagues have done.

“While the numbers are low in Devon at the moment, it’s really important that we do all we can to maintain that,” he said.

Latest news from Cathy Gardner as she waits to find out whether her judicial review can proceed to the High Court.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/care-home-deaths/

Update on Help me hold the government to account for Covid-19 care home deaths

Thank you for your kind support, you’ve allowed me to bring the case forward and we await a ruling on November 19th to see whether the case will get the judicial review we are calling for.

In the meantime I just wanted to make you aware of two news items that you may not have seen. Firstly, Amnesty International published a report a few weeks ago that did get some coverage in the media. Their findings echo the evidence in my legal case and If you didn’t see it the report can be found here:  https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/10/uk-older-people-in-care-homes-abandoned-to-die-amid-government-failures-during-covid-19-pandemic/

Secondly, CNN interviewed me for the piece they produced to mark the sad milestone of a million deaths worldwide. This is humbling because my father’s story was chosen to represent the ~250’000 deaths in Europe, so far. Sadly the death toll continues to rise. The CNN item can be viewed here and is very moving (copy and paste into your browser if you need to, its worth watching):

https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2020/09/world/global-covid-deaths-one-million/

East Devon District Council is calling on the government to provide financial help for women born in the 1950s who lost out on thousands of pounds of income due to state pension age changes and are now in further hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Beth Sharp exmouth.nub.news

In the 1990s the government increased the female state pension age from 60 to 65. It’s meant that women, born in the 1950s, who expected to retire at 60, suddenly found themselves facing a wait of up to at least five years before they could receive their pension. Further changes in 2011 accelerated and increased the State Pension age so some faced a hike of six years and most had absolutely no idea this had happened.

Nationally, 3.8 million women have been affected by the changes with more than 7,500 women living in East Devon.

Campaigners for the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) say that the pandemic is now adding to the financial strain that the women born in the 1950s are facing. Many affected by the changes have had to continue working towards their new state pension age in order to make ends meet as the decision meant that many were financially ill-prepared for the future.

As jobs are being lost due to economic pressures triggered by the Covid lockdown, many in this group are now finding that their jobs – their financial lifeline – are being cut and they are finding it hard to find new work.

Following a motion to support the WASPI group, put forward by Cllr Fabian King and seconded by Cllr Val Ranger, East Devon District Council unanimously agreed to lobby its three MPs urging them to promote the plight of the women in Parliament.

The council is backing the WASPI call on government to take urgent action to support the women. It wants Parliament to give WASPI women early access to Pension Credit and give those women due to reach state pension age this financial year early access to their state pension.

At the council meeting, Cllr Ranger highlighted the devastating repercussions for the women resulting from the pandemic which had removed their means of earning or saving money.

She said: “It is very easy to forget that many of these women were well into their 40 and 50s when the changes to pension ages were announced.

“The national minimum wage was not introduced until 1999 and many women prior to that were in very low wage jobs, secondary to their partners.

“Many of these women had career breaks to raise children or care for family members or worked part-time sometimes with multiple jobs around those responsibilities.

“If they found themselves raising children or caring for partners alone, employers did not automatically put part-time workers into pension schemes at that time and where there was the choice to enrol in a scheme, many had to choose between feeding the family that month or putting money into the pension pot for later life.

“It is one thing to be told at the start of your career that you will need to plan long term for your retirement and another to have the goal posts changed as you approach retirement.

“Things are very different now with compulsory employer pension schemes.

“Low paid jobs are often high energy, unsocial hours and physical and this becomes increasingly challenging over the years.

“Given the competition in the job market now at a time when many younger people are seeking work, it seems nonsensical to pay young people to be on unemployment benefits so harmful to their self-esteem and long term mental health and yet continue to insist older women who have worked hard all their lives must carry on pursuing whatever means they can to get by.

“The government could easily address this imbalance with no ill effect on the public purse.”

Carol Bray and Sandra Broadbent, Devon co-ordinators for WASPI, thanked the council for supporting their cause.

They said: “The arrival of the Coronavirus pandemic has led to even further financial strain for us. Many were unable to take advantage of emergency government measures and many lost their jobs.

“Those who have lost their jobs are finding real barriers in gaining new work.

“The World Health Organisation has identified those over 60 as being at greater risk from the virus – many WASPI women are continuing or seeking employment in a state of fear but have no option as they cannot afford to be unemployed.

“The emergency measures the council is supporting would be of immense help and it is a testament to East Devon council that it is the first council in the country to support its residents in this Call to Action and to do so unanimously.”

WASPI has made it clear that it is not asking for pensions to return to 60 for women, but say that the government decision was maladministration as women were not properly informed of the changes and led to many being financially ill prepared for the future.

Cllr Paul Arnott, leader of the council, was asked by the council to write to the district’s three MPs Simon Jupp, Mel Stride and Neil Parish.

In his letter, Cllr Arnott told the MPs that the women were already suffering from a pre-existing state of poverty and financial deprivation and government action on Covid had hit them exceptionally hard, throwing them into a pension trap.

He said: “These women were deprived of any means by which they could rescue or revise their financial plans – in the time available at the end of their working lives – to replace the pension provision that had been taken away.

“Just because this issue continues to be neglected does not mean it has gone away. Men have never had to put up with this treatment and this intolerable gender discrimination is happening today in plain sight.

“The repercussions of Covid have been financially devastating for the cohort caught in this penalised age group.

“It is irrefutable that the manner of pension age transition has caused significant financial damages for women born in the 1950s.

“Many have had to tread very carefully through life to make ends meet. Yet now this has been exacerbated by Covid pulling the rug from under them.

“The government’s Covid lockdown measures have caused the collapse of the penny-pinching ways of life to which so many East Devon women born in the 1950’s have had to resort.

“Covid has broken apart the fragile state of their financial make-do-and-mend approach to life.

“The remedial measures and little ways of making and saving a penny or a pound here or there have become an impossible challenge.

“That Covid lockdown has been easing recently has not undone the damage nor resolved the economic deprivation this cohort of women continue to face – and it may yet return.

“I can summarise by saying that the common theme is that so many means and ways of earning an extra few pounds, or making savings here and there have now gone. And, as so many men will know, when they approach retirement age, the ageism prevalent in our society closes nearly every door to improving their financial lot.”

This sorry saga of what happens with “hands-off developer-led development” is a living example of what the government has in mind with its “planning for the future” White Paper. The consultation on this ends next week on 29 October. 

This is a highly technical consultation. Not all the questions need answering and, for members of the public, e-mailing some general narrative comment would suffice. If anyone wants ideas on how to respond to the key questions, read the excellent brief prepared by EDDC planners for the 16 September Strategic Planning Committee, pages 36 to 73.

Cranbrook started off with such high hopes with a dedicated EDDC planning team. They created a viable community plan (Owl even attended a presentation) but this team was dissolved, on government instruction, with all the time and effort wasted.

Cranbrook ended up being a pioneer of “developer-led” community planning.

“The market knows best.” (See also the “mutant algorithm” which it is intended should be used to allocate housing numbers, part of the consultation) – Owl

Daniel Clark www.devonlive.com 

Impassioned pleas for councillors to accept a proposal that would kick-start the development of Cranbrook’s long awaited town centre have fallen on deaf ears.

East Devon District Council’s strategic planning committee on Thursday were urged to by local members, the town council, and the town’s Minister, to accept the proposals by the East Devon New Community Partners for the town.

Their offer would see development take place sooner rather than late, although would be less ambitious than a proposed masterplan that council officers were in favour of.

But the calls were rejected, with committee members instead voting to continue negotiations with the EDNCp to improve their offer and to that work should continue on a draft Supplementary Planning Document for the town centre.

Artist impression of Cranbrook Town Centre by the Consortium (Image East Devon New Community Partners)

While the SPD approach would see a more ambitious town centre provided, as the land is not owned by East Devon District Council, it would be uncertain how this could be delivered or funded, and other than when the existing S106 obligations for reaching 3,450 occupations were reached.

The proposal from the consortium of developers included:

• A 2,500 square metres Morrisons supermarket with an additional 1,000 square metres of retail space on Tillhouse Road (around 10 to 12 shops);
• A town square
• A nursery
• Around 350 town centre homes
• Town hall with café, meeting spaces and around 15 rentable office units (including land and around one-third of the construction costs)
• Children’s centre, youth centre and library in a single building (including land and the construction costs to the Section 106 value)
• A skate park
• Land for extra care facilities delivered by Devon County Council
• Land for a “blue light” facility to house fire, police and ambulance services
• Opportunities to provide additional retail outlets
• Public conveniences, if not built within a commercial building
• Option to purchase an acre of land to safeguard land for any additional development needs identified in the future, e.g. a leisure centre, workshops or light industrial units.

The masterplan approach seeks to use the EDNCp proposals as a starting point by incorporating their proposals for the town centre, and would see the library, youth centre, children’s centre and blue light services provided.

But the proposal would make the remainder of town centre land available for a mixture of commercial, community and leisure uses to meet the needs of the town in the future rather than for housing, the location of the extra care facility would be changed, while it may make provision for a hotel in the town, and would continue to plan for the proposed leisure centre to be provided.

Cllr Barry Rogers, chairman of Cranbrook town council’s amenities committee, said that this was a choice between a range of facilities being delivered now or more ambitious town centre at some stage in the future, without clarity over what can be delivered, whether it can be funded, and how long it will take to deliver.

Artist impression of Cranbrook Town Centre by the Consortium (Image East Devon New Community Partners)

He said: “Residents are crying out for the delivery of facilities now and not at some stage in the future. Cranbrook is rapidly building out and majority of people no longer live within walking distance of the only convenience store in town. An entire town is being built, but there is little or no urgency that the community desperately needs and is demanding the town centre sooner rather than later.

“No-one knows how long it would take, there is no timescale for delivery, and no guarantee anything would be delivered at all, so the town council, on behalf of the Cranbrook community, urges you to approve the developers proposal for the facilities that we so urgently need.”

Cllr Ray Bloxham, who represents Cranbrook on Devon County Council said that the consortium proposal was the way forward. He said: “Rejecting the proposal will kill off the youth building and the community building ahead of the trigger point.

“This is not a bird in the hand or the bird in the bush, as while the consortiums proposals are the bird in the hand, the chances are the bird will never get into the bush with the SPD and may die before it does. Even with the perceived limitations, it would be a major boost, while the prospect of many more years with no facilities would be so demoralising it could have a desperate impact on the economic development of the town.”

The Rev Lythan Nevard , Minister for Cranbrook, said if we want Cranbrook to be a town rather than a sprawling housing estate, then it does need a town centre sooner rather than later.

She added: “We are at a tipping point and the need for a town centre as soon as possible is critical. We need more community space. The town is growing every day all the time, but the social infrastructure cannot grow at the same pace as new people are arriving. People are disillusioned and they will leave because the dream of the town they were sold isn’t going to come to fruition.

“People are hungry for the facilities now even if smaller than planned, rather than a dream that may come later, as for many people, it is already later. A town without a heart is just an estate, and that was never the plan for Cranbrook.”

Cllr Kim Bloxham urged the committee to support the consortium proposal which will be a huge boost to the community of Cranbrook, saying ‘do what is right for them’, while Cllr Sam Hawkins said: “It is not want we want in an ideal world but we don’t live in an ideal world. I struggle to see how district can provide the town centre from a finance and resources point of view.”

Cllr Kevin Blakey added: “The developers’ proposals are fully funded and deliverable in the short term, so it presents a low risk to the authority. We should take note of what the people in Cranbrook are asking for. We are supposed to represent what they feel and they want.”

Supporting the calls from Cranbrook, Cllr Andrew Moulding said: “I am concerned that the recommendation would mean more delay for the residents of Cranbrook. The Minister made an impassioned plea to get on with it. She knows what the residents of the town feel and on behalf of them made a plea.

“The ward members support it and they know the town. It delivers what I hope it would be able to deliver and what the SPD would mean is yet more delay.”

Cllr Philip Skinner added: “It’s time we got something done. People are crying out for something to be done. It is maybe not delivering on the aspirations but it is time to deliver on what we’ve got, as we need to build communities not just housing estates.”

Cllr Ian Thomas said that there was always going to be an issue with the ‘self-sustainability’ of Cranbrook due to its proximity to Exeter. He said: “To suggest it will have a massive town centre with everything under the sun is just not going to happen. The proposal from the consortium are not radically different from the SPD and if not radically different, where all the other things are going from, as I don’t expect they’ll be in the SPD either?

“It is brave to go against the views of the elected members, 1000 residents in support, the town council, the county council – so from a public perception the support is clearly strong. In the current climate, a bird in the hand is better than a starling hiding in the bushes. We should look to move forward.”

Cllr Mike Howe added that this was a difficult decision, as one hand there is a scheme that will deliver what the residents want, but on the other hand, won’t deliver what the town will need for the next 15-20 years and never will because of the constraints put upon it.

He said: “This is the devil and the deep blue sea. The proposals have merit and should be explored but there are only an opening gambit and they need to do a lot better, or we give officers longer to come up with a scheme, debate it, and see if we can afford it.

“If we accept this, we are committed to a town that will probably never have a cinema, never have a sport centre, and will have to grow more, but we will be stuck as what we have now. It cannot be seen as acceptable and they have to do better, but at speed, as sitting around debating an SPD for many more years is not going to work.”

But Cllr Olly Davey said that the council had to look to the future and that the 2,000 households living there now may want this, questions will be asked when the town is fully built to 8,000 homes why did they accept such a small town centre and why didn’t they stick out for the original vision for the town?

He said: “We should stick with the recommendation and accept the proposal that has been made by officers, and that the negotiations continue.”

Cllr Eleanor Rylance added that there had been ‘little bits of shine’ knocked of the vision for Cranbrook each year. She said: “It would be devastating if we privileged speed over delivering the town of Cranbrook when it is built out. This is not ambitious enough. It is a quick solution to a current problem, but doesn’t address a future problem.”

She added that the proposals ‘looked like the lunch area in an out of town office park and was not a destination that anyone wants to go to with a windy precinct as their town centre’, and said: “We can do better and must think about what we are delivering. We need to think about not just the current residents but future residents.”

Cllr Paul Hayward added: “All I see is houses and putting more strain on infrastructure and services. Cranbrook needs massive investment, but we will deliver it, and we must make a commitment to get the SPD done far faster.”

In his recommendation to the committee, Ed Freeman, the service lead for planning strategy and development management, said in officers opinion, the consortium proposals may deliver what the town needs now in terms of retail facilities but in so doing it precludes the delivery of future commercial and community spaces that the town already requires, and which the need for will continue as the town grows from its current 2100 homes to around 8000 in the future.

He added: “Failure to meet the long term needs of the town as it develops jeopardises the future of Cranbrook as a sustainable and healthy new town. Officers continue to have fundamental concerns with the viability evidence presented which forms the fundamental rationale for the NCp’s proposal for a reduced economic heart for the town centre; the evidence is not transparent and has inconsistencies within it which raise concerns over accuracy.

“The production of an SPD and the proactive delivery of the town centre is therefore considered to be the favoured approach. There would however be major challenges in terms of accessing the land and funding the delivery of the proposals.”

Councillors rejected Cllr Blakey’s recommendation to accept the consortium’s proposals by seven votes to four, with one abstention, before accepting the recommendation of officers by seven votes to three, with two abstentions.

The committee agreed to advise the East Devon New Community Partners that the Council is not minded to enter into the proposed Memorandum of Understanding based on the proposed heads of terms at the present time but is open to further negotiation.

They recommended to Cabinet that funding be made available to support the pro-active delivery of the town centre based on the draft SPD Masterplan, and that work should continue on the draft SPD which alongside a delivery plan be presented to Strategic Planning Committee in December.