“Around 2 per cent of GPs are privately owned through Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS), a policy introduced in 2004. Unlike other practices, they are allowed to make a profit.” [News to Owl – must have been sleeping]

Revolving doors and Chinese Walls (which may be fake – Owl).

George Grylls, Political Reporter | Katie Gibbons www.thetimes.co.uk 

One of the most senior civil servants in the health department is on secondment from an American healthcare giant that has recently taken over NHS services covering 500,000 patients.

Tim de Winter, the deputy director of the government’s Test & Trace programme, has signed a one-year contract that allows him to return to the private sector later this year.

Simon Case, the head of the civil service, has instructed senior staff to declare any second jobs by the end of the week after it emerged that Bill Crothers, the former head of procurement, was allowed to combine roles at Greensill Capital with one of the most senior positions in the Cabinet Office.

In September, de Winter will go back to working at Operose, a subsidiary of US health insurer Centene. He has given up all his responsibilities at Operose during the 12 months he is employed by the government.

Operose recently took over 37 GP practices in London in a deal rumoured to be worth £140 million, taking its total portfolio to 58 GP practices caring for over 500,000 patients in cities including Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham.

Around 2 per cent of GPs are privately owned through Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS), a policy introduced in 2004. Unlike other practices, they are allowed to make a profit.

Justin Madders, shadow health minister said: “To be able to walk out of working for the NHS one day and into a company that has taken over NHS services the next is a highly disturbing development”.

A health department spokesman said: “Tim de Winter has not been employed by any other private companies while working for NHS T&T.” He had signed an agreement which included clauses around confidentiality, disclosure and data protection.

Operose Health said that de Winter “cannot carry out any work for Operose Health during the secondment”.

Retail landlord Hammerson has submitted a planning application to turn a former Debenhams department store in Leicester into hundreds of new homes for rent, in a project the firm said reflected a “structural shift” in UK high streets.

www.building.co.uk 

Hammerson is working with private rented landlord Packaged Living on the deal, which will see 300 homes, designed by architect CRTKL, built on the site at the Highcross shopping centre in the city.

The scheme at the former Debenhams store will include 300 flats and a roof garden

The firm said the homes would open on to East Bond Street, with the project also delivering public realm improvements and a roof garden for tenants.

The scheme follows the collapse into liquidation of the retailer at the end of last year with the loss of 12,000 jobs, having spent six months in administration attempting to find a buyer for the business. Hammerson’s project will also see part of the former Debenhams store turned in to flexible retail units.

Mark Bourgeois, managing director for UK and Ireland at Hammerson, said the scheme would support the shops still operating at the Highcross shopping centre, the rest of which will remain open.

He said: “While the structural shift in retail and changing consumer shopping habits have meant that destinations such as Highcross need to adapt their offer and mix of uses, well-connected city centre locations such as this will always be places where people want to be.”

Build-to-rent developer Packaged Living, which has a portfolio of 2,000 homes, has been appointed development manager for the scheme, providing investment, development and operational expertise.

Eileen Wragg www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

Some criticism was expressed by one of this paper’s readers in the letters page on April 7 regarding the Consumer Price Index, and comparing it with the rise in Council Tax.

In his letter he suggested that ‘we consider the wholesale disposal of the present incumbents and maybe a few incompetent managers as well’, stating that the increase is because of ‘extras’.

For his enlightenment, and for others who also may be unaware, the Government has now stopped the Revenue Support Grant which was paid annually to councils to help them pay for necessary services which are provided to residents, such as waste collections and recycling, street cleaning, to help maintain and hopefully even improve these services.

For the past year in particular, there have been extra pressures for Councils to contend with, for instance more frequent sanitisation of public toilets, and loss of income to the sports and leisure centres.

So those are the ‘extras’. One of the biggest sources of income for District Councils is revenue from car parks in their ownership, which have also suffered severe income loss due to the pandemic, yet the correspondent seemed to be advocating free parking, which he said is the case in France. (I would add that in France, two lots of Council Tax are paid, plus a charge for waste collections.)

EDDC has recently had to come to the rescue of sports centres and swimming pools to the sum of £1.3m, so that they can continue to operate. councillors and officers have to find new ways of raising funds to keep up the standards which the public expect, in challenging economic times.

My colleagues and I are proud of what has been achieved since the end of May last year. We have taken control over the Queen’s Drive, listened to what our residents and visitors said and have made the temporary car park into a grassed, leisure area.

Waste collections and recycling rates have increased, and we are now the tenth best Council in the country for recycling, which saves huge sums in landfill taxes, as well as harm to the environment, by preventing waste going into landfill.

In a few weeks, we were delivering a town centre for Cranbrook, which had been promised for many years by previous administrations. We also pulled out of the Greater Exeter Strategic Partnership, which would have imposed mass residential development on East Devon.

I could go on, but if others, especially the critics, have innovative suggestions for keeping the Council Tax down, we would love to hear from you.

Better still, how about standing for election? If elected, you would have a much better understanding of the issues, and it would be an education from which you would surely benefit, whilst also, hopefully, benefiting your community.

Priority connections? – Owl

Broadband provider Jurassic Fibre has installed its first 10Gbps connection at Winslade Park in Clyst St Mary.

Daniel Wilkins​ www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

The business park, which is set to generate around 2,000 sustainable employment opportunities, was connected to Jurassic Fibre’s cutting-edge network earlier this month.

With a 10Gbps connection from Jurassic Fibre, businesses will benefit from faster and more reliable connectivity, with access to a local customer support team based in Exeter.

Winslade Park is being developed by property group Burrington Estates.

Once completed, it will provide flexible offices, new homes and health and wellbeing facilities, including a gym. It is the largest development of its kind in the South West.

Jurassic Fibre has future-proofed the network of the site to allow new buildings to be installed in line with expansion plans.

CEO and Founder of Jurassic Fibre, Michael Maltby said: “Fibre is to the 21st century as the railways were to the 19th. It is the fundamental requirement for all businesses.

“We are very pleased to be able provide ultrafast full fibre to this unique development.

“It’s vital that businesses have access to reliable connectivity in order to thrive and compete at a national level.

“Our aim is to expand our infrastructure to communities across the South West, enabling gigabit speeds, along with offering the best customer service and local support.”

The ultrafast service will support the customers of Winslade Park in improving efficiency and productivity, not just through faster and more reliable speeds, but through enhanced security and superior customer service.

Mark Edworthy, Group Managing Director at Burrington Estates, said: “We are delighted to be able to provide faster internet speeds and greater resilience to our businesses.

“The connection will cover the whole estate to encourage use of the grounds for outdoor meetings and personal working.

“The homes we build will also benefit from this amazing connectivity, helping those who want to efficiently work from home.”

Founded in 2018, Jurassic Fibre was created to address the digital inequality currently experienced by communities in the South West, which have previously been overlooked by other broadband providers.

From a correspondent:

So . . . . . we have all been summoned to the Polling Stations, on Thursday 6^th May, to once more register our preferences for who will represent our views and aspirations for the next four years?

Having been a diligent voter for over five decades, who can genuinely profess to having seen many local and national politicians come and go – the decision on whether to attend the electoral booth in our village hall to register a vote this year in 2021 is proving genuinely much more difficult than in the past!

Perhaps it’s because the Conservatives seem preoccupied with ‘chumocracy’ ensuring that they and their elite friends always have a place around a 22 feet extending mahogany board room table to ensure that none of them go hungry?

Perhaps it’s because Green Party representatives on East Devon’s Planning Committee over-valued the economic benefits of a scheme to the detriment of our environmental futures, by supporting the loss of green fields for housing, supporting pollution from substantial increased traffic and supporting impermeable car parking on green fields in flood plains?

Freedom Alliances and Monster Raving Loony Parties have never really instilled great confidence and the Labour Party seems a wasted, pointless vote in the predominantly rural South West!

At the last General Election, voting for the ‘truly’ Independent ‘Wright’ person who lived, worked and understood the local community seemed ideal, innovative – even revolutionary – but was ‘Jupperdised’ by a Tory candidate sent down from Westminster to capsize such thoughts of change for the shires!

Disappointingly, Alliances including Local Independents, Liberal Democrats and ‘Uncle Tom Cobley and All’ also recently failed to listen to over 200 members of the Clyst St Mary electorate – who they purport to represent – so there seems little point in trusting them with a vote again?

In theory, the entire outline Winslade Park Masterplan looked impressive, which, perhaps, resulted in (what appeared to be) a pre-determination of the approval decision before the Planning meeting, which was supported almost unanimously (with two ‘sitting on the fence’ abstentions) after recommendations by the Development Manager!

The approval centred on giving such substantial weight to the scheme’s economic proposals that other relevant planning policies in the Local and Neighbourhood Plans were ignored and negated with the housing being specifically included to support the economic growth proposals because, without the housing, the Developers deemed the entire scheme financially unviable!

However, for the record, local residents have recently noticed that the development seems to have significantly slowed and questions are now being asked as to whether the much-lauded employment and economic benefits have been postponed, delayed or shelved entirely, leaving only the promotion of lucrative housing in a village that has no local housing need?

In post-pandemic times, are we going to require such extensive employment/economic growth (with many now choosing to work from home), so perhaps the developers are experiencing leasing, financial or viability problems?

Who is answerable if these approved major economic growth proposals are shelved, leaving only the residential plans on green fields and multiple-storey blocks of apartments in a rural village – the politicians who naively supported a pipedream and not reality?

Do local government ombudsmen/women/persons or Secretary of State planning inspectorates have any teeth to right potential wrongs if a planning decision proves flawed in the future?

Whoever can truly represent the people and answer these questions satisfactorily is certain to get votes from this community?

Work on plans to protect Sidmouth from the sea has been paused so the potential for ‘bigger and better’ defences can be explored.

Daniel Clark eastdevonnews.co.uk

East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) cabinet voted to put an existing £9million scheme on hold – as previously dismissed options may now be affordable.

Permission for temporary rock armouring at crumbling Pennington Point will be sought in the meantime.

The move – made possible by a funding boost – could mean that the realisation of a scheme for the town is delayed by up to two years.

EDDC’s current preferred option for Sidmouth is to spend £9million on a new rock groyne on East Beach and raising the height of the seafront splash wall.

Modifications to the River Sid training wall and shingle replenishment and recycling would also be carried out.

Now, other options are back on the table as extra money has been made available due to changes in eligibility for funding from various bodies.

In 2017, Sidmouth town councillors backed a scheme with four additional semi-obscured offshore ‘reefs’ that decrease in size towards East Beach.

As this cost up to £20million – the most expensive of all the options – it wasn’t taken forward.

Other rejected ideas included modifying the rock groynes at Bedford Steps, York Steps and East Pier Rock into ‘T’ shapes and placing a slope of large boulders next to the sea wall.

The preferred option for the beach management plan for Sidmouth.

Back on the table? Previous options for Sidmouth seafront which had previously been ruled out.

EDDC engineer Tom Buxton-Smith told a cabinet meeting on March 31: “There is a desire to see if a better scheme can be delivered than the one proposed, but, to do so, it will need us to pause the project to see if they are technically viable.”

He said of mooted temporary rock armouring at Pennington Point: “In the short-term, it will slow down erosion rates, meaning the cliff edge will be kept away from residents’ houses for longer, the mouth of the River Sid remains better protected from south-easterly storms, meaning a reduction in flood risk to Sidmouth town, and removes pressure to deliver the BMP [Beach Management plan] quickly, which will allow time to further assess other options and allow further post pandemic public consultation.”

But he added: “It is possible that temporary planning permission will not be granted, the rock armour will be unsightly, and will be the first thing residents/visitors see of the World Heritage site when looking east from The Esplanade, and placing rock armour in front of the cliffs could be argued to be desecrating a pristine site with many important designations, albeit temporarily.”

Councillor Denise Bickley, who represents the Sidmouth Town ward, said: “If we were desperate to plough ahead, it’s like being on the M5 when you want to be on the M4.

“It’s pointless to keep ploughing ahead with the wrong plan, so we can go back to the drawing board and find good ways to change it so everyone in the town can be as happy as can be.

“Pausing it, a temporary solution and to really get it right is so important.”

Cllr Geoff Jung, EDDC’s portfolio holder for coast, country and environment, added: “If we do this, then it is imperative that we a approve the investigation of temporary planning permission and installation of rock armour at East Beach to protect the gardens and the cliffs as, if we delay the scheme, we need to see if we can get some temporary rock revetment on the beach as early as possible.”

Cllr John Loudoun, who represents the Sidmouth Rural ward, said: “The residents of Cliff Road, whose parts of their gardens are falling daily into the sea, have a great deal at stake in this.

“We need to think of the residents above East Beach as, if we do this, it brings added angst and anxiety to them as they thought they knew what was going to happen and when, now they are less certain.

“So to give the support and encouragement, we need to go with the temporary permission, and I hope we can deliver all of this is good time for those residents and the rest of the town.”

Cabinet members voted in favour of pausing the project for six months to look at the viability of other, previously dismissed, options.

It will take up to half a year for engineers and specialist consultants to review and assess the various alternatives.

Members also approved investigating securing temporary planning permission for the installation of rock armouring at East Beach.