When the government first drew up plans to axe the virtual parliament and bring MPs back to the Commons chamber, ministers argued that it would boost support for the prime minister. Boris Johnson tends to work best with a crowd, so events such as prime minister’s questions were trickier when only a handful of Tory MPs were allowed in the chamber.

Katy Balls www.theguardian.com 

But when Conservative politicians turned up en masse to the Commons on Wednesday to debate the situation in Afghanistan, the opposite proved true. Rather than provide supportive interventions, Johnson soon discovered his biggest critics were sitting right behind him.

As Tory MPs lined up one after another to vent their anger on how the government had allowed the Taliban to take control of Afghanistan and criticise the response to the unfolding humanitarian crisis, it was clear how little support the prime minister had. “It’s good to see Tory MPs suddenly realising how crap their boss is,” noted one Labour figure.

As Johnson grapples with his biggest foreign policy challenge since entering 10 Downing Street, he faces a feuding cabinet and a febrile parliamentary party. To make matters worse, the questions being asked about the UK’s place in the world cut through to the very identity of the Conservative party.

The party has long prided itself on its commitment to defence, its special relationship with the United States and the ability to wield both hard and soft power on the global stage. Yet after the UK was bounced into withdrawal in Afghanistan with little in the way of consultation from the Biden administration, all three things have been called into question. Little wonder that a blame game is under way. Tensions have risen between the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office with regard to the rescue effort.

When the prime minister stood up to open the debate, attention was as much on the stony-faced two men sitting either side of him: Dominic Raab and Ben Wallace. “I wouldn’t have been surprised if fisticuffs had broken out,” remarked one old-timer MP.

The foreign secretary and defence secretary have clashed, with the Guardian reporting Wallace telling colleagues there will be “a reckoning” for the department after several diplomats left “on the first plane out”, leaving MoD officials processing complex resettlement claims. While Wallace has publicly defended Raab since, staff in the Ministry of Defence claim their prior warnings were not taken seriously enough.

But Raab’s problems go further. The foreign secretary is facing a growing Tory backlash over his decision to only fly back from a holiday in Crete on Sunday evening when the Taliban were well on their way to taking Kabul. “Of the cabinet, he has a reputation for being sensible. What the hell was he thinking?” asks a government aide.

New revelations from the Mail alleging that Raab failed to listen to advice from Foreign Office officials and make a crucial phone call to the Afghan foreign minister to seek help to get translators out of Afghanistan will only add to the pressure. When Raab addressed MPs in a call earlier this week to answer questions, several came away unimpressed. “He seemed genuinely taken aback by how quickly things were moving. He had a nice tan at least,” says one attender.

“There’s a lot of anger at Boris and Dom,” says a member of government. “Why were they on holiday at the same time? Raab is his deputy. The only person who has come out of this with any integrity is Ben [Wallace].” Not that Wallace has escaped criticism entirely. When he appeared to shed a tear in a radio interview over the situation, some colleagues were quick to compare it unfavourably to the time Matt Hancock was accused of pretending to cry on television in reaction to the first coronavirus vaccines. Meanwhile, Priti Patel is due to address Tory MPs today and a number of so-called “red wall” MPs are seeking reassurances over the security checks being carried out on Afghan refugees accepted on to the resettlement scheme.

While the debate failed to point to mass support for an alternative strategy to the government’s, it did point to the problems Johnson now faces. As MPs heaped praise on foreign affairs select committee chair Tom Tugendhat – who served in Afghanistan – for his emotional speech, and more criticism on Raab for failing to reference it in his closing remarks of the debate, there were complaints that it contained clearer leadership and vision than the frontbench contributions.

The fact that Joe Biden has only spoken to the prime minister by telephone a handful of times since entering the White House is leading to concern among Johnson’s own supporters that he has little sway over a key ally. This means pressure on Johnson to strengthen European ties at a time when rows continue over the Northern Ireland protocol.

Meanwhile, if Johnson no longer believes the UK is able to lead on military missions, should that mean a focus on soft power? If so, the timing of foreign aid cuts – and the closing down of the Department for International Development as a single department – are hardly ideal. “There is no strategy or vision. That’s the problem,” says a government source.

For now, the government’s best hope is that the situation in Afghanistan does not deteriorate further in either cruelty and violence there, or terrorism here. In that time, Johnson needs to work out what he now thinks Britain’s place in the world is, who is best placed to help him deliver it and how to articulate it to his party.

• Katy Balls is the Spectator’s deputy political editor

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab can answer that — he spent Sunday on the beach in Crete.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson can also answer that – he went on holiday in Somerset on Saturday.

(Multiple sources)

Who is looking after the cat? – Not to worry, Owl doesn’t think either No 10 or the FO has a resident mouser at the moment.

The message lit up her phone late last Thursday afternoon, and as soon as Vicky Alvarez saw it the tears came. She ducked out of her meeting, hurried to the loo and began phoning family.

“We’ve won,” she told them.

“Won what, the lottery?”

“No, bigger than that.”

Aditya Chakrabortty www.theguardian.com 

Much bigger. Alvarez isn’t just a victor in a battle that has swallowed 17 years of her life; she stands now at the intersection of some of the largest questions facing our pandemic-battered cities: how they are run and in whose interests. If you want to gauge where post-Covid, post-Brexit London could go next, Alvarez and her allies are the ones to watch.

You might assume Alvarez is wheeler-dealing at City Hall or flogging penthouses to passing oligarchs In fact, she runs a stall in a market in one of the poorest parts of Britain. Yet Alvarez and 40-odd other traders, most of whom are women from across South America, have created something that amounts to so much more.

The Latin Village market in Tottenham, north London, is a maze, offering everything from empanadas to nail jobs to news about jobs. Before the pandemic, it was a bustling shopping centre-cum-labour exchange-cum-community hub for expat Latin Americans and their kids – until Saturday night drew in, when the music bumped up a few notches and the dancing started. Vicky and many other traders came here as refugees. Together, they built businesses that sustain dozens of families and proudly watched their children grow up to become doctors and lawyers. The market is a story of how migrants can build a future for themselves and improve their new home, too. Trading out of tatty buildings, including a once grand but long abandoned Edwardian department store called Wards, they have breathed colour into dereliction.

No wonder the Latin Village gets love letters from the Washington Post and the UN. Were this in Berlin or Brooklyn, the market would be prized as a community jewel. Except this being London, it has been underfunded and under threat of demolition since 2004.

Alongside other traders and locals, Alvarez has spent years fighting developers and the local council, Haringey, as well as Sadiq Khan’s Transport for London, which owns the old Wards store and has let it rot. Over nearly two decades the fight for the Latin Village has grown in strength and significance. The arguments over a local market have become a battle for the future of our cities.

Until last Thursday, when the developer, Grainger, publicly announced it was dropping the entire scheme. It’s extraordinary enough for a big-money builder to flush away nearly two decades of deal-making and pledge-signing and buying up of land, but what follows could be really momentous. Starting next week, every big politician with a say on this issue – Khan, his deputy Heidi Alexander, David Lammy, Haringey’s senior councillors ­– will hammer out a plan for what to do next. Ultimately, they have two choices: stick with the broken old model of regeneration, or try something new.

Most city-dwellers know all too well what the busted model looks like, so let me sketch it only briefly. A big developer takes over a tract of rundown public land, usually aided by a nice slug of taxpayer money. They swear solemnly to give back to the public realm, typically providing a sliver of “affordable” homes, before sometimes rowing back on even those small promises because they are “not viable” ­– which means they would eat too far into their profit margins. By then, the developers have local politicians and officials over a barrel. The result is shoebox apartments sold at eyewatering prices (to say nothing of the cladding bills yet to arrive). The big winners are the developers, the big losers are locals who aren’t owner-occupiers, and the greatest work is done by the passive magic of rising land values.

This is a top-down system of development that treats people’s lives and livelihoods as brownfield land to be torn down and concreted over. Grainger’s original plans for the site jettisoned the Latin Village for a “Pasta Express” and a “Coste Cafe”, as if that were better than the Colombian coffee already on offer. Traders had to fight for every major concession, from saving the market to securing a temporary home for it during the rebuilding process (which Grainger later deemed not viable). Those calling the shots treated them as inconveniences throughout.

When traders complained about the market manager, Jonathan Owen, calling them “bloody illegal immigrants”, TfL took no action apart from ordering him to apologise. When they pointed out there was something funny going on with the market’s energy supply, TfL investigated and found evidence of electricity theft. The transport body told Owen to pay the suppliers but admitted to me that it ended up footing the bill, handing over £83,000 of public money. When asked about these issues and others, Owen declined to comment.

What makes this project and its collapse so instructive is that it shows the old model of regeneration no longer works economically, politically or environmentally. The economic point is easiest to see. Grainger admits that a large part of its withdrawal was driven by “the changing economic environment”. In the new world of white-collar workers spending more of the week at home, it will not be so easy to shift a bunch of expensive two-beds above a busy main road, whose main selling point is that you can get on a tube in seconds. Nor do 3,800 sq m of generic shops now seem like a wise investment. Far better to have the kind of social infrastructure that the Latin Village offers, where shopping is also about community cohesion, and where the money that people spend remains in local pockets rather than disappearing to remote shareholders.

Over the past three years, each time I have written about Latin Village it has been clear that even in a Labour stronghold like Haringey, when councillors support developers over locals they cause severe and long-lasting damage to their party. So it has proved. A few months ago, the leader of the council, Joe Ejiofor, was deposed in large part because of Labour members’ unease about his enthusiasm for Grainger. That makes him the second Haringey council leader, after Claire Kober in 2018, to be ousted over regeneration politics.

Straight after Grainger pulled out, the new council leader Peray Ahmet publicly supported a community plan for the market. This has the overwhelming backing of traders, many of whom have been involved in drawing it up. Instead of throwing up carbon-intensive concrete and steel, the plan will refurbish the buildings that are already there. At the heart of the alternative scheme will not be a FTSE 250 developer, but a community benefit society that will reinvest profits locally. The plan is a step into the unknown and it is not without risks, but Haringey has seen just what the old way delivered – or failed to.

In 2011, councillors in the city of Preston were told that the vast shopping centre they’d pinned their hopes on wasn’t coming after all. Developers no longer saw it as viable. That forced local politicians to rethink not just their plans, but their model. The result is one of the great experiments in guerrilla localism and alternative economics: a city that outperforms even in hard times and a local Labour party that actually thrives.

Sadiq Khan pledges “high streets for all”. Every politician in a suit swears they’ll “build back better”. Well, now they can live up to their promises. Let’s see London try bottom-up development, based around imagination and heart and giving people a say.

An ambitious vision for a huge new  park in East Devon is in the running for a top South West planning award.

eastdevonnews.co.uk 

The district council’s Clyst Valley Regional Park is one of ten projects shortlisted.

It is up against Torbay Heritage Strategy ‘Excellence in Plan Making’ category of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) South West Awards for Planning Excellence 2021.

Winners will be announced in November.

“Given the high calibre of entries, the judges will no doubt find it difficult to pick an overall winner…”

The protected green space proposed – described as being ‘half the size of Exeter’ – will take in Clyst St George, Broadclyst, Poltimore, Killerton, Ashclyst, Cranbrook, Whimple and Bishops Court.

A ‘multi-disciplinary team’ at East Devon District Council (EDDC) has turned the vision into a 25-year masterplan,backed up by public support and a partnership of 17 organisations.

The area covered by the proposed Clyst Valley Regional Park. Image: EDDC

Councillor Geoff Jung, EDDC portfolio holder for coast, country and environment, said: “I am delighted for the hardworking and dedicated officers and team who worked on the Clyst Valley Regional Park Masterplan successfully being shortlisted.

“It is so important whilst we recognise the need for extra housing and infrastructure, we should not lose sight of the importance of protecting and improving our countryside.

“The masterplan is to make the area around the Clyst River catchment more accessible for people to appreciate and enjoy, plus to improve and enhance the biodiversity for nature and most importantly locally, help towards protecting against global climate change.”

RTPI South West chair Angharad Williams added: “The shortlisted entries are a mix of outstanding planning, reflecting the really high standards and achievements of the planning profession throughout the South West.

“Given the high calibre of entries, the judges will no doubt find it difficult to pick an overall winner.”

Work to build a community centre with a play park, multi-use games area and shops at the Redhayes development in Clyst Honiton can now begin.

eastdevon.gov.uk

Work to build a community centre with a play park, multi-use games area and shops at the Redhayes development in Clyst Honiton can now begin.

East Devon District Council (EDDC) gave the plans, which come as part of a wider housing development, the go ahead on Friday 23 July.

The proposals, which were approved with conditions, also included a public square and parking on the development at the Old Tithebarn Lane in Clyst Honiton.

Outline planning permission was originally granted for the area to be developed in 2013 – this included 930 dwellings, a new link road, employment area, park and ride facility, local centre/square, health and fitness centre, crèche, public and private open space car and cycle parking, together with landscaping.

This latest application means work can now start on the next phase of the project –  the local centre – which will comprise a convenience store and cafe, community facility, healthcare facility and local centre square.

The convenience store and café will occupy the ground floor and the healthcare facility and community facility will be located on the first floor.

The building will be located on the junction of Tithebarn Link Road and Southern Mosshayne Link Road.

A public square with street furniture will then be built to the east of the local centre building with car parking to the south for 40 vehicles, plus two disabled user spaces. Cycle parking spaces are proposed in areas with good natural and/or CCTV surveillance. A pocket park will also be located in the north east section of the site.

The square and associated buildings will be followed by construction of a play park and multi-use games area The play area will have a focus upon natural play as well as integrating formal pieces of play equipment and multi-use games area will comprise of a tarmacadam-based area with a fence to act as an effective ball stop.

Cllr Eileen Wragg, East Devon District Council Planning Chair said:

“The further addition of the Community Centre and play area moves the whole project towards becoming a sustainable and inclusive community and must be welcomed by residents of all ages.

I recall being on the Committee at Devon County when the pedestrian  bridge was granted permission in 2011, so it is very pleasing to see the evolvement towards completion in the near future, and is a credit to all the Councils which have contributed towards a safe and happy environment.”

Councillor Sarah Chamberlain, EDDC ward member for Broadclyst added:

“I am so pleased that this much needed area is now coming forward for the new community, making it much more sustainable.

It is fantastic to see these areas now start to have the facilities they will need as a community going forward, I am sure the local residents will welcome the local shops and play areas along with the new community centre.”

Cllr Eleanor Rylance, an EDDC ward member for Broadclyst, said:

“Development of houses should always bring positive change both for existing residents and for the new ones who will soon move in. I am pleased to see these firm plans made for a community centre and areas for children’s games- they will improve the lives of Clyst Honiton residents to accompany the development taking place.”

Record numbers of coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Devon with more than 1000 cases alone reported in today’s Government update.

Daniel Clark www.devonlive.com

In the latest daily figures, the Devon County Council area saw 1040 further 872 Covid-19 positive cases added – the first time that figure has breached the four figure mark – with a further 285 in Plymouth and 159 in Torbay.

East Devon (172), North Devon (122), Teignbridge (204), Torridge (88) and West Devon (95) all saw single day records for the number of new cases confirmed, as did Cornwall with 872 – taking the total tally for the two counties past the 100,000 mark.

The 1484 cases is the highest single daily figure yet for new positives in Devon – with the vast majority of cases coming from specimens taken on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday this week – although Plymouth and Torbay have each seen higher daily totals.

The overwhelming majority of the new cases are in the 15-19 age range bracket.

And so far, 777 specimens from Monday and a staggering 1026 specimens from Tuesday have been reported as positive in the Devon County Council area – higher than the previous single day record of 601 – and those figures are likely to rise in the upcoming days as specimens from the most recent five days of data are excluded from infection rate calculations as they are ‘subject to change’ due to lag in reporting positives.

It means that Devon’s infection rate for the week ending August 14 is at 363.8/100,000 – just shy of the record rates seen a month ago – will explode and soar to new heights in the upcoming days when the newer cases replace those from the seven days prior – with the totals for August 16 and 17 already more than double those of August 9 and 10.

At upper tier level, Torbay has the second highest infection rate of 535.2/100,000 – with only Kingston-upon-Hull higher, with Exeter the 6 ^th highest at a lower tier level.

The record number of cases comes just days after the Boardmasters festival in Newquay – and following reports that a growing number of young people who attended the festival at Watergate Bay have contracted the virus.

Boardmasters had worked closely with experts from Cornwall Council’s Public Health service, wider Cornwall Council departments, the NHS and emergency services to put in place a variety of measures to manage the risk of infection at what is effectively a pop-up town with 50,000 temporary residents and visitors.

It is unclear yet how much of a link, if any, between the festival and the newly reported cases there has been, as figures relating to age of those testing positive and the MSOA area they reside in are also based on the five-day specimen delay.

But a spokesperson for the festival had previously said they would be monitoring the impact that it had on rates, adding: “In addition to having the advantage of perhaps the best ventilated venue in the country, we asked festival goers to play their part in reducing the impact of potential infection by showing proof of full vaccination, a negative lateral flow test or immunity from having had the virus before they could join us on site.

“All staff, regardless of vaccination status, had to show a negative test every 48 hours and all campers were asked to re-test before they could come back into the arena on Friday.

“By giving those who had to isolate on festival dates, or who tested positive for Covid-19 before or during the festival, the ability to roll-over their tickets to 2022, we made sure they would not lose out by following the guidance and helping to reduce infections. We are processing over 450 requests from those affected and we are very grateful to them for doing their bit for the entire Boardmasters community.”

The spokesperson added: “Like any town, we cannot eliminate risk entirely and, while it is still too early to see from the data if there has been any impact on Covid-19 cases, there are likely to be anecdotal reports of some people who were at the festival among those who test positive in the days following. Cornwall Council’s public health team will be closely monitoring the data in the coming weeks, as will we.”

A spokesperson from Cornwall Council agreed it was still too early to say whether the festival has had any impact on Covid case numbers in the county.

“We will be monitoring the data closely as we have done throughout the pandemic. Our advice to residents and anyone visiting Cornwall remains the same – if you have Covid symptoms then isolate immediately and book a PCR test. If you have no symptoms, please continue to test twice a week with rapid Lateral Flow Tests which are available for free from pharmacies or can be delivered to your home,” added the council spokesperson.

A statement issued by Devon County Council on Thursday added: “Festivals, and any such large gatherings where there are a lot of people crowded together, are environments that bring with them heightened risk of transmission.

“And when audiences to those gatherings include younger people, who are not all vaccinated, then the risk of transmission again is greater.

“The same is true though of any event or setting where there’s socialising. It’s not just festivals.

“So perhaps it should not surprise us that the majority of positive cases in Devon now – holiday, events and festival time – are in the 15 to 19 year old age group, and that socialising is the main driver of that trend.

“The largest proportion of positive cases continue to be in the younger age groups including those working in hospitality and other sectors.

“Vaccination levels are increasing rapidly in the younger age groups, and that’s important to stop the spread of the virus and serious illness.”

It comes as the number of people in hospital following a positive Covid-19 test in Devon has risen in the last week.

The latest Government figures, which give the position as of Tuesday, August 17, show that across hospital trusts in Devon there are 120 patients currently in hospital in the two counties – up from 89as of August 10.

Numbers at Derriford Hospital have risen from 42 to 48 and to the highest level since February 15.

At the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, numbers are up from 28 to 34, and to the highest level since February 10.

In Torbay, the numbers at Torbay Hospital have more than doubled from 11 to 24, and to the highest number since February 15.

And at North Devon District Hospital, numbers have leapt from eight to 14, and to the highest number since January 6.

Of the 120, there were 18 patients in a mechanical ventilation bed – but despite the increase in patients in hospital, numbers are still only about a fifth of the peak of hospitalisations from January, although due to the lag between infection and illness, won’t take into account the most recent positive cases.

The figures show how many patients are in hospital following a positive test for Covid-19, but not whether they were admitted for Covid-related reasons, whether they were infected inside the hospital, or whether their admission was entirely unrelated but they happened to have Covid at the same time – figures for the South West show on August 10, around 25 per cent of beds were occupied by ‘non-Covid’ patients – up from 15 per cent a fortnight ago.