Tim Jones, chair of the South West Business Council, said: “There are no nuggets in this for the South West. It’s disappointing. They are taking a very complacent view of the South West being safe in Government circles.” (Today’s Western Morning News)

Edward Oldfield www.devonlive.com

Council leaders say they don’t want Devon to have a new elected mayor as the government unveiled its ‘levelling up’ plans for the UK.

The idea has come up under plans for a new combined authority for the county to take over government powers.

The new body could control cross-council issues like training, housing, transport and business support.

But Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors all say they don’t want to see a new mayor in charge.

The government announced that under its levelling up plans, Devon, Torbay and Plymouth are on a list of nine areas where devolved powers will be handed over to a mayoral combined authority.

The government says it wants to create more of the strong local leadership shown by regional mayors like Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester.

Council leaders in Devon say they are waiting for more details and support greater partnership working.

But they stress they don’t want to see the current system scrapped, and don’t want a new elected mayor.

Labour described the scheme as a “stunt” and said the money would not make up for the millions cut from local government by the Conservatives over 12 years of austerity.

Local government in Torbay and Plymouth is currently delivered by top-tier unitary authorities, in charge of all council services from licensing to waste collection.

In the rest of Devon there is a three-level system of parish and town councils for local issues like grass-cutting, district councils for services like planning and recycling, and Devon County Council for the rest including social services and highways.

A joint bid for a combined authority was submitted to government by all the Devon councils, but in talks with government they ruled out the need for an elected mayor.

John Hart, Conservative leader of Devon County Council, said: “What we have here is Devon having an opportunity to be in the forefront of what changes the government is going to make.”

He added: “It is about building on the strengths of the relationships we have.

“It is also having the government give us the powers to get on with some things, hopefully with a bit of money to give us the powers, to get us to be able to make decisions more locally than nationally.”

He said the new authority could focus on supporting the economy with skills and training, in partnerships with further education colleges like in Exeter, for example in the aviation and pharmaceutical industries, and in the care sector.

Cllr Hart said there were also huge opportunities in renewable energy and marine industries, such as building off-shore wind power generation, and developing the plans for a freeport at Plymouth and the surrounding area.

The Conservative leader said the councils in Devon had worked closely together during the pandemic and shown how support could be delivered effectively to local communities.

Plymouth City Council Labour group leader Tudor Evans, leader of the opposition on the Conservative-controlled authority, described levelling up as a “slogan” and the announcement as a “stunt”.

He said funding cuts over 12 years had seen the government grant to Plymouth drop from £106million 12 years ago to £10million now.

He said in real terms, without a cut, the grant should be £145million, and nationally local government funding had been cut by more than half, leading to the closure of hundreds of libraries, children’s centre, and police stations.

Cllr Evans, who used to be the city council’s leader, said: “The money that is on the table is dwarfed by the amount of money that has been taken from local government.

“The point is that this announcement is giving us a dance for a tiny bit of the money to be put back, forgetting the money that they have cancelled from local government over the last 12 years.

“Nobody must be under the illusion that this intervention will in any way make up for that, but more worrying than that, it won’t make up for the decades of underfunding in the South West.”

In Torbay, which is the most deprived area of the South West, the government has already allocated £22million of regeneration funding in Torquay and £13million in Paignton.

Liberal Democrat leader Steve Darling said all political parties in Devon were not interested in having an elected mayor.

The role was scrapped in Torbay in 2019 after a referendum in 2016 about whether to continue the system.

Cllr Darling said: “It should be about devolving powers to people, and then choosing the structures that work for them, rather than central government imposing what they think they should be.”

A mayoral combined authority is a legal body that allows councils to work together to make collective decisions across council boundaries, taking advantage of powers devolved to them by central government.

Nine mayoral combined authorities have been set up so far in England, with one covering the West of England, and there is one in the North East without a mayor.

The next nine areas to start talks over setting up the system are Cornwall, Derbyshire and Derby, Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, Durham, Hull and East Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire and Nottingham, and Suffolk.

There had been speculation that Devon would be next for a shake-up of local government after the two-tier council system was replaced by all-powerful unitary authorities in Dorset and Somerset.

But it appears any change to the current set-up of county and districts in Devon would now be resisted during talks about setting up a new combined authority.

“Is this it?” – Lisa nandy

“The whole national fund is less than half of the annual budget for Manchester City Council for the next financial year, an institution that serves around 600,000 people.”

Link to summary and full report here.

www.independent.co.uk 

The levelling-up white paper lays out the problem of regional inequality. But it doesn’t offer a cost-benefit analysis for the cure – or the means to buy the medicine.

The consensus from economists and policy-makers is that it’s a start. However, years after the promise to level up the nation was sold to voters in the 2019 election, it is no more than a start.

Swathes of the 332-page document are dedicated to the history of economics rather than a meaningful action plan. That includes an entire page that republishes an infographic from a 2016 Guardian article on ancient history.

The rest of the paper explores the flagship policy’s 12 missions, which range from skills to transport and lay out how small amounts of cash have been given to different areas.

It has three main limitations: cash, local powers and timelines.

The levelling-up fund is worth £4.8bn for a UK population of about 70 million. It is helpful to put that number in some context in order to understand just how small it is in terms of a flagship economic, social and moral policy. The public and politicians will probably end up asking, “Where are the billions?” Economists are likely to be left asking, “Where are the trillions?”

There’s no easy like-for-like comparison, but the whole national fund is less than half of the annual budget for Manchester City Council for the next financial year, an institution that serves around 600,000 people.

It is not just that the investment involved is small. It is that while the missions the paper lays out are given a 10-year rolling deadline there is no clear long-term financial commitment from central government laid out in the document.

This is not a project that can be done quickly or on the cheap. The unified German government has been trying to level up east and west since 1990. It has spent around €2trillion and still not managed it entirely – unemployment remains stubbornly higher in the former communist east.

Boosting skills and industry requires long-term financial settlements. Programmes of study also need to be plugged into trade strategy. The paper falls very short on detail in these crucial areas.

It notes benefits of deals that have not even been successfully negotiated and does not – for instance – ask the question about how exactly the government and private sector will train workers who can benefit from exporting to countries such as those within the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

While politicians and politically-minded economists might disagree about whether levelling-up efforts should drive greater investment or more tax cuts and relaxed planning laws, the paper offers few next steps on either.

It leaves the question of radical changes to the planning process for another day, money to develop brownfield sites is siloed into multiple pots. There is also merely a promise to develop a separate white paper on health inequality.

Local councils often exhaust huge energy and resources into bidding for the small pots of money. The white paper might have been better off showing a radical shift not only in investment, but also the power to allocate that money more freely for local government. It falls short on a meaningful shift in devolved powers.

Like every government strategy paper of the past decade (possibly longer) it falls into a trap of suggesting hubs or clusters or zones as a magic bullet for an industrial strategy and a sprinkling – it really is a sprinkling – of money to create them.

If the government really wants the private sector to play a greater role in terms of cash and training and help build these clusters, it will take more than some fairly general points about making finance more available to small and medium firms. History suggests it will take billions of public funds over the long term alongside a clear and stable outlook for taxation and regulation.

Freeports make a fresh appearance. These zones have been possible in the UK even while it was an EU member. Some argue that more freedom in areas like tax breaks and regulation can shift the dial on their success, but few economist believe they will offer net economic benefits in a low tariff, industrialised and open economy like Britain’s.

In some areas, by laying out the scale of the problem and starting to work out how to measure it in a more accountable manner – with efforts such as the the Spatial Data Unit in order to illustrate progress on a range of inequality measures – it lays some ground for some detailed policymaking in the future.

Few people disagree that levelling up should be a government priority, both among people wherever they live but also between places. But if anyone had hoped that this was a Marshall Plan that would make the UK economy fit for the challenges of the 21st century, they will be disappointed. It does not give communities the ability to take back control and in economic terms it’s unlikely to have any short- or medium-term impact on prosperity.

www.highstreetstaskforce.org.uk 

Each selected local authority will be invited to put forward a high street or centre which can benefit from help to address local challenges and to develop strategies for positive change. The Task Force, which was appointed by government in 2019, will provide these locations with expert consultancy and training, working directly with local government and facilitating engagement with communities and civic societies.

The support, which will start in each selected location from Summer this year, begins with a visit from High Streets Task Force experts who will consult and collaborate with the local authority, businesses, and community groups, with the aim of unlocking the potential of each place.

Support for locations

In order to target high streets with the greatest need for support, regional indicators of deprivation and inequality have been analysed to produce the list of 68 local authorities noted below. This analysis also takes into account the effect of COVID-19 on high streets.

This new help for places continues the work of the Task Force, which has already directly supported 84 local authorities across England and provided further online resources that are available to all towns and cities responding to the impact of COVID-19.

Mark Robinson, High Streets Task Force Chair, said:

“Over the last 2 years, the Task Force has witnessed the resilience of high streets and the diversity of their communities. We’ve engaged over 4,000 placemakers so far and I’m delighted we’ll be supporting a further 68 local authorities to consider their own ambitious plans for recovery and long-term growth.”

“We know from our work that high streets thrive when businesses, councils and community champions work together. The Task Force aims to provide that impetus to partnerships and to help them learn quickly from other local success stories.”

Further 68 local authorities to receive support:

Local authority	–	–	–
Allerdale	Dudley	King’s Lynn and West Norfolk	Slough
Basildon	Ealing	Kirklees	Somerset West and Taunton
Bassetlaw	East Staffordshire	Lancaster	Southend-on-Sea
Bedford	East Suffolk	Medway	Southwark
Bolsover	Eastbourne	Newark and Sherwood	Stevenage
Boston	Fenland	Newcastle-under-Lyme	Stockport
Breckland	Folkestone and Hythe	North Devon	Tamworth
Brighton and Hove	Gloucester	North Lincolnshire	Telford and Wrekin
Bury	Gosport	North Norfolk	Thurrock
Camden	Gravesham	North Tyneside	Torridge
Cannock Chase	Greenwich	Northumberland	Waltham Forest
Carlisle	Hammersmith and Fulham	Nuneaton and Bedworth	Warrington
Chesterfield	Harlow	Reading	West Lindsey

Task Force approach to transformation

Support available to local authorities starts with a diagnostic visit to identify the needs of each selected location and to prescribe follow up products and services relating to relevant expertise and strategies, for example place branding, visioning, governance or spatial design.

Follow up products and services consist of up to 4 days of expert consultancy time, mentoring where there is a need to build local relationships, and specific workshops to support the development of place making activity or a local vision. Locations can also access footfall data and online training courses on the use of place data and sentiment.

The High Streets Task Force, which is led by the Institute of Place Management based at Manchester Metropolitan University, has appointed 150 independent experts from the professional bodies Design Council, Landscape Institute, Institute of Place Management and the Royal Town Planning Institute. Appointed experts work with places, bringing their insight into town centres and how to build capacity for change.

Matt Colledge, Director of the High Streets Task Force, said:

“Our approach to support is designed in recognition that every place is unique. Whether it’s local heritage, a town’s infrastructure and built environment, the broader needs of its community, or its unique culture, services and attractions. We start by meeting with local stakeholders to get a deeper understanding of their place, so we can offer advice that really helps.”

“Of course, places haven’t been waiting for the Task Force before getting started. They’re already well underway delivering investment and high street transformation, and – whether it’s through our data provision, training programmes or expert advice – we want to help ensure their work provides the greatest local impact.”

Visits to each of these newly selected areas will continue until mid-2024.

Cheshire West and Chester Council were part of the High Street Task Force Pilot programme, working with the Task Force in Ellesmere Port. Councillor Richard Beacham, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Growth, Economy & Regeneration said:

“We began working with the High Streets Task Force in Ellesmere Port, as part of its pilot programme in 2020. With their advice and support we began work to establish a framework to develop the vision for Ellesmere Port, based on the principles of partnership and working closely with the community to deliver on our collective ambitions for the area.”

“Ellesmere Port is a proud industrial town on the River Mersey and like many places has faced challenges with empty units and encouraging people to the town centre. Building on our work with the Task Force, we’ve recently supported a new programme of events, centred around our local market, and there is great positivity in the community about our future vision.“

The Queen’s cheddar cheese supplier has admitted more than 20 river pollution offences, including an illegal discharge of poisonous waste that killed hundreds of fish.

Rhys Blakely www.thetimes.co.uk 

The breaches occurred over several years at the Davidstow Creamery in Cornwall, which is owned by Saputo Dairy UK and produces Cathedral City cheddar. It is the only cheddar maker to hold a royal warrant.

The company, previously known as Dairy Crest, has admitted 21 environmental offences at the site, said to be the biggest cheddar factory in the world. They led to fish being killed in the River Inny in 2016 and 2018; each offence could result in an unlimited fine at crown court.

In the summer of 2018 hundreds of dead fish were found in the river, prompting the Environment Agency to designate a “major category 1” incident — the most serious. The bed of the river was found to be smothered in sludge that “appeared brown on the surface but was jet black in colour underneath”.

Martin Harmer, chairman of the Launceston Anglers’ Association, which helped to bring the pollution to light, said that the Environment Agency had been slow to take steps to protect the ecosystem. “As anglers we have been all too aware of problems on the River Inny caused by this site. Chronic and acute pollutions on the Inny have been going on for years,” he said.

“Saputo says it is committed to improvement at the Davidstow site but that will remain to be seen. We hope that this, along with the promise by the regulator of a permit review, will be a turning point for the river and give its ecology a chance to recover.”

The offences included “discharging poisonous, noxious and polluting matter, namely biological sludge” into the river. The anglers’ association found high levels of phosphate pollution and witnessed fish kills first-hand.

The charity Fish Legal investigated, and said it had found “shocking levels of environmental permit breaches”. Residents had complained of a “pungent fishy stink” wafting from the creamery, which had made people nauseous and kept them awake at night.

Saputo is expected to be sentenced at Truro crown court in May.

Last year it apologised to the Environment Agency and the public.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: “We are pleased to see that courts are imposing higher fines but we would like to see them grow higher still. We also want to see the criminal courts applying penalties consistently and proportionately, and would welcome the most serious breaches by very large companies attracting sanctions based on a percentage of turnover.”

Anthony Mangnall (Totnes) and Sir Gary Streeter (South West Devon) are the latest MPs to publicly withdraw their support for the Prime Minister and submit a letter of no confidence.

Anyone else going to join them?

Maybe your MP is waiting for you to express an opinion to help them decide? Owl is sure they would value your opinion. 

simon.jupp.mp@parliament.uk

neil.parish.mp@parliament.uk

PS this now being called the “Cream Tea Coup”