A new government-backed body set up to police the building industry faces claims that it lacks representation from architects, ordinary homeowners and BAME communities whose Covid-19 death rates have been linked to poor housing standards.

Ben Quinn www.theguardian.com 

Labour had claimed the New Home Quality Board [NHQB] lacked independence as it was chaired by a Tory MP and Conservative-linked developers sit on the board alongside her. On Friday it announced a new CEO and chair as it moved to what it described as its “full operational stage”.

The body has published a code of practice for the housebuilding industry and is working to oversee the creation of the New Homes Ombudsman Service, due to launch in the Summer, with the stated aim of providing “robust independent redress” for new-build buyers who have “issues with their new home or developer”.

However, the NHQB was criticised by Ben Derbyshire, a former president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, who questioned what he described as an “inexplicable absence of anyone with a design background or training on the board”.

“Design in British housing, especially speculative mass housing, is generally very poor. The exceptions to this represent the minority of housebuilding and renovation but these exceptions should become the rule. Good housing architects are notably absent from housebuilding and that is never going to change so long the profession is not represented on the New Homes Quality Board,” he said.

He expressed concern about the extent of representation of people from BAME communities on the board after the pandemic had showed up the correlation between poor housing standards, overcrowding, disadvantage and death from Covid among ethnic minorities.

Cym D’Souza, a chief executive of Arawak Walton Housing Association, an organisation specialising in the needs of Black and minority ethnic communities, said: “What I would question, is how this board would have any lived experience – apart from perhaps Gillian Cooper of Citizens Advice, of what it is like for the ‘ordinary’ person to go up against large developers when they are unhappy with their homes and ultimately how the framework supports the building of new quality homes in this respect?”

From April, the NHQB’s new CEO will be Leon Livermore who was formerly the chief executive of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) for eight years.

Rob Brighouse, an engineer and Network Rail board member, has been named as the replacement for Natalie Elphicke MP, who had come under the spotlight for having a second job earning £3,000 a month for spending around eight hours a week as chair of the board.

The HomeOwners Alliance – which has been particularly critical of the NHQB since it was launched in 2021 with support from the then housing minister, Robert Jenrick – said the new appointments were a step in the right direction.

“Although on balance the board looks fairly one-sided as there are already at least four industry appointments, such as Taylor Wimpey,” added Paula Higgins, the HOA’s CEO.

“What is missing from the board is the actual perspective of the buyers and owners of newly built properties. Who will be attending that has the ear of the consumer and who really understands the problems buyers face when buying and owning a new-build – from developers reneging on reservation agreements because of rising house prices, to poor quality after-care?”

A spokesperson for the NHQB said it was set up with the specific objective of ensuring the homebuyers’ experience improves, adding that it was committed to delivering this and consumers will have access to free, independent redress through a new ombudsman.

“The development of the code was subject to a full public consultation, and the appointment of the New Homes Ombudsman has been subject to full open procurement processes” they added.

“The new board appointments have been made following a publicly advertised and professionally managed recruitment process, and include a mix of representatives from consumer bodies, housebuilders, warranty providers, lenders and independents, which ensures it will not be dominated by any one group. The Board is fully committed to diversity and inclusion and it continues to be central to recruitment decisions.”

More than one in four bus services in England have been cut in the last decade, with the pandemic accelerating the decline, a transport charity has found.

Gwyn Topham www.theguardian.com 

Almost 5,000 routes have been axed since 2012, with the north-west and east of England the two regions worst affected.

Research by the Campaign for Better Transport showed that 27% of bus services, measured by mileage, have disappeared in a decade, while the number of services on official registers in England dropped from almost 17,000 in March 2012 to just over 12,000 last March.

The sharpest drop in bus miles came during the pandemic, falling 18%, compared with a 10% decline in the years to 2019.

The charity called for a national, government-led campaign to encourage people back on board routes across the country, while urging ministers to prioritise investment in buses and cutting fares instead of cuts to fuel duty for motorists.

Paul Tuohy, the chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport, said: “Buses are relied upon by millions of people and should play a central role in a green transport future, but they have been struggling for some time, and the pandemic has made things much worse.”

“Last week’s spring statement included a tax break for car drivers with a 5p cut in fuel duty, but nothing for public transport users, despite fares having risen at a far higher rate than fuel.”

The charity highlighted moves in other countries to incentivise public transport use after Covid lockdowns had ended. Germany and New Zealand have both cut fares, while Wales last week launched a campaign including fare deals to get passengers back on board.

Fares in England for buses – like trains – have risen far above the growth in average pay for workers over the last decade, as well as outstripping the price rises in fuel, even after the recent surge at the pumps. According to the RAC Foundation, bus and coach fares rose 58% in the last decade, while petrol went up 19%.

Plans from the government to reverse the decline in buses have faltered during the pandemic. Shortly before the first lockdown, the government announced its intention to publish a national strategy with £3bn of additional funding. The strategy, Bus Back Better, was published in 2021 but much of the money has gone in emergency funding for operators after passengers were told to avoid unnecessary travel.

Fears that the networks could be slashed further when Covid emergency funding ended in April were averted temporarily, with the announcement of a further £150m support from the Department for Transport last month.

However, ministers have made clear the funding will expire in October 2022, encouraging services to then be adapted to meet demand, which is about 80% of pre-pandemic levels.

The Urban Transport Group, which represents regional cities with major bus networks, called on the government to “use the next six months to put in place a long-term, enhanced and devolved approach to funding bus services” of the kind outlined in its strategy. It also urged the government to campaign for people to return to buses, after warning them to stay off public transport due to Covid.

How many times has Boris Johnson, our Prime Minister, the one who made the rules we all followed, told us that these rules were not broken by him and his staff in Whitehall?

‘All guidance followed completely’

Photos ‘show people talking about work’ (the Downing Street garden party)

‘Thought it was a work event’ (ditto)

Did not see or receive the email

‘Nobody told me it was against the rules’

‘Ambushed with cake’

Rules ‘broken in most homes’ 

Now: ‘Misled by his staff’ (So, in fact, Boris is the victim in all this!)

(See www.theweek.co.uk for comprehensive list)

PM ‘didn’t lie about parties, he was misled by his staff’

Chris Smyth www.thetimes.co.uk 

Boris Johnson did not mislead parliament about Downing Street parties but was given “wrong information” by his staff, Jacob Rees-Mogg said.

Downing Street again refused to acknowledge that rules were broken, but the argument from the Brexit opportunities minister hints that Johnson will seek to avoid the charge of misleading parliament if he is fined by suggesting the blame lies with staff.

Last night The Daily Telegraph reported that fines had been issued to people who attended a leaving do at the Cabinet Office on December 17, 2020, when London residents were prohibited from socialising indoors, apart from with their household or support bubble.

The party was for Kate Josephs, who was head of the unit responsible for implementing Covid-19 restrictions at the time. Josephs, who is now chief executive of Sheffield city council, apologised when the event came to light this year. It is not known who has been fined for attending the party.

Helen MacNamara, the former civil service ethics chief, apologised yesterday for an “error of judgment I have shown” after she was fined for breaking Covid-19 laws by attending a party.

She is one of 20 people who have been fined by Scotland Yard so far. Fines have also been issued to staff who attended leaving parties on the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.

Johnson is not among them and allies say that the prime minster is confident he will avoid a fixed penalty notice by arguing that he was at work events in his own home.

On LBC radio Rees-Mogg stood by his comments that the parties were “fluff” compared to Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis. “Those words in the context of what’s going on in Ukraine are completely reasonable,” he said. “I don’t think the issue of what may or may not have happened in Downing Street and what we are now finding out is fundamental. What I think is fundamental is that we look in the [Covid-19] inquiry at how the rules were devised and the effect that they had, because I think some of those rules were inhuman.

“The fact that the prime minister was given the wrong information doesn’t mean he misled people,” he said.

Deputy Mayor left ‘devastated’ and calls for new council leader to be suspended after leaked ‘cruel and hurtful’ comments.

Tories fighting amongst themselves. Looks like it’s getting nasty, very nasty.

A third of the seats are up for election in May. – Owl

Carl Eve www.plymouthherald.co.uk

A city councillor said she feels ‘deeply hurt’ after learning that the new leader of Plymouth City Council compared her to Saddam Hussein’s notorious right-hand man, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri.

Conservative councillor for Moor View Maddi Bridgeman – who is still Deputy Lord Mayor for Plymouth – has now called upon the Plymouth Moor View Conservative Association to carry out an investigation into comments made by Cllr Richard Bingley which were leaked to the public via Twitter.

Cllr Bingley, who was voted in as leader of the council last month following a vote of no confidence was carried at the full council meeting, was heard to call his predecessor a “weak, two-faced git”. The recordings, understood to have been made in February, before the vote was taken, suggested that plans were afoot to oust Cllr Kelly as leader.

He also went on to compare Cllr Bridgeman to Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri describing her as Cllr Kelly’s “cheerleader” and “Nick’s best friend on rocket boosters”. He added: “You know when Saddam Hussein was in Iraq he had that ludicrous minister of the interior? … That’s Maddi Bridgeman for Nick Kelly.”

Cllr Bridgeman told PlymouthLive she had now written to Moor View association – who in January chose to reject Cllr David Downie’s request to be allowed to continue to stand as the candidate for Budshead – citing Cllr Bingley’s “cruel and hurtful comments” towards not just her but also other senior councillors. She said she called upon the association to suspend him “with immediate effect” or request he resign from the Conservative party.

In a letter to the association she accused Cllr Bingley’s comments towards her as “completely unfounded – to compare me with a mass murderer? His sexist comments about me being a ‘cheerleader’’? I am devastated, broken.

Cllr Bridgeman stated “I have worked hard for eight years. I have been professional and caring and have given everything to support my residents. I am receiving a tremendous amount of support from the residents of Moor View but how can I continue to work for a councillor that treats women and other members of the council with such contempt?”

Cllr Bridgeman, who has been a city councillor since 2014, said she has also asked for Cllr Rebecca Smith – Chair of Violence Against Women and Girls Commission – to launch a full investigation into this matter. Cllr Bridgeman told PlymouthLive: “This has deeply, deeply hurt me.

I have worked so very hard for my constituents, whilst also carrying out my duties as Deputy Lord Mayor. I have always been civil, polite and professional. “I was elected as a Councillor in 2014. On Tuesday, I was summoned to a meeting with Cllr Bingley and told that the cabinet position, which I have been doing for the last 11 months, was being withdrawn and given to two male councillors, both of whom have not even been councillors for a year.

He said that it wasn’t because I’d done a bad job, it was because it was considered too much for one person. “I’ve worked 80 hours a week for 11 months.

I’ve really put my heart and soul into the role. I wanted to experience exactly what it is our council staff do and what our residents need. I joined the refuse crews being a loader, collecting dog poo from the bins for five hours and returning to base absolutely stinking.

“I worked alongside the leaf blower crew in the city centre, starting work at 6am. I got back to the base and the team awarded me a certificate as “Councillor Qualified Blower” – while I knew they were having a joke with me, it still made my day and they respected me for being on the front line with them.”

Cllr Bridgeman said she has also been out planting trees and campaigning consistently since even before she was a councillor to get the airport open. She said she had also worked closely with neighbourhood police and the hospital to ensure the new multi-storey car park opposite Glenbourne was safe and secure and not a suicide risk.

She said: “I’m proud to have left a legacy of working incredibly hard and helping people – and then I’m dismissed as a mere cheerleader and compared to a mass murderer. It’s two-faced and it’s cruel. How can he be leader of the council when he behaves like this and makes comments about women like that?

If this is how he talks to someone on the phone he hardly knows, God only knows what he’s saying in the company of others who know him well. How can anyone have trust in him? He needs to resign with immediate effect.”

Cllr Maddi Bridgeman is up for re-election in the May elections. PlymouthLive has asked Cllr Bingley for comment. He has not responded to any of the requests.