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.

• Replacement of existing multi-use storage area with provision for covered bin storage, linen trolley storage, swimming pool plant items and other insulated storage. Sidmouth Harbour Hotel Manor Road Sidmouth EX10 8RURef. No: 22/0679/FUL | Validated: Fri 25 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of lawfulness application to demonstrate the use of Acorns as a dwellinghouse without an agricultural occupancy condition. Acorns Northcote Hill Honiton Devon EX14 9THRef. No: 22/0678/CPE | Validated: Fri 25 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T002 (0758) Sycamore – section-fell to ground-level T003 (0759) Scot’s pine – selective pruning to include: reduce 2 x lowest primary limbs to S aspect by approx. 2-3m to suitable subordinate growth; reduce primary limb 10m to S aspect by approx. 2m to suitable subordinate growth; remove primary limb at 13m to parent stem; reduce crown-height by approx. 2m to mitigate for pruning/altered exposure, to suitable subordinate growth points T004 (0760) Sycamore – reduce west (lineside) stem to a height of approx. 5m to suitable subordinate growth; reduce crown height of remaining 2 stems to mitigate for pruning/altered exposure T005 (0761) Ash – remove primary limb at 8m to W aspect back to parent stem; remove 2 x secondary limbs at 11m and 14m, west aspect back to parent limbs T007 (0763) Beech – Light prune tertiary growth to upper crown only, E aspect (max pruning wound diameter 25mm) to provide clearance above the proposed new conductor route G1 Hazel – ‘high coppice’ one small group to approx. 1.5m to provide clearance from new electric apparatus Reason – to enable installation of new overhead 11kv cable Harcombe House HarcombeRef. No: 22/0680/TRE | Validated: Fri 25 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of detached double garage and demolition of existing detached garage. Southcote Convent Road Sidmouth EX10 8RLRef. No: 22/0669/FUL | Validated: Fri 25 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition & clearance of existing conservatory. Erection of single storey rear extension with internal alterations & re-arrangements 9 Walls Close Exmouth Devon EX8 4LYRef. No: 22/0674/FUL | Validated: Fri 25 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of lawful development for a single storey side extension54 Canterbury Way Exmouth EX8 5QQRef. No: 22/0664/CPL | Validated: Thu 24 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replace UPVC door for new timber half-glazed double doors, renovation of raised garden wall and works to clad existing raised decking area structure Anchor Inn Old Fore Street Sidmouth Devon EX10 8LPRef. No: 22/0661/FUL | Validated: Thu 24 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a single storey rear extension with flat roof and parapet walls to 3 sides, which would extend beyond the rear wall of the original house by 4.30 metres, for which the maximum height would be 3 metres, and for which the height of the eaves would be 2.85 metres. 3 Englands Close Sidford Sidmouth EX10 9QSRef. No: 22/0682/GPD | Validated: Thu 24 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replace UPVC door for new timber half-glazed double doors, renovation of raised garden wall and works to clad existing raised decking area structure Anchor Inn Old Fore Street Sidmouth Devon EX10 8LPRef. No: 22/0660/LBC | Validated: Thu 24 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Oak : Prune primary limb growing north west back to 2nd growth point from main stem, approximately 4m distal from union, maximum diameter of cut 125mm; prune primary limb growing north east by 1.5m, maximum diameter of cut 30mm; remove hazardous deadwood. Reason for works: The Oak tree had a limb fail during the high winds of February and has left the remaining limbs exposed to wind stress and a large tear out wound on the north westerly limb. Limb reduction works to reduce stresses on the limbs remaining. Inglenook Rockbeare Hill Rockbeare Exeter EX5 2EZRef. No: 22/0654/TRE | Validated: Wed 23 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Variation of condition 14 (approved plans) of planning permission 13/0945/FUL (Change of use and conversion of coach house building to form holiday accommodation unit; alterations and adaptation of agricultural building for bat mitigation and storage purposes; construction of driveway and ancillary works) to allow for changes to the interior layout, external elevation treatment, roof line and the footprint/extent of the proposed extension Land At The Old Coachouse Widworthy Devon EX14 9JSRef. No: 22/0650/VAR | Validated: Wed 23 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey side/rear extension and first floor extension above existing garage to include a side dormer. 7 Gulliford Close Lympstone Devon EX8 5DGRef. No: 22/0655/FUL | Validated: Wed 23 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Porch to rear extension 3 Drakes Avenue Sidford Devon EX10 9QYRef. No: 22/0643/FUL | Validated: Fri 25 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Two storey extension to side elevation. 11 Coleridge Road Ottery St Mary Devon EX11 1TDRef. No: 22/0646/FUL | Validated: Tue 22 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Sycamore (T1) Tree has previously been pruned badly and therefore further management options are limited. The tree presents low amenity value due to its lack of visibility by neighbouring properties or from public areas. Fell tree and replant with species of client’s choice. The Hills Sid Road Sidmouth EX10 9AQRef. No: 22/0641/TRE | Validated: Wed 23 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Front and rear hip to gable roof conversion 2 Dene Close Exmouth Devon EX8 4DFRef. No: 22/0644/FUL | Validated: Tue 22 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Removal of 2m section of hedgerowLand West Of Woods Farm Bowd SidmouthRef. No: 22/0640/HRN | Validated: Tue 22 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Crab apple on west boundary near back door between log store and garden shed : cut to ground due to outgrowing the space. T2, Pittosporum on western boundary approximately level with front of house : crown reduced to 16 feet (24 feet at time of applying). Reason is to prevent crown getting too leggy and sparse 7 Cliff Terrace Budleigh Salterton EX9 6JYRef. No: 22/0638/TCA | Validated: Tue 22 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of deck to the rear of existing bungalow. 13 Underhill Crescent Lympstone Exmouth EX8 5JFRef. No: 22/0657/FUL | Validated: Tue 22 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Removal of entrance canopy and porch to front. 6 Oak Tree Close Broadclyst Devon EX5 3NBRef. No: 22/0628/FUL | Validated: Wed 23 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Two storey side extension. 12 Tipton Vale Metcombe Devon EX11 1RWRef. No: 22/0633/FUL | Validated: Mon 21 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Addition of a first floor with side dormer and and alteration to fenestration. Beechwood Lower Broad Oak Road West Hill Devon EX11 1XHRef. No: 22/0626/FUL | Validated: Mon 21 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed single-storey rear extension. 3 Bystock Mews Bystock Exmouth Devon EX8 5EPRef. No: 22/0636/FUL | Validated: Mon 21 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey side extension. Torwood Cottington Mead Sidmouth Devon EX10 8HBRef. No: 22/0632/FUL | Validated: Mon 21 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a single storey rear extension, which would extend beyond the rear wall of the original house by 4 metres, for which the maximum height would be 4 metres, and for which the height of the eaves would be 3 metres. Ferndale Exeter Road Honiton EX14 1AURef. No: 22/0629/GPD | Validated: Tue 22 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Two storey side extension to dwelling, variation of single storey extension granted under 21.2464.FUL. Work on the approved single storey element only has commenced in accordance with the current approval, but is in abeyance pending consideration of this variation. First floor works have not commenced. 102 Granary Lane Budleigh Salterton EX9 6EPRef. No: 22/0613/FUL | Validated: Wed 23 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a timber pergola, festoon lights to front and addition of a picket fence Farmhouse Inn Churchill Road Exmouth EX8 4JJRef. No: 22/0603/FUL | Validated: Wed 23 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Remove the existing sunroom/conservatory addition to East Lodge North, (added circa 1970), and replace it with a conservatory using materials and construction sympathetic to the character of the house East Lodge North Rousdon Lyme Regis DT7 3XURef. No: 22/0598/LBC | Validated: Wed 23 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Remove the existing sunroom/conservatory addition to East Lodge North, (added circa 1970), and replace it with a conservatory using materials and construction sympathetic to the character of the house East Lodge North Rousdon Lyme Regis DT7 3XURef. No: 22/0597/FUL | Validated: Wed 23 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replace the existing staff room porta cabin which has been in place for the past five years with a new staff porta cabin. Crawley Farm Yarcombe Honiton EX14 9AYRef. No: 22/0588/FUL | Validated: Tue 22 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Restrospective planning to install a 1.2m timber fence around front garden. 71 Normandy Close Exmouth EX8 4PBRef. No: 22/0583/FUL | Validated: Fri 25 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a replacement two storey 5-bed dwelling and erection of a double detached garage, demolition of existing house and annexe. 14 Foxholes Hill Exmouth EX8 2DFRef. No: 22/0585/FUL | Validated: Mon 21 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Change of use of ground floor from E(b) sale of food and drink for consumption to C3 dwelling house. 1 Rolle Road Budleigh Salterton EX9 6JZRef. No: 22/0571/FUL | Validated: Tue 22 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of new retaining walls and steps to form a new parking bay and demolition of existing boundary wall. 2 Mount Hill Beer Seaton EX12 3HXRef. No: 22/0566/FUL | Validated: Tue 22 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Application for approval of Reserved Matters (appearance, landscaping, layout and scale) pursuant to outline permission 18/1653/MOUT for the erection of 71 residential units, wildlife corridors, open space, formal area for play, drainage and footpath/cycleway and discharge of associated conditions Land North Of Moonhill Copse West Clyst ExeterRef. No: 22/0559/MRES | Validated: Tue 22 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of a drop kerb and enlargement of driveway. 6 Redside Terrace Cowley Exeter EX5 5ETRef. No: 22/0563/FUL | Validated: Mon 21 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of existing lawfulness to demonstrate that the land has been used as a camping touring caravan and motorhome site for an period in excess of 10 years Axmouth Caravan And Camping Site Church Street Axmouth Seaton EX12 4AFRef. No: 22/0544/CPE | Validated: Fri 25 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replacement of existing external glazed screen to south-western elevation of ancillary wing. 9 Cowley Place Cowley Exeter EX5 5DGRef. No: 22/0532/LBC | Validated: Mon 21 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of detached garage and store with home office within roof space Coxs Cottage Farway Colyton Devon EX24 6DFRef. No: 22/0520/FUL | Validated: Fri 25 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Change of use of a ground floor room currently used as a professional office (Use Class E) to residential C3 such that the whole building reverts to residential use (C3). 206 High Street Honiton EX14 1AJRef. No: 22/0464/FUL | Validated: Thu 24 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision

• New balcony and steps and external alterations. 59 Hamilton Lane Exmouth EX8 2LWRef. No: 22/0461/FUL | Validated: Fri 25 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replace 2no. window casements (W5 & W6) at first floor North elevation; create new opening in rear of discovered kitchen cupboard from bathroom and block up cupboard from kitchen side; install fire barrier/curtain in attic between properties; install acoustic and fire separation barriers in ceiling of master bedroom at first floor, repair joists and replace ceiling. 2 Sprydoncote Cottages Budlake Exeter EX5 3JNRef. No: 22/0450/LBC | Validated: Mon 21 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Dismantle redundant signal box and part of stone wall (C) and re-locate out of district to Wallingford, Oxfordshire Stoke Canon Signal Box Chestnut Crescent Stoke CanonRef. No: 22/0412/LBC | Validated: Fri 25 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a two-storey dwelling for agricultural workers Hayne Farm Plymtree Cullompton EX15 2LERef. No: 22/0383/FUL | Validated: Fri 25 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Reserved matters comprising layout, scale, appearance & landscaping for the erection of 9 dwellings, Discharge of conditions 4 (drainage), 6 (ground infrastructure), 8 (external lighting), 9 (landscaping), 10, (finished floor levels), 11(ecological recommendations), 12 (refuse storage) and 13 (materials) in respect of subsequent outline application 18/2588/OUT Southbrook House Southbrook Lane Whimple Exeter EX5 2PGRef. No: 22/0405/RES | Validated: Mon 21 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Temporary change of use of land for siting of 28m observation wheel for three years Beach Gardens Esplanade ExmouthRef. No: 22/0216/COU | Validated: Fri 25 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a two-bedroom semi-detached cottage. Land Adjacent To Leighton Cottage Longmeadow Road LympstoneRef. No: 21/3265/FUL | Validated: Wed 23 Mar 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision

In the story that perhaps sums up the Partygate scandal best so far, the government’s former head of propriety and ethics Helen McNamara has been fined by the police for attending a lockdown-breaking party in the Cabinet Secretary’s Office at 70 Whitehall. The Telegraph’s Martin Evans, Ben Riley-Smith and Tony Diver got the scoop, reporting that McNamara’s karaoke machine was used at a “raucous” bash on June 18, 2020, and she’s been given a £50 fine. The paper reports: “Among those in attendance during the early part of the evening were Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s former senior adviser and Sir Mark Sedwill, the former Cabinet Secretary — who before leaving warned partygoers not to mess up his office.” McNamara left government last year and now works on corporate affairs at the Premier League.

Politico London Newsletter

The apparent confirmation that Covid laws were broken inside No 10 will lead to further questions over whether Johnson misled parliament about the dozen parties under investigation.

He told Keir Starmer during prime minister’s questions on 1 December 2021: “What I can tell the right honourable and learned gentleman is that all guidance was followed completely in No 10.”

Aubrey Allegretti www.theguardian.com 

Downing Street staff have been issued with fines by police over a party that took place the night before Prince Philip’s funeral, in the first decision by Scotland Yard that Covid laws were broken inside No 10 at the heart of government.

After the Guardian revealed that fixed penalty notices were handed out to those who attended a leaving do for an aide to Boris Johnson in the Cabinet Office in June 2020, sources said those who partied into the early hours in No 10 on 16 April 2021 had also been warned they would receive fines.

The event caused consternation due to the contrast between it and the Queen’s strict adherence to social distancing rules by sitting alone at the funeral of her husband of 73 years.

Meanwhile, Downing Street staff were said to have got so drunk that they broke the swing used by the prime minister’s son, Wilf, in the No 10 garden, while a staff member was sent out to a local supermarket to pack a suitcase full of wine and another acted as a DJ.

Two parties took place that evening – one to mark the departure of Johnson’s director of communications, James Slack, and another for one of Johnson’s personal photographers.

At the time, England was in step two of the strict roadmap out of lockdown, meaning all indoor mixing was banned.

Many of those who partied in No 10 on 16 April were sent questionnaires by the Met asking them to provide a reasonable excuse for their attendance.

But in an email, the Operation Hillman team investigating the string of lockdown-busting events told some of them that it had been “assessed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that you committed an offence in contravention of the regulations”.

The notification, which was received by some late last week, added: “In light of this, you are to be reported for the issuance of a fixed penalty notice (FPN), offering you the opportunity of discharging any liability to conviction for the offence by payment of a fixed penalty.”

The Met said further correspondence confirming the details of the fine would be sent by ACRO – the criminal records issuing office.

Downing Street declined to comment. No 10 apologised to the Queen in January after details of the parties were reported.

The apparent confirmation that Covid laws were broken inside No 10 will lead to further questions over whether Johnson misled parliament about the dozen parties under investigation.

He told Keir Starmer during prime minister’s questions on 1 December 2021: “What I can tell the right honourable and learned gentleman is that all guidance was followed completely in No 10.”

Meanwhile it also emerged that Helen MacNamara, the Cabinet Office’s then head of ethics, had attended the June 2020 leaving do for No 10 aide Hannah Young. It is understood she supplied a karaoke machine that was used at the gathering by revellers until the early hours.

Three sources also told the Guardian there was a drunken brawl at the event, held in the office of Mark Sedwill, who was cabinet secretary at the time. The Telegraph reported that MacNamara had been fined, while ITV said Johnson would not be interviewed by the police.

Scotland Yard said it would not confirm which events fines had been issued for, or the identity of anyone who received a fixed-penalty notice.

A spokesperson for the Met told the Guardian: “Unlike other incidents of Covid regulation breaches, the investigation under Operation Hillman remains ongoing, and as such we are not releasing further information at this time.

“At its conclusion, we will review what information can be released whilst still working to the NPCC [National Police Chiefs’ Council] principle of not releasing information that will lead to any individual being identified.”

Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the revelation that fines were to be issued for the 16 April 2021 event “confirms what the British public have known all along” – that Johnson was “a liar and must resign”.

She told the Guardian: “The emotional images of the Queen sitting alone at her husband’s funeral were the hallmark of the British spirit through the pandemic.

“Boris Johnson’s Downing Street didn’t show an ounce of respect for this country. There can be no more cover-ups and no more lies. For the good of the country, and for all those who lost loved ones during the pandemic, he must go.”

It is believed the fines handed out to those who attended the 16 April 2021 party were among the initial tranche of 20 announced by the Met on Tuesday.

The only two people No 10 have committed to identifying if they are fined is Johnson and the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, who had to be recused from leading the internal Whitehall partygate investigation after it was discovered a gathering was held by his team in December 2020.

A Labour frontbencher on Sunday called for everyone fined to be publicly named.

Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, told Sky News that anyone who is issued with a fine – including the prime minister’s wife, Carrie Johnson – should have their identify made public.

“I think anyone who’s been in Downing Street should be named if they have been part of this.

“Because there’s been so much dishonesty, so much obfuscation from the people at the top in Downing Street, from the prime minister and his immediate circle downwards, I think people just want to know what really went on. Let’s have some transparency, let’s have some honesty.”

… that thinks of Delores Umbridge (from Harry Potter) when they see Priti Patel?

Priti Patel furious Ukrainian visa scheme chaos

Furious Priti Patel is said to have ‘torn strips’ off her civil servants over the slow progress of the visa scheme for Ukrainian refugees hoping to come to the UK. Relations between the Home Secretary …

Read more in the Daily Mail

The Survation survey of Cornwall, Cumbria, North Yorkshire, Norfolk and Gwynedd, Wales found that 36% of voters in the countryside now intend to vote Labour at next month’s local elections, two points behind the Tory vote share.

Nigel Nelson www.mirror.co.uk (Extract)

Dominic Cummings has accused Boris Johnson of encouraging attacks on junior civil servants over the “partygate” scandal in order to protect himself and his wife, Carrie.

Throwing them under the Boris bus – Owl

Harry Taylor www.theguardian.com 

The prime minister’s onetime senior aide said senior officials had “turned a blind eye” to his behaviour. He referred to briefing against one No 10 private secretary, Hannah Young. It has emerged that her leaving party on 18 June led to the first fines announced this week.

Reports after some of the parties involving civil servants included a staff member breaking a swing in the garden belonging to the Johnsons’ son Wilfred, a suitcase of alcohol being purchased from a nearby Co-op and one staff member acting as a DJ.

A total of 20 fixed-penalty notices have been issued to staff who broke lockdown rules. Johnson had previously told parliament when the allegations first came to light in November 2021 that “all guidance was followed completely in No 10”.

In his latest blog, with an excerpt posted on Twitter, Cummings said: “It is deeply, deeply contemptible that not just the PM but senior civil servants have allowed such people to have their reputations attacked in order to protect the sociopathic narcissist squatting in the No 10 flat.

“Not just ‘allowed’ – everybody at the centre of events also knows that the PM encouraged the media attacks on junior officials in order to divert the lobby’s attention from him and Carrie breaking the law. Some very senior officials have turned a blind eye.”

Carrie is reported to have had parties in their Downing Street flat, while Boris had a surprise birthday party in 2020 attended by up to 30 staff, as well as the couple’s interior designer, Lulu Lytle.

Young “did a truly phenomenal job”, and “made us all safer” during Covid and while coordinating a response to a terrorist incident, Cummings said.

On Friday officials in Downing Street started to get emails saying they were being fined £50 for attending parties, days after the Metropolitan police confirmed they were handing out the notices.

Detectives are investigating 12 events in 2020 and 2021, six of which Johnson is said to have been at. The Met has said it has received more than 300 photographs and 500 pages of documents after a Whitehall inquiry by senior civil servant Sue Gray.

In an appearance before a parliamentary select committee and in statements from his spokesperson after the fines this week, Johnson refused to accept that the law had been broken.

In response to a question from the Scottish National party MP Pete Wishart during his Commons liaison committee session, Johnson said: “I have been, I hope, very frank with the House about where I think we have gone wrong and the things that I regret, and I apologise for, but there is an ongoing investigation.

“I understand the point you’re making, but … I have been very clear I won’t give running commentary on an ongoing investigation.”

Cummings also criticised fines for junior officials over Johnson’s then principal private secretary Martin Reynolds, despite having organised and attended a party in the cabinet secretary’s office. “Over the last few days, many junior officials have been fined for attending an event that the PM’s PPS organised.

“The PPS … was responsible for ensuring that events in No 10 were consistent not just with the rules but with basic ethical standards.”

No 10 has been approached for comment.

Neil Parish and Simon Jupp, Owl would like to know, for the record, your answers to  these three simple questions:

1. Did either of you attend the widely reported “champagne bash” dinner party at the Park Plaza Hotel near Westminster Bridge, hosted by Boris Johnson for Conservative MPs last Tuesday, 29 March?
2. On your way did you have to pass a protesting group of bereaved families of Covid casualties who shouted “shame on you” and “off to another party, are we?”
3. If you did attend the bash, did you laugh at his extensive and tasteless “partygate” jokes? One senior Tory present at the dinner is reported as saying: “The number of jokes Boris devoted to partygate showed that he is either monumentally insensitive or monumentally self-confident.” (or both)

Boris Johnson contemplates resigning 

After months of pulling the wool over our eyes, will the prime minister do the decent thing?

Desperate residents in north Cornwall have described themselves as an “endangered species” and are calling for compulsory purchases of unoccupied second homes amid a deepening crisis in affordable housing.

Jonny Weeks www.theguardian.com 

The coastal village of St Agnes – located on what one estate agent has labelled the “platinum edge” of the UK – has witnessed a mass protest and hostile graffiti in recent weeks, as outrage has turned into activism.

Cath Navin (left) and Camilla Dixon, who run the protest group First Not Second Homes. Photograph: Jonny Weeks/The Guardian

Cath Navin, co-founder of protest group First Not Second Homes, said: “Last month, there were 111 Airbnbs in and around St Agnes, 96 of which were whole houses. If you looked for long-term rentals, the closest place was Portreath (seven miles away). There’s nothing locally for people to live in.”

The group has organised peaceful rallies around the county in recent months – the next is at nearby Porthtowan this Sunday. They are campaigning for the introduction of licences for second homes, new planning laws, and an end to “no-fault” evictions, which allow landlords to rapidly expel tenants without good reason.

“Ideally, I’d also like to see some retrospective action with compulsory purchases in places where communities are being eroded,” she said. “That’s quite radical, but those things have been introduced internationally so why not here?”

Co-founder Camilla Dixon adds: “Ultimately I want to see no second homes until everybody has a decent first home.”

Cornwall has 12,776 second homes and more than 11,000 holiday lets, while 21,817 people were on its housing register this week. Last year, the council installed emergency one-bed shelters for vulnerable people in Truro and Penzance. It has also placed people into bed and breakfast accommodation and static caravans.

Truro resident Samantha Quinn and her teenage daughter have been forced out of several rental homes in recent years because the properties have been sold. They have waited unsuccessfully on the housing register, lived in temporary holiday accommodation and moved into a friend’s house when there was no alternative.

“To say to your child, ‘I actually don’t have a home for you’, felt really rubbish – I felt like I had failed at life,” she said. “As a professional who works full-time in the charity sector and doesn’t have any credit history issues, it’s really weird to think that I was in that position.

“The council’s advice last time was, ‘you don’t have to leave your home until you’re evicted by a court’, but I worried that would affect our future prospects. I feel so relieved and lucky to have found a home again.”

Lifelong St Agnes resident Nicola Bunt lives in a one-bed wooden cabin in her landlady’s garden. Bunt runs a local cleaning business but refuses to clean holiday lets, even as she tries to save a deposit for a mortgage.

“My friends are here, my job is here and this will always be my home, so I really want to stay in St Agnes, but there’s no opportunity for me to buy here, it feels really out of reach,” she said. “Everyone wants a piece of Cornwall and they’re actually ruining what Cornwall is all about.”

So outraged was one local pensioner by the construction of another mansion in St Agnes that she defaced an unoccupied seafront property with the words “No more investment properties” and “Second homes owners give something back: rent or sell your empty houses to local people at a fair price”.

Speaking anonymously, she said: “When my husband and I bought our place here in 1998 it cost £80,000. We had really ordinary jobs and we could afford to buy here.

“Now, half of the properties nearby are holiday lets or second homes and young local people are competing for housing with millionaires. It makes me furious. We’re like an endangered species. This is not the platinum edge of the UK, this is people’s homes and communities.”

Graffiti painted on to the walls of a seafront property in Cornwall. Photograph: Jonny Weeks/The Guardian

Cllr Andrew George, formerly MP for St Ives, believes tax loopholes for property investors must be closed immediately.

“For years, the public purse has been used to subsidise second homes,” he said. “Thousands of second home owners avoid paying council tax (by qualifying as business premises) and then claim small business rates relief. That loophole cost Cornwall £17m per year before Covid.”

The national government also paid almost £170m in Covid grants to Cornish “holiday let business premises” during the pandemic, more than half of which went to owners who live outside the county.

“Rather than rewarding second home owners with public money, they should be making them pay a great deal more,” George said. “It’s not the politics of envy, it’s the politics of social justice.”

Leading politicians from Labour and the Conservatives have criticised plans to move the Priory ward out of Exeter’s parliamentary seat.

Now why might Simon Jupp be opposed to that? – Owl

Ollie Heptinstall, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

As part of the proposals for a shake-up of England’s map for general elections, which aims to give each MP roughly the same number of voters, a new ‘Exmouth’ constituency would be created including the Priory ward.

However, speaking at a public hearing on the draft new boundaries last week, calls were instead made for Pinhoe to join the new seat and to keep Priory – which includes the RD&E Hospital and the Exeter Crematorium – part of the city’s constituency.

Simon Jupp, Conservative MP for the current East Devon seat, told the Boundary Commision hearing that he strongly objected to the current plan.

“The Priory ward is categorically part of Exeter city, with residents identifying themselves as living in Exeter.

“Living in the ward means you’re within walking distance of Exeter Quay and the cathedral … and are much more culturally inclined towards the city than the proposed Exmouth constituency, which will also still contain vast swathes of East Devon.

“Furthermore, much of the ward is within a mile of the city centre of Exeter as entirely to the west of the A379, which has the capacity to create confusion amongst communities which instinctively feel part of the city.

“I believe the simplicity of the Old Rydon Lane as a natural barrier that demarcates the two proposed constituencies would be welcomed by residents.

“Lastly, Priory ward contains the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, Wyvern Barracks Exeter Crematorium – all widely recognised as city landmarks and inherently part of Exeter.”

The Labour leader of Exeter City Council, Phil Bialyk, echoed Mr Jupp’s remarks. The council last year agreed to ask the Boundary Commission to include Pinhoe in the new Exmouth seat instead of Priory.

“If you look at the Priory ward compared to the Pinhoe ward just geographically, it fires right into the heart of the city and takes the heart of the city out. And it’s only about, I would say, 600, 700 yards from the city centre,” Cllr Bialyk said.

But he stressed: “Now that’s not to say that people in Pinhoe are any less value to us, and we’re pleased that they stay within the city boundaries and they’re very, very important. But Pinhoe itself has a village identity, a bit like Alphington and many of the others.”

Mr Jupp added: “I believe that the historic village of Pinhoe, having been subsumed into the city of Exeter, still retains much of the independence, character, style and connections of nearby wards in the East Devon district, including Broadclyst.”

He went on to say that many of the nearby villages which fall under the East Devon constituency and would be part of the new Exmouth seat, “orientate towards Pinhoe and share significant local services, including a doctor’s surgery which are more consistently dealt with by a single [MP].”

The current Exeter constituency has an electorate of just over 80,000, higher than between the 69,724 and 77,062 proposed under the new boundaries.

Replacing Pinhoe with Priory would barely make any difference to the numbers. Mr Jupp said Priory’s electorate was currently 6,637 compared to Pinhoe’s total of 6,661.

Exeter councillors last year called for the new Exmouth seat to instead be called ‘Exmouth and East Exeter’, a suggestion that was shared by Mr Jupp at the public hearing.

The boundary changes would leave Devon with 13 MPs – up one on the existing 12 – although one would be split across Devon and Somerset.

However, a previous suggestion of a “Devonwall” constituency which would straddle the border between Devon and Cornwall has been scrapped.

As well as the new Exmouth constituency covering parts of the existing East Devon and Exeter seats, it would mean the existing Tiverton and Honiton seat, currently held by Neil Parish, would be split into new Tiverton and Minehead and Honiton constituencies.

Torridge and West Devon would be renamed Torridge and Tavistock, while in Plymouth the proposal divides the Peverell ward between the Plymouth Sutton and Devonport and Plymouth Moor View constituencies.

The changes will keep the number of seats in the House of Commons at 650, but England’s number will increase from 533 to 543. It’s claimed this would make representation more equal and limit seats to populations of between 69,724 and 77,062.

A final four-week consultation will be held towards the end of the year, with the final report being submitted in June 2023.

After his ratings plunged in the wake of “partygate” and as his government faces demands to act over the cost of living, it may be a surprise to discover that Boris Johnson’s face can be found on leaflets for the forthcoming local elections. Unfortunately for the prime minister, it is not his own party’s literature that features his image.

Michael Savage www.theguardian.com 

The Observer has seen Conservative leaflets circulated in London, the Midlands and the north of England in recent weeks. None of them shows Johnson, once regarded as the Tory politician able to reach voters that no one else in his party could.

In the London borough of Sutton, however, the Liberal Democrat canvassing material has the PM in pride of place on the front. Next to him is Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, and both are accused of failing to take enough action on energy prices and the cost of living – while increasing taxes.

“The prime minister isn’t featuring on any of the leaflets,” said a Tory MP in a council area where the party had hoped to make gains before partygate unfolded. They said that at one point, local voters would have carried Johnson in victory down the high street, but he would now struggle to get polite handshakes: “A lot of candidates are now trying to make this about local services. It would be pretty odd on that basis to feature the prime minister.”

With Johnson seemingly not the electoral asset he once was, many Tory council candidates appear to be trying to run hyper-local campaigns. A leaflet in Surrey prioritises defending the green belt and repairing local roads and footpaths. Another in Richmond, London, includes a list of “good reasons to vote Conservative”. It features the plea: “We are local residents, not national politicians.”

The latest edition of the “Birmingham champion” leaflet produced to support Tory West Midlands mayor Andy Street does not feature the PM. In fact, with its green graphics and personal branding for the mayor, the Conservative logo is nowhere to be found. Another leaflet in Stockport vows to take on Labour’s Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, but does not show Johnson.

The Conservatives are braced for a difficult set of elections in London, where they have been losing ground even while Labour was well behind in the polls nationally. Some had feared losing the key London borough of Wandsworth, though senior Tories said last week that they believed the invasion of Ukraine may have helped partially restore the party’s fortunes, but only temporarily. One Tory MP said that there was frustration with Johnson. “Voters may be on a timeout with partygate, but this is coming back,” they said.

Some Tories in London are also trying to pin the blame for council tax increases on Sadiq Khan, which they say is starting to get through to voters. “It might save the Tories from a meltdown in some areas,” said one veteran campaigner. “It is just possible that the Tories will hold on to Wandsworth. It’s harder to win Westminster, but there might be some surprise results.”

In response to the Lib Dem leaflet in Sutton, a Tory source said: “If you want to compare the electoral successes of Boris Johnson and Ed Davey, I think we all know who the electoral asset is.”

A Conservative MP prompted mocking laughter from a Question Time audience by claiming that Boris Johnson “genuinely didn’t believe there was wrongdoing” in Downing Street over Partygate.

Andy Gregory www.independent.co.uk

Maria Caulfield battled through multiple outbursts of incredulous laughter and interjections from the audience in her defence of Mr Johnson on Thursday.

That prompted a fellow panel member to observe that, contrary to the claims of some Tory MPs, “the audience tonight tells us the heat hasn’t gone out of this”.

This week’s panel was asked whether the Metropolitan Police’s decision this week to issue 20 initial fixed penalty notices over Covid rule-breaking in Whitehall meant the prime minister had misled parliament and should resign.

Ms Caulfield, the Tory MP for Lewes responded: “I think misleading parliament, to be found guilty of that, it has to be a deliberate misleading, not inadvertently misleading.”

Pushing through an initial bout of laughter, she insisted that Mr Johnson “has been very clear that there were wrongdoings around the Partygate situation” and “has apologised for that” and “made changes already to No 10”.

Amid several shouts from the audience, Ms Caulfield said: “As someone who did work on the Covid wards during the pandemic, no one is more angry about events that took place in No 10, because while many of us were working on the wards, we weren’t having social gatherings after work. So I fully understand the anger, the frustration at what happened.”

Pressed by another audience member on the fact that the prime minister had “held his hands up now, but only because he was found out”, Ms Caulfield claimed: “He genuinely did not believe that there was wrongdoing.”

But her words prompted mocking laughter and looks of bemused disbelief from the crowd, with Thursday’s host, BBC journalist Victoria Derbyshire, saying: “When people laugh when you say he said he didn’t believe he was at a party, what does that make you think?

Ms Caulfield replied: “As I’ve said, I fully understand the anger and frustration”, but Ms Derbyshire interjected: “That was laughter, that was ridicule. They don’t believe him.”

Moments later, Labour MP Steve Reed said it was “really sad to see Tory MPs like Maria wheeled out to defend the indefensible on this”.

Accusing Boris Johnson of having “believed the laws are for the little people”, Mr Reed added: “He’s showed contempt to the British people, he lied to the British people, he lied to parliament … if he had any decency he would resign.”

Ms Caulfield claimed that it was “a bit rich of the Labour Party” to attack Mr Johnson over Partygate when Sir Keir Starmer “was also investigated for a party”, but was told by the host that “there was no investigation”.

Durham Police said in February it had reviewed footage of the Labour Party leader taken last April and did not “believe an offence has been established” and would “take no further action”.

Mr Reed said that “there was no comparison” between the actions of Sir Keir and Mr Johnson, while a member of the audience shouted, in an apparent riposte to Ms Caulfield: “Two wrongs don’t make a right”.

Interjecting shortly afterwards, Talk Radio host Julia Hartley Brewer said: “I’ve had so many Tory MPs on my radio show who tell me that the heat has gone out of this. I think the audience tonight tells us the heat hasn’t gone out of this.”

Describing the UK as having “an arrogant government, and an arrogant No 10, and an arrogant prime minister who think they’re above us”, she added: “I don’t think we should ever be ruled by people who think they’re better than us and know better than us.

“I’m afraid he has to go, because we should have principles in our government that if you lie to parliament, if you make laws that you then break, you have no business being in charge of this country.”

Appearing in front of senior MPs on the Commons liaison committee on Wednesday, the prime minister repeatedly refused to be drawn on the Partygate scandal and whether he could resign, saying he wouldn’t “give a running commentary on an investigation that is underway”.

SNP MP Pete Wishart told the prime minister he was “pretty much toast” if handed a fine by the police.

Rishi Sunak’s top 5 tips to deal with the cost-of-living crisis

Arabin Patson newsthump.com 

Before jetting off to one of his California homes, the Chancellor has reacted to criticisms, that he has done little to help Britons struggling with soaring prices, by publishing a list of five money-saving tips to see families through leaner times.

It reads:

1. Make every penny count! Get your butler (or whoever does your purchasing) to look into loyalty cards and coupons. Only buy non-perishable goods, like Korean roasted purple bamboo salt or Black Bowmore 50-year-old single malt, when they are on sale.
2. Declutter and sell! We all have extraneous things taking up space that we haven’t used in years. So go through your old clothes, exercise machines, cryo-chambers, albino peacocks and domestic servants and put them for sale online. You’ll reap a tidy profit and maybe awaken the wheeler-dealer in you.
3. Fortune favours the bold! Whether it’s yachts belonging to Slavic gentlemen keen to make a sale or simply that ounce of cocaine you’re getting because Michael’s coming for dinner, it never hurts to ask for a discount.
4. Hypermiling keeps savers smiling! When going on holiday, tell the pilot of your jet to enter the slipstream of those ghastly commercial airliners. Doing that could save you £500 just over one trip to the St Barts.
5. Know your tax credits! The average family can drastically slash their tax bills simply by getting a lawyer in Panama City set up a financial services LLC in the Grand Caymans which then becomes the owner of a Jersey-based company that lists you as a non-executive director that gets paid consulting fees for work that can’t be disclosed because of commercial confidentiality clauses. It’s that easy!

Will it be only the junior staff who take the rap? – Owl

Rowena Mason www.theguardian.com 

Officials have begun to receive emails giving out £50 fines for attending Downing Street parties, according to sources.

After the Metropolitan police said on Monday that they were issuing 20 penalty notices, emails have gone out to some of those involved, who the police “have a reasonable belief” attended gatherings during lockdown.

Government sources said the Met appeared to have tackled the “low-hanging fruit first” by concentrating on parties where those involved had acknowledged their participation.

The Met suggested the fines were issued as part of a “first tranche”, indicating that more could be handed out in relation to more complicated events where those involved are denying having attended illegal gatherings.

One of the events where some of the people in attendance are believed to have got fines is a leaving party on 18 June, which was held for a departing No 10 aide.

There is little transparency over the issuing of fines, with civil servants not obliged to tell their bosses if they have received penalty notices. The Met is also not providing a breakdown of which out of 12 events being investigated have led to fines so far.

No 10 has said it will provide an update if Boris Johnson receives a fixed penalty notice. The prime minister is believed to have been present at several of the gatherings under investigation, including a birthday party and a gathering in the garden of No 10 organised by his principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds.

However, he has refused to accept that a fine would mean he has broken the law, and his allies suggest he would not resign if he is issued with a penalty.

In contrast, Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, appeared to back the view of two cabinet colleagues in stating that the issuing of partygate fines is evidence that police believe the law has been broken.

Malthouse, a Home Office minister, said it was fair to say a fixed-penalty notice (FPN) signalled police felt an unlawful act had been committed.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Malthouse said: “A fixed-penalty notice means police have a reasonable belief that you’ve broken the law – you still have a right to challenge it if you want.

“Having said that, the police practice is not routinely to release the names of those who receive fixed penalties, and I don’t see why that rule should be waived for those people who may or may not be in receipt of it in Downing Street.”

Malthouse, who attends cabinet, said he had not personally received a fine in relation to the Scotland Yard investigation, but he would declare it if he did.

It’s ‘Take Out the Trash Day’ – when the government rushes out a flurry of announcements 

Aletha Adu www.mirror.co.uk (Summary)

1. Civil servants offered an effective pay cut

Unions are threatening to take industrial action after the Government quietly slipped out a below-inflation pay offer for civil servants.

2. Under-fire firm axed from school tutoring scheme

The company running the Government’s national tutoring programme has lost the contract for next year.

3. Home Office rapped for exaggerating Windrush progress

The Home Office has been blasted for exaggerating the progress made to shift its internal culture in the wake of the Windrush scandal.

4. Surplus PPE to be auctioned off

Surplus personal protective equipment will be auctioned as the Government bids to stop paying out millions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash to store stock.

5. Sewage dumped into rivers 1,000 times a day

Raw sewage was dumped into English rivers and seas hundreds of thousands of times last year, official data shows.

6. Universal Credit cuts ‘will push 400,000 children back into poverty’

The latest annual poverty statistics show around 400,000 children had been pulled off the breadline by the temporary increase to Universal Credit.

The use of environmentally damaging and potentially carcinogenic pesticides to kill weeds on East Devon District Council (EDDC) property will be phased out by September.

Owl is waiting for the Tory “in touch” attack dogs (who know the price of everything but the value of nothing) to criticise anything to do with saving the environment as a waste of money, next edition perhaps?

Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter sidmouth.nub.news

‘Hot foam’ weed killer (BBC News). Inset: Cllr Denise Bickley (EDDC)

Streetscene, which cleans and maintains public spaces in East Devon including parks, public gardens and council-owned toilets, has been given the go-ahead to make the move following a vote by EDDC’s cabinet.

It means calling time on the use of glyphosate, the most commonly used pesticide in the district’s urban areas. Woody weed killers will also be banned. Right now these herbicides are used on paths and pavements, including in schools, parks, gardens, playgrounds and hospitals.

“These are all areas used on a daily basis by our residents and visitors – and often by those most vulnerable to the adverse effects of pesticides; elderly people, young children, pregnant women and those with underlying health conditions,” a council report warned.

The harmful chemicals will be replaced with a vinegar solution from the Royal Horticultural Society which has been trialled with “some success.” It will be combined with manual weeding and two ‘hot foam’ weed control machines, expected to cost £67,000.

Hot foam machines work by creating a ‘thermal blanket’ that keeps water at a high temperature when placed on weeds, killing or significantly damaging the plants.

Streetscene says it has ruled out using ‘flame guns’ to treat the problem due to their reliance on fossil fuels. The devices use an estimated 61kg of fossil fuel gas per hectare.

Speaking to EDDC’s cabinet, Tom Wood, deputy Streetscene manager said: “There needs to be an understanding that we will see a slightly higher prevalence of weeds across our towns and parishes.”

He concluded that although there is “no magic wand in replacing glyphosate as it is so effective” the positive impact on the environment will outweigh the downsides.

When asked why pesticides couldn’t be phased out sooner Mr Wood said it will take until September this year to prepare staff and arrange equipment. Deputy leader of EDDC, councillor Paul Hayward (Independent East Devon Alliance and Democratic Alliance Group, Yarty) added: “It is a significant issue but we are addressing it – it just takes a little bit of time.”

A council report outlined the environmental problems with pesticides, saying their use “has a negative effect on urban wildlife, and has been identified as a contributory factor in the decline of butterflies, bees, insects, birds, mammals and aquatic species.

“Pesticides sprayed onto the hard surfaces in towns and cities can rapidly run off into drains and sewers and find their way into water supplies. The cost for removing pesticides from our water supplies runs into millions of pounds per annum.

“Pesticides do not only pollute waterways; they leach into soil and kill susceptible microorganisms and earthworms, which reduces soil fertility and structure, creating an unhealthy monoculture.”

Councillor Denise Bickley (Independent East Devon Alliance and Democratic Alliance Group, Sidmouth Town) assistant portfolio holder for climate action and emergency response, praised the move, describing glyphosate as a “hideous chemical.”

The local authorities are giving particular support to families in Devon whose relatives in Ukraine

Lewis Clarke www.devonlive.com

Devon’s local authorities are supporting local residents who want to provide sanctuary to the Ukrainian refugees who have been forced to flee their homes. A new website now hosts the latest guidance and information as it becomes available.

Team Devon, which includes Devon County Council, East Devon, Mid Devon, North Devon, South Hams, Teignbridge and Torridge District Councils, West Devon Borough Council and Exeter City Council, condemned Russia’s actions when it first invaded Ukraine.

The local authorities are giving particular support to families in Devon whose relatives in Ukraine are fleeing the conflict, as well as to households who volunteer to accommodate refugees.

The councils’ support of Ukraine follows their previous commitment, alongside health and voluntary sector partners and local communities, to help Syrian families and those fleeing conflict in Afghanistan.

The county council is receiving the latest information from the government on the sponsors who have registered, and DBS checks on the sponsor families are being carried out. Devon’s district authorities are using a common approach to assess each sponsor’s accommodation, which will help better assess any potential safeguarding risks.

Chair of the Devon District’s Forum Councillor Bob Deed said: “The fighting continues to have a devastating impact on civilians, and we have a moral duty to support families fleeing Ukraine to join their family members here in the UK.

“There has been a huge groundswell of goodwill with many Devon residents registering to help with more registering every day, and now we are focused with ensuring that the refugees can join their families as quickly and safely as possible.

“The safety and wellbeing of those we are welcoming is one of our main priorities we have already made good progress in that regard.

“As soon as we receive new information or guidance from Government, we will post it on https://www.devon.gov.uk/supporting-ukraine/.”