Responding to the call for “Tractor Enthusiasts”, Owl understands that Allis Chalmers is “Highly qualified for the job; still going strong with plenty of active life left” 

St Bridget home plans outline (Courtesy: Planning documents, Local Democracy Reporting Service)

A “good site for houses”

A long-established Exeter garden centre could be replaced with up to 350 new homes.

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

St Bridget Nursery at Old Rydon Lane is now closed to the public but remains in use as the company’s nursery and head office. It now sells its products through its remaining garden centre on Sidmouth Road at Clyst St Mary.

A planning application sets out how its horticultural and office buildings at Old Rydon Lane would be demolished, followed by a “phased construction” of the housing development.

It plans 62 one-bedroom homes, 87 two-beds, 138 three-beds and 59 four-bed homes built. Just over a third would be classed as ‘affordable’ – typically defined as up to 80 per cent of market rates.

Areas will be set aside for ‘habitat creation’ and water management, and electric car and bike charging points will be included, as well as the “potential” for solar panels and air source heat pumps.

At the “heart of the scheme,” is a large open space along with a “large green corridor along the southern boundary of the site, which will create a linear green space adjacent to Old Rydon Lane.”

The land, of around 13 hectares, is within the Newcourt area of Exeter which is allocated for 3,500 dwellings and 16 hectares of employment land. A significant proportion of the area has now been built on.

The development will be accessed via an improved junction between Old Rydon Lane ad the main A379 Rydon Lane, and the site will provide a new east-west route connecting Rydon Lane to the Newcourt area.

This will enable Old Rydon Lane to be downgraded to an access road for existing residents and cycle/footway, designed as “a safe and attractive multi-model connection, with a series of routes connecting to the different parts of the development.”

At the time of publication, only one person has commented on the plan, saying it was a “good site for houses” and “nice to see there are plans for 1 bed / 2 bed houses.”

Exeter City Council’s planning committee will decide on the application at a later date.

The volume of raw sewage being dumped into rivers will remain hidden after the government rejected a recommendation by MPs that water companies should be required to measure it.

A spokesman for Water UK, which represents water companies, said meeting the government’s targets for reducing pollution from sewage overflows would “require significant investment”. – Says it all – Owl

Ben Webster www.thetimes.co.uk

The companies must gauge the frequency and length of spills but their “event duration monitors” do not measure the sewage poured into waterways.

Water quality campaigners say volume monitors are essential to reveal the true impact of spills.

The environmental audit committee recommended in a report in January that water companies should be required to install volume monitors to assess discharges. The government response, published today, rejects the recommendation and repeats arguments put forward by water companies that monitoring was difficult and expensive.

Ash Smith, of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP), accused the government of allowing water companies to conceal the extent of discharges.

“Volume monitoring would show the truth about the extent and increase in criminal pollution and underinvestment,” he said. “But the introduction of volume monitors, which exist in every house with a water meter, is determined to be too difficult and too expensive.” Professor Peter Hammond, a WASP campaigner who helped expose illegal spills by water companies, said the industry feared volume monitors could result in fines. His research helped prompt the Environment Agency and Ofwat to launch an inquiry last November into suspected illegal spills by the ten water companies.

The agency said last week its initial analysis “confirmed that there may have been widespread and serious non-compliance with the relevant regulations”. The companies can release sewage into rivers in exceptional circumstances, including when heavy rain overwhelms the network. But sewage was released more than 1,000 times a day on average last year.

The government has also rejected the committee’s recommendations on cutting river pollution caused by the growth in intensive livestock units, typically involving pigs and poultry. The MPs called for a presumption against planning permission for units where they posed a risk to protected rivers.

The committee received evidence that the Wye was being choked by toxic algal blooms that might be caused by manure from intensive chicken farms being spread on farmland.

More than 20 million chickens are reared in giant sheds in the surrounding catchment area. Rebecca Pow, the environment minister, said: “We are setting ambitious targets, delivering on our Environment Act and cracking down on those water companies that are not playing their part in delivering the clean water that people want to see.”

A spokesman for Water UK, which represents water companies, said meeting the government’s targets for reducing pollution from sewage overflows would “require significant investment”.

Analysis of data published last December finds water companies have collectively cut investment in wastewater and sewage networks by almost a fifth since they were privatised.

Two parliamentary by-elections are set to be held in Wakefield and in Tiverton & Honiton on the same day next month following the resignation of two Conservative MPs.

The Tory chief whip, Chris Heaton-Harris, is expected to move the writ — a formal process effectively triggering a by-election — on Tuesday, with a vote likely in both constituencies on 23 June. www.independent.co.uk 

Time is short for anyone interested in standing for the Conservatives. They have only until tomorrow to apply and we know that the Tories are particularly seeking tractor enthusiasts. – Owl