Martin Shaw July 27, 2022

It is now official – East Devon is one of the top eight districts in the country for rising population (up 13 per cent up in a decade). The further you go from Exeter, the more the new arrivals are retirees. In town after town and village after village, housing estates catering partly for middle-aged incomers are changing the landscape. In Seaton this month, a developer has showcased a new scheme to build 130 dwellings, many of them bungalows, on the town’s outskirts.

Seaton Wetlands – increasingly surrounded by housing?

Urban growth is not necessarily a bad thing. Towns change and growing populations need housing. The shortage of housing for local people is one of our biggest scandals, made worse by the Conservatives’ low priority for social housing, the poor quality of some private rented accommodation, landlords switching to holiday lets, and the house price boom – artificially stimulated by the government – which prices younger people out of the market to buy while simultaneously pushing up rents.

More housing, but not any old housing – or any old place

So we need more housing, but not any old housing as the government believes. A town like Seaton with one of the most elderly populations in the country – 45 per cent are over 65 – needs more retirement bungalows like a hole in the head. We’ve already had one revolt over this issue, when developers wanted to divert a site earmarked for a hotel to build more retirement flats. The community stood firm and in due course the hotel was built. The developers making the current proposal, Baker Estates, say that bungalows will facilitate downsizing freeing up family homes ‘elsewhere’. It’s little consolation for Seaton to know that houses will be available in the Midlands or the Home Counties! 

The housing we need also can’t be in any old place. Planning policies exist for a reason – if they didn’t, the whole of the Devon coast would have wall-to-wall development, ruining the very beauty which draws people to the area. ‘Green wedges’ between towns and villages is another key policy, maintaining a rural edge for urban areas as well as the identities of distinct communities. People in Seaton and Colyford have shown over the last decade that they value the Green Wedge between the two, and have twice fought off attempts to build it over. The proposed development will further surround the precious Seaton Wetlands with housing, and threatens the bat and bird life which are so important to them.  

Baker Estates promise up to 25 per cent ‘affordable homes’, although even with shared ownership, properties at around £300,000 are hardly affordable for many, and these dwellings (if built) will doubtless end up in the least desirable corner of the estate, with the smallest gardens. I say ‘if built’ because Seatonians are familiar with the ‘vanishing affordable homes’ trick, since what is now the Pebble Beach estate was supposed to have 40 per cent of them, then 25 per cent, and ended up with precisely none. 

Mandatory targets for houses, but not services

East Devon’s planning policies are robust but the council is under the constant pressure of the government’s housing targets and its penalties for not meeting them. It’s noticeable that the government doesn’t enforce targets for social health provision with the same rigour, so if we accept scores more bungalows our extremely stretched health and social care services won’t automatically expand to match.

We cannot keep building over our countryside and allowing our communities to become more and more unbalanced in age terms. We don’t need a nationally imposed target for new dwellings, to be supplied in whichever form the developers find most profitable. We need more good quality social housing, fewer second homes (we should restrict those to the areas where there isn’t acute housing pressure), and a better balance between holiday lets (desirable for tourism) and private rentals (which are essential housing). Not everyone will like this, but we also need house prices to fall, to let young people back into the housing market.

“While people all over the country were following the rules during Covid, you were partying in Downing Street. Now, while millions do the right thing and reduce their water use, can you confirm whether you will commit to doing so at Chequers? Will you rule out using hosepipes and stop refilling your private pool?

“It would stink of hypocrisy if you continue to maintain a private pool while gardens dry up, paddling pools remain empty and farmers are unable to water their crops.” – Tim Farron

Restrictions are only for the little people and bonuses for Water Execs. – Owl

Helena Horton www.theguardian.com 

Downing Street has no plan to put a hosepipe ban in place in and around the prime minister’s residence, the Guardian can reveal, despite ministers calling for water companies to enforce restrictions.

Thames Water, which supplies No 10, said on Tuesday it would be putting water rationing in place in the coming weeks due to the extended dry conditions.

When asked whether hosepipes would still be used in the No 10 garden, or to wash the cars used to ferry its residents around, a spokesperson for the prime minister said a ban was not currently in place, though they added that the household was “taking steps to reduce the water used across the Downing Street site”. This did not include a hosepipe ban, though, they said.

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrats’ spokesperson on environment and rural affairs, has called for Boris Johnson to set an example to the rest of the country by reducing his water usage and draining the swimming pool at his countryside residence, Chequers, which is also supplied by Thames Water.

The spokesperson declined to comment on whether the pool would be drained, saying it was a matter for the Chequers Trust. However, the prime minister is in control of matters at Chequers, and Margaret Thatcher famously stopped heating the pool during an energy crisis that took place when she was prime minister.

In a letter to Johnson, Farron said: “Your grace-and-favour mansion, Chequers, is located in an area which will be subject to a hosepipe ban. At this moment when millions of people across the country are making sacrifices, it is vital that you show leadership.

“While people all over the country were following the rules during Covid, you were partying in Downing Street. Now, while millions do the right thing and reduce their water use, can you confirm whether you will commit to doing so at Chequers? Will you rule out using hosepipes and stop refilling your private pool?

“It would stink of hypocrisy if you continue to maintain a private pool while gardens dry up, paddling pools remain empty and farmers are unable to water their crops.”

The whole country is readying for water restrictions during the record-breaking dry weather, with some areas not seeing significant rainfall since June.

Leaked documents seen by the Guardian this week show that water companies serving areas from Yorkshire to Dorset have applied for drought permits, which would allow them to put bans in place.

At the weekend, the environment secretary, George Eustice urged water companies to put restrictions in place. On Wednesday, Eustice said he met the chief executives of water companies to discuss the measures being put in place to combat water shortages.

The National Drought Group, which would decide whether there is an official drought, meets on Friday.

It is with a sad and heavy heart that we have to announce that Val passed away on Tuesday 2nd August 2022. Val fought this awful disease with such courage and determination. She was an inspiration to us all. With a constant smile on her face to the end and a determination to never give up, we have much to learn from her life, values and spirit. A truly inspiring and loving person who will be so missed, she made our community a better place to live. We will never forget her.

Thank you to all of you who supported this appeal and gave Val precious time and hope.

Lesley Woolley and Liz Dowen

From www.gofundme.com

About Val

Val lived in Sidbury for a year in 1992 and did some voluntary work for WWII vets who were being denied disability benefits from injury sustained in the war effort. She moved to Harpford in 1993 and shortly after joined the Rainbow Playgroup committee as her boys attended there. She later joined NP school PTFA and became a school governor. She was also involved in admin for the Saturday sports club and became Treasurer of Sidmouth College PTFA. Around 2013 Val became interested in EDDC matters when it was proposed to move the council from the Knowle to new premises in Honiton. She also began to follow local development and was shocked by some of the tactics used by developers and what she saw as a very biased system, with promises made and broken, and different rules applied to different applicants. She joined the parish council in 2014 and subsequently ran as an independent councillor for EDDC in 2015 and was elected with a clear majority. She was re-elected in 2019 and has remained in post since then, now as Vice-Chariman of the Council. She became part of the Democratic Alliance which is a collaboration between independent councillors, Liberal democrats and Green candidates in a bid to put politics aside and work on behalf of residents regardless of their political alliance. Along the way she was involved in ensuring Harpford Hall was retained as a community asset, and has campaigned for the retention of the red bridge over the River Otter to ensure residents have a safe walking route to and from Newton Poppleford and Tipton, as well as safety improvement measures on Four Elms Hill which should finally complete in July.

Val taught at Exeter College from 1993 until going on sick leave in November 2020, mainly working with Access to Higher Education students across a range of pathways; these are mature students seeking a career change and access to university. She also taught first aid courses locally and shorthand to local newspaper reporters.

Her sons live and work locally and are a great support. Friends have been been amazing, accompanying her for treatment both locally and in London, providing food, hugs, mopping up tears, clearing up the house and garden, doing medical research on her behalf, walking and talking and ensuring there is still time for laughter.

A wonderful and inspiring person – Owl

The country is in the midst of yet another heatwave with temperatures set to hit the mid 30s this week as concerns surrounding global warming continue to grow. The fears have been heightened as large parts of the Jurassic coastline in Devon have plunged into the sea.

Alex Whilding www.devonlive.com 

It is likely that the warm weather is making the cliff fall and as a result cracks will form and then widen in the rocks. On Monday (August 8), walkers along the Sidmouth coastline watched in horror as part of the coastline hit the beach.

Witnesses in the area have said that several hours later, parts of the cliff were still falling into the sea. It was only last month that two more dramatic collapses took place at the same spot as the country basked in record breaking temperatures, reports The Mirror.

Experts say global warming is causing sea levels to rise and that is eroding a lot of the Jurassic coastline in Dorset. The coastline suffered its biggest rock fall in over 60 years in 2021.

Back then, around 300 metres of the cliff face was impacted when 4,000 tonnes came away and fell towards the beach in chunks with some of them the size of a car. This ongoing issue could see some homes completely wiped away.

Angela Terry, an environmental scientist and founder of One Home, warned: “Coastal communities are on the front line of climate change with little support available for those who face losing their homes or livelihoods. As we overheat, ice is melting faster and as a consequence sea levels are increasing by up to 5mm a year.

“More concerning is this rate continues to increase and we can not hold back the tide. Along with stronger winds, super storms are regularly battering British cliffs which are then falling into the sea as a result.

“With Europe’s longest coastline, we urgently need to start talking about how we will drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions and aid communities to transition to safer areas before their homes literally hang over a cliff edge.”

East Beach in Sidmouth where there was a dramatic cliff fall on Monday (Image: Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)

In its latest report, the Environment Agency has warned that by 2050 around 200,000 properties could be swallowed by floodwater or even plunge over a cliff.

Meanwhile, a study conducted by the Ocean and Coastal Management has found that a third of the country’s coastline will be under pressure as a result of the change in the sea levels. Paul Griew, who lives on Cliff Road in Sidmouth, lost his summerhouse back in 2017.

Paul was about to collect something from the summerhouse when it collapsed into the sea. Paul’s neighbour has lived in their house for 25 year and claimed that he lost 20 metres of his garden.

He added that he knew the cliffs were eroding when he moved in with his wife, but he said “it’s happening faster than I thought”. He added that the offshore sea defence islands for Sidmouth were causing the erosion at first, but the sea getting warmer and the rising sea levels are speeding up the process.

An obsession with efficiency has meant infrastructure has been run into the ground rather than upgraded. Cost-cutting has been given a higher priority than capacity building.

Owl prefers to call it by another term: “short term asset stripping”.

Larry Elliott www.theguardian.com 

The government is drawing up contingency plans for power cuts this winter as it finally wakes up to the reality of what the next few months will bring.

Britain has a cost of living crisis. It also has a housing crisis and an energy crisis. Weeks without rain in southern England mean there is a looming drought crisis. The NHS is only one serious Covid-19 outbreak away from crunch point.

These crises are all distinct and special in their own way but they also have a common theme: a failure to invest stretching back decades. An obsession with efficiency has meant infrastructure has been run into the ground rather than upgraded. Cost-cutting has been given a higher priority than capacity building.

Take the NHS. International comparisons show Britain has one of the lowest number of hospital beds for each head of population of any western country, a smaller number of intensive care beds, and one of the highest bed occupancy rates. Problems with this seat-of-the-pants approach were brutally exposed by the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020.

Or take water. Since 1990 the population of the UK has risen by about 10 million to 67 million but not a single new reservoir has been built in the past three decades. More than 200,000 miles of water pipes date back to Victorian times yet the water companies are replacing them at a rate of 0.05% a year. That compares with a European average of 0.5%.

Then there’s the state of the country’s housing stock. A report by the energy firm EDF found almost 60% of 21m homes in England and Wales only met insulation standards of the mid-1970s or earlier – costing households up to £930 a year in higher energy bills.

In the early 1970s, the lights went out when the miners went on strike. If they go out again this winter it will be because there is not enough domestic capacity and supplies of imported energy are insufficient to meet demand.

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Britain is, of course, not the only country facing the possibility of energy shortages. Germany, for example, is much more heavily exposed to the whims of Vladimir Putin. Even so, there is a pattern here – one in which a misguided belief that everything will turn out well in the end has taken the place of long-term planning and strategic investment.

Let’s be clear, this is not only a government problem. Britain has the lowest rate of business investment of any G7 country and one reason for that is the private sector has tended to prefer dividend payouts and share buy-backs to higher spending on new kit.

Muddling through is the country’s default setting. The lack of any real slack in the system only really become apparent in times of national emergency. Like now, for instance.

• Two storey rear extension, first floor side extension, conversion of garage to habitable use with alterations to fenestration. 2 Marsh Green Kerswell Cullompton EX15 2ERRef. No: 22/1666/FUL | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed part two storey part single storey rear extension. 106 Manstone Avenue Sidmouth Devon EX10 9TGRef. No: 22/1664/FUL | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Horse Chestnut : prune back over extended lateral branches by 1.0 to 1.5 meters to bring back shape; clear phone line T2, Lime : reduce height only by 1.0 to 1.5 meters to maintain height. Chestnut House 3 Montpellier Road Exmouth Devon EX8 1JNRef. No: 22/1665/TRE | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of 32 x photovoltaic solar panels. Victory Hall Broadclyst Devon EX5 3EERef. No: 22/1658/FUL | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of existing lawfulness application to demonstrate the residential use of enclosed land to the west of the property known as Uplands, EX10 8SJ as part of the same planning unit within Use Class C3. Uplands Boughmore Road Sidmouth Devon EX10 8SJRef. No: 22/1659/CPE | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• 22/1656Alteration and extension of flat roof, with alteration to fenestration (for garage conversion to additional accommodation) 20 Springfields Colyford Devon EX24 6RERef. No: 22/1656/FUL | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of integrated garage to habitable accommodation Mulberry Cottage Sid Lane Sidmouth Devon EX10 9AWRef. No: 22/1642/FUL | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replacement two storey rear tenement and single storey side return extension. 38 Temple Street Sidmouth Devon EX10 9BARef. No: 22/1648/FUL | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Change of use of the existing poultry rearing agricultural building to flexible commercial use being Class B8 – Storage or distribution (subsequent application as decision issued under 22/0355/PDR was quashed by the High Court) Rosamondford Farm Perkins Village Exeter EX5 2JGRef. No: 22/1678/PDR | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey rear extension and external refurbishment. Ladram Cottage Ladram Bay Otterton Budleigh Salterton EX9 7BXRef. No: 22/1644/LBC | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Two storey side extension and single storey rear extension. 41 Millhead Road Honiton Devon EX14 1RARef. No: 22/1653/FUL | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey rear extension and external refurbishment. Ladram Cottage Ladram Bay Otterton Budleigh Salterton EX9 7BXRef. No: 22/1643/FUL | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of Condition no.3 (Occupation) on application 18/2537/FUL. Blacksmiths Arms Plymtree Cullompton EX15 2JURef. No: 22/1641/VAR | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of lawfulness for single storey rear extension with associated external works.4 Eastfield Orchard West Hill Ottery St Mary Devon EX11 1FSRef. No: 22/1640/CPL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Change of use of ground floor office (Use Class E(g)(i)) to residential use (Use Class C3) with external and internal alterations. Kerswell Coach House Broadclyst Exeter EX5 3AFRef. No: 22/1639/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion and alteration of existing buildings to create holiday accommodation with alteration to fenestration. Trafalgar Barton The Coach House Branscombe EX12 3DBRef. No: 22/1638/LBC | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey rear extension. 50 Hawkins Road Exeter EX1 3UXRef. No: 22/1636/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of a replacement single storey 2-bed detached dwelling with associated drainage works and demolition of existing dwelling. Old Parsonage Bungalow Wilmington Devon EX14 9SGRef. No: 22/1627/FUL | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of detached dwellinghouse and creation of access Land To The Rear Of Springhayes Cottage Convent Road Sidmouth EX10 8RBRef. No: 22/1631/FUL | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of Lawfulness for the temporary installation of a circus tent, travelling caravans, food and beverage carts and mobile toilets.Devon Cliffs Holiday Centre Sandy Bay Exmouth EX8 5BTRef. No: 22/1629/CPL | Validated: Tue 26 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Extension of existing roof over part of cow yard, erection of a storage bunker and tractor parking space. Hayne Farm Awliscombe Devon EX14 3PRRef. No: 22/1628/FUL | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of a conservatory to the rear of the property. 15 Richard Close Ottery St Mary EX11 1FYRef. No: 22/1633/FUL | Validated: Tue 26 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a single storey rear extension with flat roof, which would extend beyond the rear wall of the original house by 3.15 metres, for which the maximum height would be 3.35 metres, and for which the height of the eaves would be 2.75 metres. 77 Birchwood Road Exmouth EX8 4LSRef. No: 22/1634/GPD | Validated: Tue 26 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Horse Chestnut : Crown reduce by approximately 2m from existing crown spread of approximately 10m. Maximum diameter of cuts approximately 100cm (appropriate arb management following failure of limb.) Flat 1 Greenacre 5 Isca Road Exmouth EX8 2EZRef. No: 22/1624/TRE | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a single storey side extension and alterations to fenestration 22 Swains Road Budleigh Salterton EX9 6HTRef. No: 22/1617/FUL | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Beech tree : To prune back all the branches which are growing towards and touching the gable wall and roof of the last property of Ernsborough Gardens making natural target pruning cuts of up to 50 mm in diameter and removing 2m; branch lengths to give clearance to the property. T2, Beech tree : To prune back 1 x branch reducing the end weight and leverage of this branch and to improve aesthetics making 1 cut of 50 mm in diameter and removing 2m branch length. T3, Cherry tree : To prune back to give a half a metre clearance inside the boundary wall reducing the end weight and leverage of all branches making natural target pruning cuts of up 40 mm in diameter. T4, Holly tree : To prune back to give a half a metre clearance inside the boundary wall reducing the end weight and leverage of all branches making natural target pruning cuts of up 50 mm in diameter. D1, Dead Maple tree : To dismantle this tree to ground level. D2, Dead Yew tree : To dismantle this tree to ground level. Reason for works : To maintain public highway safety and to improve the aesthetics of the trees and to prevent future damage to neighbouring properties. 2 Ernsborough Gardens Honiton EX14 1RXRef. No: 22/1616/TCA | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey side extension to include a side dormer and alterations to fenestration. High Trees Manor Road Sidmouth EX10 8RRRef. No: 22/1612/FUL | Validated: Tue 26 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of agricultural livestock building. Broadhayes Farm Stockland Honiton EX14 9ELRef. No: 22/1614/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Extension of an existing commercial building on the land north of Hamlet House Land Adjacent To Hamlet House Nags Head Road GittishamRef. No: 22/1600/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of roof space to habitable use to include a side and rear dormer and 1 x rear rooflight. Replacement single storey rear extension with pitched roof to include 3 x roof lanterns. 36 Durley Road Seaton Devon EX12 2HWRef. No: 22/1605/FUL | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Replace 3no. windows at ground floor; 4no. at first floor and 1no. door on front (south) elevation 6 Bowd Court Bowd Sidmouth EX10 0NDRef. No: 22/1598/LBC | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey rear extension. 32 Fulford Way Woodbury EX5 1NZRef. No: 22/1599/FUL | Validated: Sat 30 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey side extension. 6 Hayes Close Budleigh Salterton EX9 6SRRef. No: 22/1595/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed change of use of existing agricultural pig house and office/store to dog kennel and associated management office along with associate new hard surface gravelled area. Bystock Court Old Bystock Drive Exmouth Devon EX8 5EQRef. No: 22/1597/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition of two barns and three outbuildings and the construction of a residential annexe ancillary to the main dwelling house, a pool house also ancillary to the main dwelling house and an extension to the house for a home office. Mount Houlditch Farm Toadpit Lane West Hill Devon EX11 1LQRef. No: 22/1584/FUL | Validated: Tue 26 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of two new dwellings and off road parking. Meadowgate Church Road Lympstone Exmouth EX8 5JURef. No: 22/1583/FUL | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Remove party walls and carry out internal alterations to turn Starre House and Starre Cottage back into one dwelling Starre House Causeway Beer EX12 3JURef. No: 22/1548/LBC | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Prior approval for change of use of existing agricultural barn to 1 no dwellinghouse Windrush Poltimore Exeter EX4 0ABRef. No: 22/1549/PDQ | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of home office 13 Charles Court Lympstone Exmouth Devon EX8 5ELRef. No: 22/1540/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Outline planning application for up to 1,035 residential dwellings; a neighbourhood centre with a maximum of 3,000sq.m gross of ground floor space (Use Class E and sui generis (hot food takeaways, betting shops, pubs/bars)); a two form entry primary school, with early years provision (Use Class F1); public open space, including formal open space, formal play space, allotments, amenity open space and SANGS land; a sports hub comprising playing pitches, tennis courts, a multi-use path and a pavilion (Use Class F2); up to 10.25ha of employment land (Use Classes E(g), B2 and B8); 5 serviced pitches for gypsies and travellers; an extension to the existing Cranbrook Energy Centre; sustainable drainage systems; and associated infrastructure. All matters are reserved for future consideration aside from access. Principal access is to be provided from four points off London Road (B3174), with additional access points proposed for pedestrians and cyclists Treasbeare Expansion Area Land To The North Of Treasbeare Farm Clyst Honiton EX5 2DYRef. No: 22/1532/MOUT | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Sub-division of land into 2no. plots for the development of 2no. detached dwellings, associated parking, garages and generous, south-westerly facing gardens. Marandor Exmouth Road Exton EX3 0PZRef. No: 22/1521/OUT | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• 2 no. externally illuminated fascia signs and 1 no. non-illuminated fascia sign, 1 totem sign. The Hayes Units Liverton Business Park Exmouth EX8 2NURef. No: 22/1520/ADV | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of additional two storey dwelling with associated car parking and amenity space 1A Jarvis Close Exmouth Devon EX8 2PXRef. No: 22/1516/FUL | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Adding court 7 adjacent to court 6, resurfacing court 6, adding lighting to courts 6 & 7, replacing light fittings to courts 1 & 2. The Pavilion Cricket Field Lane Budleigh Salterton EX9 6SYRef. No: 22/1496/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Works to link conservatory to include: replace roof covering south east & north west elevations; install 2no. roof lights on south east elevation; insulate conservatory wall adjacent to the highway and new aluminium rainwater goods. Middle Slewton Talaton Road Whimple Devon EX5 2QLRef. No: 22/1451/LBC | Validated: Mon 25 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed conversion of existing garage to form 4 new townhouses and associated parking, including change of use from Hotel C1 to Residential C3 Sidholme Hotel Elysian Fields Sidmouth Devon EX10 8UJRef. No: 22/1450/LBC | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed conversion of existing garage to form 4 new Townhouses and associated parking, including change of use from Hotel C1 to Residential C3 Sidholme Hotel Elysian Fields Sidmouth EX10 8UJRef. No: 22/1449/FUL | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed new dwelling Whimple House Cottage Church Road Whimple EX5 2SZRef. No: 22/1414/FUL | Validated: Fri 29 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a garden office on a raised decking area to include a hot tub and demolition of existing single garage New Larkshayes Hawley Bottom Axminster EX13 7HRRef. No: 22/1358/FUL | Validated: Thu 28 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Remove sufficient existing roof covering to enable damaged roof timbers to be replaced. Replacement roof covering with breathable membrane, timber battens and man-made slates (as existing); remove damaged timbers; seal any remaining charred timbers; new roof truss on South party wall; first floor remove existing ceiling to South bedroom; proposed replacement ceiling and skim finish; external walls to be decorated. Rose Cottage Village Road Woodbury Salterton Devon EX5 1PGRef. No: 22/1287/LBC | Validated: Wed 27 Jul 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision

Chris Skidmore has become the first MP to publicly switch allegiance from Sunak to Truss. Writing in the Telegraph, he says: “I have grown increasingly concerned by his campaign’s consistently changing position, especially on the economy, to chase votes. I am convinced that we need a bolder, more positive approach to the UK’s future.” 

How long will Simon stick to Sunak? – Owl

[Jumping Jupp Flash reference here]

Devon County Council has suspended the budgets given to councillors for local projects in their communities.

Is the County going “bust”? – Owl

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

Opposition leaders have slammed the decision to halt locality budgets, which the council says will allow it to “review in-year expenditure and ensure future financial sustainability.”

The Conservative-controlled authority recently predicted a potential overspend in this financial year of up to £40 million, with a warning that it has “never before faced a combination of demand growth and price shock pressures of this scale.”

Unlike the government, local councils have to balance their budgets by law every year. Devon’s leader John Hart (Conservative, Bickleigh and Wembury) last week said: “We have a choice. We live within our means or we go bust.”

Each county councillor has an annual locality budget fund of £8,000, reduced this year from £10,000 which had been in place for many years. The cost to the council would be around £500,000 per year.

Members use the money to make grants to support activities that benefit the communities they represent.

The programme’s suspension means no new applications are being accepted, but the council will honour payments already approved.

Opposition leader Julian Brazil (Lib Dem, Kingsbridge) said he is “incredibly disappointed” at the move.

“This is a vital connection that the council has with its local communities and the money spent by the council is worth five or ten-fold when you take into account match funding and voluntary and community effort.

“It’s very short-sighted. We weren’t consulted about it and the idea that we’re just going to support it is unacceptable.”

Cllr Brazil said other areas should be cut first, including senior management.

Leader of the Labour group, Cllr Carol Whitton (St David’s & Haven Banks) acknowledged the council’s financial problems but said they are due to years of cuts by central government. She urged the ruling Conservative administration at county hall to ask for support from Westminster.

“Removing funding from local voluntary groups doing excellent work to plug funding gaps in our communities, however, is not the way to tackle the funding shortfall,” Cllr Whitton added.

“For very small sums of money these voluntary and community-based groups make a huge difference to people’s lives. Without these grants some groups may not be able to continue. Inevitably, this will hit those most in need the hardest.”

Independent leader Cllr Frank Biederman (Fremington Rural) also criticised the move, claiming “elected councillors have been excluded from the decision-making process.”

He added: “We all need to be briefed on the up-to-date position and to understand how the savings needed are going to be found. A proper debate needs to happen.

“The locality budget saving is likely to be around £400,000 [this financial year] given some will have already been spent, so a massive impact on our communities but a small dent in the savings needed.”

Cllr Hart defended the cut. He said: “We currently face an unprecedented overspend of £40 million in the current financial year caused by the cost-of-living crisis, rising demand for our services for vulnerable children and adults and potential wage settlements.

“We are currently looking at our budget line-by-line to see where we can be more efficient and effective and where we can make savings.

“We are serious about cutting expenditure and balancing this year’s budget and working towards setting a balanced budget for 2023/24 in six months.

“The locality budget is worth around half a million pounds and cannot be exempt from scrutiny. But this is a temporary suspension and we will honour payments that have already been approved.”

Last month’s financial report to Devon’s ruling cabinet, warning of the potential £40 million black hole, said: “Immediate action [is] being taken to safeguard the financial sustainability of the authority.”

A panel of senior officers is looking at options – work labelled as top priority. It could mean services are remodelled to save money and major building projects are delayed or cancelled.

Liz Truss has said she rejects the “Gordon Brown economics” of helping people directly with bills as her rival, Rishi Sunak, warned the British people “will not forgive us” if vulnerable households do not get extra help this winter.

Jessica Elgot www.theguardian.com 

At the latest Conservative hustings, the former chancellor said he would not be prepared to spend sums similar to the help offered earlier this year, and that support should be more targeted. He said: “I don’t think that will be necessary because what we are talking about now … is the extra increase on top of what we thought.

“It’s right that we target that on the people who most need our help.”

He also admitted that despite his 5p cut to fuel duty, people were “not feeling it at the pumps” and said further help was going to be needed for the most vulnerable.

Speaking at the hustings in Darlington, which was dominated by questions on rising energy bills, Truss said she did not believe in using further taxation to boost government help. “The first thing we should do as Conservatives is help people have more of their own money. What I don’t support is taking money off people in tax and then giving it back to them in handouts. That to me is Gordon Brown economics.”

Truss said that the national insurance rise was her biggest regret in government. “I do hugely regret we went ahead with the national insurance rise. It was against the manifesto promise and I spoke out against it at the time.”

The foreign secretary declined again to say if she would give any further help directly with energy bills – but tempered that by saying she would not commit details of the next budget this early. “There’s [an idea that there’s a] fixed pie, we have to share out the pie and we have to give out the money and hand out.

“My view is that we can grow the pie, and having lower taxes actually helps us generate more income into the economy so there is more money to go around.”

Sunak’s campaign for leadership, which has been trailing Truss’s in the polls for the last few weeks, was dealt a further blow last night when Chris Skidmore became the first Tory MP to switch his support from the former chancellor to Truss.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the MP for Kingswood said the “status quo cannot be an option”. The former universities minister added: “Over the past few weeks, I have grown increasingly concerned by his campaign’s consistently changing position, especially on the economy, to chase votes.”

On Tuesday night Sunak said Truss’s plans would not help swathes of the population and said whoever was prime minister should not rule out direct support. Truss has said she would emphasis tax cuts rather than committing to giving extra direct help with energy bills.

“If you’re a pensioner, if you’re on the national living wage, tax cuts are worth zero,” Sunak said. “That’s not a policy to help people get through the winter and I think it’s wrong to rule out help directly because we as a Conservative government have an obligation to help those who are most vulnerable.

“If we don’t do that, not only will people suffer but we will get absolutely hammered when it comes to the next election. The British people will not forgive us for not doing that.”

At the first hustings to take place in the “red wall”, one of the most significant moments of the evening came when about 40% of those present raised their hands when asked who was still undecided – a far greater number than polls have suggested. By the end of the debate, however, when the question was asked again by the host, TalkTV presenter Tom Newton Dunn, that number had fallen to 10% of the audience.

Truss said she would take more seats in the red wall as prime minister, rather than just defending seats won in 2019. “As Blair himself would say, things can only get better. If you select me to be your prime minister, I will work to take new seats in the north-east – Wansbeck, I will work to take Sunderland, and I will work to win big. And I know we can do it.”

In the audience at the Darlington Hippodrome, there were some murmurings of discontent from the crowd of Tory members. One of the biggest cheers came for Boris Johnson when he appeared on the opening video montage and one audience member shouted: “Bring him back.”

At one stage, when the Tory chair, Andrew Stephenson, said the election campaign would take place over the next two years, another member groaned loudly: “Who says?”

Bellway has reported a record year of sales as rising house prices offset increasing energy and building costs, and the housebuilder predicted a bumper 2023 despite higher interest rates and the cost of living crisis.

Mark Sweney www.theguardian.com 

The company reported a 13% increase in revenues to a record £3.5bn and 10.5% growth in completions to a record 11,198 in the financial year to the end of July.

Bellway said it benefited from a higher than expected rise in the average selling price, which rose 2.6% to £314,000.

“Bellway has delivered another strong performance, with volume output and housing revenue reaching record levels against the backdrop of a challenging operating environment and macroeconomic uncertainty,” the chief executive, Jason Honeyman, said.

Despite the growing economic pressures as the Bank of England raised interest rates despite predicting an imminent recession, Bellway forecast another record year. The number of home completions is expected to reach 12,200 – about 12% more than in pre-Covid 2019. The company’s forward orders book stands at 7,223 homes with the value rising 4.5% to £2.1bn – another record – and it said it has already sold nearly 50% of private completions.

During the year the pace of business increased as buyer demand remained strong with the reservation rate increasing by 6.9% to 218 a week, while the cancellation rate remained at a low 13%.

“Confidence among customers is strong,” the company said. “Although interest rates and fuel costs have contributed to the rise in the cost of living, Bellway’s range of modern, well-designed new homes continues to provide an attractive and affordable proposition for our customers.”

The company expects the average selling price to drop slightly to just over £300,000 in the year to the end of July 2023 owing to previously announced changes in its geographical and product mix.

Last week, Halifax reported the first fall in house prices in more than a year, as the country’s largest lender warned of the impact of higher interest rates and the broader cost of living crisis.

Last week, the Bank of England announced its biggest increase in interest rates in 27 years, in an attempt to curb soaring inflation as gas prices drive up UK energy bills this winter.

The rise of 0.5 percentage points takes the UK base rate to 1.75%, a 13-year high. At the same time it said the UK would enter a recession by the end of 2022 that would last more than a year and predicted inflation would rise above 13% – the highest since 1980.

“Record revenue, a record number of homes completed and a growing forward order book, if the rises in the costs of living and mortgage rates are about to cause the housing market to turn, no one has told Bellway,” said Anthony Codling, the chief executive of the property data firm Twindig.

“The challenge for the UK housing market seems to be a shortage of homes for sale rather than a shortage of buyers which is welcome news for those building houses.”

Former Downing Street are said to be preparing to give evidence to MPs claiming Boris Johnson did misled parliament during the Partygate scandal.

Adam Forrest www.independent.co.uk 

Three former officials at No 10 reportedly believe that the prime minister did not tell the Commons all that he knew about rule-breaking gatherings held during the Covid crisis.

One of the ex-staffers has agreed to give evidence to the privileges committee inquiry into whether the PM mislead, while two others contacted by the committee are considering whether to testify, according to The Telegraph.

One told the newspaper: “On the facts, he was definitely at lockdown-breaking events and he knew they were happening and therefore what he said to the House was knowingly inaccurate.”

Asked if Johnson misled the Commons, another said: “Absolutely, damn well he did”. And a third said Mr Johnson “knew what was going on”.

Mr Johnson denies misleading parliament. He faces the prospect of a recall petition – which could trigger a by-election in his Uxbridge constituency – if he is suspended by MPs investigating whether he lied about lockdown parties.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle confirmed last month that the inquiry – if MPs deem Mr Johnson worthy of suspension – would fall within the remit of the Recall of MPs Act.

The committee inquiry led by Labour grandee Harriet Harman expects oral evidence sessions to begin in the autumn, meaning the inquiry could hang over Mr Johnson’s head for months after he departs No 10.

A report published by the committee has made clear that when considering the allegations against Mr Johnson, the standard of proof will be “on the balance of probabilities”.

Mr Johnson’s defenders have questioned whether he “deliberately” or “knowingly” misled parliament during the Partygate saga.

But the committee made clear that such commentary is not relevant. A memo states: “It is for the committee and the House to determine whether a contempt has occurred and the intention of the contemnor is not relevant to making that decision.”

Laura Farris, Conservative MP for Newbury, revealed on Monday that she had stepped down from the privileges committee last month.

She did not say why she had taken the decision in her tweet, and it she is expected to be replaced by a fellow Tory backbencher.

Culture secretary Nadine Dorries had called on all four Tory MPs on the committee to withdraw from the “witchhunt” and Machiavellian process” – with Johnson allies previously calling the probe a “kangaroo court”.

Senior Tory MP Simon Hoare said Ms Dorries was trying to “undermine” a matter for parliament. “The committee shouldn’t give a damn what any minister thinks. This is a serious abuse of power,” he tweeted.

Paul Scully, local government minister, insisted that Mr Johnson did not deliberately mislead MPs. “There’s no way he wilfully misled parliament, in my view,” he told Sky News on Tuesday. “I can’t see how they’re going to find otherwise.”

Asked if he agreed with Ms Dorries’ view that Tory MPs should pull out, Ms Scully. “There is a process, let’s just get through the process.”

Downing Street also rejected Dorries’ call to withdraw co-operation from the inquiry.

His official spokesperson said on Monday that the prime minister and No 10 wanted to “abide by the process”, adding: “We will assist the committee in their inquiries.”

Will this be, as Cranbrook was originally billed, the “development” to end all “developments” elsewhere in the District? – Owl

sidmouth.nub.news 

East Devon District Council (EDDC) are working in partnership with a renowned consultancy company to evaluate the potential of a new East Devon town.

The new town, which is intended to be in the north west area of East Devon, could include up to 8,000 new sustainable homes, as well as community facilities and amenities. It is hoped the new town would form a template of a biodiverse and zero-carbon environment.

By way of comparison, Cranbrook currently has around 2,500 homes.

CBRE is leading the consultancy. Advice will be provided on viability, construction options, environmental measures, viability, infrastructure, planning, and design.

Louise Wyman is CBRE’s executive director of strategic development. She will be working alongside Simon Phillips, director of planning, as well as senior director Andrew Round. The team will receive technical support from partner organisations including Hydrock, Tibbalds and Pinsent Masons.

Louise said: “The next decade is likely to see significant changes to placemaking, due to the impact of climate change policy.

“The multi-disciplinary team led by CBRE are committed to producing proposals that are future proofed, where the principles of sustainable development and delivering a net zero community are embedded in our approach.”

Councillor Paul Arnott, EDDC’s leader and the authority’s portfolio holder for strategic planning, said:

“Over the last three years, our council’s priority has been to make sure that the views of the public on major initiatives such as this are heard through high-quality consultations.

“In our renewed Local Plan process, we welcome both members of the public and industry experts to share their opinions on how we shape the future of East Devon. As one of the cornerstones to this, we have commissioned the well-respected CBRE to start the arduous process of informing the council on preferred routes of travel to deliver a true 21st century community with net zero and sustainability at its core.”

Incredible pictures have captured the moment a large cliff crumbled into the water along the county’s Jurassic coastline. Earlier today [August 8] police issued a warning to the public, urging them to stay away from the beach east of Sidmouth due to the unstable cliffs.

Go to devonlive link to watch video

Chloe Parkman www.devonlive.com

A large chunk of the cliff toppled onto the beach and into the water, resulting in a huge dust cloud which covered part of the seafront. One eyewitness, Lynda, told Devon Live that there were a number of cliff falls in the area before this ‘large’ one took place this morning.

Lynda said: “There were about five or six cliff falls leading up to the large on this morning in Sidmouth.” Rural East Devon Police posted a tweet to remind people not to walk on the beach due to the unstable cliffs.

Devon County Council is urging people to stay away from the cliff edge (Image: Lynda Friel)

The tweet said: “Another large cliff fall this morning. Reminder to beach users not to walk on the beach East of #Sidmouth due to unstable cliffs which could fall at any time.” The area is infamous for dangerous cliff falls and signage at along the edge and on the beach advise visitors to keep well away from the area.

Devon County Council (DCC) confirmed there had been ‘numerous’ cliff falls in the area today and are asking everyone to stay away from the cliff edge, when walking on the south west coast path.

In a statement on Twitter, a spokesperson for DCC wrote: “Please stay away from the cliff edge when walking The South West Coast Path in this area. This area is extremely unstable and dangerous.”

Keep up to date with all of the latest on the cliff falls, here.

Sidmouth cliff fall (Image: Lynda Friel)

The task of all governments of whatever political hue is to protect their most vulnerable citizens from hardship. The UK managed reasonably well to do so when the pandemic struck in 2020. It has made a start on trying to do so again when the current surge in inflation took off earlier this year. But it now needs to do more, much more.

Editorial www.independent.co.uk 

Specifically, there has to be emergency action to blunt the impact of the surge in energy prices that will gather pace through the autumn.

Gordon Brown, former chancellor and the prime minister who led the response to the financial crisis of 2008-9, has called for an emergency Budget to tackle this new crisis. It is a thoughtful and helpful intervention. He backs a report by Professor Donald Hirsch, of Loughborough University, which argues that the present measures taken by the government will not be sufficient to make up for the recent surge in living costs.

The report looks at the extent to which the measures already announced will compensate for the additional burden on low-income families, not only from the expected rise in energy prices in October but also from cuts in universal credit and the inadequate uprating of benefits.

Professor Hirsch is an experienced and respected expert on how the state can best tackle social harms. His report has been backed by 56 charities, including the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Child Poverty Action Group. It deserves to be taken very seriously.

The debate over the adequacy, or otherwise, of the response of the government to the cost of living crisis has become bound up with the election of the new leader of the Conservative Party and therefore the prime minister. Liz Truss has emphasised the importance of tax cuts rather than “handouts” as a way of reviving the economy. Gordon Brown, however, highlights that this is not simply an economic or political issue. It is a moral one.

He makes the point this way: “We need targeted support for families on the lowest incomes, not just cuts in taxes or flat rate payments, which don’t account for the specific needs of people on the brink of poverty. There should be no argument that a permanent increase in universal credit is the only way to take a sure step towards a solution.

“This crisis goes far beyond politics; this is a moral issue – our responsibilities to our neighbours and in particular to those who have the least and whose needs are the greatest.”

This must surely be right. Let’s see how the two candidates respond. Rishi Sunak is the principal architect of the government’s current plans, and we should hope that he can show flexibility by acknowledging that further measures need to be taken. We should hope that Liz Truss, for her part, is prepared to admit that to target support to the families most in need during a crisis should not be dismissed as giving “handouts”.

This is a truly defining moment in British politics. It is a debate that will shape the future direction of the Tory party, whoever its members choose to be its leader. But more than this, it is one that will determine how well our democracy can respond to a social and economic crisis.

The UK government cannot control global energy or food prices. But it can and must protect its most vulnerable citizens from external shocks of this magnitude. It has the resources to do so. And now, thanks to the work of Professor Hirsch, it has a blueprint of what must be done.

Four East Devon’s parks and green spaces have been awarded green flag awards.

Adam Manning www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

Sidmouth’s Connaught Gardens and Peak Hill Slope, Exmouth’s Manor Gardens, Seaton’s Seafield Gardens and Seaton Wetlands Nature Reserve.

The award is the international quality mark for parks and green spaces and much like the beach award scheme blue flag.

East Devon District Council said its a ‘testament to the hard work and dedication of the teams that make them great spaces looking pretty’.

A spokesman for the authority added: “The awards are the result of the hard work of EDDC StreetScene and Countryside teams, with valuable help from ‘in bloom’ groups and the many volunteers.” 

The staff and volunteers that work together are already busy on new improvements, including a further phase of planting in the autumn which will see the introduction of sustainable perennials and wildlife attracting plants in abundance.

Councillor Geoff Jung, EDDC’s portfolio holder for coast, country and environment, said: “The strengths of our parks and nature reserves are the teams that manage them.

“Described by the judges as passionate, knowledgeable and motivated, the StreetScene and Countryside teams are continually improving our sites, providing space for nature by planting wild flowers to benefit pollinators, insects and ultimately birds, providing bird boxes, reducing environmental impacts and have started introducing more drought-resistant species.”

The teams are addressing future climate and biodiversity challenges through sustainable planting, the sowing of wildflower seed, and allowing nature recovery at selected sites.

In addition to this, the council continues to bring in more eco-friendly grounds maintenance equipment in the form of battery operated machinery to reduce emissions and our overall carbon output in maintaining our parks and greenspaces.

The award has been given for 19 years in a row to Connaught Gardens, 18 years to Manor Gardens and Seaton Wetlands, and three years to Seafield Gardens.

The Green Flag Award scheme, managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, recognises and rewards well-managed parks and green spaces, setting the benchmark standard for the management of green spaces across the United Kingdom and around the world.

A full list of Green Flag Award-winning parks and green spaces is available here

Boris Johnson has no plans to introduce big tax and spending measures before he leaves office to ease the cost-of-living crisis, Downing Street has said.

BBC News www.bbc.co.uk 

Business group leader Tony Danker has urged ministers to “grip the emerging crisis”, arguing it “made no sense to wait” for the next PM to arrive.

And Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has called for an urgent meeting with the devolved governments.

Downing Street said it recognised the public were facing “challenging times”.

However, Mr Johnson’s spokesman argued it would be up to his successor to make any decisions on further help.

Mr Johnson is due to leave office in early September, and No 10 said “by convention it is not for this prime minister to make major fiscal interventions during this period”.

Cabinet Office minister Kit Malthouse said the government had already and was continuing to do work on cost-of-living problems.

“My job is to make sure that when the new prime minister arrives, the plan is in place for them to put their foot on the accelerator,” he told the BBC’s PM programme.

He also dismissed calls from ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the government to hold a meeting of the government’s emergency response committee Cobra, arguing that would be “a performative political act”.

Earlier this year, the government announced a £15bn package of support to ease the cost-of-living crisis.

This included giving households a £400 discount on energy bills and £650 for the poorest households to help with wider living costs.

However, the government has come under pressure to do more, following worsening economic warnings.

Last week, the Bank of England forecast that the UK was heading into a recession, with inflation set to hit 13%.

Meanwhile, the energy price cap will go up in October, with industry analysts estimating average domestic energy bills could hit more than £3,600 a year.

Mr Danker, head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said the prime minister and the candidates for the Tory leadership, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, “should come together to agree a common pledge to support people and help quell fears”.

“The economic situation people and businesses are facing requires all hands to the pump this summer,” he said.

“We simply cannot afford a summer of government inactivity while the leadership contest plays out followed by a slow start from a new prime minister and cabinet.”

The CBI – which represents British businesses – said the prime minister should direct the civil service to draw up options on helping the most vulnerable people – and that these options should be made available to both leadership candidates.

The organisation also said Mr Johnson, Mr Sunak and Ms Truss should agree “a way forward to support people and businesses with energy bills” ahead of 26 August, when Ofgem is due to announce the next energy price cap.

Elsewhere, Ms Sturgeon has called for an emergency meeting with Mr Johnson and the leaders of devolved governments, to agree steps to help people.

In a letter to the prime minister, she said the SNP-led government was “committed to doing all we can” but added: “We cannot respond on the scale required without action by your government.”

Writing in the Daily Record, Mr Brown – who was the Labour prime minister between 2007 and 2010 – said the UK faced “a financial timebomb” and urged Mr Johnson, Mr Sunak and Ms Truss to agree “an immediate Budget to prevent a winter heating catastrophe”.

He also said the emergency committee Cobra should be in “permanent session to deal with the coming fuel and energy crisis”.

Speaking to the BBC’s World This Weekend programme on Sunday, Mr Brown said there was “a vacuum” in government because “the prime minister is on holiday, the chancellor is on holiday, the two leadership candidates for prime minister are on the campaign trail.”

Asked if Mr Johnson – who has returned from a holiday in Slovenia – would summon a meeting of Cobra, No 10 said it would be up to Mr Johnson’s successor to make any decisions on further support for households.

The spokesman also said there were no plans to recall Parliament, but that Mr Johnson and his Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi are meeting this week to discuss progress on the support measures already announced.

Responding to No 10’s comments, Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said “people are worried sick about how they’ll pay their bills… and all this Tory prime minister does is shrug his shoulders”.

She said the two leadership candidates could only “offer more of the same”, adding: “Labour would start by scrapping tax breaks on oil and gas producers and providing more help to people who are struggling to pay their energy bills.”

Meanwhile, the two MPs hoping to take over the leadership have been criticising each other’s plans to address mounting living costs.

Mr Sunak has warned that the plans of his rival Ms Truss “won’t touch the sides”.

Supporters of Ms Truss say her proposed tax cuts would help people, but did not rule out offering further support.

Lili Stebbings www.devonlive.com 

Police have warned people to stay away from an East Devon beach following a large cliff fall. Rural East Devon Police posted a tweet to remind people not to walk on the beach due to the unstable cliffs.

The tweet said: “Another large cliff fall this morning. Reminder to beach users not to walk on the beach East of #Sidmouth due to unstable cliffs which could fall at any time.”

Emergency services are at the scene this morning including police and coastguards.

We are facing an economic storm alone, the government is missing in action.

Observer editorial www.theguardian.com 

The UK’s cost of living crisis is set to get much worse. Last week, the Bank of England raised interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 1.75% and forecast that inflation would spike at 13% by the end of the year. It also said that Britain would experience a prolonged recession and living standards would drop by 5% in the next year or so, the biggest fall since records began.

This comes after 15 years of stagnant living standards: the poorest fifth of households experienced zero growth in average household incomes between 2005 and the start of the pandemic. The energy price cap, just over £1,200 in 2019, is now forecast to reach £3,600 in the autumn; rising energy costs account for around half of the inflation rate. It will leave families on low incomes unable to meet basic housing, heating and food costs and many parents facing existential choices around how to house and feed their children. Russian president Vladimir Putin is responsible for the global energy price shock that is driving up inflation everywhere. As a result of the war in Ukraine, global gas prices have spiked as Russia has cut supply to Europe via the Nordstream 1 pipeline. Putin has threatened further consequences if the west imposes more sanctions.

But the UK, forecast to have the lowest growth of any wealthy nation next year by the IMF and OECD, has been left particularly exposed. We have barely any gas storage capacity as a result of government decisions and the economy has suffered from a long-term crisis of productivity. Productivity growth dropped significantly after the 2008 financial crisis and has never recovered. The sluggish growth in the decade that followed was propelled instead by consumer spending, fuelled by resurgent house prices. A decade of public spending cuts has left low-paid people further exposed as tax credits and benefits have been eroded, public services unable to meet demand and widened regional inequalities.

Brexit has compounded these structural economic issues. What Britain needed after the financial crisis was a plan to rebalance the economy away from its reliance on the housing bubble and towards investment- and export-led growth. Those countries that have enjoyed tentative recoveries after Covid have done so as a result of exports. Britain, on the other hand, has seen business investment and exports contract as a product of Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit. One estimate has suggested that the economy is already 5% smaller than it would have been had the UK remained part of the single market and customs union. This amounts to billions of pounds lost each year from household incomes and public services’ budgets. It is an indulgence Britain can ill afford, a decision that will be looked back on as a ludicrous act of economic self-harm at a time of global economic crisis.

Many people will be experiencing a financial crisis by the autumn, facing defaulting on their mortgage or being unable to pay their rent. Yet the prime minister and the chancellor are now abroad on holiday. Meanwhile, the contest between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to become the next Conservative leader continues to play out. One will be selected by Conservative party members on 5 September and will become responsible for leading the country through this economic emergency. Yet their proposed solutions are geared towards attracting the support of fewer than 200,000 members rather than the pressing needs of the country.

Sunak remains a deficit hawk who would leave the NHS, schools and other public services horribly exposed to the real spending cuts that would result from double-digit inflation and who, it last week emerged, has boasted about diverting funding away from the country’s poorest areas. Truss has pledged to loosen fiscal policy by £30bn, but by handing out tax cuts that will disproportionately benefit the more affluent and do nothing for people who do not earn enough to pay tax. She has explicitly said she is opposed to the targeted measures so desperately needed to ease the burden for low-income families. The Bank of England’s rate rise, which aims to lower inflation by increasing unemployment and suppressing growth further, risks making an already painful recession even worse.

The Conservative party is failing the country. It matters not that Boris Johnson is a caretaker prime minister or that MPs are caught up in a bitter leadership contest. The government urgently needs to introduce a new support package before the autumn, which increases levels of universal credit and targets more one-off support at low-income households. It must also increase spending on public services in the face of the inflationary cost pressures that will amount to significant real cuts, with huge implications for the NHS, social care, schools and the police. It should increase the revenues from the windfall tax Sunak introduced on North Sea oil extraction while he was chancellor, by eliminating the generous tax breaks he included.

Britain is facing an economic storm that could be even worse than the economic impact of Covid. Yet the Conservative government is missing in action. If the new prime minister fails to act on the first day they take office, voters will not be quick to forgive them.

Conservatives MPs want to do a deal with Boris Johnson for him to quit parliament and in return axe the inquiry into whether he misled them over Partygate, as allies of the prime minister branded it a “witch-hunt”.

Owl – Why the inquiry must continue: “Boris absolutely will stay in politics. You won’t get rid of Boris.” Nadine Dorries.

Aubrey Allegretti www.theguardian.com 

Although he is due to leave No 10 in less than a month, a Commons privileges committee inquiry is still ongoing into the prime minister’s initial denials in December last year that any Covid laws were broken during lockdown.

Some of Johnson’s critics want him to stand down as an MP, to avoid the process keeping the spotlight on a deeply embarrassing issue for the party that has strained relations between colleagues.

The investigation, which is being led by a committee with a Tory majority that chose Labour’s Harriet Harman to chair it, is expected to drag on for months.

A tranche of evidence has been demanded by the committee, including Johnson’s diaries covering the 12 days on which parties were held in Westminster in defiance of Covid rules, as well as emails, WhatsApp messages, photographs, internal notes and a list of deleted documents.

If Johnson is found to have misled parliament, he could face suspension from the Commons and a recall petition, which, if signed by 10% of his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituents, would trigger a byelection.

Unlike when Conservative MPs were whipped to save Owen Paterson, which sparked unrest within the party’s ranks over sleaze and scandal, some of Johnson’s fiercest Tory opponents said they would happily support ending the Partygate investigation if Johnson stepped down as an MP.

One source said: “I think there’s a case – not just for the parliament party, but for everyone – that we just move on from this psychodrama.”

The “quid pro quo” for backing a motion that would effectively wind up the probe would be Johnson “getting out of the Commons”, they added.

Another Tory MP who helped bring down Johnson said if the incoming prime minister decided to spare Johnson’s fate by tabling a motion in the Commons to end the investigation and asked for colleagues’ support, “that’s fine”.

“I can see the benefit of him going being satisfactory,” they said. “The overriding political objective has been achieved. It depends if our next leader wants to continue this internecine warfare in the Conservative party or will just take the hit.”

If Johnson did quit as an MP, a byelection would be triggered. He won the west London seat in 2019 with a majority of just 7,210. As the Conservatives have not held a poll lead since December 2021 and lost a string of safe Tory seats over the past year, holding Uxbridge and South Ruislip would not be a certainty.

One of Johnson’s closest allies, the culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, insisted he would stay in politics, but suggested the privileges committee inquiry should be ended anyway.

“If this witch-hunt continues, it will be the most egregious abuse of power witnessed in Westminster,” she tweeted on Sunday. “It will cast serious doubt not only on the reputation of individual MPs sitting on the committee, but on the processes of parliament and democracy itself.”

Dorries also accused the seven MPs behind the investigation of operating a “kangaroo court”, and said Johnson had been “brutally removed”.

She called for fellow supporters of the outgoing prime minister to unite behind Liz Truss, the frontrunner in the Tory leadership race.

Asked what Johnson would do next, Dorries told the Sunday Express: “Boris absolutely will stay in politics. You won’t get rid of Boris.”

Zac Goldsmith, another Johnson ally who was made a peer by the prime minister when he lost his seat in 2019, said the Partygate investigation was “clearly rigged”.

“It is a jury comprised of highly partisan, vengeful and vindictive MPs, nearly all of whom are already on the record viciously attacking the person they are judging,” he tweeted. “It is an obscene abuse of power.”

The Tory backbencher Bill Cash has drafted a motion calling for the scrapping of the inquiry, claiming it is “unnecessary” given Johnson’s departure from Downing Street at the start of September.

Chris Bryant, a Labour MP who recused himself from chairing the inquiry after publicly criticising Johnson, said he was “not aware of a single historic instance when a privileges inquiry was abandoned”.

“Arguing for it to be abandoned shows an extraordinary degree of complicity in Johnson’s wrongdoing and a very casual attitude towards standards and truth-telling in parliament,” he said. “If the government tables a motion to rescind, the Tories will all be lashing themselves to the Johnson mast all over again.”

A spokesperson for the privileges committee said the inquiry was being conducted properly and denied there had been any change to the rules or terms of reference.

They said a background paper on whether Johnson could be found in contempt of parliament was prepared by a senior clerk, all of whom “are strictly politically impartial”.

They added that advice had been taken from the former court of appeal judge Sir Ernest Ryder, which was published for transparency.