Does this herald a new energy sustainable future in development or is it just “greenwashing” by Burrington Estates? – Owl

Affordable homes being built at an eco-friendly development in East Devon will have solar panels and air source heat pumps.

Becca Gliddon eastdevonnews.co.uk

Burrington Estates recently secured planning permission to build 34 ‘sustainable’ new homes at Winslade Park, in Clyst St Mary, East Devon, including four affordable two and three-bedroom properties.

The developer said the new homes – including the affordable properties – will have air source heat pumps for hot water, underfloor heating, and solar panels ‘as standard’.

Eco-friendly additions across the development include electric car charging points, bee bricks, bat boxes and bird boxes.

And ten trees for each new home built will be planted in a bid to offset the development’s carbon footprint.

The developer plans to launch the residential phase in the autumn when it hosts a dedicated evening event for prospective buyers.

Mark Edworthy, managing director of Burrington Estates, said: “We are delighted to be introducing this new residential phase to our gorgeous Winslade Park development.

“The sustainable homes will provide much-needed housing in the area and are the perfect addition to the site, which already provides the ultimate in leisure opportunities and commercial space.”

Promoting the new homes launch event, the developer said: “Sustainability is at the forefront of our commitment to the environment, and Burrington Estates are taking the essential steps necessary to create a greener, more carbon-neutral footprint for the projects delivered.

“All homes across both developments will feature PV solar panels and underfloor heating and hot water will be supplied through an air source heat pump.

“Moreover, to offset the carbon footprint of construction, the planting of ten trees per home through More:Trees will sequester an estimated 69 tonnes of carbon, ensuring Burrington Estates continues to lead the way into a sustainable, more environmentally friendly world.”

The 86-acre site, with sports and leisure facilities, earlier received £28-million of funding from Paragon Development Finance.

Tory campaign to choose “our” next Prime Minister plumbs new depths. – Owl

Liz Truss supporter Nadine Dorries is facing a backlash from colleagues for sharing a “distasteful” and “dangerous” doctored image on social media that shows Rishi Sunak about to stab Boris Johnson in the back.

Ashley Cowburn www.independent.co.uk

The culture secretary – a staunch Johnson loyalist – retweeted a modified image from a film, which had been altered to show the outgoing prime minister’s face imposed on the character of Julius Caesar and Mr Sunak’s on that of Brutus.

Greg Hands, a business minister who is backing Mr Sunak in the race for No 10, told Sky News on Sunday that he was “sure Liz Truss would disown this kind of behaviour”, as he described it as “appalling”.

“Look, it’s not even a year since the stabbing of Sir David Amess at his Southend constituency surgery, so I think this is very, very bad taste – dangerous even,” he added.

The senior Tory MP Simon Hoare also shared a post on Twitter that urged Ms Dorries to delete the retweet, stressing: “This is not how we should conduct our politics or discourse.”

The SNP MP Stewart McDonald added: “Nadine Dorries – currently a secretary of state – is grossly unfit for public office of any sort.”

The row came as Ms Dorries also used a newspaper article to admit that she “may have gone slightly over the top” last week when she mocked the former chancellor for wearing £490 Prada shoes and expensive suits.

“I wanted to highlight Rishi’s misguided sartorial style in order to alert Tory members not to be taken in by appearances in the way that happened to many of us who served with the chancellor in cabinet,” she wrote.

She then used the same article in The Mail on Sunday to criticise Mr Sunak’s decision to resign from government, saying it “made Michael Gove’s betrayal of Boris Johnson during the 2016 leadership campaign appear like a rank amateur rehearsing for the role in a village hall play”.

Welsh secretary Sir Robert Buckland, another supporter of Mr Sunak, also denounced Ms Dorries’ behaviour. “I think that sort of imagery and narrative is not just incendiary, it’s wrong,” he told BBC Radio Wales.

“I think it’s time for those who think that an argument about Prada shoes or earrings is more important, for instance, should wind their neck in and let people talk about the issues rather than the personality.”

Former Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis, who has thrown his weight behind Ms Truss in the leadership contest, told Sky News: “It’s certainly not the sort of thing I would tweet.”

He added: “Nadine is well known as having strong views on things. Nadine speaks for herself, she’s very much an individual on that. But that is not a position that Liz would take.”

Readers will remember that Simon Jupp jumped to support Rishi Sunak as soon as his candidacy was announced. 

So this week could well see Simon racing round the constituency in a desperate attempt to shore up support for Sunak by speaking personally to as many members of the party as he can. (See below)

If “his man” fails, it would spell the end of any influence or promotion our Simon might have been hoping for by nailing his colours to the mast so soon.

Sunak’s campaign needs an overhaul. It looks as though it has been run by a bunch of overenthusiastic, inexperienced SPADS .

If you can’t run an effective campaign, how can you run the country? – Owl

Many Conservative MPs believe there is now only a brief window to change the race, with ballot papers delivered to members from Monday. Some prominent backers want Sunak and a large network of supportive MPs to dedicate their time solely to contacting local members directly through phone banks and online group calls to make his case…

Several MPs said that many local members had been relatively easy to persuade to back Sunak over Truss once they had been contacted, arguing that support for the foreign secretary was often soft. However, they said that the “air war” aspects of Sunak’s campaign were simply not reaching the membership, thought to comprise around 160,000 people.

“They’re running it like an election campaign,” said one Sunak backer. “This is very straightforward. There’s 160,000 Tory members dotted around the country. We know who they are. We know where they are. All we have to do is talk to them. The social media campaign, the TV appearances – most of them make no difference to members.

“The vote is very soft, you don’t have to do much to move it. We’re making this far too complicated. There’s brilliant people in charge, but I’m just worried we’re fighting the wrong campaign.”…

Source: www.theguardian.com (Extract)