His level of shock is difficult to describe in words, pictures seem to do a better job.- Owl

And

Letters www.theguardian.com

One implication of your editorial on housing (1 December) is that greater supply would make housing more affordable. That would mean developers increasing supply to the point where they’d have to drop prices, and then keep building as prices continued to fall. They won’t do it.

Average prices have gone from 3.6 times average earnings to nine times over the last 25 years – through cheap borrowing, inherited property wealth snowballing on a rising market and, latterly, George Osborne’s help-to-buy scheme, which saddled buyers with more debt than the banks thought they could afford.

In this low-wage economy, the need is for social housing, and the new-build emphasis should be on that. But for ordinary families to have any chance of buying, the market needs puncturing by further structural change. Surcharging and requiring planning consent for the use of any dwelling other than as the main home, owned or rented, would be a start.

Negative equity? Of course there would be, though in the shorter term that’s coming anyway. But the help-to-buy element of the debt at least could eventually be written off, because with more social housing, the saving in annual housing benefit, now running at £23.4bn, would cover it.

John Worrall

Cromer, Norfolk

Hidden in the small print of the autumn statement, the government announced that housing benefit for private sector tenants will be frozen for the third successive year. In social housing, rent can still be covered by universal credit or housing benefit, if the rules permit.

This of course exacerbates the private sector rents crisis that you report (Soaring rents making life ‘unaffordable’ for private UK tenants, research shows, 1 December). The government makes a decision on housing benefit based on data supplied every September by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). The process is opaque. Nobody outside the government knows how much the VOA thinks rents have risen. Its data won’t be published until the end of January.

In Cornwall, the council has said that the private rental market has all but dried up. Emergency accommodation for the homeless is often offered in a hotel, sometimes miles away. Already the maximum housing benefit here can be £50 a month less than the VOA-recommended figure. The shortfall will be even greater now.

Philip Kerridge

Bodmin, Cornwall

While there are undoubtedly some social landlords who are providing a poor service to their tenants, one can’t help thinking that Michael Gove’s high-profile interventions in the last fortnight are designed to deflect attention from his inactivity regarding the dire state of the private rented sector. Moya Lothian-McLean’s article highlights the almost nonexistent protection from very poor quality housing, rent gouging and no-fault evictions in the private rented sector (Facing eviction, I’ve learned that relying on ‘good landlords’ is a feudal throwback, 2 December).

It’s all very well the government promising an end to the latter practice, but it’s more than three years since the original commitment was given. How cynical also that the levelling up spokesperson’s response was to pass the buck to councils, saying that it was their responsibility to ensure families are not homeless. Let’s have the same level of intervention in the private market as Gove has recently promised for social housing.

John Rigby

Much Wenlock, Shropshire

Plymouth Conservatives lose another councillor

Tory councillors are being left to defend “unpleasant” budget decisions made by “a collective few”, says Ham ward councillor Stephen Hulme who has quit the Conservative group

Carl Eve www.plymouthherald.co.uk

Plymouth City Council is once again on a political knife edge as yet another Conservative councillor has chosen to quit the group and go independent.

Cllr Stephen Hulme, who represents residents of Ham ward, took to his Facebook page last night to break the news to his constituents, saying “I have sadly had to leave the colour blue. “I am solely the voice of Ham ward and our magnificent Ocean City of Plymouth. You have the power of your votes, use it wisely”.

This follows hot on the heels of recent developments at the Conservative-led council – including the suspension of a Conservative councillor Maddi Bridgeman over alleged complaints which are being investigated, the resignations of two Conservative councillors who moved to Gloucester, and two by-elections for the vacated wards of Moor View and Plympton Chaddlewood on January 12, 2023.

As a result of the recent changes, an Independent group was formed by former Conservative leader Nick Kelly, former Conservative Terri Beer and former Labour councillor Chaz Singh.

As a result of the latest resignation, the council split is now 24 councillors apiece for the Conservatives and Labour, with the balance of power now sitting with the Independent group, two Green councillors and two independent councillors. The council was in this position in January this year with no single party holding the majority after Cllr Hulme left the Conservative group. However, this situation lasted mere hours after the Conservative group unexpectedly lifted the suspension it had placed on the then leader Nick Kelly – over comments he is alleged to have made during an interview with ITV, putting the Tories back as the majority party.

Cllr Hulme was elected for the Conservatives in May 2021 with a majority of just 285, snatching the seat from Labour. However, he left the Conservative group in January 2022 without giving exact reasons for his departure, saying only that it had been “a difficult journey since May 2021 for me as a new elected Conservative councillor”. He said at the time that he would sit as an independent councillor “holding Conservative values”.

He re-joined the Conservative group in May this year along with four other former Conservatives. The return of the five was purported to be down to the new leader of the council, Conservative group leader Richard Bingley.

At the time he won praise from Johnny Mercer, Plymouth Moor View MP who said Cllr Bingley had brought “stability” back to the Conservative group. Mr Mercer went on to state that it was “fundamental to my politics that politicians spend less time arguing amongst themselves and more time focused on delivering for the brilliant people of our city who deserve first-class leadership.”

However, in a statement released last night to PlymouthLive, councillor Stephen Hulme said: “Of late I have received many emails from the electorate, on the publication of the new plans on Armada Way, the diminishing bus services and removal of bus shelters, the increasing parking charges, the introduction of garden waste charges and the implementation of rubble charges and alike at the local tips, the two by-elections being actioned in January 2023 at a cost of around £50,000 or more to the council taxpayer.

“I get democracy – but with the cost of living crises, perhaps waiting till 2023 May would be more cost-effective to the public purse. It seems a collective few make decisions leaving others to defend the unpleasant decision, which I have found impossible.”

Cllr Hulme still has 15 months left of his council term before he must face the re-election process and he has said he will remain an independent until then. He claimed: “I don’t think the council listens to the people of Plymouth. They need to listen to the people of Plymouth.”

Reduce state intervention, free-up markets, unleash entrepreneurialism, privatise, privatise, privatise. What could possibly go wrong? – Owl 

Sandra Laville www.theguardian.com 

Serious pollution by water companies has increased in the past year, the regulator has said in a damning report on the performance of the sector in England and Wales.

Ofwat said poor performance by some firms was embedded, and named Northumbrian Water, Southern Water, South West Water, Thames Water, Welsh Water and Yorkshire Water as lagging in the way they served customers and ran the system.

The regulator also analysed the financial resilience of the water firms, after a year in which three companies have been forced to inject capital to bolster their financial strength. Ofwat is taking a tough stance with water companies after criticism that for years the firms have not been properly regulated.

The body said most companies had failed to clearly explain the link between the dividends paid to shareholders and performance for customers. They said there had been improvements on leakage by water companies but more needed to be done to reduce leaks by 50% by 2050 from 2017-8 levels.

The Guardian revealed last week that the nine main water and sewerage companies had paid out £65.9bn in dividends in the last three decades. They have also taken on debts of £54bn.

Ofwat said Northumbrian Water and Portsmouth Water had paid dividends which were significantly higher than the regulator’s expectations and the companies’ financial resilience. Northumbrian dividends in the past year were £181.5m and Portsmouth Water paid £5.1m to shareholders.

David Black, the chief executive of Ofwat, said: “In too many areas, water and wastewater companies are falling short when it comes to looking after customers, the environment and their own financial resilience. We are clear; these companies need to address this unacceptable performance as a matter of urgency.

“For some companies poor performance has become the norm. This cannot go on. We are requiring the worst performers, including Thames Water and Southern Water, to return around £120m to customers.”

The performance report on 17 water companies said serious pollution had increased. “In 2021-22 the number of serious pollution incidents increased and there was a deterioration in the compliance of treatment works. Only four companies met the performance level to reduce sewage flooding in customers homes … Companies urgently need to improve their performance on this measure. There are cases of sustained poor performance over a number of years, such as South West Water.”

The report said, despite the poor performance, companies were not investing enough into treatment plants to reduce sewage discharges and to improve drought resilience.

Sewer flooding incidents in people’s homes were also highlighted as an area of concern. Southern Water and Thames Water have been told to cut sewer flooding by 56% and 61%, respectively, to meet the target of limiting incidents to 1.34 per 10,000 properties by 2024-25.

Ofwat said: “Companies have a duty to provide and maintain a sewerage system and should plan and invest to ensure they can cope with future pressures such as population growth and climate change.

“Some companies consider that storms and prolonged rainfall throughout 2021-22 contributed to an increase in the number of incidents they experienced. It is likely that with the impacts of climate change, the UK will continue to experience extreme weather events.”

Water companies are all being investigated by Ofwat and the Environment Agency over potentially illegal sewage discharges from their treatment plants.

Christine McGourty, chief executive of the industry body Water UK, said: “This report clearly shows there’s more to do for water and wastewater companies to meet the stretching targets of the regulators, as well as the high expectations of the public. It’s good to see that nearly every company has met its target on leakage reduction with an ambitious industry-wide plan in place to cut leaks by 50% by 2050.

“Water companies will continue to work with government and the regulators to ensure we enable the levels of investment needed to improve our infrastructure and protect the environment while maintaining value for money for customers.”

A study which looked at water quality in 48 freshwater sites in the UK has revealed that the River Dart in Devon is the only site of those tested which has ‘acceptable’ levels of pollution. The two other Devon rivers included in the study were found to have above acceptable levels of at least two pollutants.

Mary Stenson www.devonlive.com

In a people-powered study of pollutant levels in UK freshwater sites, the River Dart was the only one, out of 48, to pass all five parameters. The river runs 75km from Dartmoor and into the sea at Dartmouth.

Tests were carried out to determine whether water met acceptable levels of six different pollutants: nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, total coliform, pH and heavy metals. The pollutants have varying impacts on the environment, including harm to plants, aquatic life and insects. Coliforms, in particular, are a group of faecal bacteria which can cause serious illness such as diarrhoea and gastroenteritis.

98% of sites failed to meet acceptable criteria of at least one of five pollutants, including the River Axe. The river, which runs through East Devon and parts of Dorset and Somerset, was found to have above ‘acceptable’ levels of phosphate and coliforms.

Over half, 52%, of sites failed on three or more parameters. Among these was the River Exe, which runs through Exeter, and was found to have high levels of nitrate, phosphate and coliforms.

The study, overseen by environmental organisation Planet Patrol, was performed by 57 members of the public over the summer. They were each allocated to a testing site and gathered data every other week for 12 weeks, resulting in a total of 1,229 water quality readings. The findings have been laid out in Planet Patrol’s What Lies Beneath Report 2022.

Over 90% of the sites around the UK tested positive for total coliform bacteria and nearly 70% failed in the phosphate parameter. There are varying causes of these pollutants entering the water, including sewage contamination, urban development, farming practices, increased use of increased diversity of chemicals and pharmaceuticals and transport pollution.

The latest data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) shows that no progress has been made on a pledge made four years ago to ensure 75% of rivers and other bodies of water achieve a “good” ecological status by 2027. As of 2021 the figure was at 16%, the same as it was in 2017.

The Environment Agency has reportedly planned to amend the 75% target, prompting Planet Patrol to launch a petition calling Rt Hon Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Thérèse Coffey, to reject this proposal.

Lizzie Carr MBE, founder of Planet Patrol, says: “Through our growing community of citizen scientists we’ve started to uncover what lies beneath to highlight a stark reality: the widespread, poor condition of our freshwater environments. The results have been disturbing and distressing but only by building evidence to illustrate the true scale and extent of a problem, can it be accurately understood, communicated and acted upon.

“We urge the Government to honour its pledge to ensure that 75% of rivers and other bodies of water achieve a good ecological status by 2027. This target is both a major driver of public and private investment into cleaning up our waterways and a vital tool to hold industries with permits to pollute – which include much more than just water companies – to account over water pollution.”

Planet Patrol has also made the following policy recommendations:

• DEFRA to bring forward the enforcement date for the increase in Variable Monetary Penalties for polluting water companies to 1st February 2023
• DEFRA to strengthen the effectiveness of the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan (SODRP) – specifically, reduce the maximum achievement date on all SODRP targets to 2035 versus 2050, and prohibit water companies from increasing water bills to fund the critical infrastructure investment required
• The Environmental Agency to accelerate the speed at which citizen science is integrated into formal data collection activities for developing evidenced-based policies
• Use funds raised from the increase in Variable Monetary Penalties for polluting water companies to increase the criminal prosecution rates of those who damage water quality.

Dr Thomas Stanton, a freshwater scientist from Loughborough University who analysed the data, says: “UK waterways are vulnerable to a number of societal pressures, including pollution, water abstraction, and modifications to river courses. But they are also compromised by weak policy and legislation.

“Despite its political greenwashing, the environment continues to be an issue that the UK government does not take seriously.

“Nature is in crisis, but current efforts to fully understand the extent of this are shackled by politicians whose short-sighted priorities lie elsewhere, and who fail to recognise the significance of environmental action today for the lives of those who will outlive their political tenure.”

The full What Lies Beneath Report 2022 can be found here.

Experts have urged ministers to use a 12-year-old law to ensure that homebuilders in England provide more green spaces to curb the risk of flooding and sewage pollution.

Successive ministers have resisted the move, fearing it would hinder meeting targets for homes and end a builder’s right to connect to existing sewers.

Adam Vaughan www.thetimes.co.uk 

Forty planning, engineering and environment groups have written to the prime minister, urging him to implement schedule three of the 2010 Flood and Water Management Act.

This would mean companies building and maintaining “sustainable drainage systems” (SuDs), such as ponds, planters and permeable paving, so drains were not swamped during heavy rain. “Implementation is essential to address growing surface water flood risk [and] tackling the sewage pollution problem,” the signatories, including the Royal Town Planning Institute, the Town and Country Planning Association and Water UK, the trade body, said. The government has been reviewing the issue, and a decision was initially due in October.

The Times understands the advisory group on the review is in favour of implementing schedule three.

“Backward thinking and policies mean 1.5 million homes have been built in a way that doesn’t manage water well. Climate change-driven extreme weather advances and sewers are full to overflowing,” Terry Fuller, chief executive of The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, which organised the letter, said.

The groups behind the letter say that while some developers perceive SuDs as “difficult and expensive”, that was not true and they could even be cheaper than conventional drainage.

The National Federation of Builders said: “There is a likelihood that schedule three becomes the 12th tax on industry in the last two years.”

A Defra spokesperson said: “The government is reviewing the case for implementing schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. This would introduce standards for most new drainage systems and would make it compulsory that systems gain regulatory approval before any construction work commences.”

From a correspondent:

Why is Budleigh Salterton suffering this terrible, hammering noise, I have been asked?

The old Victorian combined sewer outfall passes under the estuary at its mouth to discharge on the lee side of the Otter Head rocks. This pipe spilled RAW sewage 48 times for 433 hours in 2021 into the bay. (the latest figures available).

The swimmers  who live in the town will testify that there has been times when it would be foolish to enter the sea this summer.

This pipe is now likely to be subject to erosion when the Lower Otter Restoration Project is complete. If it is to continue to be used to discharge poo into the sea it must be replaced. This means using a hydraulic hammer to drive a new pipe horizontally under the Lime Kiln car park to the other side of the estuary mouth.

This may have been understandable if there was no money available but £2.2 billion was accessible for water companies to build wastewater infrastructure and tackle sewage being ditched in our rivers and seas. And, as Owl recently reported, South West Water is the second worst investor after Yorkshire Water spending only 39% of what it could.

 Water companies fail to splash out on improvements, especially SWW | East Devon Watch

With this money available one might have hoped that SWW would make this pipe redundant and sort out the mess at the Lime Kiln Pumping station.

Budleigh residents can now rest assured that their untreated poo can continue to be discharged at the Otter Head for the next 100 years on a weekly basis.