Mid Devon will keep trying to secure the money needed to build a new relief road for Cullompton.

Simon Jupp (Exmouth’s temporary MP) claimed a couple of weeks ago in the commons:

Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset secured £152 million from the levelling-up fund last month. The four counties make up the region’s new powerhouse, the great south west, of which I chair the all-party parliamentary group. Will my right hon. Friend [Michael Gove] meet me to discuss the fantastic opportunities that lie ahead for the great south west? 

Michael Gove replied: I absolutely will, and I will make sure that the Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, my hon. Friend Dehenna Davison, is with me as well. There is nothing that the two of us enjoy more than hearing good news from fantastic constituency MPs such as my hon. Friend Simon Jupp.

So there you are Levelling Up in action – Owl

Council’s relief road efforts continue

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

The planned road to the east of the town is seen as essential for Cullompton, improving capacity at the town’s M5 junction, reducing traffic through the town centre and unlocking the development of 2,000 homes nearby.

It would also provide improved pedestrian and cycle access to the planned new Cullompton railway station, which could be in use by 2025.

But Mid Devon District Council is short of around £19 million of the road’s projected £30 million cost after being rejected again by the government’s flagship levelling-up scheme in January, despite backing from local Lib Dem MP Richard Foord and Conservative-controlled Devon County Council.

Originally set to cost £15 million, the road has ballooned in price; blamed on increased construction costs, replacing sporting facilities and the potential amount needed to buy land.

At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday [7 March], councillors agreed to submit a third bid to the levelling-up fund, if and when it is announced by Westminster, and to “continue to explore additional funding opportunities” to plug the shortfall.

Mid Devon’s new cabinet member for planning and economic regeneration, Councillor Graeme Barnell (Independent, Newbrooke) said he was “extremely disappointed” at the rejection and that it was “very important that officers do have a plan B and are working on that.”

Liberal Democrat councillor James Buczkowski (Cullompton South) stressed the importance of the road, saying it is “not only vital to the prosperity and wellbeing of Cullompton residents but vital, I believe, to the prosperity of the wider district too.

“The relief road is vital in terms of addressing the horrendous air quality in the town centre, addressing the outright dangerous transiting of heavy goods vehicles through our historical town centre, and addressing the daily congestion that has a severe detrimental impact on the lives of Cullompton residents.”

He added: “Please be assured that Cullompton residents have had enough of the daily plight and broken promises from Mid Devon District Council.”

Cllr Buczkowski urged councillors to explore other models of funding apart from the levelling-up fund, which a council officer said they are doing. Mr Buczkowski also suggested borrowing the money needed and paying it back in the long-term through developer housing contributions.

In response, Mid Devon’s director of place, Richard Marsh, claimed the council had been “working flat out” to try to make the road a reality.

He said it “wouldn’t be usual” for a district authority to borrow for a strategic highways project, while finance officer Andrew Jarrett added it was “not something we are looking to do or could do in the short to medium term” due to it putting a “very significant funding requirement” on the rest of the council.

Mr Marsh said it is planning policy that the relief road is in place before many new developments are built.

Cllr Barnell recommended a closer working with Devon County Council, which is responsible for highways and has pledged £1.5 towards the project.

The majority of cabinet members agreed to keep looking for more ways to fund the road, and to prepare another levelling-up bid.

A new specialist school will be built in the Cranbrook area after it was selected by the government. The school, one of 33 that will be built across the country, will cater for children aged nine to 16 and provide up to 70 additional places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Ollie Heptinstall www.devonlive.com 

Devon County Council is looking to increase the amount of SEND places it can provide directly, with places at independent schools costing it significantly more money. It also needs to improve its provision. Devon was last year hit with a government improvement notice for its services for SEND children, which it runs in partnership with NHS Devon.

The Conservative-run council and NHS Devon both apologised after a revisit by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission last May found that progress had not been made in fixing four areas of significant concern identified in December 2018. A protest by SEND parents was also held at county hall last month, over what they said was a poor provision by the council in supporting children with additional needs.

Welcoming the new school, cabinet member for children’s services, Cllr Andrew Leadbetter said: “We’re trying to change the system to obviously offer a much better service to our parents, and this is part of our strategy to have more schools.” He added: “We are really pleased we’ve got this money from the government, because it’s something we want to do.”

It is not yet known exactly where or when the new school in the Cranbrook area will be built. Another catering for children with SEND, the Promise School in Okehampton, opened its doors to pupils in September, while another is planned for Ivybridge.

Cllr Leadbetter also said long-running negotiations were still ongoing with the Department for Education about the county council’s large ongoing overspend on supporting children. Since 2020, councils across the country have been told by the government to put their SEND overspends into separate ring-fenced accounts while it develops a new funding model – an arrangement recently extended to 2026.

It means Devon’s total running overspend on the service – effectively debt – is projected to be £127 million at the end of this month, rising to £153 million by March 2024.

Will he – won’t he?

How many times has old “Tractor Porn” Parish floated the idea of standing as an “independent”!

Not that he was obviously independent minded when he was an MP.

Neil, Owl’s advice is put your money where your mouth is and stand – split the Tory vote! It will be fun to watch.

Philip Churm www.devonlive.com

The former Devon Tory MP who quit after admitting watching pornography in the House of Commons has said he may stand as an independent in the next general election. Neil Parish, who served Tiverton and Honiton for 12 years, and before that was a member of the European Parliament, resigned after he was spotted viewing sexually explicit material on a mobile device while waiting to vote.

Because of forthcoming boundary changes, the Tiverton and Honiton constituency will cease to exist. Simon Jupp, the current Conservative MP for East Devon, has said he will stand in the newly created Honiton and Sidmouth seat.

Ian Liddell-Grainger, the current Conservative MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, has been named as their candidate in the newly-created Tiverton and Minehead seat. And Mr Parish says that if he decides to run again, it is this seat he would stand in.

But in an interview for Devoncast, a podcast hosted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service in Devon, Mr Parish said politics is in his blood and he wants voters to decide whether he should return as an MP.

In a frank interview, the former MP, who had a majority of more than 24,000 at the last general election, said the circumstances surrounding his resignation last year had met with mixed reactions.

“It was a terrible year for me,” he explained. “And it’s interesting now to see where I take myself going forward, because I still have very much a public interest in mind with politics in the blood, food, farming environment. I just want to try and keep those things running, if I can, and hopefully do some good.”

However, the 66 year-old, who opposed Brexit and previously served as an MEP, said he was no longer a member of the Conservative Party and had no plans to rejoin.

“I don’t particularly like the direction of some of the policies. So, I am just making up my mind now whether to stand for parliament as an independent,” he said.

Asked which policies he will prioritise if he is re-elected he said: “It would be the cottage hospitals, the health side of it. It would be the food and farming side of it.

“Naturally, the big issue for Tiverton itself is the new school for Tiverton High School. That’s making progress now, but that needs to be delivered.”

He will also focus on rural issues. Mr Parish admits he will face challenges without the backing of a major party but suggests his prior knowledge will stand him in good stead.

“As an independent, it’s difficult to deliver in parliament, but I have had a lot of experience in parliament,” he added. “But what it does enable you to do is look at policies across the [board] because I wouldn’t stand to be anti-Tory, anti-Labour, anti-Liberal, anti-Green.

“I would like to try to put forward a positive message and to see whether people actually wanted that.”

Mr Parish said the next general election may prove interesting as he feels many people are “looking for something different.”

Responding to critics who have said he should not see re-election after last year’s revelations, he believes the decision should be in the hands of the electorate.

“By resigning and then if you stand again, then people can make up their own mind, can’t they? And that’s what democracy’s about,” he said.

Neil Parish’s resignation triggered a by-election in June last year which was won by Liberal Democrat, Richard Foord with a 6,000 majority.