Devon’s road network faces an “inevitable decline” due to a lack of funding, an alarming new report reveals.

This is what happens when you vote Tory, they want to cut car parking charges but can’t fix the roads.  – Owl

Ollie Heptinstall www.dawlish-today.co.uk

The county council’s new highways management plan details how current levels of investment means the worsening condition of some roads is ‘unavoidable’, with a strategy now in place for ‘managing decline.’

One opposition councillor has reacted by saying minor rural roads could end up being so bad that residents may want to consider getting a horse.

The management plan, presented to a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, explained how the annual settlement for highways maintenance – around £25 million last year – has halved in real terms compared to a decade ago.

‘This also has the knock-on impact of forcing a change in priorities, with safety taking higher consideration and proactive works being stopped, contributing to a more rapid deterioration of roads,’ it explained.

Capital funding from the Department for Transport is also now lower in real terms than it was in 2014/15, although there was a one-off increase in 2020/21, while an extra £9.4 million for potholes has increased the total for the new financial year.

But councillors are being warned that the funding pressures mean potholes are ‘likely to become more prevalent, leading to a rise in unplanned and disruptive maintenance.’

The report adds: ‘In the long term there will also be an impact on the selection of journey routes and the reliability of journey times.’

Devon has more than 8,000 miles of road; the largest road network in the country.

Overall county council spending will increase by 10.5 per cent this financial year – £67 million – but most of it is set aside for adult and children’s services. Climate change, environment and transport has received just a 3.5 per cent boost, well below inflation.

Roads will now only be repaired after assessment against a set of ‘management strategies,’ with ‘priority assets’ receiving targeted investment. The council also wants to maintain the current condition of A and B roads.

However, the lack of money means Devon’s minor roads will be allowed to ‘gradually deteriorate,’ while unclassified roads will get ‘minimal maintenance,’ apart from safety and routine maintenance.

Councillor Stuart Hughes (Conservative, Sidmouth), cabinet member for highways, said: ‘Like all authorities, Devon is facing significant financial pressures which have been compounded further by the recent high inflation.’

He added the service had ‘continued to focus on improving efficiencies alongside innovation, recognising that in the absence of adequate funding, the service must prioritise and best manage a decline.’

But debating the item, Liberal Democrat councillor Alistair Dewhirst (Ipplepen & The Kerswells) suggested minor roads could end up being so bad that residents may have to consider equine forms of transport.

‘If you’re a resident in a minor rural road, effectively with the decline that is implicit in this report, you’re just going to be landlocked. You’re just going to have to walk everywhere or maybe get a horse.’

Cllr Dewhirst also claimed it would cost £180 million to improve Devon’s roads. This figure was acknowledged by county council director of transport Meg Booth, who said it would allow all roads to be at least ‘amber’ on a traffic-light scale of concern.

Labour councillor Carol Whitton (St David’s and Haven Banks) said: ‘Devon is certainly not alone in facing this problem of a declining asset and managing that decline, but of course Devon is particularly challenged by the sheer volume of mileage that exists within this county.

‘And what is happening on unclassified roads will be of particular concern to our rural members. Less so in Exeter.’

Meanwhile, Independent leader Frank Biederman (Fremington Rural) called the report a ‘pretty grim read’ and said it comes after ‘decades and decades of under-investment.’

Members of the cabinet agreed the management plan and also approved the council’s £66 million capital funded highway maintenance programme for 2023/24.

Lack of funding

Many of Devon’s roads are expected to get worse because of a lack of funding.

The county council says its annual settlement for highways maintenance has halved in real-terms compared to a decade ago – with a plan now in place for “managing decline”

It wants to maintain the condition of A and B roads, but the lack of cash means Devon’s minor road network will be allowed to “gradually deteriorate”.

Devon has over eight-thousand miles of road – the largest amount in the country.

Get a horse!

Get a horse if you want to make it down some of Devon’s roads in the future.

That’s the message from one councillor, as the county council adopts a strategy of “managing decline” of its roads.

A new highways management plan reveals worsening conditions of some roads is “unavoidable” due to current funding levels, and that people may end up choosing different routes because of the state they’re getting into.

Rishi Sunak has been dealt a major blow after NHS waiting lists hit another record high.

[As well as promising to cut waiting lists, Sunak also vowed to halve inflation, grow the economy, bring down the national debt and stop small boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel from France.

However, the boats are still continuing to arrive in Dover, while it was confirmed today that GDP flatlined in February.]

westernmorning.news

The prime minister made bringing them down one of the five pledges he made to voters at the start of the year.

“NHS waiting lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly,” the PM said.

But official figures published by NHS England today revealed that 7.22 million people were waiting to start routine hospital treatment at the end of February, up from 7.21 million in January and the highest total since records began.

Ambulance response times for all types of emergencies have also got longer, while around one in 10 people arriving at major A&E departments are having to wait more than 12 hours before being admitted, transferred or discharged.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “After 13 years of Conservative failure to train the staff the NHS needs, patients can no longer be sure the NHS will be there for them in an emergency. These appalling waiting times mean people are just praying they don’t fall ill or have an accident.

“24 hours in A&E isn’t just a TV programme, it is now the reality for far too many patients. We cannot go on like this.”

Streeting said Labour would double medical school places and train 10,000 more nurses every year to bring down waiting lists.

“24 hours in A&E isn’t just a TV programme, it is now the reality for far too many patients”

Lib Dem health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “Rishi Sunak’s NHS pledge is already turning out to be yet another broken Conservative promise.

“The Conservatives are letting patients and their loved ones down badly, leaving far too many people waiting in pain for the treatment they need.

“They have let the NHS crisis spiral out of control, failing to deliver the new hospitals they promised and making people wait months or even years for treatment.

“We need an urgent rescue plan for the NHS. If patients could see their GP when they need to or get the care they need at home, it would free up hospital resources to treat people far more quickly.”

As well as promising to cut waiting lists, Sunak also vowed to halve inflation, grow the economy, bring down the national debt and stop small boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel from France.

However, the boats are still continuing to arrive in Dover, while it was confirmed today that GDP flatlined in February.

Owl has been told a suspension-buster covered in standing water, marked by a half submerged “John Major” cone, has been getting bigger and bigger over the past couple of weeks on the B3178 Salterton Road from Exmouth in the dip to the east of Liverton Business Park.

Anyone know of a bigger one in East Devon? – Owl

Pothole pointed out by Rishi Sunak remains unfilled two weeks later – and it’s even deeper…

A POTHOLE personally pointed out by Rishi Sunak remains unfilled two weeks later.

Jack Elsom www.thesun.co.uk  

The suspension-buster even appears to have got deeper and wider despite the attentions of the Prime Minister, the constituency MP, regional mayor and a council leader.

The pothole even appears to have got deeper and wide since the PM drew attention to it

Now the joke among exasperated residents waiting for repairs has become: “How many Tories does it take to fix a pothole?”

Mr Sunak was photographed looking purposefully at the pothole in Emley Moor Road, Darlington, on March 31.

The PM was there to announce a crackdown on utility companies that failed to repair roads and pavements after digging them up.

Flanked by Teesside Mayor Ben Houchen, Darlington MP Peter Gibson and council leadr Jonathan Dulston, he bent down to see the damage for himself.

But despite promising drivers smoother journeys and pledging hundreds of millions of pounds more for repairs, the pothole is still there a fortnight later.

Stephen Harker, Labour group leader on Darlington council, said: “If the Conservative council can’t even fill potholes pointed out by the Prime Minister, what hope do drivers have?

“Rishi Sunak is running out of road here in Darlington.”

However, a Darlington council spokesman insisted: “The pothole will be repaired this week in line with our procedures.”

The scourge of potholes has become a keen battleground ahead of next month’s local elections.

The Conservatives claim their councils fix more than their Labour counterparts.

Analysis shows Tory local authorities repaired 16,250 compared with 5,417 filled by those councils controlled by Sir Keir Starmer’s party.

However, Labour has accused the Government of a “decade of broken pothole promises” after then-PM David Cameron vowed to tackle the problem in 2014.

In 2011 the Tory councillors numbered 43.

In 2015 this had fallen to 36.

In 2019 it had fallen further to 19. 

Throughout the LibDems have numbered between 6 to 10, though four former EDA councillors have now joined the party.

This is the background to the 2023 election.

The Tories lost control of East Devon District Council (EDDC) in May 2019. Previously they had enjoyed a majority of 36 councillors in a council comprising 59 members (now increased to 60). After the 2019 election their number was reduced to 19, not a majority but until 2020, the largest grouping in the council and therefore still wielding significant power.  

In 2015 the Tory majority had already been eroded from 43 largely as a result of the election success of a dedicated group of independents styling themselves the East Devon Alliance (EDA). The EDA emerged in 2013 from the widespread protests at the arrogant way the long standing Tory regime in EDDC were driving through a build, build, build agenda, with a disregard for accountability and scrutiny and  their lack of respect in listening to members of the public. 

Its purpose was to provide genuine Independents with a mutual support umbrella to seek election.

Under electoral law it was obliged to register as a political party in 2015 when it won 10 of the 59 seats and became a significant opposition political grouping.

For the first year after the 2019 election Cllr. Ben Ingham ran a supposedly “Independent” council following the same policies as the previous Tory administration, with prominent Tories in key positions and with tacit Tory support. This was despite two thirds of the council being non-Tories of various shades. EDA councillors were excluded from his administration. Not surprisingly this administration fell apart as genuine independent councillors rebelled.

In March 2020, councillors from the East Devon Alliance, Liberal Democrats, Green Party, and one Independent, formed a group called the Democratic Alliance. Comprising 24 councillors, they then became the largest group in the council.

In May 2020, eight councillors left the ruling Independent Group. One joined the East Devon Alliance, and seven formed their own group called the Independent Progressive Group. This new group formed a coalition partnership with the Democratic Alliance, and this coalition was able to form a new, stable, majority administration with 31/60 seats.

Cllr Ben Ingham rejoined the Conservative Party and is now their Deputy Leader.

Throughout the LibDem have numbered between 6 to 10. Four former EDA councillors have joined them seeing this the best way to ensure the “Democratic Alliance” continues, others will continue as EDA candidates.

Effectively we have in East Devon an almost proportional representation situation with those who are prepared to work together doing so, and those who put politics first (Tories and pseudo-Independent Tories) refusing to do what is best for the district. 

This “Democratic Alliance” has only been in power for three years, much of it constrained by the pandemic and grappling with the legacy problems inherited from the Tories eg membership of the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan and general lack of investment. Owl judges it to have been a success but this is only the beginning, there is much more to be done.

Although Independent candidates may again take a large share of the seats, acting independently will give them little more than the power of veto. To gain power and be able to do things, as can be seen above, it is necessary to form formal coalitions and alliances.

Even if they lose more ground, the Tories could still be the largest formal grouping and attempt to form an administration.

PS Nine current Tory councillors are standing down and not seeking re-election; only one LibDem is standing down.