The Times Leading Article www.thetimes.co.uk

It is barely 18 months since 265 Conservative MPs provoked a national outcry when they voted down a Lords amendment to the Environment Bill that would have required water companies to demonstrate progressive reductions in discharges of untreated sewage into Britain’s waterways. Life comes at you fast. The government has since launched no less than three water sector action plans, of which the latest was announced yesterday by Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary. This came in response to growing public anger at the dire state of the country’s rivers and coastal areas, as highlighted by The Times’s Clean it Up campaign, and ahead of local elections in which government inaction is an issue on doorsteps.

Yet there was little in yesterday’s [Monday’s] announcement to suggest that the government has a grip on the problem. The plan consisted merely of reheated existing policies, vague aspirations and promises of new consultations. The £1.6 billion Ms Coffey said would be spent on reducing discharges from storm overflows is money already earmarked for investment pending a rise in customer bills in 2025. Ms Coffey expects this investment to reduce spills by 10,000 by 2030. That compares to 300,000 spills in England and Wales last year, according to the Environment Agency.

It was a mark of the government’s shortage of ideas that it felt the need yesterday to reannounce a ban on wet wipes, as it has been doing with tedious regularity since 2018. Yet predictably, even this is subject to a consultation. Ironically, Ms Coffey chose to launch her new plan at the London Wetland Centre in Barnes, just metres from a notorious spot on the banks of the Thames where piles of wet wipes accumulate whenever Thames Water discharges raw sewage into the river, which is seemingly every time it rains.

What is missing from Ms Coffey’s plan is radical action to get a grip on the decades of underinvestment by an industry that for far too long has been able to siphon off customer money to fund vast dividends for its shareholders and lavish salaries and bonuses for its executives. Ms Coffey talked of giving the Environment Agency the power to impose unlimited fines on water companies. Of course, the current limit of £250,000 is inadequate, but it is only weeks since she insisted that raising the cap to £250 million was excessive. Similarly, a proposal to give Ofwat, the regulator, new powers to link dividend payouts to environmental performance sounds promising, but it is unclear how it would work in practice.

A radical plan would recognise that the current system for managing the country’s water resources is broken. As Sir Dieter Helm, professor of economic policy at Oxford University, wrote in The Times last week, responsibility is spread across dozens of regulators, agencies, government departments, water companies and farmers, all operating in their own silos. Ms Coffey’s plan rightly recognises that a new approach is needed based on catchment areas, which can take an integrated approach to water supply and tackling pollution. But these catchment plans need integrated budgets and someone in charge of delivery, along with much more demanding targets to stop the spills.

Instead, it is customers who are expected to continue to pay the price of industry failure in the form of bills that are no longer simply a charge for the provision and maintenance of infrastructure but a regressive means of rationing supply. Thanks to decades of underinvestment, including no new reservoir for 30 years and the loss of 20 per cent of annual supply due to leaks, a country famous for its rainfall is forecast to be four billion litres a day short of what will be needed for public water supply by 2050. The government’s response is to push for increased use of water meters, while Ms Coffey calls for new standards for dual flush toilets. That is no solution if it still ends up in the river.

Remember: Devon one of UK’s most at risk areas for flooding and John Hart’s famous quote, “self-help is going to be the order of the day”? Well nothing for us in this announcement. You’re on your own. – Owl

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs www.gov.uk

Floods Minister Rebecca Pow has today (Wednesday 5 April) announced the first communities in England to receive better flood protection as part of the government’s £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance to protect areas which have been affected by repeated flooding.

The first 53 projects announced today will be allocated more than £26 million in total, better protecting more than 2,300 households and businesses across the country.

Communities that will be better protected include those in Worcestershire, which faced severe flooding with Storm Christoph in 2021, and Cumbria, whose residents suffered major flooding from Storm Desmond in 2015 and Storm Ciara in 2020.

It will also better protect properties in the Calder Valley, which was devastated by flooding when it was hit by both Storm Ciara and Storm Eva in 2015.

The allowance targets communities where 10 or more properties have flooded twice or more in the last 10 years. These communities are often smaller and can face barriers to access funding due to the relative complexity and cost of building flood defences compared to the size of the community.

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said:

We know only too well the devastating impact that flooding can have on communities and businesses, as we face more extreme weather brought about by climate change.

I am determined that we do whatever we can to prevent flooding that affects so many towns and villages across the country.

This much-needed funding will go a long way to support those whose homes and livelihoods are repeatedly threatened by flooding and forms a key part of our record £5.2 billion investment by 2027 to protect communities in England better.

Caroline Douglass, Executive Director for Flood and Coastal Risk Management at the Environment Agency, said:

Increased flooding is just one of the impacts of climate change we are seeing in the UK and around the world. Protecting people and communities is our top priority as we look to tackle this challenge.

The funding announced today will help better protect homes and businesses at risk from repeated flood incidents across the country.

The Environment Agency’s strong track record in delivering flood defence schemes means we have better protected 374,000 homes since 2015.

Projects will improve resilience through a mixture of hard engineering flood defences and natural flood management measures. The allowance also supports the installation of property flood resilience (PFR) measures such as flood doors and barriers, meaning more homes will be better protected in communities where traditional defence schemes are not always viable.

The ring-fenced funding is part of a record £5.2 billion investment in flood defences to protect communities across England better.

Since the start of the current £5.2 billion investment programme (2021-2027), we have already better protected more than 35,000 properties. This follows our successful delivery of the previous £2.6 billion investment programme between 2015 and 2021, which better protected more than 314,000 homes across England.

See below for a full list of projects to receive funding:

• Alconbury Flood Alleviation Scheme Stage 2
• Brighton & Hove City Council Surface Water Management Feasibility Study
• Bingley and Shipley Property Flood Resilience Study
• Bledington Flood Alleviation Scheme
• Brighouse Flood Alleviation Scheme
• Burrow Beck Conveyance Improvements
• Carlisle Appraisal Package Appleby Town Centre
• Chard Flood Alleviation Scheme
• Cocker Beck, Lowdham, Flood Alleviation Scheme
• Dufton Close Feasibility Study
• Earby Flood Alleviation Scheme Phase 3, Earby Beck
• Eardisland Flood Alleviation Scheme
• Erringden Hillside
• Falmouth Integrated Urban Drainage Management
• First Avenue Flood Alleviation Scheme
• Flood Risk Reduction Schemes 2 – Copley Village Flood Alleviation Scheme
• Flood Risk Reduction Schemes 2 – Cottonstones near Lumb, Calderdale
• Flood Risk Reduction Schemes 2 – Railes Close between Luddenden and Midgley
• Greyfriars Community Flood Risk Management Scheme
• Hebden Bridge Flood Alleviation Scheme
• Ilminster Flood Alleviation Study
• Intake, Flood Risk Management Scheme
• Irwell Vale to Chatterton
• Langstone (Havant) Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Scheme
• Larkspur Close Integrated Urban Drainage Scheme
• Lavendon Flood Alleviation Scheme
• Leintwardine and Walford Property Flood Resilience
• Lindale Road Grange over Sands
• Lipson Vale Phase 1, Trefusis Park (South West Water Integrated Urban Drainage Modelling)
• Little Bollington River Bollin Property Flood Resilience
• Market Weighton Flood Alleviation Scheme
• Natural Flood Management Upstream of Cirencester
• Northumbria Integrated Drainage Partnership – Redcar (Yearby, Kirkleatham & Low Farm Drive, and West Dyke Road) Flood Alleviation Scheme
• Northumbria Integrated Drainage Partnership – Saltburn (Princes Road & Marske Road) Flood Alleviation Scheme
• North Road, Holme Village Flood Alleviation
• Pallion Flood Alleviation Scheme
• River Teme, Tenbury Wells Community Flood Alleviation Scheme
• Rolleston Brook Flood Alleviation Scheme, Staffordshire
• Ruislip Park Wood and Pinn Meadows
• Severn Stoke Flood Alleviation Scheme, River Severn
• Skipton Road
• Small Communities Property Flood Resilience Scoping
• South Cave Flood Alleviation Scheme
• Stony Stratford Flood Alleviation Study
• Stubbing Holme Road
• Tenbury Wells Integrated Flood Solution
• Toronto Close Flood Alleviation Scheme
• Undefended Properties in the Ironbridge Gorge – Individual Property Protection
• Upper River Piddle Catchment Flood Risk Management Scheme
• Walsden Flood Alleviation Scheme
• West End Road, St Helens
• Whitley Brook Flood Reduction Scheme
• Williton Flood Alleviation Study

Feargal Sharkey on Thérèse Coffey’s water pollution plan

Desperate revival of failed policies doesn’t add up

Feargal Sharkey www.thetimes.co.uk 

What we need is a government with the vision and leadership to stand up to the water industry and hold them properly to account. What we have, as we have seen today, is a government trying to scrabble together something that looks like a policy, ahead of the local elections.

This plan consists of rehashing, republishing, repolishing and re-presenting years-old failed policies. It reeks of desperation.

Take, for instance, wet wipes. It would be great to ban plastic wet wipes.

Presumably that’s why this is the third time in the past five years that the government has said it will ban them. Will it happen? On past experience, no.

Then they say that they are bringing forward £1.6 billion in investment to stop 10,000 sewage dumps a year. It’s a big number, until you realise how many sewage dumps there are a year: 300,000. So this is 3 per cent. That’s not a plan. That’s desperation.

Or what about the unlimited fines for water companies? Before Christmas, they announced they would increase fines to £250 million. In January, the chairman of the Environment Agency said that was “crazy”. A month later Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, said it was disproportionate.

We are meant to believe that in a matter of weeks they have had this miraculous vision on the road to the sewage treatment works, and are converted to the idea that we should have not merely £250 million, but unlimited, fines. It doesn’t add up. Ofwat already has the power to impose a fine that is 10 per cent of a company’s annual turnover. How many times has it done so in the past 30 years? Once.

What in God’s name is the point of creating a power when there is clearly no will to use it?

The maddening thing is, if it had the will and the wherewithal, there is already nothing to prevent the government bringing these companies to heel.

Coffey could say, “Here’s what is going to happen for the next ten or 15 years until we fix this. This is what you’re going to pay your shareholders. This is what you’re going to pay your executives. This is what you’re going to invest in your network and this is what you’re going to use to pay down that debt you’re walking around with.”

We would all end up with a nice new shiny sewage system and secure water supply. They’d end up with a company that’s debt-free, profitable and looking forward to a prosperous future. She could start that process this afternoon. But she won’t.

What is required is a properly managed, costed and deliverable ten or 15-year plan — along with people who can be held accountable for delivering it.

None of that exists and, until it does, none of this is going to stop.

A correspondent writes an open letter to Simon Jupp

Dear Simon,

I am very pleased that sewage pollution is being tackled in the immediate future in Sidmouth and Tipton St. John, but Simon, what criteria were used to choose these two locations?

I would have thought that the hours of sewage outfall would be the criteria.

Exmouth has over 2,000 hours of outfall into Lyme Bay and the Exe. Sidmouth just over 1,000 hours. I, therefore, would have thought that Exmouth should be prioritised.

(The Lib. Dems list of the 5 worst beaches in the country which lists Sidmouth ahead of Exmouth Revealed: Worst beaches for dumped sewage – is your nearest beach on the list? YES two! | East Devon Watch did worry me. Exmouth beach having less pollution than Sidmouth beach didn’t seem right. However, if the surrounding outfalls from the town are included Exmouth has twice the sewage outfall than Sidmouth)

And why choose Tipton St. John with 22 spills lasting 48 hours of pollution in 2021 into the small River Otter when upstream Honiton’s 2 main sewer storm overflow sites spilled 222 times for a total of 4759 hours, discharging into the River Otter?

South West Water seem to have a curious set of priorities.

“Only the little people pay taxes” – Owl

Up to a quarter of taxpayers could be paying a higher effective tax rate than Rishi Sunak, research suggests.

Henry Zeffman www.thetimes.co.uk

Nurses, teachers and paramedics are among millions of Britons whose salaries are taxed at a higher rate than the prime minister’s investment income.

Sunak became the first prime minister since David Cameron to publish a tax return last month. It showed his income from shares dwarfed his ministerial salary. The £1.6 million in capital gains Sunak reported for last year was taxed at 20 per cent, whereas the overall tax rate on his other income was 37 per cent.

The return showed that Sunak paid tax at an effective rate of 22 per cent on his total earnings and gains. According to research by the Economic Change Unit, a campaign group, this is approximately the same effective tax rate as those on salaries of about £40,000 a year, about a quarter of taxpayers.

Like Sunak, some of those with incomes above £40,000 will be taxed at a lower rate because a portion of their income comes from capital gains or dividends, although this is likely to be a small percentage. Government statistics suggest that few outside the top percentage of earners derive a significant income from investments.

The research also found that more than half of those who live in the same constituency as 10 Downing Street — the Conservative-held Cities of London & Westminster — are likely to be paying a higher effective tax rate than Sunak.

The residents of the constituency have a median income of £46,000, the highest of any UK constituency, according to data for the 2020-21 tax year. Those earning £46,000 pay an effective tax rate of 33 per cent.

Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, are estimated to have combined wealth of £730 million.

The research is in support of Stop the Squeeze, a campaign calling on the government to increase wealth taxes.

Gemma McGough, an entrepreneur and member of the Patriotic Millionaires group that is supporting the campaign, said: “The fact those with high levels of wealth can pay lower tax rates than millions of people who work hard and have little economic security is a sign of a tax system that is broken.”

Mike Clancy, the general secretary of the trade union Prospect, said: “Prospect members doing the right thing, paying their tax and working exceptionally hard to keep government functioning are having to strike because their pay has fallen so far behind inflation. It will be galling for them that the prime minister pays a significantly lower effective tax rate than they do.”

When Sunak released his tax return, Downing Street said it was “entirely routine for savers to choose to invest in funds that focus on long-term growth rather than short-term dividend income. The tax return clearly shows that a considerable amount of capital gains tax is being paid.”

At the time, Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates, said: “In paying capital gains tax at 20 per cent, Sunak is doing nothing remotely wrong or improper, but it’s hard to justify this disparity and it’s in Sunak’s gift to end it.”

“The Conservatives are responsible for this sewage crisis after allowing water companies to dump sewage in our rivers for years. They need to take responsibility for fixing it. The public shouldn’t be forced to pay the price with our rivers and coasts ruined for generations to come.” – Tim Farron

Helena Horton www.theguardian.com 

Thérèse Coffey has admitted she cannot end the sewage scandal, in what critics are calling a “complete abdication of duty”.

Launching her department’s cleaner water plan at the London Wetland Centre in Barnes in the south of the capital, the environment secretary said upgrading the sewage network to stop spills could add hundreds of pounds each to people’s bills.

She said: “While London and the Thames may have space for its new supersewer, wider upgrades of the sewer network lead to destructive works on our streets and put hundreds of pounds on people’s bills. There’s no way we can stop pollution overnight. If there were, I would do it without hesitation.”

Coffey took a veiled swipe at the Labour party, which has vowed to “end the Tory sewage scandal”, by saying that those who say they could end the problem are “either detached from reality or being definitively dishonest with the public”.

She also claimed “reaching the gold standard for ecological status would mean taking us back to the natural state of our rivers from the year 1840”, which was “not practical or desirable”. As an illustration of the difficulties, she pointed out that “no one is contemplating ripping up half of Sheffield to let the River Don run free, but without that it would never be scored as gold standard”.

Her plan has been criticised for including measures such as a ban on plastic in wet wipes that were announced years ago. Meanwhile, critics say they cannot see the tough new actions needed to tackle the crisis. The environment secretary recently faced calls by campaigners and political parties to resign for “not caring” about the sewage scandal, and the Conservative party is concerned that anger over local pollution issues may cost seats in the upcoming local elections. Coffey was recently named the least popular cabinet minister – by some margin – among Tory voters in a Conservative Home poll.

This week it was revealed that even England’s most celebrated beaches are being marred by sewage, with Blue Flag areas in Sussex and Devon having experienced 8,500 hours of dumping last year.

The strategy also focuses on getting people to use less water, encouraging the rollout of smart meters and a campaign for a change in lifestyle choices.

When asked by journalists how she personally reduced her own water usage, Coffey said she had a meter that once detected a leak. The water minister, Rebecca Pow, said she had just installed her third water butt.

The Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesperson, Tim Farron, said: “It’s disgraceful that Thérèse Coffey is throwing in the towel in the fight to protect our rivers from filthy sewage dumping. This is a complete abdication of duty.

“The Conservatives are responsible for this sewage crisis after allowing water companies to dump sewage in our rivers for years. They need to take responsibility for fixing it. The public shouldn’t be forced to pay the price with our rivers and coasts ruined for generations to come.”

Campaigners said her plans did not go far enough to protect rivers and wildlife.

Matt Browne, the head of policy and advocacy at Wildlife and Countryside Link, said: “What we are still waiting to see is a comprehensive plan built around delivering on a long-term target for the health of our waters and an ambitious UK chemicals strategy to weave these individual threads into a world-leading tapestry of action to restore our rivers and seas. With so much of our wildlife and waters struggling under the weight of pollution, development and overuse, only a well-focused, well-resourced and far-reaching plan will turn the tide for nature.”

Spaceport Cornwall has been funded with public money including an initial £20 million package which included £12m from Cornwall Council, £7.85m from the UK Space Agency and £2.5m from Virgin Orbit.

Isn’t a spaceport without a launcher a bit like a pub with no beer? – Owl

Richard Whitehouse www.cornwalllive.com 

Virgin Orbit, the only company which has a contract to launch from Spaceport Cornwall, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US. The firm, which carried out its first launch from the Newquay base in January, which ended in failure, had laid off most of its staff last week.

Today (April 4) it was announced that Sir Richard Branson’s company had filed for bankruptcy protection after last-minute bids to secure new funding failed. Last week the company announced it was making 85% of staff redundant.

In a statement Virgin Orbit chief executive Dan Hart said: “While we have taken great efforts to address our financial position and secure additional financing, we ultimately must do what is best for the business. We believe the cutting-edge launch technology this team has created will have wide appeal to buyers as we continue in the process to sell the company. At this stage, we believe the Chapter 11 process represents the best path forward to identify and finalise an efficient and value-maximising sale.”

The announcement comes a few months after Virgin Orbit undertook its first launch from Spaceport Cornwall which ended in failure following an anomaly with the LauncherOne rocket which was set to launch small satellites into space. The modified 747 plane Cosmic Girl successfully took off from Cornwall Airport Newquay but the rocket it carried – containing nine satellites from seven customers meant to go into orbit – didn’t reach space.

Virgin Orbit was the only operator with horizontal launch capacity to have a deal with Spaceport Cornwall. The system works by using a modified 747 aeroplane – Cosmic Girl – with the rocket launcher attached under a wing which can launch in the air.

Since the news first broke that Virgin Orbit was in financial difficulty Spaceport Cornwall and Cornwall Council has insisted that it is “business as usual”. Melissa Quinn, head of Spaceport Cornwall, said last week: “We are saddened to hear the news from Virgin Orbit. We wish the very best for all of the team who have been affected.

“Spaceport Cornwall continues to operate with no direct impact to the team or project. As the UK’s only licensed spaceport we continue to grow the space cluster in Cornwall through developing future launch operations, opening a new facility to support global space and satellite businesses and inspire local school children into STEAM (science, technology, engineering, maths) through our outreach programme.”

Spaceport Cornwall has been funded with public money including an initial £20million package which included £12m from Cornwall Council, £7.85m from the UK Space Agency and £2.5m from Virgin Orbit.

The development of Spaceport Cornwall was hailed as a way of generating more high value, high skilled jobs for Cornwall and securing a part of the global space industry. It was predicted that hundreds of new jobs could be created and that firms could relocate to Cornwall.

There are already a number of companies in Cornwall which have links to the space industry including Goonhilly Earth Station. As well as being able to launch to space Spaceport Cornwall aimed to have facilities which could be used in research and development in the space sector.

Spaceport Cornwall was the first spaceport in the UK to receive a licence to operate. Other spaceports are planned in other parts of the UK, including Scotland which will be home to the first vertical launch site in the country.

Devon, one of England’s best loved regions for staycations, has four of its beaches in the top (or should that be bottom) five shamed by the new analysis.

Two are in East Devon: Sidmouth at 4 and Exmouth at 5.

Simon Jupp, who voted down in October 2021 an opposition amendment to the Environment Bill seeking to place a legal duty on companies to stop spills,  takes the opportunity for a photo op at the mouth of the Sid but not Exmouth. Cheeky! – Owl

Shocking new data has revealed that some of England’s so-called cleanest beaches might not actually be that clean at all.

Jenny Medlicott www.lbc.co.uk

Analysis by the Lib Dems has revealed that a number of the England’s ‘Blue Flag’ beaches, an accreditation given only to ‘well managed beaches with excellent water quality’, are in fact blighted by sewage.

The figures show that during 2022, sewage was dumped onto various beaches a total of 1,504 times, totalling 8,497 hours of sewage dumped on beaches marked as safe and environmentally friendly.

Devon, one of England’s best loved regions for staycations, has four of its beaches shamed by the new analysis.

The top five beaches with the most waste are as follows:

1. Blackpool Sands Beach, Stoke Fleming, Devon – 63 spills, totalling 1,014 hours
2. Meadfoot Beach, Torquay, Devon – 79 spills, 946 hours
3. Beachlands Beach, Hayling Island, Hampshire – 102 spills, 793 hours
4. Sidmouth Town Beach, Sidmouth, Devon – 59 spills, 631 hours
5. Exmouth Beach, Exmouth, Devon – 39 spills, 470 hours

Brighton beach in Sussex was also amongst some of the worst hit beaches, which had 45 spills last year.

Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “Britain’s beaches are being ruined by profiteering water companies getting away with dumping sewage as the government has failed to act for years.

“What is the point of an environment secretary who doesn’t care about the environment?”

South West Water was singled out among firms who regularly use ‘storm overflows’ to pump sewage into bodies of water.

The company’s operating officer, John Halsall said: “We are reducing the use of storm overflows and our plan is working but there is more to do.

“We want everyone to feel confident about the water quality at their favourite beaches and to know that we are serious about reducing the use of storm overflows.”

The environment secretary Thérèse Coffey was expected to announce government plans to clean up Britain’s waterways today but instead has sparked outrage with her statement, which has been described as a ‘complete abdication of duty’.

Liberal Democrat’s environment spokesman, Tim Farron MP, said: “It’s disgraceful that Thérèse Coffey is throwing in the towel in the fight to protect our rivers from filthy sewage dumping. This is a complete abdication of duty.”

Ministers are attempting to wrest control of the narrative on Britain’s sewage-strewn rivers and beaches by threatening water companies with unlimited fines.

Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey launched the government’s euphemistically titled “plan for cleaner and more plentiful water” in a speech yesterday morning.

Locally, Simon spins on the Sid: Simon “I would never vote to pollute our water” Jupp tries to take full credit for the “well timed” announcement from SSW of future investment plans to upgrade sewer overflows in Sidmouth and Tipton St John, alongside work to support nutrient neutrality in Axminster. [Sorry Exmouth, he seems to have deserted you! – Owl]

 “I have repeatedly called on South West Water to invest in East Devon. [Only after massive public protest – Owl]

“I’m really pleased they’ve listened to the case I have put forward on the floor of Parliament and in cross-party meetings with local councils.”

Time elapsed since the last Defra plan to tackle sewage: 221 days (or just over seven months). On August 26, the department (under George Eustice) announced its “toughest” targets yet on polluting water companies … guess they weren’t tough enough.

Yuck: If last year’s figures are anything to go by, you can expect raw sewage to pour into English rivers and seas 825 times during the course of today. Playbook recalls that angry constituent emails poured into Tory MPs’ inboxes in October 2021 (!) after they voted down an opposition amendment to the Environment Bill seeking to place a legal duty on companies to stop spills. Tory MPs were deeply unhappy about the backlash and it was enough to trigger a defensive social media campaign. [eg see above from Simon] This plan represents an attempt by the Tories to get on the front foot — but will it be enough?

Also worth noting: There are three national newspaper campaigns on this — the Telegraph’s Clean Rivers campaign, the Times’ Clean It Up campaign, and i and New Scientist’s joint Save Britain’s Rivers effort. It means there’s lots of press interest in (currently negative) stories about the problem … but also interest in touting any effective steps and signs of progress that will help these papers eventually claim victory (the Tel’s campaign has been running for over a year now). Coffey sets out today’s plans in a Telegraph op-ed.

Labour and the Lib Dems have long been trying to pooh-pooh the government’s record. Shadow Environment Secretary Jim McMahon said today’s announcement is “nothing more than a shuffling of the deck chairs” and “a reheating of old failed measures.” The Lib Dems point out ministers have been talking about banning wet wipes containing plastic — one of today’s main announcements — for the past five years (the Mirror’s John Stevens writes it up). And the BBC notes the government decided against doing so after the last consultation. Defra aides insist the opposition’s demands for a speedy solution are impossible given the scale of the problem.  

From Politico London Playbook with local embellishments added

The vast majority (95%) of local authorities across the UK are dominated by men, while only just over a third of local councillors are women, according to figures that highlight the gender disparities of local government.

Tobi Thomas www.theguardian.com 

The analysis, conducted by the Fawcett Society and Democracy Club in the run-up to local elections in May, reveal only 18 of 382 councils have the minimum gender representation parity.

The data also shows that at a regional level, no council has gender parity – with London the highest, at 45% female, and Northern Ireland the lowest, at 26%. It also found that the proportion of women in councils in 2022 was only 2 percentage points higher than in a snapshot taken in 2018.

The highest proportion of local councillors who are women, broken down by party, is Labour (47%) followed by Green (43%) and Scottish National party (41%), while the lowest proportion is found in the Conservative party (29%), the SDLP (29%), DUP (21%) and Ulster Unionist party (20%).

The low levels of women in local government can be attributed partially to sexism and harassment having been shown to be widespread throughout local councils, according to previous Fawcett research. A lack of support for those with caring responsibilities has also been revealed by earlier research, with only a quarter of local councils offering formal parental leave policies.

A lack of women in local politics is a recurring issue: In 2021, concern was raised after data revealed that only one-third of candidates in the English council elections were women.

Jemima Olchawski, the chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: “Women are significantly impacted by decisions made at the local level and are more likely to rely on the services our councils run from social care to social housing. Yet progress on women’s representation in local government is moving at a snail’s pace.

“That such a vast majority of local councils are male-dominated diminishes public life. Government, local authorities and political parties need to take action and record diversity data, set targets for women’s representation alongside other protected characteristics, and make being a local councillor more accessible to those with caring responsibilities.”

Frances Scott, the director of 50:50 Parliament, said the report demonstrated that democratic systems in the UK were “inaccessible or unattractive to most people”.

She added: “This matters because representation shapes policy and we want our elected bodies to draw upon the widest possible pool of talent and experience, including that of the 32 million women who live and work in the UK.

“50:50 Parliament is a charity taking action to build a better democracy. We work together with the Fawcett Society and all the political parties to help women progress in politics, to ensure women have rightful representation.”

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, the vice-chair of the Local Government Association, said it was important that local governments reflected the communities they serve and their experiences.

Seccombe added: “We work with councils towards being representative of the communities they serve, including campaigning for the continuation of virtual council meetings, challenging abuse of councillors through our Debate Not Hate campaign, encouraging the provision of parental and carers leave and running our Be a Councillor campaign.

“We know many prospective councillors are put off standing because of their already busy lives. We want to see more women, parents and carers stand for election and encourage them to step up to leadership roles in local government, while still being able to live their lives outside of the council chamber.”

Farmers and Tory MPs are joining ranks to clash with conservation authorities about the best way to look after Dartmoor national park.

[Sources at Natural England said that while the Conservative MPs talk of the “grazing traditions” of Dartmoor, sheep have only been grazed there in the winter in the last 60 years when hardy Scottish breeds which could tolerate the freezing, windswept moors were introduced. See also this short historical review of human exploitation and the shaping of Dartmoor.] 

So Conservatives have short memories. Whose interests are they really conserving? – Owl

Helena Horton www.theguardian.com 

Parts of the national park are worryingly overgrazed, particularly by sheep, say nature experts, which is destroying habitats and putting rare birds at risk of local extinction. Breeding populations of moorland birds such as golden plover, red grouse and ring ouzels have now gone or are on the verge of being lost.

Natural England, the government nature watchdog, has advised farmers who are in agri-environment schemes and receive government money for nature friendly farming that they will have to reduce their stocks. It said that in summer, at least 50% of their livestock units should be cattle or ponies rather than sheep, and that “except for pony herds, winter grazing will need to be justified through clear and specific environmental outcomes that require winter stocking”.

Sources at the quango said that of the three largest moorland sites of special scientific interest (SSSI) – north Dartmoor, south Dartmoor and east Dartmoor – none of the key open moorland habitats, such as bog and heath associated, are considered to be in favourable condition.

Critics argue that farmers should not be paid millions of pounds of taxpayer money for environmental stewardship without changing their practices when the habitats are being degraded.

But the suggestion has been met with concern by local MPs. Sir Geoffrey Cox, a former attorney general and local MP, published a statement with other local Conservative MPs last week saying: “It seems that valuable and constructive work has now been abandoned by Natural England which has issued apparently peremptory limits on grazing, which would have a significant adverse impact on farm businesses (especially tenants), rendering some, if not many, no longer viable. It would also destroy the ancient traditional hefted flocks, which instinctively know the boundaries of their own common and are themselves a prized part of the unique life and culture of Dartmoor.”

Cox, Sir Gary Streeter, the MP for South West Devon, and Anthony Mangnall, the MP for Totnes, have asked for the current grazing regime to be kept in place for an extra 12 months, the appointment of an independent facilitator, and then an agreed “road map” for the way forward.

Cox, the Conservative MP for Torridge and West Devon, has secured a parliamentary debate later in April, where MPs will discuss whether Natural England’s management of the moor is adequate. The farming minister, Mark Spencer, is expected to respond.

But sources at Natural England said that while the Conservative MPs talk of the “grazing traditions” of Dartmoor, sheep have only been grazed there in the winter in the last 60 years when hardy Scottish breeds which could tolerate the freezing, windswept moors were introduced.

Dave Slater, the south-west regional director for Natural England, said that the grazing changes need to be made to save rare birds on the moors.

“Dartmoor contains three of the largest moorland SSSIs in the south-west, but none of these are in a ‘favourable condition’, with rare moorland birds all but disappearing from the area and precious peatland habitats damaged. The right type of grazing is fundamental to restoring the health of these moors.”

Alice Groom, the RSPB’s head of sustainable land use policy said: “Natural England have a statutory duty to protect Dartmoor’s SSSIs which like many in our national parks are largely in unfavourable condition.

“In order to deliver on the UK government’s commitments, places like Dartmoor need to provide more nature. This means ensuring that agri-environment schemes are fit for purpose, and support the people best placed to deliver it.

“In some situations, this will however involve making difficult choices about sustainable management. But we are in a nature and climate emergency and must not fight shy of making these choices.”

Ministers have faced renewed accusations that the plan to impose mandatory photo ID for voting is a waste of time and resources, after statistics showed there was not a single proven case of in-person voter impersonation last year.

Peter Walker www.theguardian.com 

Meanwhile, other official data showed minimal take-up of free official voter documents before the first mass use of ID during local elections in England on 4 May, with applications for the documents closing in three weeks.

Data from the Electoral Commission said that in elections in 2022, which covered local elections in England, Scotland and Wales, elections to the Northern Ireland assembly, a series of mayoral elections in England and six Commons byelections, there were seven allegations of “personation” at polling stations, as the offence is officially known.

There was no action by police in any of these cases because there was either insufficient evidence to proceed or no evidence of wrongdoing, the report found.

There were three allegations of personation involving postal voting, which is not affected by the new ID rules, with one still being investigated.

There were 185 electoral-related offences reported during 2022 in all, the majority of them connected to campaigning rather than voting, with no action taken in 119 instances.

The statistics highlight a point made repeatedly by opponents of voter ID, that it tackles a problem which is almost unknown in Britain, while creating a barrier to voting for the estimated 2 million adults who lack the necessary documentation.

Those without ID can apply for a free so-called voter authority certificate, issued by their council but available via a central government portal.

A running tally for central applications, which close on 25 April, show that as of Sunday exactly 37,000 people had applied, fewer than 2% of the possible number of voters lacking ID.

Older and younger voters are even less likely to have applied for the document, despite both groups being seen as vulnerable to being put off from voting by the new laws. So far, just 1,361 people aged 75 or older have applied, 3.6% of the total. Just 6% of applications, 2,247 in all, have been from under-25s.

Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said the government was “clearly failing in their duties” to make people aware of the new rules.

She said: “Labour are clear that voter ID is an expensive, unnecessary policy and the wrong priority at the height of a cost of living crisis.

“If voters don’t have the required photo ID, the easiest way to vote is by signing up for a postal vote.”

Northern Ireland has a longstanding voter ID system, introduced owing to historical electoral abuse by sectarian groups. However, 4 May will be the first full introduction of such a system in the rest of the UK, which has otherwise just been trialled in a handful of council polls.

Asked why the system was being introduced despite minimal evidence of in-person voter impersonation, Rishi Sunak’s official spokesperson said: “This is to guard against the potential for wrongdoing in this area of voter impersonation.”

Selaine Saxby MP North Devon makes a “cris de coeur” on the subject of second homes and the lack of affordable housing in an essay published in a collection by the “liberal conservative” think tank Bright Blue. 

In North Devon the rate of second homes is one in every 21 properties, while in East Devon it’s one in every 23, in Torridge it’s one in every 24, and in West Devon it’s one in every 34. 

Is her government listening or are they all on the gravy train themselves. Has anyone seen Simon Jupp recently? – Owl

“Residents and councillors alike oppose new developments because they feel they will just be purchased and converted into yet more holiday lets, or become second homes, and that many of the properties will simply not be affordable to local residents.”

“Research by the charity CPRE shows that social housing demand is increasing at six times the rate of supply and it will take 154 years to clear the backlog of social housing waiting lists in rural areas at current build rates.”

 Improving access to housing in coastal and rural areas: Selaine Saxby

The housing situation in my beautiful North Devon constituency is not sustainable. There are virtually no houses for local residents to rent or buy. Very few of those that are available are affordable. When we do build homes, the increasing difficulty with viability means a diminishing number are available as affordable homes for local families.

The understandable surge in ‘staycations’ during the pandemic has seen huge growth in the short term holiday let market. One of the biggest increases in house prices in the country is here in North Devon, making home ownership an unattainable dream for far, far too many families. The growth in second home ownership was a problem even before the pandemic, leaving the spectacular surf village of Croyde well over 50% unoccupied through the winter. This issue has now spread along the coast and even inland.

A flurry of section 21 evictions at the end of the pandemic has enabled landlords to take advantage of the far higher revenues available from holiday rentals, which has meant private rentals are hard to find. The rents have gone up and councils are struggling to find long term accommodation for residents. Ironically, councils have been forced to use some holiday parks as temporary accommodation for families.

North Devon is a beautiful and desirable place to live. Yes, we are a tourist destination, and proud of it. We have some of the best beaches in the country and warmly welcome our visitors. Historically, we have always welcomed second homeowners as well. However, our housing market is now out of balance.

The fabulous pubs, restaurants and surf schools our visitors seek to enjoy are all struggling to recruit. As a result, many operate at significantly reduced hours or service offering, making them less viable businesses in the long term. The situation is now so severe it is impacting public services, which are finding recruitment difficult, as anyone wanting to move into the area simply cannot find anywhere affordable to either buy or rent.

In the autumn and stormy winter months, occupancy of holiday lets and second homes drops right off, leaving ghost communities along the coast. The village I live in is now estimated to be about 50% second homes and holiday lets. Through the pandemic, my street had just a handful of the 30 properties occupied for the best part of two years. The impact this is having on local developments is immense. Residents and councillors alike oppose new developments because they feel they will just be purchased and converted into yet more holiday lets, or become second homes, and that many of the properties will simply not be affordable to local residents.

‘Affordable’ in North Devon is certainly not ‘affordable’ for those on the average wage. The percentage of ‘affordable’ properties is lower right down the Devon and Cornwall peninsula because of the high price of land and low availability of sites, materials and workforce. The definition of ‘affordable’ needs revisiting to better reflect local wages.

We need to urgently find solutions to help tackle the imbalance in our housing market to enable more people to afford to live close to where they work. With the high price of fuel and lack of public transport, travel to work is also not an affordable option for many, so proximity is even more crucial.

Devon and Cornwall MPs have met repeatedly with the multiple housing ministers we have had in my short time at Westminster. We have taken our case to Number Ten on multiple occasions and are grateful for the steps that have been taken to begin to tackle what is a very complex issue. Nonetheless, we also want far more to be done.

The Council Tax surcharge on second homes will undoubtedly help by allowing councils to charge double the rate of Council Tax for second homes. The closing of the business rate tax loophole, preventing councils from collecting empty property rates of Council Tax, was also warmly welcomed. However, so much more is needed to begin to deliver real change into the beautiful rural and coastal areas that are so popular with tourists.

We need to go further. For a start, addressing the imbalances in the taxation system and environmental standards between short and long term holiday lets. The tax changes that removed being able to claim mortgage rate relief on long term rentals came into effect at the start of the 2020-21 tax year. But these amendments only affect long term rentals: short term holiday lets have a specific exemption. This playing field needs levelling.

Much needed energy efficiency improvements to properties are again only required in long term rentals. There is significantly greater return and less investment required, to rent a property out to the short term market in areas such as Devon and Cornwall.

Following the Government’s consultation on the short term holiday let sector, it announced, as part of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, that it would deliver a registration scheme for short term lets. This scheme is a real opportunity for tourist destinations to bring balance back to their housing markets. The scheme will give councils more of an oversight of property use in their areas, and is the start of giving communities more control over the planning use for properties that owners are considering turning into short term lets.

Local councils will be able to compile a full register of holiday let properties in their communities and from that determine whether any more are actually needed. Once the register is established properties wishing to become a short term holiday let would have to apply for a change of use, which could be rejected if the housing market was already saturated or out of balance, as our own currently is. When we have such a shortage of affordable housing, we need to find ways to ensure that all new properties coming to the market are available to the people who work locally to live in.

Small rural communities have a host of other challenges to overcome when it comes to housing. These include: no affordable homes in tiny developments; inadequate funding available for community land trust projects; and concern that the reintroduction of right to buy will deter landowners from releasing land to community projects if there is no guarantee that it remains affordable for future generations in that village.

 We need to find ways to enable farms to redevelop outbuildings into homes for their own workers and for villages to build homes for their own families. Housing associations have a vital role to play in addressing this, but development seems to struggle to keep up with the demand. Research by the charity CPRE shows that social housing demand is increasing at six times the rate of supply and it will take 154 years to clear the backlog of social housing waiting lists in rural areas at current build rates.

Whilst the Levelling Up White Paper rightly highlights the need to ensure our communities are beautiful places to live, when you already live, work and have grown up in a beautiful place, ensuring there are enough affordable homes to rent and buy is vital. The White Paper, in truth, does not adequately address the demise of long term rentals, or how we will actually increase affordable properties in rural locations.

In addition, there are concerns about how affordable housing will be paid for in future with the demise of Section 106 agreements. Across the UK, almost 50% of new affordable housing is funded by Section 106. In rural areas that is even more: in Devon, for example, 76% of new affordable housing built in 2020-21 was via Section 106, and for social rented housing this was 86%.

The lack of affordable housing in most of rural and coastal Britain is creating a quiet housing crisis with priced out youngsters moving out. At the same time, more retirement and holiday communities are developing without any of the services or facilities with valuable staff needed by an ageing population in a remote location. The reason our visitors come – our pubs, restaurants, attractions – will be unable to be sustainable businesses with no one left to run them.

We have to find a way to redress the housing market in our most desirable rural and coastal locations to enable every generation to live and work there. After all, villages without amenities rapidly cease to be communities.

[Selaine Saxby MP is the Conservative MP for North Devon and a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee. Please note that the essay was completed before the 2023 Spring Budget.]

• Single storey extension, porch extension, construction of garden office, partial garage conversion, construction of covered area, alterations to existing elevation, and associated external landscaping including a patio/terrace. 28 Ashley Brake West Hill Devon EX11 1TWRef. No: 23/0646/FUL | Validated: Fri 24 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Application for approval of reserved matters (scale, layout and appearance) for the erection of a new dwelling following approval of outline application number 21/1692/OUT 29 Winters Lane Ottery St Mary EX11 1ARRef. No: 23/0653/RES | Validated: Fri 24 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• The installation of new plant to the rear, having a timber fence acoustic barrier and new roller shutter to main front entrance. 2-4 Yonder Street Ottery St Mary Devon EX11 1HDRef. No: 23/0649/FUL | Validated: Fri 24 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed improvements to existing access and formation of on-site parking and turning facility The Brambles Musbury Devon EX13 8AWRef. No: 23/0638/FUL | Validated: Thu 23 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed alterations and building operations to facilitate the use of the building as an office. Spurtham Farm New Road Upottery Devon EX14 9QDRef. No: 23/0639/FUL | Validated: Thu 23 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Application to vary the S106 agreement to reflect provision of affordable units on Phase 2B Pinn Court Farm Pinncourt Lane Exeter EX1 3TGRef. No: 23/0636/V106 | Validated: Thu 23 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition of the existing building and the erection of a replacement two storey detached dwellinghouse with rooms in the roofspace, detached summerhouse and detached garage. Alterations to hard and soft landscaping including provision of outdoor pool and raised paved terracing, installation of sewage treatment plan, regrading of garden and new driveway. Clear Waters River Front Exton Devon EX3 0PRRef. No: 23/0644/FUL | Validated: Thu 23 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of condition no. 2 of planning permission 91/P0243 (To demonstrate the occupation of Turbury Croft in breach of occupancy condition) This application seeks to formally remove the condition. Turbury Croft Dunkeswell Honiton EX14 4QNRef. No: 23/0632/VAR | Validated: Wed 22 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• The erection of a single storey rear extension, internal alteration works and the installation of permeable paving to front amenity area 3 Rowan Drive Seaton EX12 2UHRef. No: 23/0631/FUL | Validated: Wed 22 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of the existing garage and erection of a replacement garage as a single storey side extension. 31 Glanvill Way Honiton EX14 2GDRef. No: 23/0634/FUL | Validated: Wed 22 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition of the contemporary single storey rear extension of the shop and construction of 3 houses and the creation of 2 flats above the shop. 22 Fore Street Sidmouth EX10 8ALRef. No: 23/0630/FUL | Validated: Fri 24 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed single storey side extension consisting of a summer room and installation of porch. Springfield Lyme Road Uplyme DT7 3TGRef. No: 23/0627/FUL | Validated: Fri 24 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1: Sycamore – to carry out a crown lift to approximately 3m from ground level to remove the lower limb/s encroaching into the garden and a crown reduction of up to 3m to remove the dieback and shape the crown to leave appropriate growth points. 2 The Bothy Rousdon DT7 3YDRef. No: 23/0625/TCA | Validated: Tue 21 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of single storey rear and side extensions Montreux Knights Lane All Saints Devon EX13 7LSRef. No: 23/0623/FUL | Validated: Thu 23 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1: Lawson cypress – prune back from Ginkgo to give clearance of 2m. T2: Bay – reduce by approximately 2m to adjacent tree and prune side growth to leave a natural form. T3: Thuja – reduce two leaders to decrease dense growth in crown. Carolcrest Bickwell Valley Sidmouth Devon EX10 8SQRef. No: 23/0622/TCA | Validated: Wed 22 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replacement of 5no outbuildings associated to one dwelling, with 3no new outbuildings for workshop/store and stables. Luscombes Back Lane Newton Poppleford Sidmouth EX10 0EZRef. No: 23/0624/FUL | Validated: Wed 22 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1: Himalayan cedar, prune 2 – 3m off the lower branch ends to a height of approximately 5m to include the branch ends that are over the property roof ; prune the lower limbs that are close to the street lamppost taking back by approx. 1m – 1.5m; ensuring that the pruning is targeted and sympathetic to the shape and health of the tree. 11 Honey Ditches Drive Seaton EX12 2NURef. No: 23/0626/TRE | Validated: Tue 21 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Ash: fell. (Replace with two new planted standards of suitable species.) Oak Cottage Church Road Lympstone Devon EX8 5JURef. No: 23/0618/TCA | Validated: Tue 21 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• The erection of a first floor extension and side entrance porch Old Orchard Membury EX13 7TJRef. No: 23/0617/FUL | Validated: Tue 21 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of 158 solar photovoltaic (PVJ) panels on a south facing roof. Kings School Cadhay Lane Ottery St Mary EX11 1RARef. No: 23/0620/PVJ | Validated: Fri 24 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed single-storey side extension and remodelling of ground floor and re-works of the upper ground floor. 2 Glebelands Uplyme DT7 3TBRef. No: 23/0610/FUL | Validated: Mon 20 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of roof over silage clamp. Highwood Farm Cotleigh Devon EX14 9HYRef. No: 23/0601/FUL | Validated: Mon 20 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of roof over silage clamp Highwood Farm Cotleigh Devon EX14 9HYRef. No: 23/0602/FUL | Validated: Mon 20 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed single storey rear extension and loft conversion. 70 Woolbrook Road Sidmouth EX10 9XBRef. No: 23/0614/FUL | Validated: Mon 20 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolish existing garage and lean-to structures and construct new single storey extension; widen existing access to form 1no. additional off road parking space and form new terracing to rear garden along with erection of garden pod. Glendevon Clapps Lane Beer Seaton EX12 3HQRef. No: 23/0608/FUL | Validated: Mon 20 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of condition no.2 (approved planning permission 19/0933/VAR Construction of 7MW solar farm comprising erection of solar arrays) to allow the replacement of 4no inverter stations Land Adjoining Saundercroft Whimple Exeter EX5 2PFRef. No: 23/0612/VAR | Validated: Thu 23 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of lawfulness application to demonstrate the use of Willow Barn as an independent dwellinghouse Willow Barn Church Row Branscombe Seaton EX12 3AURef. No: 23/0613/CPE | Validated: Mon 20 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed single storey rear extension 6 Govers Meadow Colyton EX24 6PGRef. No: 23/0605/FUL | Validated: Mon 20 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed single storey rear extension. 11 Boucher Road Budleigh Salterton Devon EX9 6JFRef. No: 23/0609/FUL | Validated: Mon 20 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed single storey side extension. 44 Brunenburg Way Axminster EX13 5RDRef. No: 23/0603/FUL | Validated: Wed 22 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Silver Birch – crown reduction by 3m. The Compasses South Street Colyton Devon EX24 6ERRef. No: 23/0593/TRE | Validated: Mon 20 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey rear extension to existing ground floor flat Flat 1 Ground Floor 9 Morton Road Exmouth EX8 1AZRef. No: 23/0597/FUL | Validated: Tue 21 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of detached garages and garden store Ashfield Vicarage Road East Budleigh EX9 7EFRef. No: 23/0596/FUL | Validated: Tue 21 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of the existing outbuildings to holiday accommodation. Cedar Cottage Trinity Hill Road Axminster Devon EX13 5SSRef. No: 23/0598/FUL | Validated: Thu 23 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed steel portal framed general purpose storage agricultural building to store straw, dry fodder, machinery and general farming paraphernalia. Moxhayes Farm Yarcombe Devon EX14 9BBRef. No: 23/0589/AGR | Validated: Tue 21 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed ramp to front, new door opening and revised terrace and guarding Flat 2 7 Louisa Terrace Exmouth EX8 2AQRef. No: 23/0590/FUL | Validated: Tue 21 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1: Oak – reduce by approximately 2.5m and the lateral crown spread of the tree by 1.5m. No cuts to be made greater than approximately 50mm in diameter. 53 Evergreen Close Exmouth Devon EX8 4RRRef. No: 23/0580/TRE | Validated: Mon 20 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1 – Silver Birch. Dismantle in sections to near ground level. (Replant with a Betula utilis var. Jacquemontii.) 92 Clyst Valley Road Clyst St Mary Devon EX5 1DERef. No: 23/0582/TRE | Validated: Mon 20 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of existing garage into an annex and single storey rear extension to house. Keppleway King Edward Road Axminster Devon EX13 5PPRef. No: 23/0583/FUL | Validated: Tue 21 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of Lawfulness for the established use of domestic curtilage. Maycoes Branscombe EX12 3DNRef. No: 23/0569/CPE | Validated: Tue 21 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Agricultural building for general storage with solar panels on roof Glebe House Upottery Devon EX14 9RHRef. No: 23/0515/AGR | Validated: Thu 23 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1: Sycamore – fell. Infected with sooty bark disease. T2: Sycamore – fell. Kretzshmaria in cavity at base. T3: Sycamore – fell. Dying back due to sooty bark disease. 9 Garrett Close Seaton EX12 2FERef. No: 23/0489/TRE | Validated: Mon 20 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition of the existing building The Cygnet and the annexe and its replacement with the construction of a new single storey, multi generational building. The Cygnet River Front Exton Devon EX3 0PRRef. No: 23/0497/FUL | Validated: Thu 23 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Install log burning stove and flue on South West elevation Orchard Barn Sowden Lane Exmouth EX8 5ADRef. No: 23/0458/LBC | Validated: Wed 22 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed hip to gable in rear part of roof. Small Dormer off north facing side of roof. Installation of balcony off rear and cladding for insulation and protection of property. 29 Crossingfields Drive Exmouth EX8 3LPRef. No: 23/0442/FUL | Validated: Mon 20 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Re-designed front elevation ramp, railings to provide new enclosed porch and alterations to front elevations Stanhope House 36 High Street Honiton Devon EX14 1PJRef. No: 23/0407/FUL | Validated: Mon 20 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of condition no. 3 (Shop with residential accommodation to replace existing) of application 87/P0699 ; the building should be used solely for the permitted purpose of a residential dwelling, site office and shop in conjunction with and solely for the permitted use of the caravan site. Salcombe Regis Camping And Caravan Park Salcombe Regis Sidmouth EX10 0JHRef. No: 23/0615/VAR | Validated: Wed 22 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed open fronted agricultural barn Frontfish Uk Ltd Colyton Devon EX24 6SPRef. No: 23/0312/AGR | Validated: Tue 21 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Re-roof western slope of main house to include; breathable roof membrane and replacement batons; fascias, guttering and downpipes; new lead around chimney and valley boards The Beals Greenway Woodbury Exeter EX5 1LPRef. No: 23/0246/LBC | Validated: Fri 24 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• The construction of a fence between the property and the road to replace a 10 foot high Leylandii hedge Whiteleaf Poltimore EX4 0ADRef. No: 23/0176/FUL | Validated: Fri 24 Mar 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision

The Cabinet Office website shows that 150 documents were released over 30-31 March, more than in the previous 44 days and beating the previous record, set exactly a year ago, when there was a data dump of 120 documents just before the recess.

What has been hidden in plain sight? – Owl

UK ministers ‘trying to avoid scrutiny’ by releasing 150 documents in 48 hours

Pippa Crerar www.theguardian.com 

Labour has accused ministers of being “desperate to avoid scrutiny” after government departments published a record number of “transparency disclosures” over a 48-hour period before parliament rose for the Easter break.

The Cabinet Office website shows that 150 documents were released over 30-31 March, more than in the previous 44 days and beating the previous record, set exactly a year ago, when there was a data dump of 120 documents just before the recess.

The information released on what is known at Westminster as “take out the trash” day included Rishi Sunak spending more than £500,000 of taxpayers’ money on flights in two weeks as he travelled to Egypt, Indonesia, Latvia and Estonia on official business.

In a letter to the Cabinet Office minister, Oliver Dowden, Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said: “If this flood of disclosures is in fact a function of anything, it is of a government so desperate to avoid scrutiny of its record, its performance, and its spending, that it somehow believes all that can be avoided by deluging the email inboxes of Westminster with all of this data at once.”

Rayner added: “We have already seen many of the facts which the government tried to bury in the last 48 hours exposed … and there will doubtless be more to come over the days ahead.

“But one fact lies most clearly exposed of all. Rishi Sunak has proved too weak to deliver on his promise that his government would be based on the principles of integrity, professionalism and accountability.

“Otherwise, he would not be instructing his ministers to rush out the evidence of their multiple failures and colossal waste at the start of the Easter break in the hope that no one will notice.”

In the documents released, the government also revealed that 1.4bn items of personal protective equipment bought during the pandemic and disposed of by the government were burned, including 570m aprons and 450m face masks.

Another document showed that the sovereign grant for King Charles, which pays for the monarch’s official duties, had been frozen at £86m for the third year in a row.

Meanwhile, ministers and officials have been warned off using the “disappearing messages” function on WhatsApp, which many special advisers and MPs had done in the wake of the Matt Hancock messages row.

Gifts received by Sunak and Liz Truss – including food hampers and England football shirts – were revealed in the tranche of releases, as well as the fact that the present and former prime ministers had been taken out for dinner by the Sun newspaper and Rupert Murdoch.

However, they also showed that Kwasi Kwarteng received no gifts or registered hospitality during his brief stint as chancellor, and made one foreign visit to the US – the trip when he heard about his imminent sacking on the way home from the airport.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “This government is absolutely committed to transparency, which is why we routinely disclose information beyond what is legally required, so that journalists and members of the public can scrutinise our work.

“The end of the financial year often means that a large number of annual publications, on top of regular monthly documents, need to be published.”

The overwhelming majority of voters are not confident that the government can successfully tackle and reduce crime, according to a new poll which suggests that a crippling lack of trust is damaging Rishi Sunak’s attempts to revive Tory fortunes.

Michael Savage www.theguardian.com 

Both main parties have been prioritising pledges to tackle low-level crime and antisocial behaviour ahead of local elections in May. However, the latest Opinium poll for the Observer revealed that only 20% of voters have confidence in the government to successfully tackle and reduce crime, while 71% are not confident. Only 27% have confidence in the courts and justice system to reduce crime and only 31% have confidence in the police to tackle and reduce crime.

The poll found that Labour continues to lead on crime, with 30% trusting a government led by Keir Starmer over a Tory government led by Sunak. However, the pollster found that Labour leads on most issues, so its six-point advantage on crime makes it one of the closer issues. Crime is currently the sixth most important issue, behind health, the economy, energy, immigration and housing.

It comes after the government announced plans to force offenders guilty of crimes such as vandalism to wear jumpsuits or hi-vis jackets and start repairing the damage they caused within two days of receiving their punishment. The “immediate justice” plans were part of an antisocial behaviour strategy.

However, a serious loss of trust appears to have become a significant electoral barrier to a Conservative revival. Among those who backed the Tories at the last election who no longer plan to vote Conservative, 52% say the main reason is that they have lost trust in the party – significantly larger than any other answer. Another 16% say a key reason is that they are running the country poorly.

Similarly, among the smaller group who have directly switched from the Conservatives to Labour, 48% say they have done so because they trust Labour more than the Conservatives.

The polling found that antisocial behaviour came sixth in the list of crimes the public want the UK government to prioritise. Although 55% think the possession of nitrous oxide should be illegal – a move the government has backed – 56% think that a ban will not succeed in reducing antisocial behaviour in public.

“Generally, Labour are ahead on vote share because of the cost of living situation and an absolute cratering of trust in the Conservative party,” said Adam Drummond, associate director at Opinium. “This means that, even though the public’s instincts on tackling crime line up more with what they think the Tories want than what they think Labour would do, the government is struggling to get traction because voters don’t believe they are capable of improving things.

The real legacy has been to massively inflate the market, swell housebuilders’ profits and leave many buyers in negative equity

This funding would be better spent on increasing housing supply” directly, through local authority and housing association building projects.

Surprise, surprise! – Owl

Phillip Inman www.theguardian.com 

George Osborne’s Help to Buy scheme officially shuts this Friday [March 31], a little over a decade after the then chancellor launched it with the aim of revitalising what was a sluggish UK property market.

The scheme granted 375,654 interest-free equity loans for the purchase of new-build properties, according to the latest figures which cover until the end of last September, with 84% of applicants first-time buyers. On average they borrowed £63,000, on a typical purchase price of £273,500, with a total value of £23.6bn lent out.

But what exactly did that enormous sum achieve? Osborne tweeted on Thursday that it had “helped hundreds of thousands of families buy their own home and supported thousands of construction jobs”. But experts argue the real legacy has been to massively inflate the market, swell housebuilders’ profits and leave many buyers in negative equity.

Ministers have argued the scheme has been vital in underpinning a resurgence of property construction in the UK, a view echoed by Home Builders Federation. It told the Lords’ built environment committee last year that schemes supporting home ownership had “led to a sustained period of record investment in land and labour for future housing delivery, therefore increasing supply”.

However, Rose Grayston, an independent housing analyst, argues it was only ever going to provide a short-term boost to housebuilding. “It was an effective way to support supply of new homes when it started. There was very little housebuilding and it encouraged developers to expand supply.

“But it was only really a gimmick that worked for the first group of buyers. They needed prices to rise from that moment on, pricing out more people in the queue for new homes.”

And in the way the scheme favoured the market for new over secondhand homes, she says it created a captive demand “for what in many periods over the last 10 years has been the building of shoddy flats that have lost value”.

Run by the quango Homes England, Help to Buy has taken various forms over the years, including one underwriting mortgages for secondhand properties which closed in 2016. The second equity loan scheme closed to new applicants at the end of October last year, with the scheme closure on Friday marking the deadline for them to complete their purchase, although those who have obtained an extension have a final cutoff of the end of May.

The equity loan is interest-free for five years to potential new-build purchasers, who since 2020 must also be first-time buyers, who can muster a 5% deposit of up to 40% of the purchase price in London and 20% outside the capital.

But many homebuyers have accused private developers of using the scheme to inflate the price of new flats, effectively pocketing the state subsidy for themselves.

A report in January last year by the Lords’ built environment committee found the loans inflated prices by more than their subsidy value in areas where it was needed the most, concluding that “this funding would be better spent on increasing housing supply” directly, through local authority and housing association building projects.

Toby Lloyd, a former No 10 adviser who, like Grayston, has worked for the housing charity Shelter, says it is unsurprising the initiative was popular with developers: “Why not? The government was offering them lots of money and they were more than happy to accept it.

“But it distorted the pattern of development, diverting away from the need to revive depressed town centres in favour of out of town developments on greenfield sites, increasing car use.”

Others who relied on Help to Buy to secure a new-build quickly found themselves in negative equity, with an investigation by consumer group Which? in 2020 finding one in seven homes bought under the scheme lost value despite booming local property markets, trapping homeowners in unsellable properties.

Lloyd and Grayston believe there is another group about to get whacked by Help to Buy, those people who banked on low interest rates and are now remortgaging their loans.

In their recent report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, they said: “Rising costs disproportionately impact particular groups of owners, such as those on low incomes, shared owners and those who have recently bought through Help to Buy, especially those using larger equity loans in London.

“The result will be more homeowners who find themselves struggling with their mortgage costs but are unable to move easily to a more affordable home.”

Lloyd believes it could amount to a huge cost to the government if a housing downturn forces thousands of homeowners to default on the loans, despite the Treasury, which takes a cut of any gains on Help to Buy homes, registering a £1.8bn paper profit so far, according to Homes England.

Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), is concerned that the government’s housing strategy relied on a single policy for a decade.

“At the margin, it did help the delivery of new homes. But was it the best policy to deliver new homes across tenures, to reflect the need for housing beyond just home ownership? You might question if it alone was the right approach, or could it have been part of something more holistic.”

He disputes that the private sector can be relied on to satisfy the demand for housing. The number of completions for new home builds increased steadily from 130,000 in the year Help to Buy started to 219,000 in the financial year 2019-20. However, over the last year the number of new home starts has dived as the cost of living crisis and high interest rates have dented the appetite for taking on large mortgage loans.

“The private sector has an important part to play. But inevitably developers are going to respond to the economic changes we see at a macro level and that is going to influence their build-out rate,” Rubinsohn says.

“It means that without a huge injection [of funds] from central government, we are not going to see the building at scale we saw in the [1950s].”

Lloyd says that despite political pressure on ministers to launch a new version of Help to Buy ahead of the general election, there is no sign of one at the moment. “With a housing market downturn under way, the government needs to step up.”

United Utilities, which covers Liverpool and Manchester, caused 69,000 spills and had the site with the longest-lasting sewage spills in the country. The Plumbland treatment works in Cumbria had 339 spills over the equivalent of 287 days into the River Ellen, home to salmon, sea trout and eels.

On this measure SWW comes fourth worst with 38,000 spills in the league table of ten. Using the measure of duration of spills, SWW is second worst.

www.thetimes.co.uk (Extract)

Official figures published on Friday show the number of spills from overflows, designed to act as relief valves during heavy rainfall, fell by 19 per cent. They show that 91 per cent of overflows are monitored at present…..

…Matt Staniek, of the Save Windermere campaign, said: “United Utilities even discharges sewage into Lake Windermere. If sewage is going into Windermere, imagine what’s happening to your local river.”

The duration of United Utilities’ spills was 47 per cent higher than the second worst offender, South West Water, which racked up 290,271 hours.

The worst location for the number of spills was South West Water’s Warfleet Creek Pumping Station in Dartmouth, Devon. It discharged sewage 364 times into the River Dart, which runs off from Dartmoor.

An official at United Utilities said: “We know there is much more to be done. With the largest combined sewer network in the country and 28 per cent more rainfall in our region than the UK average, we have ambitious plans to deliver further improvements.”

John Halsall, chief operating officer at South West Water, said: “We are reducing the use of storm overflows. Our plan is working but there is more to do.”….

Struggling East Devon residents could benefit from a pot of more than £600,000 in government cash over the next year. 

eastdevonnews.co.uk

Members of the district council’s cabinet unanimously approved the authority accepting the funding at their March meeting, writes Local Democracy Reporter Rob Kershaw. 

The Household Support Fund (HSF) money must be spread out over the next 12 months.

HSF cash is distributed by councils in England to directly help those who needed it most to meet daily needs such as food, clothing and utilities. The scheme is now in its fourth round.

East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) allocation is a slice of £10million given to Devon County Council (DCC).

The funding is split into two phases; with the first £290,000 being given out between April and September. The rest will be distributed until the end of next March.

No-one needs to apply for the first half of the funding; EDDC will target the money at those who need it, while there is an application process in place for the second half of the coming financial year.

Officers are yet to finalise how many people will benefit from the Whitehall cash, or how much people can get.

Residents will be eligible for the support if they have at least one person in their household who is aged 16 and over, and do not have the resources to meet their short-term needs.

Mortgage support and help with debt will not be supported by the scheme.

EDDC finance portfolio holder Councillor Jack Rowland welcomed the additional help and said: “I think it speaks for itself.

“Again, it’s going to demonstrate that we’re helping those most in need within this district.”

Cllr Marianne Rixson was also pleased to see that residents will be able to receive extra financial support amid ‘very distressing times’ for many.

One in ten eligible East Devon households didn’t claim cost-of-living cash help